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attention is inherent in our ability to love.
    Coming back to the present moment takes some effort, but the effort is very light. The instruction is to “touch and go.” We touch thoughts by acknowledging them as thinking and then we let them go. It’s a way of relaxing our struggle, like touching a bubble with a feather. It’s a nonaggressive approach to being here.
    Sometimes we find that we like our thoughts so much that we don’t want to let them go. Watching our internal movie is a lot more entertaining than bringing our mind back home. There’s no doubt that our fantasy world can be very juicy and seductive. So we train in using a “soft” effort when interrupting our habitual patterns; in other words, we train in cultivating self-compassion.
    We practice meditation to connect with maitri and unconditional openness. By not deliberately blocking anything, by directly touching our thoughts and then letting them go with an attitude of no big deal, we can discover that our fundamental energy is tender, wholesome, and fresh. We can start to train as a warrior, discovering for ourselves that it is bodhichitta, not confusion, that is basic.

5

    Warrior Slogans
     
In all activities, train with slogans.
     
—MIND-TRAINING SLOGAN OF ATISHA
    I N THE ELEVENTH CENTURY Atisha Dipankara brought the complete bodhichitta teachings from India to Tibet. In particular he emphasized what are called the lojong teachings, the teachings for training the mind. What is so up-to-date about these teachings is that they show us how to transform difficult circumstances into the path of enlightenment; what we most dislike about our lives is the meat and potatoes of the mind-training practices of Atisha. What seem like the greatest obstacles—our anger, our resentment, our uptightness—we use as fuel to awaken bodhichitta.
    For some time after the death of Atisha these teachings were kept secret, passed on only to close disciples. They did not become widely known again until the twelfth century, when the Tibetan Geshe Chekawa organized them into fifty-nine pithy slogans. These sayings are now known as the lojong slogans or the slogans of Atisha. Becoming familiar with these slogans and bringing them to mind throughout our lives is a valuable bodhichitta practice. 1
    Geshe Chekawa had a brother who was contemptuous of the Buddhist teachings and was always giving him a hard time. However, when many lepers who were studying with Chekawa became cured, his brother began to get very interested in what they were being taught. Hiding outside Chekawa’s door, the irascible brother started listening to the teachings on using uncomfortable circumstances as the path. When Chekawa began to notice his brother becoming less irritable, more flexible, and more considerate, he realized that his brother must be listening to the mind-training teachings and applying them. It was then that he decided to teach the lojong slogans far more publicly. He figured that if they could help his brother, they could help anyone.
    Ordinarily we are swept away by habitual momentum and don’t interrupt our patterns even slightly. When we feel betrayed or disappointed, does it occur to us to practice? Usually not. But right there, in the midst of our confusion, is where the slogans of Atisha are most penetrating. The easy part is to familiarize ourselves with them. More challenging is to remember to apply them. To remember a slogan right in the midst of irritation—for example, “Always meditate on whatever provokes resentment”—might cause us to pause before acting out our resentment by saying something mean. Once we are familiar with it, a slogan like this will spontaneously pop into our mind and remind us to stay with the emotional energy rather than acting it out.
    The mind-training slogans present us with a challenge. When we are escaping the present moment with a habitual reaction, can we recall a slogan that might bring us back? Rather than spinning off, can we