Change Your Mind, Change Your Life
Transform life’s difficult moments into opportunities for growth with this clear and direct guide to Tibetan lojong, or mind training.
Take the Tibetan Buddhist approach to mind training with lojong, a practice of simple contemplations and pithy “slogans” to train the mind in enlightened compassion, or bodhichitta. A centuries old, time-tested method, lojong remains readily applicable to daily life.
One of the most essential lojong texts is The Seven-Point Mind-Training, a series of slogans composed by Tibetan master Geshe Chekawa Yeshe Dorje (1102–76). In this straightforward guide to The Seven-Point, the renowned Buddhist teacher Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo unpacks each of Chekawa’s lojong slogans and illuminates their relevance to modern life. Jetsunma’s teachings will allow you to:
- Discover a wellspring of compassion to guide you in your daily life;
- Gain a new understanding on core Buddhist concepts like the preciousness of human life, impermanence, karma, and rebirth;
- Establish or develop a meditation practice for both tranquility and insight into the nature of mind;
- Work with the totality of your life as an opportunity for spiritual practice and growth—even the most difficult experiences of adversity, illness, and despair.
"The Seven-Point Mind-Training is one of my favorite texts. It ‘saved my life,’ so to speak, because it taught me how to deal with whatever life presents. When we practice these teachings with the help of Jetsunma’s clear commentary, our self-confidence grows as we learn to abandon blaming others for our problems and instead transform adversity into the path to full awakening. Our mind becomes calmer, more compassionate, and wiser, enabling us to make a positive contribution to the lives of people around us and to society in general." —Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, author of Don’t Believe Everything You Think and Good Karma
"Change Your Mind, Change Your Life is a profound delivery of The Seven-Point Mind Training. Jetsunma shares her own stories from more than fifty years as a Buddhist nun and of the wonderful nunnery she founded in the foothills of the Himalayas. Her years in the Dharma shine through each page and will truly bring transformation in the reader. This is a must read for anyone who sincerely wants to practice the Dharma." —Lama Tsultrim Allione, author of Women of Wisdom and founder of Tara Mandala International Buddhist Community
"Reading and reflecting upon the teachings in this book is like sitting by a warm fire on a cold, dark winter night. In the midst of so much ignorance and confusion in our modern world, Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo’s commentary on the aphorisms of Atisha are like a light that illuminates our minds, dispelling confusion and mistaken beliefs. Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned practitioner of the Buddha’s teachings, this book can provide a framework for all the Dharma you practice in this lifetime, including your passage from this life to the next. It’s a treasure." —B. Alan Wallace, author of The Art of Transforming the Mind