The Seven Points of Mind Training – Three-Day Retreat in Hong Kong

At the invitation of Thrangu Hong Kong Dharma Centre, Drupon Rinpoche led a three day retreat.

Its topic was an introduction to the Seven Points of Mind Training.

The retreat was divided into teaching and meditation sessions. More time was devoted to teaching since “It is rare for all the conditions needed to receive the Dharma to come together but now, since I am here and willing to teach, we have a good translator in Khenpo Tengye, the Dharma Centre has made the necessary arrangements and you have the wish to be here and receive teachings, we have to make the most of it”, he explained.

Rinpoche started by teaching a little of the history of the seven points.

He taught how Atisha and Chekawa Yeshe Dorje both spent twelve to thirteen years receiving and practising these mind training instructions in the presence of their lamas Serlingpa and Shawara respectively. During their time, these instructions were a single transmission lineage, only ever transmitted to a single individual at a time and never taught in public or to large groups. “When the instructions were only given to one person at a time, it was not out of stinginess”, Rinpoche clarified. “That is impossible since bodhisattvas give even their bodies for the good of others. It was because the instructions should only be given to those who really desire them and will cherish them. These days, students who plead for the instructions are very rare. It is the lamas you find pleading students to receive them. When that is the case, students won’t really cherish those instructions and therefore not practise them properly. As such, the results will not arise in their minds.”

Rinpoche also taught about the need for us to have the correct attitude towards receiving and practising the instructions. “First, train in the preliminaries.” He explained how it is not right to think you are doing the Nyingma preliminaries, others the Gelugpa, Sakya or Kagyu preliminaries. All the preliminaries come from the same source, the Kadampa masters. They in turn also didn’t invent these instructions themselves, they took them from the Sutras. It was taught by the Buddha that we need to meditate on impermanence, the suffering of cyclic existence (samsara) and so on. Rinpoche’s main point here was that if we have the wrong attitude or outlook at the start, our receiving and practising the Dharma can increase attachment and aversion rather than eradicate them.

There wasn’t time for Rinpoche to elaborate upon all of the slogans that comprise the seven points. He read through them, saying a few words about most of them and then went into more detail as he saw fit. He constantly reminded us that he wasn’t giving instructions for these practices but just a brief introduction.

The teachings were translated into Mandarin by Khenpo Tengye and into Cantonese via FM radio transmission by Tse Siu Lam Neil.