Stepping Onto the Path of Mind Training

On 8 April 2025, Drupon Khen Rinpoche Karma Lhabu began a teaching series on The Seven Points of Mind Training of the Greater Vehicle (Mahayana) for students of the third cycle of the Six-Year Retreat Programme at Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal.

Below is an excerpt from the opening session, where Rinpoche emphasised the importance of practising these teachings while receiving them and the appropriate type of lama from whom to receive these instructions.

Teaching excerpt:

Today we begin the teaching on The Seven Points of Mind Training of the Greater Vehicle.

The teachings on the sections concerning their lineage and the preliminary practices will be open to everyone at the retreat centre. However, when we come to the actual practice instructions, these will be given only to those participating in the Six-Year Retreat Programme—that is, those committed to doing daily practice sessions on Mind Training, and to those who have already done the practices in a similar fashion.

The great masters of the past emphasised the importance of engaging in practice sessions while receiving teachings on mind training and meditation. They also warned of the serious risk of becoming jaded if one receives such teachings in the manner of studying scriptures, without applying them in practice.

So please keep this in mind: it is essential to apply the teachings in practice as you receive them.

In the past in Tibet, teachings directly related to the development of the mind such as mind training and meditation teaching were given only by elder lamas. Younger lamas and khenpos would generally not give such teachings. That was the way.

Nowadays, especially outside of Tibet, people seem to no longer consider these distinctions. There’s often little thought about whether the person giving the teaching has actual experience in the practice, or even whether they embody a Dharma way of thinking at all.

There are very good reasons why such teachings were only given by elder lamas. These elder teachers had usually entered the Dharma from a young age, and had many years of study and practice behind them. When it comes to mind training and meditation, intellectual understanding alone is not enough—the teacher must have direct personal experience and realisation.

As for myself, I do not have experience or realisation, which is far from ideal for you. Still, there’s no choice but to offer the teachings to you. So please keep the above points in mind and do your best to genuinely apply what you receive.