This slogan means that you should give up any possibilities of becoming the greatest person in the world by means of your training. In particular, you may quite impatiently expect that because of lojong practice you will become a better person. You may be hoping that you will be invited to more little clubs and gatherings by your protgs or friends, who are impressed with you. The point is that you have to give up any such possibility; otherwise, you could become an egomaniac. In other words, it is too early for you to collect disciples.

Working with the slogans does not mean looking for temporary revelation or trying to achieve something by doing smart little things that have managed to quell people's problems in the past. You may have become a great speaker... or a great psychologist who has managed to conquer other people's neuroses or a great literary figure who has written several books... Such things are somewhat based on relating with reality... But you want to subjugate the world in your own particular style, however subtle of sneaky it may be.

By doing the same kind of trick, you hope to attain enlightenment. You have tuned in to a professional approach and become a professional achiever. So there is the possibility that you might approach practice in the same way, thinking that you can actually con the Buddha mind within yourself and sneakily attain enlightenment,

From TRAINING THE MIND by Chgyam Trungpa, 1993 by Diana Mukpo.
Published by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc., Boston.