Verses 40-41 Recap We’ve been discussing the verses in Wheel of Sharp Weapons, which have to do with seeing the various suffering situations of ourselves; seeing that they come from negative actions in the past; resolving to stop committing those negative actions, and to do...

Verses 40-41 Recap We’ve been discussing the verses in Wheel of Sharp Weapons, which have to do with seeing the various suffering situations of ourselves; seeing that they come from negative actions in the past; resolving to stop committing those negative actions, and to do...

Verse 42 Recap We have been working through this text Wheel of Sharp Weapons – or more literally, Weapon Wheel of Blades – which is a Mahayana text of the lojong genre. “Lojong” is usually translated as mind training, but actually it means a cleansing of our attitudes,...

Verses 43-44 Recap We’ve been going through the text Wheel of Sharp Weapons, or Weapon Wheel of Blades, or Throwing Star Weapon. We have gotten up to verse 43, so we’re nearly at the end of the first section. In it, there is the whole discussion of tonglen – taking and giving...

Verses 45-48 [First minutes missing] Karmic Causes of Positive Acts Eliciting Negative Responses [Verse 45, poetical version: When no matter how well-meant our actions toward others, they always elicit a hostile response, this is the wheel of sharp weapons returning full...

Verses 49-50 Recap We are studying this text, Wheel of Sharp Weapons, which deals with attitude training: how to train our attitude about things so that we get rid of the negative attitude and develop a positive attitude. In particular, we’re dealing with a practice known as...

Verses 51-52 Recap We’re looking at this text called Wheel of Sharp Weapons or Throwing Star Weapon, more literally. This text is speaking about overcoming our grasping for a “true self” – a solid “me,” an impossible “me” – which causes us to act in a selfish way, to think...

Verses 53-55 Recap We’re here studying what I’ve usually translated in the past, in the old translation, as Wheel of Sharp Weapons, in the new translation Throwing Star Weapon, because that’s actually literally what it is: a throwing star. It’s in the genre of what’s called in...

Verses 56-57 Recap We have been looking at this text, Wheel of Sharp Weapons or, more literally, Throwing Star Weapon. This is probably the earliest text in this style of lojong – attitude training or mind training. The basic theme is to overcome two things: the...

Verse 58 [First minutes missing] Forming Fickle Relationships [Verse 58, poetical version: With comparative ease, we develop new friendships, yet since we are callous, not one of them lasts. We are filled with desire for food and fine clothing, yet failing to earn them, we...