can dissect or grasp. The more you look, the more
you find just a feeling of tenderness tinged with
some kind of sadness.
This sadness is not about somebody mistreating
us. This is inherent sadness, unconditioned sadness.
It has part of our birthright, a family heirloom. It’s
been called the genuine heart of sadness.
Sometimes we emphasize the compassionate as-
pect of our genuine heart, and this is called the rela-
tive part of bodhichitta. Sometimes we emphasize
the open, unfindable aspect of our heart, and this is
called the absolute, this genuine heart that is just
waiting to be discovered.
The first slogan of the seven points of mind train-
ing is “First, train in the preliminaries.” The pre-
liminaries are the basic meditation practice—benefi-
cial, supportive, warm-hearted, brilliant shamatha-
vipashyana practice. When we say, “First, train in the
preliminaries,” it’s not as if we first do shamatha-
vipashyana practice and then graduate to something
more advanced. Shamatha-vipashyana practice is not
only the earth that we stand on, it’s also the air we
breathe and the heart that beats inside us. Sha-
matha-vipashyana practice is the essence of all other
practices as well. So when we say, “First, train in the
preliminaries,” it simply means that without this
good base there’s nothing to build on. Without it we
couldn’t understand tonglen practice—which I’ll de-
No Big Deal 13