The Art of Transforming the Mind: A Meditator's Guide to the Tibetan Practice of Lojong

by B. Alan Wallace

Overview

Tibetan Buddhist practice isn't just sitting in silent meditation, it's developing fresh attitudes that align our minds with reality. Includes three new translations of Atisha’s source material.

In this book, B. Alan Wallace explains a fundamental type of mental training that is designed to shift our attitudes so that our minds become pure wellsprings of joy instead of murky pools of problems, anxieties, fleeting pleasures, hopes, and frustrations. The lojong—or mind-training—teachings have been the subject of profound study, contemplation, and commentary by many great masters. Wallace shows us the way to develop our capacity for spiritual awareness through his relatable and practical commentary on the mind-training slogans.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611809893
Publisher:	Shambhala
Publication date:	05/03/2022
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	699,484
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

B. Alan Wallace has authored, translated, edited, and contributed to more than forty books on Tibetan Buddhism, science, and culture. With fourteen years as a Buddhist monk, he earned a BA in physics and the philosophy of science and then a PhD in religious studies. After teaching in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, he founded the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies to explore the integration of scientific approaches and contemplative methods.

Table of Contents

Preface to the 2022 Edition vii

Preface to the 2001 Edition ix

The First Point

The Preliminaries 1

The Second Point

Cultivating Ultimate and Relative Bodhichitta 46

The Third Point

Transforming Adversity into an Aid to Spiritual Awakening 159

The Fourth Point

A Synthesis of Practice for One Life 183

The Fifth Point

The Criterion of Proficiency in the Mind-Training 193

The Sixth Point

The Pledges of the Mind-Training 200

The Seventh Point

The Precepts of the Mind-Training 216

Conclusion 236

Meditation Instructions 239

The Aphorisms of the Seven-Point Mind-Training 243

Appendix 1 Pith Instructions on a Single Mindfulness 247

Appendix 2 Pith Instructions on the Middle Way 251

Appendix 3 Essential, Synthesized Practical Instructions on Connate Union 255

Notes 261

Bibliography 267

Editorial Reviews

"Readers who put the advice this book contains into practice may indeed transform their minds and achieve a sense of inner peace, the key to greater peace and happiness within and in the world at large."—His Holiness the Dalai Lama

"Alan Wallace, one of the great Western Buddhist thinkers of our day, has written an extraordinary book! Buddhism with an Attitude is written not only with great intelligence, but also in an accessible and readable style that helps us apply the principles in daily life."—Howard C. Cutler, MD, coauthor with H.H. the Dalai Lama of The Art of Happiness

"This book places you into a new domain where the world actually becomes the meditation hall. . . . A book to guide both beginners and seasoned meditators, a book to be read reread and studied."—Buddhist Peace Fellowship

"Dr. Wallace's versatility in the cognitive sciences offers a unique amplification for our understanding of such topics as primordial wisdom, consciousness, meditative stabilization, and bringing adversity onto the path of liberation. Through Seven-Point Mind Training, Wallace shows us the way to develop attitudes that unveil our capacity for spiritual awaking."—Branches of Light

From the Publisher