Mind Training

caycehowe
Jun 3
3 min read

Mind Training Is Heart Training: How to

Work with Resentment, Attachment, and the Illusion of Progress

By Cayce Howe

In a world overflowing with content, distractions, and emotional upheaval, the practice of mind training (Lojong) offers something radically different: not more information, but transformation.

Based on the ancient Tibetan teachings of Atisha, Lojong consists of 59 pithy slogans designed to cut through confusion and bring clarity, compassion, and resilience into everyday life. But to really benefit from these teachings, we need to approach them not as things to memorize, but as lenses to perceive reality—and ourselves—differently.

Mind and Heart Are Not Separate

In Tibetan Buddhism, mind and heart are the same word. So when we speak of mind training, we are also talking about heart training. The slogans aren’t just about improving cognition—they’re about cultivating tenderness, insight, and stability in the face of whatever arises.

The Core of the Practice: Cultivate and Abandon

Among the 59 slogans, we can categorize them roughly into two approaches:

38 are about cultivating: qualities like patience, mindfulness, generosity, or compassion.
21 are about abandoning: mental habits like blame, grasping, or hope for reward.

This reflects one of the most central teachings in all of Dharma:

“Abandon what is unwholesome. Cultivate what is wholesome.”

Everything else stems from this.

How to Practice in Real Time

Rather than trying to remember dozens of slogans at once, we can start simply by building awareness of the Five Hindrances:

Attachment/Craving
Aversion/Ill-will
Sloth/Torpor
Restlessness/Worry
Doubt

When any of these arise, they serve as red flags pointing us toward our edge—our growing edge. They don’t mean something’s gone wrong; they mean practice has begun.

At that edge, we can apply the antidotes: mindfulness, loving awareness, or curiosity. These are all part of the Seven Factors of Awakening:

Mindfulness
Investigation (curiosity)
Energy
Joy
Tranquility
Concentration
Equanimity

Each one is both a practice and a result. They’re innate qualities of awareness waiting to be uncovered—not invented, but revealed.

Slogan in Focus: “Always meditate on whatever provokes resentment.”

This is not about wallowing in pain. It’s about becoming deeply familiar with the internal knots that still bind us.

Resentment is not a sign of weakness—it’s a sign of attachment. A strong emotional charge points directly to where we’re clinging to identity, to being right, or to the illusion of separation. Resentment arises when something violates our mental model of how things should be.

When that arises, we can ask:

Who is being hurt?
What am I grasping for?
Is it real? Is it solid?

The closer we look, the more we begin to see that resentment is built on a story, and stories can be seen through.

Slogan in Focus: “Abandon any hope of fruition.”

This one strikes at the heart of modern spiritual materialism. It’s a reminder that the path is not a means to an end—it is the end.

There’s no enlightenment just around the corner. No final destination where we get a gold star and life stops hurting. That kind of thinking itself becomes an obstacle.

“You already are what you’re seeking.”

Let go of the spiritual finish line. Practice because it is freedom—not because it will lead to freedom.

Passionate Nonattachment: A Middle Way

The ideal isn’t numb detachment. It’s what I call passionate nonattachment—caring deeply, acting boldly, but not clinging to outcome. This is the essence of resiliency.

It’s the secret sauce of activism that doesn’t burn out, of relationships that don’t collapse under unmet expectations, and of spiritual practice that actually liberates.

Practice Over Study: Embodied Dharma

The teachings are not concepts to be stockpiled. They’re invitations to experience directly.

20% of the time, study the path.80% of the time, walk it.

You already know how to follow your breath. You already know how to send loving-kindness. The work now is to marinate in those practices—to rest in them until they become second nature.

Final Words: One Taste

Whether it's joy or rage, restlessness or stillness—each moment is a teacher. Each moment, if met fully, reveals the nature of mind.

And at the heart of it all is simplicity:

Come back.
Stay with it.
Let go.

Again and again.