ESSENTIAL MIND TRAINING is the first publication in a new series called Tibetan Classics, which presents accessible soft-cover editions of translations of seminal Tibetan Buddhist works excerpted from the larger, hardcover volumes of The Library of Tibetan Classics. The original volume from which this particular anthology is drawn is Mind Training: The Great Collection, which I had the privilege to translate into English. Mind training, or lojong, is a method for transforming our habitual self-focus into a more compassionate and altruistic way of life, and it gives me great joy to be able to help present this cherished practice to a wider audience.
This selection of eighteen essential texts of the mind training tradition is accompanied by an essay in the form of an introduction, short explanations for each section of the book, explanatory endnotes, as well a glossary to assist the reader with key terms. All of these seek to provide useful context—about authorship, central themes, and historical background—to allow the reader to engage with the texts in a deeper and more meaningful way.
I would like to express my deep gratitude, first and foremost, to my two teachers, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, for being such a shining examplar of the Tibetan tradition, and Kyabjé Zemé Rinpoché, for embodying the spirit of Tibetan mind training teachings and introducing me to its wonderful world. My heartfelt thanks also go out to Barry J. Hershey, Connie Hershey, and the Hershey Family Foundation, whose support enabled me to undertake the translation of the texts in this volume. I also want to thank Pierre and Pamela Omidyar, who, through a special grant, allowed me to develop this particular volume for a general readership.
Let me also take this opportunity to offer profound thanks to Nita Ing and the Ing Foundation and Eric Colombel and the Tsadra Foundation for their ongoing support of translating multiple volumes from The Library of Tibetan Classics. I would also like to thank David Kittelstrom, our longtime editor at Wisdom Publications on the classics series, whose incisive editing always makes my English look better than it actually is; Tim McNeill and his team at Wisdom Publications, for their dedication to excellence; and last but not least my wife Sophie Boyer Langri, for her unwavering support and patience in the face of my never-ending work related to classical Tibetan culture.
Thupten Jinpa
Montreal, 2011