Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 45-minute teaching, Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen explores the bodhisattva path through the six perfections—the heart and mind of Buddhist awakening. He focuses on the fourth perfection, joyous effort, reframing it not as heavy-handed struggle but as cultivating genuine delight in virtue and helping others. The story of Geshe Chekawa, who prayed to be reborn in hell to serve suffering beings, exemplifies this approach. He then discusses concentration as a tool for insight rather than escapism, before turning to the sixth perfection: wisdom, specifically understanding emptiness—the absence of inherent existence—which liberates the mind and enables unlimited compassion. Throughout, he emphasizes that method and wisdom must work together as two wings: compassionate action and penetrating insight, and that authentic practice must grow organically from who we are.
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File: 11 H and M of A.mp3
UUID: 2b99613b-a64b-42ec-8ec7-39e293e660ba
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: The Heart and Mind of Awakening 1996 Jul-Sep (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1996 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.8 minutes
Words: ~6,144
It’s reorientating us, redirecting us. You know, I think it seems to be very much a part of the basis of Buddhist practice — this ongoing necessity to again and again determine what it is that we want and what is it that we don’t want. And in doing that determining, to create the causes for happiness, solving our problems, and ceasing to create those causes which are causing us a lot of problems in our life. It seems as if it’s just a moving away — clarifying for itself — and a tendency of the mind to move away from that which it sees as detrimental, that which it sees as problematic, difficult.
And seeing for oneself as clearly as possible what is it that brings us happiness, what works for ourselves, what makes us feel good about ourselves and brings meaning to our life. And the mind beginning to tend in that direction. You know, it’s been said — and I think there’s a great deal of truth to it — that we are to a great extent our habits. You know, these recurring compulsive patterns of our thinking and behaving. And to know who we are, we have to look at our habits, and to change who we are — beginning to change these overall patterns, the predominant tendencies of our life, and where they’re taking us.
So, you know, I think, you know, basically we have to change. In my own personal experience I, for some reason, had begun to see the obvious necessity of that more and more. And then we can’t — you know — if something isn’t working, then we have to begin to let go of it. We have to open, create the — like the inner ecology of mind whereby some opening of change is possible. You know, we have a self-righteousness about ourselves — that we know best, that by following our particular sets of beliefs, our ideas, our present worldview.
That we can still, even though it hasn’t worked up to now, get what we want out of our life. We hold on to that with a great persistence. You know, like dragging, breaking our nails trying to hold on to these ideas and beliefs. But, you know, it’s not to say that we have to put ourselves into some kind of ideological straitjacket or some kind of religious dogma and force ourselves through some kind of mental gymnastics into some kind of preconceived notions about how we should be acting and thinking. But I think it’s quite necessary to really see what is being said.
You know, perhaps the various religions of the world — they aren’t really trying to fool us. They aren’t trying simply to take advantage of us. If the basis of religion is compassion, and if that is the case, then perhaps they are trying in the most compassionate way possible to show us how to find a better life, in accordance with each of their distinctive worldviews and what they perceive the good life is all about. And the same holds true of Buddhism. It has a vast array of ideas and beliefs and systems of thinking and an overall worldview.
And beginning to, as sincerely as possible, look to see what is actually being said and how is it relevant to one’s own life. And try to see if it might work — to begin to adapt it in a relevant way to what is actually happening for yourself. Now we have to change, and this gives us a format to work with for change, something that we can actually do for ourselves in a very practical sense. Now we’ve been discussing the practices of a bodhisattva — the six perfections, the six transcendent practices.
And, you know, this is what a bodhisattva actually does. A bodhisattva — that hero with respect to awakening, with respect to enlightenment — having awakened their heart to all living beings, their central focus of their life is attaining Buddhahood for the benefit of all living beings. And they actually have to do something. You know, there are two levels to the awakened heart. There’s the level of aspiration — really wishing that it be so.
And this is quite a radical departure from most of our ways of thinking in terms of what we consider as most important. Generally it’s in terms of our own self-centered wants and needs and our own exaggerated self-concern which is the central focus of our life and absorbs all energy and time, everything that we are about. But this is really a radical transformation — refocusing on others, other-centeredness. And wanting to do something for them. And what can we do most?
Develop some skills in how to help them solve their problems. And the most skillful we call a Buddha. So if I can become a Buddha, then I can be of greatest optimum benefit for the sake of the greatest number of people. I can be all things to all people so that by some means I can help a few. And so really wishing — though it’s like a — it’s as rare as a star during the day, the appearance of a star during the day — we actually have to do something.
We have to begin to travel the path. So the bodhisattva takes up as a practical measure the six perfections or the six transcendent practices. And we’ve been discussing these and we talked about the first: generosity, and ethics, and tolerance. The fourth of the six perfections and the fourth of these transcendent practices is that of joyous effort, or something we can call endeavor. It goes beyond the notion of, you know, valiantly struggling against all the odds.
Obstinately seeing something through to the bitter end. The notion of diligently keeping our nose to the grindstone. This is kind of the conception that we will usually have, that we associate with the idea of effort and endeavor and perseverance. It’s rather heavy-handed and can be rather self-oppressive. It’s not to say that there may not be times when such a way of exerting ourselves might not be necessary.
To stoically see something through to the end in a dying struggle. But more — that’s not the intended notion behind this perfection. The intention is to generate the energy and the intention necessary to exert ourselves and to persevere, but to do so toward one, positive end, and secondly to delight in doing so. So there’s a great deal of difference, isn’t there? The practice of effort is learning to exert ourselves and to persevere in what we’re doing towards skillful ends and to enjoy doing so.
And to be able to transform efforts such that they’re seen as worthwhile. There’s a certain self-satisfaction that we’re able to derive from them. It’s not something that we do — if you consistently do something with a sense of discouragement, with a sense that it’s painful, then quite perhaps sanely your mind will begin to turn away. And if it’s simply prostrations, then there’s something lacking in your practice.
You know, we aren’t using our wisdom. Throughout there has to be some kind of discrimination about what we’re doing. We simply can’t do violence to ourselves in terms of our practice and in the directions that we make our effort. We actually have to develop the skill of, you know, liking to do virtue. You know, it was interesting.
I think there’s a phrase that Confucius said. He said, the rarest thing is someone who loves virtue. Then there’s no problem in directing our mind. You know, this is the idea that somehow we find great joy through our practice in exerting ourselves. You know, it’s the eagerness of effort that overcomes our procrastination, our indolence, our laziness, the habit of losing ourselves in distraction.
You know, something that you really enjoy doing — you don’t have to force yourself. You don’t have to talk yourself into it. You don’t have a laziness or a hesitation or keep putting it off, procrastinating around it. You know, there’s no self-defeating inadequacy about it. You know, for the bodhisattva, the joy associated with making effort is like the protective armor that they’re able to wear.
And though it’s hard to imagine — and I think it’s more than just figurative — going into the deepest hells for the sake of a living being. I mean, it’s hard to get, you know, whether hell actually exists or not. Perhaps it’s difficult enough to believe in that. But for an individual to actually joyfully take rebirth in hell so that — because of their real need to help these beings — it’s unimaginable.
But just because it’s unimaginable to ourselves with our present worldview doesn’t mean it’s not possible. In fact it is the case. There’s a story I think of one of the great Kadampa Geshes. And Kadampa Geshes were noted for their emphasis on the development of compassion and love and the simplicity of life and their emphasis on mind training, transforming their minds. And this one great Kadampa Geshe — this was a lineage that began with Atisha who reintroduced Buddhism into Tibet after it degenerated.
And it was a lineage which was continued by Tsongkhapa in the fourteenth century. And there was one great master by the name of Geshe Chekawa. And he was on his deathbed. And he was praying with sincere earnestness that he’d be reborn in the hells for the sake of other living beings. And his students who would gather around his deathbed.
And he really — you know, can you imagine — he really wanted to be born in hell. You know, he had that much compassion. He saw that so few people are born there for the sake of others that his life in such a situation would be tremendously worthwhile. So he wanted with all his heart to be born there. But as he was dying, he said to his students — this is my prayer — my prayers are not going to be answered. He didn’t go to hell. But he wanted to. And it’s like a paradox, isn’t it? It’s like — you know, I think Christianity says the last shall be first.
You know, if you’re willing to let others go before you, then you yourself will get there before them probably. It’s interesting that, just as a side comment, within the context of the awakened heart, bodhicitta, it’s said that there are three types. There’s kingly, orphan-like, and shepherd-like. And the kingly type of the bodhisattva says, well, I’ll go ahead — like a parade in which the king leads the way — and I’ll lead all living beings to awakening, to enlightenment. That’s one type of motivation, one type of seeing the goal of the journey of attaining Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings.
The other one is oarsman-like, where we’re all getting in the same boat and I’ll do the rowing and we’ll all get there together — that kind of notion. And then finally, there’s shepherd-like. And shepherd-like says he’s like an actual shepherd who lets the flock go first. You go first. I’ll bring up the rear, kind of idea.
And trying — all of you, I’m going to be the last one out. And all the rest proceed. And it’s said that it’s paradoxical, because the stronger one’s shepherd-like motivation to achieve awakening — that is, to help others achieve Buddhahood before oneself — the faster that you achieve Buddhahood. You know, it’s the notion that the last shall be first. The bodhisattva has a great exhilaration for working with others.
And this is part of their joyous effort. So and I think in all these practices we have to use our intelligence. I don’t think there’s any getting around it — to use our mind so that our practice somehow fits ourselves. It sort of organically grows out of who we are at present in terms of our values, in terms of what it is that we believe, in terms of what works for us. That it’s not something which we’re artificially placing upon ourselves, which doesn’t quite fit who we are, which we really can’t identify with.
And we’re just assuming, putting ourselves in some kind of straitjacket. I don’t think that way of practice will work very well, and for sure not very long. Perhaps, you know, our own basic sanity will express itself and we’ll give it up after some time and search for a more authentic way of expressing our spirituality and expressing our Buddha nature. So joyous effort. Trying to develop the training in endeavor towards skillful action, but finding a way to take joy in that.
So that it’s not something heavy-handed. It’s not a burden. You know, helping other people is no longer a burden. It’s something that you find inner satisfaction in, that you find worthwhile, that you take some kind of delight in. And the fifth of these six perfections: the transcendent practice of concentration.
So concentration here is included in what is called the category of calm abiding. And calm abiding means the abiding of the mind upon an inner skillful object, an inner object of observation of the mind. Abiding on that calmly. That is, calming the tendency of the mind to run outside. So that’s where the idea of calm abiding comes from.
Abiding on an inner skillful object. So one characteristic of it is a skillful object. This is not any object. Something which is of use to helping you on your spiritual path. And there’s a pacification of our natural tendency to become distracted — to our mind running about to the external objects, to the world around us.
So in such a state, the mind is effortlessly able to remain focused clearly upon whatever object it is placed upon for as long as one wishes and is accompanied by physical and mental bliss. So that sounds pretty good, I think. If you place the mind on any object, it remains there effortlessly, accompanied by mental and physical bliss, for however long you might wish — for hours and days. But, you know, there’s a real tendency — even at our level of practice — to make meditation, to make concentration, a form of escapism from our problems, as opposed to a means to help us to solve our problems. You know, it’s like — in a way perhaps more skillful — it’s just like indulging in alcohol, something just to numb ourselves, something just another means of spacing out, of distracting ourselves temporarily from our problems.
So the bodhisattva cultivates what’s called supramundane concentration. There are, you know, there’s no need to become technical about it — in general there are two types of concentrations. There’s the supramundane and mundane concentration. Mundane concentrations are able to temporarily suppress the disturbing factors in our mind.
If you can attain a very high degree of concentration your mind becomes very peaceful. It can become very blissful. You no longer know the problem — disturbing factors in your mind no longer manifesting. But in the end you haven’t really done anything for yourself. When you arise from your meditation, all your problems are still there.
And the causes of those problems are still there within your mind. Nothing really has changed. But in a supramundane concentration, it is used as a means whereby the disturbing factors within your mind are completely uprooted. The causes of our difficulty are eliminated from our mind altogether. So in this way, the bodhisattva practices concentration but not as a means of escapism, not as a means to avoid problems — like perhaps I and a lot of other people do — but as a means that sees concentration as an indispensable tool of the mind necessary for gaining penetrative insight, to empower the wisdom consciousness needed to work more skillfully in the world.
So meditation, or meditative concentration, this calm abiding — they are not ends in themselves. Sometimes some of you may be familiar with the various levels of concentrations in Buddhism — some of what they call the jhanas or jnanas. And they become more and more blissful, more and more peaceful. And they become pretty seductive, it’s said. And there’s a certain danger that you can sort of be sucked into these — they become all-absorbing in the bliss and peace which these states offer.
But in the end they’re seen as — they can become simply an obstruction, just another addiction to getting on with solving our problems. So then the sixth of the six perfections, the last of these six perfections. This is what — you know — like the primary work of the bodhisattva, what they do with their life and how they go about their day, the day in the life of the bodhisattva. The sixth of these six perfections. Maybe — it was on — maybe I’ll be on SBS pretty soon.
The day in the life. Wisdom. You know, the sixth of the six perfections is the transcendent practice of wisdom. So in general, you know, we usually think of wisdom — you know, like someone with a long beard and very wise and they say very unique kinds of things. Gee.
But we all have wisdom. It’s a function of mind, of our mind. And in general, wisdom is an analytic function of our mind. It’s the analytic faculty of the mind that probes into the deeper nature of things. That’s its kind of function.
That’s its quality. It tries to go beneath the superficial and look at things on a deeper level. Go beneath the superficial appearances and try to understand the deeper nature of things — to analyze. It’s the analytic function of mind. So basically, it’s said there are three types of wisdom. And there are many categories of wisdom.
But overall three categories of wisdom. The first is the wisdom of conventionality. So these are said to be the five sciences, and this is within a Buddhist context — five areas that we can have knowledge about, that we can have understanding about. The five sciences: medicine, art, logic, linguistics and grammar — knowing the nature of language — and then philosophy.
So, you know, these were areas that were studied in ancient times. These were called the five sciences. And then there’s a second category of wisdom which is the wisdom of understanding how to bring about the welfare of others, which is a very functional, very useful type of understanding. Now what is it that brings about happiness? What is it that brings about suffering?
What is to be avoided? What is to be practiced? So gaining some understanding about what it is that hinders you on your progress on the path and what it is that promotes your progress on the path. So this type of wisdom. And then finally, there’s the wisdom of understanding the ultimate.
And this is the wisdom of understanding emptiness — the most profound, the most far-reaching of all the wisdoms. This is what actually liberates us, liberates the mind from any problems whatsoever, and what actually is able to bring us to a state where we can be of greatest benefit to all living beings. The wisdom — this is — you know, in general when it talks about the perfection of wisdom, this is the wisdom that’s mainly being spoken of here. The wisdom understanding emptiness. The wisdom understanding the absence of inherent existence.
We’re going to — when we come to the third of the three principal aspects of the path, the awakened mind — go into this extensively, you know, really a great deal and doing it for a long period of time, looking at it from different points of view at different levels. It’s quite — you know — if the awakened heart, this of love and compassion, is the heart of Buddhism, then this wisdom, the wisdom of understanding emptiness, is the mind of Buddhism. It is the central focus in Buddhism. You know, without this wisdom, then all of the bodhisattva’s struggles, all of his efforts, his endeavors are simply — the bodhisattva ideal is just a sublime epic. The bodhisattva could never actually free anyone because no one could ever be freed without this wisdom of understanding emptiness.
You know, understanding how ignorance acts as the basis for all our problems, all our afflictive emotions, for all our difficulties — how all our recurring compulsive patterns are based upon the fact of ignorance, the misconception of the nature of ourselves, the I, and the things about us — based upon that. And without the wisdom to understand emptiness, the exact antidote to this ignorance, we can never free ourselves. We can never achieve liberation from our problems. We can only make the best of a difficult situation. You know, there would always be some type of suffering one way or another.
But it is fundamental to Buddhism that it is possible to eliminate the fundamental cause of our problem. I mean, it sounds absurd when you first hear it — that one could achieve a state such that you no longer could be disturbed, that you would no longer experience any dissatisfaction, frustration, disappointment, that you would experience only continual bliss and peace, and still remain in the world with others. Go about all of the relationships, all of the interacting with the world on an everyday level. And still whatever occurred outside of yourself would never disturb your internal peace. This is very much a part of the goal of Buddhism.
And when you begin to see the underlying logic, it becomes — there is a rationale around it and it becomes conceivable, it becomes feasible — and the bodhisattva believes in this and dedicates his or her life to this, to the achievement of Buddhahood, and that for the sake of all living beings. So through all of this, the bodhisattva is practicing these six perfections. The creative potential — by creative potential, you know, it’s my kind of term for what’s usually termed as merit. Merit.
It’s a little bit difficult to understand what it is. It’s like the force which keeps our momentum in a particular direction in a way. And it’s a kind of potency of mind which we’re able to develop and which keeps our mind tending — and I think tending is quite important — but keeps tending ourselves toward positive goals. The greater one’s creative potential, the faster our movement toward those goals will be. And along the way, the more supportive our conditions will be toward that end.
So the creative potential of this practice — of these first five perfections, these first five of these six transcendental practices: generosity, ethics, tolerance, joyous effort and concentration. These are what are called method. And then the sixth is the practice of wisdom — and that is called, strangely enough, wisdom. So our practice is a combination of method and wisdom. So the force of method — this creative potential — which sufficiently empowers the wisdom consciousness to remove all of the obstacles to realizing the totality of the potential of the mind.
You know, there are certain levels of obstruction which prevent us from realizing the fullest capacity of our mind. It is wisdom — wisdom is like the laser which cuts through these obstructions. There are various levels of obstruction but overall two levels of obstruction. You could condense them into two overall categories.
There are afflictive obstructions and knowledge obstructions. Afflictive obstructions prevent liberation — liberation from all of these recurring compulsive patterns, these dysfunctional patterns and pathologies of our minds. By removing the afflictive obstructions, we are free. We no longer suffer.
By removing the knowledge obstructions, we remove the final obstructions to omniscience, to becoming a complete, unsurpassable, perfect Buddha — you know, just like Śākyamūni Buddha of the past. There is no difference whatsoever. So these two work together. Wisdom removing ignorance, and then empowered by method — this creative potential — whereby to remove the final most subtle obstructions of the mind. So in turn, wisdom — method empowers wisdom, but wisdom also empowers method.
You know, by method, like practices of generosity, like giving. If through our wisdom we understand what is called the emptiness of the three spheres — the three spheres are the giver, the action of giving, and the recipient of our gift — and if we can begin to understand that, we can begin to see how a bodhisattva can actually raise the level of their practice such that they can give anything.
They can give up all of their possessions, all of their roots of virtue, even their own body. They can let it all go. And moreover, they can give it to limitless beings over a limitless period of time. You know, it sounds just like a romantic notion. You know, something which maybe isn’t practically possible.
But if we understand that, having practiced the perfection of wisdom, understanding that there is no truly existent giver, there is no truly existent giving, and there is no truly existent recipient of our gift — then through that wisdom, the method becomes limitless. The generosity becomes possible to be practiced in a limitless fashion over an unlimited period of time towards limitless living beings. I mean, it is possible. There is a rationale.
It’s practically possible. It could happen. It’s just not a matter of brainwashing ourselves into believing that this could be the case or that these people are just out of their minds. It’s not the case.
So it is a union of these two in our practice — method and wisdom. Method and wisdom which totally removes all the barriers obstructing the bodhisattva from achieving the goal of unsurpassed perfect complete awakening. And with that, the greatest ability to benefit others, which is the main concern of the bodhisattva. In a way, what we’re saying is this — method and wisdom.
Method essentially is altruistic activity. That is to say, various activities that we do out of compassion. That’s method. Wisdom is a certain understanding — an understanding of the nature of the I, the self. Okay?
Wisdom without method is bondage. Method without wisdom is bondage. Let’s just say — even if we don’t have wisdom on a very relevant, practical, simplistic level — even if we have great compassion, if we don’t have wisdom, we’re still not liberated. We need both. We need not only to gain in our intelligence, our analytic faculty, come to understand things in a deeper nature, but we also have to cultivate our loving-kindness — simply.
But having loving-kindness, even being a tremendously compassionate person in itself, is not sufficient to realize our totality. You know, we might sincerely wish to help but have no wisdom to actually in fact help. So one without the other is not sufficient. These two are likened to the two wings of a bird. We need understanding.
We need to develop our wisdom, and our skillful ability to help others — to see things at a deeper level than perhaps we normally operate at. On the other hand, we need to be loving. We need to be kind, caring people. These are like — you know — likened to the two wings of a bird. You know, this is over and over again repeated within the context of Buddhism — that we need both to lead a balanced life.
We need not only to be self-assertive but we also need to be self-integrative. That autonomy and interdependence are complementary. And that we have to not only find an experience of peace for ourselves but find a way of relating skillfully with the world about us — finding some kind of balance between all of these possibilities for ourselves. There’s a quote which talks about wisdom and method.
On the vast wide-spreading wings of both the conventional method and the real wisdom, the king goose flies at the center point in the formation of the other geese — all beings spurred by the winds of virtue reaching to the farther shore of the ocean of victory. The Buddhist qualities. You know, the image is — I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a migration of geese or ducks in the V formation with, you know, a goose flying out in front. And this, you know, the leader of the flock is depending upon these two wings of method and wisdom. That is to say, an understanding of the nature of the way things are, but also a loving-kindness.
And through those two — the combination of those two — is able to lead others, is able to be a great benefit to others. And we can relate this to ourselves even at our level of practice. The more profound our wisdom, the more extensive we can be in terms of our acts of loving-kindness. That this will empower our loving-kindness. And the more our activities are motivated by compassion, motivated by caring, the more penetrating our wisdom will become.
So for the bodhisattva, the inner focus of his or her life, of our life, becomes Buddha. And I think it’s worthwhile to think about this — to give our life some kind of direction. I think it’s worthwhile because I think we will achieve much more over the course of our life. You know, it is — if, you know, like the proverbial ship without a rudder — sometimes it’s adrift in the ocean.
Sometimes it goes in the direction of where it might want to go. That is to say, it might experience some types of happiness. But it is very much haphazardly experienced — it comes and goes without much control. But if we have some kind of direction, if we begin to again and again orientate ourselves toward what in fact might be the ultimately good life for ourselves — which we’re calling a Buddha, you know, this happy, healthy, loving, sane human being — then we can begin to become authorities of our life.
We can regain some kind of control of our life and what we in fact experience. And we will eventually experience more and more of what it is that we want and less and less of what it is that we don’t — you know, taking control of our lives. But it begins by determining the direction of our lives. And so in this process — and this is the reorientation, redirecting ourselves — the inner focus of our life becomes Buddha. And we’re trying to form for ourselves what a Buddha might mean within our own limited vision, our own limited understanding, our limited conception of what is possible for ourselves and what we think we could achieve.
That’s Buddha. And continually orientating ourselves and doing more than simply wishing it would be so. Actually doing something. That is, going for refuge to the Dharma, which is practice — involving ourselves in the various trainings, the techniques — learning about the way things and our mind operate and the world about us. The way that we actualize Buddha in our life, the way that we can actually achieve what it is that we want, and actually helping ourselves in a good concrete practical fashion.
You know, it’s one of our — practice of Buddhism is like one tool that we have that we can make use of. You know, we have an array of tools. You know, we have our jobs, our relationships, our hobbies, these different ways which we’re trying to make use of in different ways to get what we want, to create for ourselves a good life, however we might conceive of it. And Buddhism should play a part in that. It’s like — in a way — everything that we do and say and experience occurs within the context of the mind, and Buddhism is directly concerned with the mind.
So no matter what else we may be doing, you know, in terms of trying to provide for our material welfare or social welfare — all these other possibilities, these realms of concern — concerning ourselves with the mind itself and how we’re experiencing it, I think, is fundamental. You know? And it’s easy to overlook. It’s quite necessary. And this entire process occurs within the social context of the spiritual community, and those who assist us and who aid us in our practice, and we internally then do what we can in helping them along.
And again and again trying to raise the level of motivation is quite necessary. Another process of reorientation — to again and again try to go beyond our usual scope of concern. This total preoccupation with this I, I, I — my wants, my needs. This claustrophobic, self-suffocating approach to life, which is in fact self-defeating, which hasn’t gotten us much except for pain and frustration and disappointment, dissatisfaction — and trying as best we can to open up to another vision of how we could be in this world, another possible basis, a possible new worldview in which we might be able to operate in this world successfully. And that is to say, from the viewpoint of being wisely selfish.
That is to say, concerning ourselves more and more with others, as a real practical means to get more of what it is that we want for ourselves — in the mind. So the inner focus of life becomes Buddha, which we actualize — if we achieve it — by means of the Dharma, in the social context of the spiritual community. And we do this not just for ourselves, not just for our own — To the Buddha, the Dharma, and the supreme community, I go for refuge until awakening. Through the creative potential of my listening to the Dharma, may I achieve the state of the Buddha for the sake of all living beings.
To the Buddha, the Dharma, and the supreme community, I go for refuge until awakening. Through the creative potential of my listening to the Dharma, may I achieve the state of the Buddha for the sake of all living beings. To the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha community, I go for refuge until awakening. Through the creative potential of my listening to the Dharma, may I achieve the state of the Buddha for the sake of all living beings. The word is gone and it’s related to the word habit. Related to the word habit — habituate, accustomed.
So that’s what the word for meditation has a connotation of — becoming more familiar with productive, skillful states of mind, insights — accustoming, habituating. And I think it relates to my earlier remark that to a great degree we are our habits, and changing our habits and patterns of thinking and behaving — it’s quite necessary to keep going over again and again the same ideas, the same thinking. Not only to deepen that thinking, but to begin the process of integration and change. So we’re going to meditate on mindfulness of breathing.
And I thought at the toward the end of the session, we’ll just change the object of our mindfulness to that of the mind itself. We’ve done this before. You know, you might be counting and noting the breaths and then just simply stop counting but continue to note. Or if you’re not noting, note the breath. And knowing that you’re breathing in, emphasize this fact for yourself — what is it in fact that you’re aware of.
You’re aware of that you’re breathing in — and note it by a gentle noting in your mind: in. Knowing that you’re breathing out, noting out. And at the point, we’re going to concern ourselves only with the mental consciousness. So we’re going to focus upon the mental consciousness. Now this would comprise what? Feelings — pleasurable feelings, displeasurable feelings, various emotions — maybe sadness, happiness, boredom, all kinds of possibilities.
All these various mental gossip that’s going on in your mind, all the various images. So whatever that internal object might be, simply note: thinking. You know, we’re rather than discriminating, making distinctions — it’s all just thought, just thinking. If pictures come up, thinking. If thoughts come up, thinking. If feelings come up, thinking. If your mind wanders, bring it back into the mind itself, the mental consciousness. So we’re going to try to focus upon the —