55. Find freedom through investigation and examination

• This is the Seventeenth Slogan/Instruction of Point Seven, which consists of twenty-one instructions.
• Point Seven is “Guidelines for Mind Training”

[First] investigate which affliction is most dominant in your mind and earnestly apply its specific antidote, striving hard to subdue the affliction. Then analyze the way deluded mental projections arise in relation to the objects that act as their bases. By applying the antidotes, you reduce the force of the afflictions or prevent their arising. By repeatedly thinking “From here on I will never allow my mindstream to be tainted by these afflictions,” you cultivate familiarity with the protective armor for the future. Thus, with these twin methods for applying antidotes to past and future [afflictions], strive diligently to eliminate the afflictions.

“A Commentary on the “Seven-Point Mind Training” by Sé Chilbu Chökyi Gyaltsen (1121– 89), in Mind Training: The Great Collection translated by Thupten Jinpa

Portrait of Phagmo Drupa Dorje Gyalpo (1110-1170), 1200s. Central Tibet. Gilt bronze with gold, silver, copper, turquoise, lapis, and coral inlay; overall: 13.5 x 12 x 8.5 cm (5 5/16 x 4 3/4 x 3 3/8 in.); base: 8 x 19 x 14 cm (3 1/8 x 7 1/2 x 5 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art