EIGHT VERSES OF THOUGHT TRANSFORMATION
Kadampa Geshe Langri Tangpa
1 May I always cherish
all sentient
beings as
excelling even the
wish-granting gem
with intention of
accomplishing their supreme goal (1),
2 Whenever I am in the company of
others,
May I regard myself as inferior of all
And from the
depths of my heart
Cherish others as
supreme.
3 In all my actions may I guard my mind
And as soon as an
afflicting emotions (2) arise.
Since endangering myself
and others,
May I forcefully face and
avert it.
4 When I see beings of wicked nature
Overwhelmed by
violent negative actions (3) and sufferings (4)
May I cherish them
as rare ones,
As if I have found
a precious treasure.
5 When others out of envy
treat me wrong
with abuse, insult
me or the like,
May I accept
defeat,
And offer the
victory to them.
6 Even someone I have helped
And in whom I have
placed great hopes
Gives me terrible
harm,
May I see even
such as an excellent spiritual friend (5).
7 In brief, both directly and
indirectly,
May I offer every
benefit and happiness to all mother(6) beings;
May I secretly
take upon myself
All their harmful
actions and suffering.
8 May also the practices not be defiled
By thoughts of the
eight worldly concerns. (7)
By the awareness
of all things as illusory
May I be
un-grasping, gain freedom from bondage.(8)
(This
short text belongs to the teachings on lo
jong (9), and was
composed during the period of Buddhist history when the ka
dam(10) school was
flourishing in Tibet.)
- Highest goal: The state of complete Enlightenment, Buddhahood.
- Afflicting emotions: In Tibetan nyon mong, meaning mental defilements such as anger, attachment, ignorance etc.
- Negative actions: In Tibetan dig pa, a negative mental disposition caused by a negative action that one has committed.
- Sufferings: In Sanskrit du kha, the Truth of Suffering, which has three levels:
- suffering of pain
- suffering of change
- conditioned suffering of samsara.
- Spiritual Friend: In Tibetan ge wei she nyen / Geshe, who helps to bring about virtuous actions.
- Mothers:
- All sentient beings have been our mother
- The most dear one or the most helpful one
- Eight wordly concerns: the views generated by looking through the eyes of attachment and aversion are: liking and disliking, gaining and losing, praise and blame, fame and disgrace
- Bondage: in Tibetan ( khor wa, in Sanskrit samsara, desirous attachment to worldly things, which causes one to remain in the circle of suffering or dissatisfaction.
- lo jong, (Tibetan):
- lo means mind, thought, consciousness, but in this context it rather refers to intention. jong means transforming, training, practicing, here translated as “thought transformation” as in the title of the text
- lo jong, the short form of jang chub kyi sem la lo jong wa means transforming the ordinary mind into Bodhicitta (11), a technique for the practise of Bodhicitta
- lo jong is the name of a specific technique for the practice of Bodhicitta, based on the so called “Seven-Point Mind Training”.
- ka dam, (Tibetan): A Tibetan Buddhist tradition that has its origins in Indian Buddhism. It was brought to Tibet by Atisha and spread by gyal wa dom ton pa, who was one of the main Tibetan disciples of Atisha. Literally, ka means all teachings of the Buddha, dam means secret instruction, and pa stands for a person who follows the ka dam tradition. Therefore, ka dam pa is a person who believes that all teachings of the Buddha, without contradiction, are one instrument that leads to liberation.
- Bodhicitta, (Sanskrit): A genuine inspiration to attain Buddhahood, in order to lead all sentient beings to the state of complete Enlightenment.
(Translated
and added the notes by Geshe Gedun Tharchin)
