Lojong has been at the center of Scott Tusa's life for twenty-four years. Let's hear about his journey with these teachings and what we can expect from them.

Meet Scott

Welcome in. My name is Scott Tusa. I'm a meditation teacher and dharma practitioner, and I'm going to be your guide in this course for the next six weeks as we explore this profound text on The Eight Verses of Mind Training, as well as how to develop mindfulness in lojong (mind training) practice. 

A practical approach to Buddhism

As someone who spent years studying and practicing these transformative teachings, I'm really excited to share this profound path of heart and mind training with you.

The verses have personally helped me discover how challenges can become opportunities for cultivating more groundedness, compassion, and insight. And I'm really passionate about making these teachings accessible to everyone.

I first encountered these teachings probably about twenty-four years ago, when I first started getting interested in Tibetan Buddhism. Lojong teachings are generally pretty open and available to most people, though I will admit can be challenging to practice at times. 

Lojong teachings are open and available because they go to the heart of the matter, which is, "How can our dharma practice and meditation help us in relationship to the world?"

These teachings really start right there. So I think maybe for that reason, they've become very attractive to people over the centuries. As well as not being complex or overly philosophical, lojong teachings are pretty straightforward. And they're meant as pith instructions for meditators to deepen their awareness, insight, and both self-compassion and compassion for others. 

Scott's journey with lojong

When I first encountered these teachings about twenty-four years ago, I was both inspired by them and also a little bit intimidated. Because these teachings are asking us to look at how we cling to self, how we cling to, what we desire and what we, or what we don't wish to have. And we start to open up questions and new relationships to that. We start to see that maybe happiness isn't always based on getting what we want. And so, this can be a little daunting. For me, about twenty-four years ago, it was kind of both. I was incredibly inspired by these teachings, especially the biographies and stories of the great masters of the lojong tradition, both in India and Tibet.

Experiencing the benefits of lojong

This inspiration has continued to grow over the years, both in seeing that these teachings take time if we really want to put them into practice. 

We can get some immediate benefits—I'm guessing you're going to get some immediate benefits from studying and practicing the Eight Verses—but also we need longer-term aspirations.

A part of my story is that I could see where my limitations were in first accessing these teachings. And also I could see where they were immediately applicable and actually relieved quite a bit of my suffering at the time, quite a bit of my kind of dissatisfaction. So it's both. There's something to look forward to, and there's something to consistently put into practice—which I still do. 

I have a lot of respect for these teachings because I see how much work it takes to transform through them and I see how worthwhile it is.

The power of aspiration

We're going to be talking a little later on about the power of aspiration, but I'll bring it up now. In terms of my relationship to these teachings, one part of me has really enjoyed putting them into practice and getting benefit immediately. And then part of me knows, "OK, I may not be able to pull off some of this right away so I can put it into the category of what I aspire to do."

So regularly on a daily basis when I generate an intention for my meditation, part of my intention is what's encapsulated in these eight verses, and lojong in general. That becomes aspirational, that becomes something I'm working towards. I view my role as guiding you on this course as also part of my practice, part of my exploration and deepening of these teachings as well.

This is the practice

In particular, one story I have one of my teachers, Lama Zopa Rinpoche not only treasured these teachings, he would teach on them a lot. And when his students asked, "What should be my main practice? What should I practice?" Often he would say these: the Eight Verses or something similar coming from the mind training tradition. Sometimes as practitioners, we expect to get some very advanced practice or something, secret, or unique to us. 

For Lama Zopa Rinpoche, this was the highest practice. This was the thing that—if we want to awaken, if we want to be happy, if we want to benefit the world—these are the practices to training, both internally and externally.

I'll always remember that because not only did Lama Zopa Rinpoche teach that and encourage students but he also lived that. Not only do we have these amazing biographies of great masters of the mind training tradition in India and Tibet hundreds of years ago, we have modern masters who also are great examples of how to live these teachings.

So I encourage you to check out Lama Zopa Rinpoche. He's been a big part of my training and learning and story with these teachings. I think I first encountered them with him. He was a great propagator of these teachings. He made me excited about them. Just remembering him now, it feels very, very good to be able to share this with you. 

These teachings come from a lineage. For hundreds of years they have been passed down person to person not just by talking about them but by actually transforming themselves and walking the walk.

As I said, I'm still working on my stuff, so I'm here with you also as a student, more or less, even though I'm guiding you on this. But I hope that some of the wisdom of my teachers can come through this course and can serve you and your practice. Thanks so much.