“Train wholeheartedly” is the 53rd lojong slogan. And this one’s as simple as it sounds- no sub-teachings or lists underneath it. If you want to live like a bodhisattva, it means waking up every day and choosing to train in compassion with your whole heart. It…
The 53rd lojong slogan is “Don’t vacillate.” Quite simply, it means being consistent in your practice. You may have noticed, we have a tendency to bounce all around in our commitment. In West Texas parlance, we call this straddling the fence. And everyone knows when you…
Well we’ve finally reached the sixth and final teaching for the 52nd lojong slogan, “Don’t misinterpret.” Which is basically: don’t gloat. But first, let’s review the others. Don’t misinterpret patience by applying it freely in some parts of your life and not to your spiritual practice.…
Y’all, we are STILL talking through the six sub-teachings on lojong slogan 52, “Don’t misinterpret.” The fourth and fifth teachings encourage us to practice compassion with clarity. The fourth teaching tells us not to misinterpret compassion. How? By offering it where it’s easy and not where…
The 52nd lojong slogan instructs us, “Don’t misinterpret.” This simple slogan has six specific teachings, the first of which is about patience. Pema Chodron explains it as choosing to have patience when we confront challenges. Today, we’re going to discuss the next two. At the heart,…
The 52nd lojong slogan says, “Don’t misinterpret.” At face value, this means going into a situation with the intention to understand. Actively choose not to be ignorant. Ask questions. Assume you don’t know everything. And don’t allow negativity to skew your understanding. Norman Fischer says, “All…
Of all the points, practicing with bodhicitta is most important. This week we are looking at the third of the main points in the teaching on the 51st lojong slogan, “This time practice the main points.” As a refresher, the first point tells us to focus…
The second point of the 51st lojong slogan is that practice beats understanding. As a reminder, the slogan says, “This time, practice the main points.” The first point is to practice to benefit others more than yourself. This second point says that our practice is more…
“This time, practice the main points” says lojong slogan 51. And because these 3 points are so important, we’re going to take the next 3 weeks to go over them. But first, let’s talk about what it means that this slogan begins with “this time.” In…
Don’t be swayed by external circumstances. That’s the simple teaching of the 50th lojong slogan. Easier said than done, though, right?! As Norman Fischer says, “It’s always something.” Truly, there will always be some kind of reason for us to fall away from our practice. We…