Today Gen-la began teaching Kadam lojong, which is part of Kadam lamrim, based on Venerable Geshe-la’s book,The New Eight Steps to Happiness.

By relying on the practices of lojong, or training the mind, we can solve all our daily problems and complete the path to enlightenment.

Gen-la emphasized that these are not two different processes but one. We do not need to wait until we have solved our daily problems before we can progress towards enlightenment, rather by using lojong to solve our problems we are actually progressing towards enlightenment every day.

 

The essence of lojong is training our mind to think positively about everything, and especially about people and situations we normally find challenging, and in this way to transform what would otherwise be adversities into opportunities for spiritual development.

And the key to this is abandoning our self cherishing mind and replacing it with a mind that cherishes others.

In every respect this Festival is a demonstration of Kadam lojong in action. Nowhere do you see an unhappy face or hear an angry word. Through sincerely putting the lojong teachings into practice everyone here is contributing to an extraordinarily peaceful and harmonious atmosphere in which everyone is cherishing each other.

Simply by training their minds in meditation they are creating a pure world for everyone to enjoy.