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28 EASTERN HORIZON | FACE TO FACE

Yes, it does. There are different levels of loving kindness. As mentioned earlier lojong can be practiced at various
The first level is the thought of “How wonderful it levels. The secular or universal aspect of it can help
will be if all beings abide in happiness”. The second believers or non-believers, to deal with problems of
level is the wish of “May all sentient beings abide in life. We do not need a particular preliminary to this
happiness”. The third level of loving kindness is when form of practice. We train our mind to understand that
we generate the wish “May I cause sentient beings nothing is permanent in our human existence. Nobody
to abide in happiness.” In lojong our mind builds up is in control, and change is a universal characteristic.
gradually, initially seeing the need for others to be free As a result of recognizing the impermanent nature
from suffering and abide in happiness. Then based on of existence, we learn to cultivate a balance of mind
the understanding that all beings experience suffering whereby we do not cling to things that we like, nor hate
in samsara, we take the responsibility to help sentient those we do not like. Our ability to solve problems begin
beings attain nirvana. with the recognition that life itself is impermanent and
uncertain, and because of that there is no satisfaction.
It is the same with compassion which has different Therefore, we train our mind to identify the causes
levels of practice. We begin by generating the wish of our problems and learn to solve them with a calm
for others to be free from suffering, “How wonderful mental attitude.
it will be if all beings are free from suffering”. Then,
we proceed to “May all sentient beings be free from For those who are Buddhists, to practice lojong from the
suffering”. And finally, “May I cause sentient beings to be point of view of seeing that all our problems originated
free from suffering”. in karma, the preliminaries will involve understanding
the fundamental teachings on karma, the Four Noble
First, we try to generate a close feeling toward all Truths, dependent origination, and the Eight-fold
sentient beings through equanimity, seeing all beings Path. With this basic knowledge of the Buddhist path,
as equal. Then we generate loving-kindness and and understanding the need to help others through
compassion and we take responsibility to act in the the trainings in loving-kindness and compassion, as
way we intended. After this we reflect to see if we have a preliminary, we go a step further by training our
the capacity to really help sentient beings right now. minds to become an enlightened being. Then whatever
We soon will understand that we need to have certain obstacles we may face, we will take these problems into
capacities to help, like a realized being or a Buddha. We the path by contemplating, “May I, by experiencing these
contemplate on the qualities of a Buddha, especially his problems, take the suffering of others upon myself.”
boundless wisdom and compassion for all beings. We
generate the wish to become a Buddha, and cultivate We know that in the current pandemic, we need to
Bodhicitta, a wish for all sentient beings to be free stay strong and positive mentally. How can lojong
from suffering and would like to attain the state of full help us in this aspect?
enlightenment for this purpose.
For someone who understands the Buddha’s teachings
In some Buddhist traditions, the wish to become a and has some experience in lojong, they will be able to
Buddha may not always be present. And that is fine as face the current difficult situation of the Covid pandemic.
well when striving for nirvana only. But in the tradition But even if one has not started to practice lojong, it can
of the Boddhisattva Yana, the wish to become a Buddha still be of benefit, even on a secular or universal level. If
is very strong and therefore, we contemplate deeply on one has fear, anxiety and worry, one can reflect that the
the sublime qualities of Buddhahood and cultivate the world is impermanent and uncertain. We do not have
motivation to become a Buddha to help others. the world under our control. Previously we could fly
anywhere we like, do the things we want, to a certain
Are there preliminary practices to follow before we extent, and even governments thought they have things
embark on lojong training? under control, but now with Covid 19 we see that we