Highly respected by thousands of students throughout the world, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche was one of the foremost poets, scholars, philosophers, and meditation masters of our time. Here he speaks frankly, drawing on his own life experience. Condensing the compassionate path to Buddhahood into practical instructions that use the circumstances of everyday life, Rinpoche presents the Seven-Point Mind Training—the very core of the entire Tibetan Buddhist practice.

Lojong teachings by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche in July and August 1990, during a month-long retreat in Dordogne, France. ( )

"Once, in one of his previous lifetimes, the Buddha was a universal monarch whose custom it was to give away his wealth without regret. He refused nothing to those who came to beg from him and his fame spread far and wide. One day, a wicked Brahmin beggar came before the king and addressed him saying, 'Great king, I am ugly to look upon, while you are very handsome; please give me your head.' And the king agreed. Now his queens and ministers had been afraid that he might do this, and making hundreds of heads out of gold, silver and precious stones, they offered them to the beggar.
"'Take these heads,' they pleaded, 'do not ask the king for his.'
"'Heads made of jewels are of no use to me,' the beggar replied, 'I want a human head.' And he refused to take them.
"Eventually they could no longer deter him from seeing the king.
"The king said to him, 'I have sons and daughters, queens and a kingdom, but no attachment do I have for any of them. I will give you my head at the foot of the tsambaka tree in the garden. If I can give you my head today, I shall have completed the Bodhisattva [a totally compassionate and wise being] act of giving my head for the thousandth time.'
"And so, at the foot of the tree, the king took off his clothes, tied his hair to a branch and cut off his head. At that moment, darkness covered the earth and from the sky came the sound of the gods weeping and lamenting, so loudly that even human beings could hear them. The queens, princes and ministers, all fell speechless to the ground. Then Indra, the lord of the gods, appeared and said, 'O king, you are a Bodhisattva and have even given away your head, but here I have the life-restoring ambrosia of the gods. Let me anoint you with it and bring you back to life.'
"Now the king was indeed a Bodhisattva and, even though his head had been cut off and sent away, his mind was still present and he replied that he had no need of Indra's life-restoring ambrosia, for he could replace his head simply by the force of his own prayers.
"Indra begged him to do so and the king said: 'If in all those thousand acts of giving my head away beneath the tsambaka tree there was nothing but the aim of benefiting others, unstained by any trace of self seeking - if I was without resentment or regret, then may my head be once again restored. But if regrets there were, or evil thoughts, or intentions not purely for the sake of others, then may my head remain cut off.' No sooner had the king said this than there appeared on his shoulders a new head identical to the first, which had been taken by the Brahmin. Then all the queens, princes and minister rejoiced and administered the kingdom in accordance with the Dharma." pp. 30-31