## Metadata - Author: [[Traleg Kyabgon]] - Full Title: The Practice of Lojong - Category: #books ## Highlights - In my humble opinion, these teachings present a profound antidote to the rampant victim mentality that has become so prevalent in our times. Blaming others without taking any responsibility for our own actions has almost become a socially acceptable behavior. As all the great Mahayana masters, particularly the Kadampa ones, have emphasized, blaming others for our unhappiness only exacerbates our own misery. Such compulsive blaming is a form of entrapment that is not only self-perpetuating but that robs us of our power and free will. As I explain throughout this book, the practice of lojong is a kind of strength training for the mind, a practice that will make us feel less like a victim and more like the author or architect of our own life. By identifying ourselves as the victim, we give power to others, but when we refuse that role, we take the power back. ([Location 214](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AMPJ09U&location=214)) - Lojong really means training the mind to see things from a mountaintop rather than from the valley below. Through practicing lojong meditations we will be able to attain enough distance to make us understand the kind of mess we have gotten ourselves into and the torments these confusions inevitably bring. ([Location 273](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AMPJ09U&location=273)) - We might think that the act of blaming others releases us from unfair responsibility, but it really only disempowers us. We’ll have to spend our entire lives trying to stop other people from causing problems for us, something that realistically can never be done. ([Location 1390](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AMPJ09U&location=1390)) - To cover the earth with sheets of hide— Where could such amounts of skin be found? But simply wrap some leather around your feet, And it’s as if the whole earth had been covered! ([Location 1395](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AMPJ09U&location=1395)) - We’ll never gain insight into the real source of our suffering until we truly understand our existential condition. The ego always adopts some kind of defensive posture; however, this will guarantee a certain level of paranoia by always trying to determine whether a situation is for or against ([Location 1407](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AMPJ09U&location=1407)) - Thus the Mahayana teachings advise us that if somebody completely loses control, “blame the poison, not the person,” because the poison is what is driving him or her to that extreme behavior. If we understand this, we can cultivate a different perspective in the way we respond to others. We will cease to be provoked by their actions and stop thinking the worst or expecting the worst from other people, or we can at least give them the benefit of the doubt. ([Location 1419](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AMPJ09U&location=1419)) - Put simply, Buddhism makes the radical observation that there is no fixed, unchanging, singular, separately existing entity, and that applies to all phenomena, including the ego. ([Location 1432](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AMPJ09U&location=1432))