Mind Training: Cultivating Compassion & Insight. Slogan 52: Don't Misinterpret
Channel: SF Dharma Collective
Date: 10/09/2021

Eve lead the sangha this evening. She led us in a meditation, calming and settling the mind in its natural state. We then moved on to the dharma talk about the 52nd Lojong slogan, “Don’t misinterpret.” Eve taught extensively and interactively about the 6 things you may misinterpret: patience, yearning, excitement, compassion, priorities and joy. You’re patient when you’ll get your way, but not when it’s difficult. You yearn for worldly things, instead of an open heart and mind. You get excited about wealth and entertainment, instead of your potential for enlightenment. You have compassion for those you like, but none for those you don’t. Worldly gain is your priority rather than cultivating loving-kindness and compassion. You feel joy when you enemies suffer, and do not rejoice in others’ good fortune. 

Mind Training, or Lojong, is a practical and inspiring teaching that transforms the mind which is afflicted by our tendency towards enacting destructive emotions. At the heart of all practices of Tibetan Buddhism, Mind Training puts special emphasis on transforming adversity and joy into the path of our awakening. In contemporary psychological terms, we investigate our so-called ‘negative’ emotional experiences to identify the stories and patterns that occlude our innate compassionate, pro-social nature. 

There are 59 ‘slogans’ of Lojong which are designed to provoke and engage our mind to move away from self-centeredness and towards developing Bodhicitta, the wish that all beings may be happy and free of suffering. At the core is the invitation for us to commit to full, unconditional compassion for ourselves through recognizing the innate goodness and suffering we share with all beings. 

Each class will include teachings, practice, and discussion relating to one of the 59 slogans. Core Mind Training meditations such as Shamatha (Calm Abiding) and Tonglen (Sending & Receiving) will be taught.

Eve Ekman, MSW, PhD, is the director of training at the Greater Good Science Center. She is also a UC Berkeley- and UCSF-trained social scientist and teacher in the field of emotional awareness and burnout prevention. Eve is a second-generation emotion researcher and has had meaningful collaborations with her father, renowned emotion researcher Dr. Paul Ekman. Their most recent project, The Atlas of Emotions, is an online visual tool to teach a language for improving our emotional awareness that was commissioned and supported by the Dalai Lama. Eve is the co-lead instructor for Cultivating Emotional Balance, an evidence-based meditation and emotion regulation training developed by Dr. Paul Ekman and Buddhist scholar Alan Wallace.

You can donate to the dharma collective here (leave us a note to tell us that it's for Eve!):  https://sfdharmacollective.org/donate

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