Lojong 8 has a trio of threes: Three objects, three poisons, and three seeds of virtue. This slogan feels more like a grocery list than mind training, doesn’t it?

So: what does this trio of threes mean? Basically, it means paying very specific attention to three ways we react.

The first is passion. When we love someone or something, we feel passion. Passion can be a sense of love but here it means something closer to possession or clinging. And clinging so easily becomes greed. We can’t just enjoy it; we want to have it. And then we’ve got a problem on our hands, right?

Second in the trio is anger. When we dislike or hate something, we feel anger. And anger so quickly becomes aggression. We can’t just be mad; we have to make them pay for it. Again, problem.

Third, we have ignorance. This happens when we feel neutral or indifferent about someone or something. It just doesn’t register, doesn’t even cross our minds. And while some neutrality can be good, it can also slide into indifference and ignorance. We don’t just not notice; we don’t care, or want to care. And that’s a huge problem.

So now, perhaps that slogan will make more sense. Three objects: what we love, what we hate, what is neutral. Three poisons: greed, aggression, ignorance. And the three seeds of virtue are what happens when we don’t get caught up in the relationship between the first two. We don’t let our attraction become craving. We refuse to allow our aversion to become rage. And we reject the slide from indifference to ignorance.

In other words, we stay awake. We hold things lightly. We let them go. And in the process, we find that our vices become seeds of virtue.

This week, what are you clinging to too tightly? Where are you trying to reject or attack? What would you rather avoid? And instead, can you bring just a small seed of compassion there?

Just pick one place, and one small seed.

New to this series? You can read my first post on this project, Living the Lojong, here.