Compiled in the fifteenth century, Mind Training: The Great Collection is the earliest anthology of a special genre of Tibetan literature known as "mind training," or lojong in Tibetan. The principal focus of these texts is the systematic cultivation of such altruistic thoughts and emotions as compassion, love, forbearance, and perseverance. The mind-training teachings are highly revered by the Tibetan people for their pragmatism and down-to-earth advice on coping with the various challenges and hardships that unavoidably characterize everyday human existence.

The volume contains forty-four individual texts, including the most important works of the mind training cycle, such as Serlingpa's well-known Leveling Out All Preconceptions, Atisha's Bodhisattva's Jewel Garland, Langri Thangpa's Eight Verses on Training the Mind, and Chekawa's Seven-Point Mind Training together with the earliest commentaries on these seminal texts. An accurate and lyrical translation of these texts, many of which are in metered verse, marks an important contribution to the world's literary heritage, enriching its spiritual resources.

About The Author

Thupten Jinpa Ph.D.

Thupten Jinpa Langri was educated in the classical Tibetan monastic academia and received the highest academic degree of Geshe Lharam (equivalent to a doctorate in divinity). Jinpa also holds a BA in philosophy and a PhD in religious studies, both from the University of Cambridge, England. Since 1985, he has been the principal English-language translator to the Dalai Lama. He has translated and edited many books by the Dalai Lama, including The World of Tibetan Buddhism, Essence of the Heart Sutra, and Ethics for the New Millennium. Jinpa has published scholarly articles on various aspects of Tibetan culture, Buddhism, and philosophy, and books such as Songs of Spiritual Experience (co-authored) and Self, Reality and Reason in Tibetan Thought. He serves on the advisory board of numerous educational and cultural organizations in North America, Europe, and India. He is currently the president and the editor-in-chief of the Institute of Tibetan Classics, a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to translating key Tibetan classics into contemporary languages. He also currently chairs the Mind and Life Institute.

Product Details

Publisher: Wisdom Publications (November 28, 2005)
Length: 720 pages
ISBN13: 9780861714407

Raves and Reviews

The practice of mind training (lojong) is based on the essential Mahayana teachings of impermanence, compassion, and the exchange of self and other that the eleventh-century master Atisha brought to Tibet from India. The lojong teachings are a source of inspiration and guidance shared by masters of all Tibetan traditions. This makes Thupten Jinpa's translation Mind Training: The Great Collection a natural choice for publication as part of the Library of Tibetan Classics series. For the first time, this early collection of the instructions of the great Kadampa masters has been translated in its entirety. The clarity and raw power of these thousand-year-old teachings are astonishingly fresh, whether studied as a complete anthology of opened at random for inspiring verses on the heart of Buddhist practice.

– Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly

"Compiled in the fifteenth century, this is the earliest anthology on mind training (lojong), containing no fewer than 43 individual texts authored in the period between the eleventh and the fifteenth centuries. Each text in this anthology, compiled by two great masters, is like a sparkling jewel in a precious crown, which derives its luminosity from the spiritual realization of the adept who wrote it. Thupten Jinpa, the editor and translator, is a most erudite guide whose introduction and annotations to the texts greatly facilitate the reader's understanding of the essentially simple but multifaceted tradition of mind training. I have a feeling that this volume will be one of my favorite sources of inspiration in the years to come."

– Georg Feuerstein, Traditional Yoga Studies Interactive

"Thupten Jinpa has done us all a great service by editing and translating this marvelous volume, Mind Training: The Great Collection. In an era when Buddhist meditation is largely equated with simply calming the mind and developing mindfulness, this compendium of methods for training the mind gives a glimpse of the tremendous richness and depth of the Buddhist tradition for enhancing mental health and balance and realizing the full potential of consciousness in terms of wisdom and compassion. With the current rise of positive psychology, in which researchers are seeking a fresh vision of genuine happiness and well-being, this volume can break new ground in bridging the ancient wisdom of Buddhism with cutting-edge psychology. Such collaborative inquiry between spirituality and science is especially timely in today's troubled and divisive world."

– B. Alan Wallace, author of The Attention Revolution: Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind