Lojong Slogan Practice

The slogans are organised under the Seven Points of mind training. The traditional way to practise them:

1. First, train in the preliminaries (Point One). The opening slogan is “First, train in the preliminaries” — ground yourself in the four reminders: the preciousness of human life, the certainty of death/impermanence, karma (actions have consequences), and the suffering inherent in samsara. (This is the contemplation that motivates the rest — see the dedicated preliminaries entry.)
2. Take the slogans into life, not just the cushion. Lojong is famously a post-meditation practice: the slogans are meant to be applied in real situations — the argument, the insult, the traffic, the illness — where the habit actually fires.
3. Use a slogan as an in-the-moment turn. When provoked, recall the relevant slogan and let it redirect the reaction. Worked examples of the named slogans: - “Drive all blames into one” — when you want to blame circumstances or others, turn instead to the one root: self-cherishing, the reflex of putting “me” first. Not self-hatred — dropping the blame-game itself. - “Be grateful to everyone” — treat everyone, especially the difficult people, as necessary teachers; without provocation there is nothing to train. - “Regard all dharmas as dreams” — meet experience as less fixed, less solid than it appears, loosening the grip of reactivity (this is one of the “absolute bodhicitta” slogans).
4. Live with one at a time. A common method (used in the modern slogan-a-day approach) is to take a single slogan for a day or a week, recalling it on waking, posting it where you’ll see it, and watching for chances to apply it.
5. Pair with tonglen. The slogan set is built around tonglen (taking and sending); the relative-bodhicitta slogans assume you also do the breath practice. (Sourcing note: the slogans and their seven-point arrangement are Chekawa’s, transmitting Atiśa’s lineage; the four preliminaries are the standard list. Slogan glosses are faithful summaries of the traditional commentaries, not novel interpretation.)

From Atiśa Dīpaṃkara Śrījñāna (982–1054), who brought the mind-training transmission to Tibet, founding the Kadam lineage’s emphasis on practical, everyday compassion. The 59 slogans were composed and organised into the Seven Points by Chekawa Yeshe Dorje (1101–1175), who reportedly practised them for twelve years and shared them widely after seeing their effect on hardened minds.

Widely taught in the West through Chögyam Trungpa (Training the Mind), Pema Chödrön (Start Where You Are), and B. Alan Wallace.

Affirmations / autosuggestion — short repeated statements to reshape attitude; lojong differs in being applied to provocation rather than recited in calm.,

• Stoic maxims (Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius) — pocket aphorisms recalled in adversity to reframe (“it’s not events but our judgements”); a very close structural cousin.
• Cognitive reappraisal (CBT) — deliberately reframing the meaning of a triggering event.
• Implementation intentions (“if-then plans”) — pre-set cue→response rules; a slogan is essentially a compassion if-then.
• Memento mori / examen — contemplative reminders carried into daily life.

Reciting on the cushion only. The whole point is in-life application; a slogan never tested against a real trigger does little.

• Misreading “drive all blames into one” as self-blame. It dismantles the blame-game (including self-attack), pointing at the mechanism of self-cherishing — not at your worthlessness.
• Collecting slogans intellectually. Knowing all 59 is not practising them; one slogan genuinely applied beats memorising the list.
• Skipping the preliminaries. Without the four reminders, the slogans lose their motivating ground and become mere mottos.
• Dropping the compassion frame. Lojong’s slogans are for cultivating bodhicitta; used only for personal calm they’re truncated (still useful, but less than designed).