Mahayana · 11th century
Atisha Dipankara
Mahayana · the Kadam line · Mind training · lojong
The one who reduced the whole path to a single rule: tame not others – your own mind.
The essence of the teaching: The path requires reliance on a teacher, strict ethics, the taming of one's own mind through mindfulness, and the cultivation of compassion and selflessness while renouncing worldly bustle.
Transmission
Atisha brought a whole path into Tibet and reduced it to a few unbending counsels. The highest nobility, he said, is to subdue one's own mind; but you will not tame others until you have tamed yourself. Watch your mind without ceasing, searching out your own flaws and not those of others. Worldly affairs never come to an end – so limit them yourself, to find peace; fame and gain are nooses that quietly tighten. Treat all beings as your own parents: hold no hatred toward an enemy and no sticky attachment toward a friend, keep the heart even toward all. And gather not the wealth of this life but the merit for the path, clinging to nothing along the way.
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