This means that there are a few concepts to know before proceeding. You don’t have to believe in them, but they are the basic tools for the purposes of mind training.
- Precious opportunity – we have time, options, access to the information, and the ability to practice. This is a rare and marvelous opportunity! Most people through history don’t have this opportunity. Lucky me 😊
- Death & impermanence – we haven’t always had this opportunity in the past and we won’t always have this opportunity in the future. Everything changes. This makes practice even more valuable.
- Karma – the concept that what you do has consequences, not just around you, but in you. Some consequencesare immediate, and some are delayed. Your choices matter. Things will keep changing and how you handle those changes has an influence on what comes after.
- Dukha – dissatisfaction, suffering, discontent. It’s part of life. It’s a major motivation for pursuing mind-training, which reduces the experience of dukha in this life. There’s no permanent, definitive lack of suffering and dissatisfaction – life goes on, whether we like it or not. How will we handle that? This is where mind-training comes in.
This segment was largely dictated by Cougar Allen, who’s been studying this for over 55 years and been my excellent friend for over 35 years.Â