The Eight Verses on Mind Training - We aspire to positive, meaningful, and helpful relationships with our family, colleagues, friends, sangha, and beyond. And yet often our experience of these relationships is characterized by strife and difficulty. This short text provides profound instructions for working with our mind, transforming our interactions with others, and on this basis, progressing on the path to awakening. Rinpoche teaches that what really matters for our journey of awakening is working with our mind. Gesh� Langri Thangpa (Langthangpa), the author of this mind training text, received key pith instructions from the great Kadampa master, Potowa Rinchen Sal, who was a student of Atisha�s primary disciple, Dront�npa. Langthangpa�s Eight Verses provide the essence of the Kadampa teachings on mind training. Chekawa Yeshe Dorje, who wrote down Atisha�s instructions in The Seven Point of Mind Training was profoundly inspired when he encountered just two of Langthangpa�s Eight Verses. In his teaching on this text, Rinpoche begins by emphasizing the importance of training in equalizing self and other as a prerequisite to training in bodhicitta. Rinpoche�s line-by-line commentary on the Eight Verses helps us understand the deepest meaning of the text clearly and precisely. He playfully identifies the ways in which we are likely to misunderstand the meaning, thereby revealing the actual intention of the mind training verses. Rinpoche practices with the group several times, providing contemplations that bring the mind training instructions into a formal practice session. If we put these verses into practice, this teaching has the potential for transforming our mind and our world. Rinpoche provides several opportunities for participants to pose questions. Translation assistance was provided by Christopher Stagg.
The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche is acknowledged as one of the foremost scholars of his generation in the Nyingma and Kagyu schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Fluent in English and well-versed in Western culture, Rinpooche has worked to develop and adapt traditional Tibetan education curriculums for Western audiences. Nitartha Institute (www.nitharthainstitute.org), where Rinpoche is the main teacher, provides a focused Buddhist studies program. Rinpoche is a visiting professor of buddhist philosopy at Naropa University, Boulder, Colorado. In 1997, Rinpoche founded Nalanabodhi to preserve the genuine lineage of the Nyingma and Kagyu Schools of Tibetan Buddhism. There are Nalandabodhi centers in North America and Europe, and curriculum materials are available to people worldwide.
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