Practice Library

Atisha's Mahamudra and The Seven Point Mind Training

Six days of commentary on the classic lojong text, closing with Atisha's Essential, Synthesized Practical Instructions on Connate Union.

A six-day retreat, recorded in 2022, in which Lama Alan Wallace presents a full commentary on The Seven-Point Mind Training, which stems from the teachings of the 11th-century Indian Buddhist scholar and contemplative Atisha and was first written down by the 12th-century Tibetan monk Chekawa. The training summarises the bodhisattva way of life by integrating theories and practices for the cultivation of ultimate and relative bodhicitta. It begins with a careful investigation of the nature of the mind and its relation to nature as a whole, resulting in a realisation of emptiness and dependent origination, and it then leads to the experience of profound compassion and the transformation of all experiences into means of furthering one’s spiritual growth. Atisha was not only one of India’s greatest pandits and bodhisattvas but also a renowned siddha, or contemplative adept, trained by Naropa and other masters of Mahamudra. Following the teachings on The Seven-Point Mind Training, Lama Alan also gives pith instructions on Atisha’s root text on Mahamudra, Essential, Synthesized Practical Instructions on Connate Union. The teaching runs alongside sessions of guided meditation throughout

What this course covers

• Commentary on The Seven Point Mind Training, point by point
• Commentary on Atisha's Essential, Synthesized Practical Instructions on Connate Union
• Cultivating relative and ultimate bodhicitta
• Tonglen, mounted on the breath, and turning self-centredness around
• Viewing all phenomena as dreamlike, and examining unborn awareness
• The four yogas of Mahamudra
• Guided meditations throughout the retreat

Sessions

1. D1S1 - Four Revolutions in Outlook 93 minutes
2. D1S2 - Attentional Intelligence, and Let the Mystery Be Revealed 82 minutes
3. D2S1 - View All Phenomena as Dreamlike 86 minutes
4. D2S2 - Examine the Character of Unborn Awareness 88 minutes
5. D3S1 - Self-Centredness and Tonglen 92 minutes
6. D3S2 - Near Enemies, and Tonglen Mounted on the Breath 85 minutes
7. D4S1 - Blame Everything on One Culprit 92 minutes
8. D4S2 - The Five Powers and Dying 86 minutes
9. D5S1 - Criteria, Pledges and Precepts 94 minutes
10. D5S2 - Practise What Is Important 81 minutes
11. D6S1 - Atisha's Mahamudra, the View 99 minutes
12. D6S2 - The Four Yogas of Mahamudra 98 minutes