Zen in Eight: "A Mind That Sees All Phenomena as Illusory"
Ancient Tibetan Wisdom to Spark Compassion
Dear Spark Zen Readers,
I hope you’re doing well today. I’m back at Tassajara after a short visit to see my family in Los Angeles. While I was there visiting with my 85-year-old mother in her periwinkle “mom cave,” I saw a paper peeking out behind another one that she had clipped to a bookshelf. It caught my attention because it looked old and familiar. When I looked more closely, I saw the title: “Eight Verses of Training the Mind” by Geshe Langri Thangpa (1054–1123).
When I first entered Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in 2008, my mother sent me a photocopy of this paper tucked into a card with a note. She had been given this paper more than 30s years ago when she attended a meditation retreat. I was shocked that she had these verses for 50 years! I feel somehow that my spiritual journey was sparked by her’s way back when I was an adolescent.
Geshe Langri Thangpa’s eight verses are a summary, a very succinct one, of the Lojong teachings of Mahayana Buddhism. He is said to be an emanation of Buddha Amitābha. Sending love + peace from the monastery, Rev. Shōren Heather
With the intention to attain
The ultimate, supreme goal,
Surpassing even the wish-granting jewel,
May I constantly cherish all living beings.
Whenever I associate with others
May I view myself as the lowest of all,
And with a perfect intention,
May I cherish others as supreme.
Examining my continuum throughout all my actions,
As soon as a delusion develops
Whereby I or others would act inappropriately,
May I firmly face it and avert it.
Whenever I see unfortunate beings
Oppressed by evil and violent suffering,
May I cherish them as if I had found
A rare and precious treasure.
Even if someone I have helped
And of whom I had great hopes
Nevertheless harms me without any reason,
May I see him as my holy Spiritual Guide.
When others out of jealousy
Abuse me or insult me,
May I take defeat upon myself
And offer them the victory.
In short, may I directly and indirectly
Offer help and happiness to all my mothers,
And secretly take upon myself
All their harm and suffering.
Furthermore, through all this undefiled by stains
Of conceptions of the eight extremes,
And with a mind that sees all phenomena as illusory,
May I be released from the bondage of the conceiver.