Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. The elephant tied to a post — Geshe Pema Tsering uses this image to explain how awareness acts as the rope that keeps the mind from wandering during meditation, and it anchors the first half of this 45-minute session on calm abiding. He distinguishes placement meditation, which builds single-pointed focus on any chosen object, from analytical meditation, which dismantles attachment by examining what we actually project onto things we desire. A lively Q&A then covers: why a naturally “clear and knowing” mind gravitates toward negative habits (habituation, not inherent flaw); whether thinking about a person’s physical insides applies to family love (no — love returned for kindness is a valid mind, not desire); how we entered saṃsāra if the mind was always clear; and how motivation and dedication can steer positive karma toward liberation rather than merely higher rebirth.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 06 MP 2003 05 20.mp3
UUID: 878ca0d0-d586-4cee-b966-08787e3c4ab1
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: DB Mind and its potential (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2003-05-20
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.0 minutes
Words: ~3,257
Impermanence, our mind would be fixed on impermanence as an object of meditation, and then if our mind wandered from that object of meditation, then this little corner of our mind that was aware, our awareness, would then say, Wait a minute, you’ve gone, and then bring us back to our focus of meditation. And at the same time as we’re focusing on this, the majority of our mind is focusing on this objective meditation then another corner of our mind or another mental factor could then look into what it is we’re focusing on to develop understanding about our meditation, our meditation progression or the thing that it is we’re meditating on. Okay, so it would also be the same if we chose to meditate on bodhicitta, the idea of working towards enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. We get thought in our mind, and then we focus our concentration on that thought. So that’s like tying the elephant to the post.
The post is the mind, and the rope is our awareness that’s not letting us wander from that thought onto other thoughts. And then once we’ve focused on this thought and we’re not wandering, then our intelligence or our wisdom can penetrate this thought and also stop our mind from going to anything else. Once we’ve wandered, then we need our awareness to bring it back, but the wisdom acts as insight into what it is we’re meditating on and also stops us from actually going on to something else. This process of meditation is called calm abiding or śamatha meditation. When we can concentrate on the thing that we’re supposed to be concentrating on without our mind wandering, then that’s achieving calm abiding.
So the thing that we’re focusing on doesn’t necessarily have to be the thought of achieving enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings or anything conceptual like that. We can choose to meditate on a statue. We can choose to meditate on a flower. We can choose to meditate on anything that we can focus on stably. We can choose anything as an object of meditation, but the main point of this type of meditation is in order for us to achieve calm abiding so therefore by achieving calm abiding we’ve controlled our mind or we’re able to control our mind.
There’s two different types of meditation in Buddhism. There’s the analytical meditation and placement meditation. Now this process of placement meditation, this process of focusing on one object single pointedly is what’s called placement meditation and the main object of placement meditation is to develop calm abiding or śamatha in order to be in control of our minds. So once we’ve achieved this śamatha or this calm abiding state of mind, that means that we can concentrate on one single thing without having our mind wander from it for any length of time that we desire. So some people may do it for a complete day, for a whole day they can focus on one object.
You can do it for a day, you can do it for a month, you can do it for a year. Because then at this stage you have controlled your mind, you’re in complete control of what your mind’s doing So there’s nothing that will sway you from your focus of meditation. So the way also analytical meditation can help us to try and control or subdue our mind as well. The way that analytical meditation can help us to subdue our mind is that if we find our mind wandering after our desires or wandering away from our aversions or being generally propelled by our ignorance, we can use analytical meditation to look at whatever it is that we are so attracted or repulsed by and then we can see how it is impermanent and how it is actually only a cause for more suffering in the future and not a cause for ultimate happiness. So therefore we can diffuse or stop whether it’s our aversion or our attachment by this process of analytical meditation.
Analytical meditation can also help us to control our mind. So this can be the case if we find ourselves being very attached to a male or a female or a car. That was the option. Okay, so for example, an analytical meditation that we could use in order to stop us having this attachment would be what’s called a meditation on the ugliness or the non perfection of whatever it is that we are focusing on. So we could do these like meditate on the actual innards of the car or the person in order to understand that they aren’t as attractive as we are projecting onto them.
By doing this analytical meditation then we could stop our attachment to the object of our attachment and therefore we can control our minds in that way. So so what what we would do in this case was we we would think, okay. What is it exactly that I’m attracted to here? What is it exactly that that I feel, hooked to? And so we can look at it and think, okay, is this actually coming from the side of the object that I’m attached to or is it me projecting onto that object all these good qualities?
And so if we do this analysis then we can see that it’s actually mostly our projections because this thing isn’t going to stay perfect and it is in each moment disintegrating in fact. Therefore, we can pull our mind back from that attachment. So the way that we look at it and use analytical meditation to control our mind is that we’ve established that we may be projecting onto these objects instead of them actually having these good qualities coming from their side. So we’re projecting on instead of coming towards us. Then we can think, Okay, why am I seeing these things as having all these good qualities when they may not actually be inherent in the object?
Then we have to try and get our mind around the fact that they don’t exist the way that we think that they exist, and therefore because of our ignorance, we assume that they have qualities that they don’t. So we go through this analysis when we find these minds coming up or these consciousnesses or ways of thinking coming up in our mind stream. So we then understand that even if we get this thing that we are desiring after, even if we fulfill our desires, that that isn’t going to last. The happiness that we experience after that isn’t going to last forever. Sometimes it only lasts a couple of minutes, sometimes a day, sometimes a couple of years, but eventually at some stage the happiness we got from getting what we desired will fade away and we’ll be left with this like suffering that comes about from the fading away of the desire.
Otherwise on the other hand if it’s something that we don’t desire or someone stops us from having the thing that we desire, then we develop anger, isn’t a positive mind for us to have and also leads to suffering. If we keep analyzing it, then we also see that this thing that it is that we’re wanting, that we’re grasping after, if we look at it and we go, Okay, what is the thing I’m actually grasping after? Is it this bit of it or is it that bit of it? Then we actually see that it’s something that’s actually there. The thing that we’re grasping up is grasping after is made up of, different parts, and we can’t actually find the actual thing, the one thing that it is we’re grasping up grasping at.
For example, if we’re grasping after a person, if we actually think about it, that person is made up of skin and blood and bones and pus and all these things, and the actual well, if we take all those things apart, then the actual thing that we’re looking for isn’t there. The thing that we’re actually desiring isn’t actually in that person. It’s something that we’re projecting onto them because all that they really are is a combination of these elements. Once we’re doing these meditations and teachings, if we’re starting to understand how the mind of desire or aversion comes up in our mind stream, then we get a better understanding of how we can stop it. So if we’re going through this process and understanding that it’s actually our projections that we are desiring after and not an actual thing on outside of us then we have the ability to stop our mind from generating these thoughts because once they come up, then we can analyse them and let them go, and then eventually they don’t come up at all.
So in terms of when we are experiencing attachment and desire, analysis we should be doing is the opposite of that desire, the thing that will stop that desire coming about, the non desirous aspects of the thing that we desire. We should be focusing on them in order to stop the desire controlling our mind. Okay. So we’ve stopped there, and if anyone has any questions. Hard to develop a positive mind strength?
Why is it that our mind will naturally go towards the next bit if the true foundational mind is ultimately positive? Okay. Just to repeat the question, in case everyone didn’t hear it. If the true nature of our mind is clear and knowing and generally positive, why is it that we have to work so hard to do positive actions and to get a positive mind? Why does our mind naturally go towards negative things?
To do positive actions is because our mind is so accustomed and familiarized with negative actions. Our mind is so accustomed and familiarized with desire and hatred and anger and pride and all these things, that for us to actually go against the things we’re familiar with is difficult for us. So it comes down to what it is that we’re habituated with. And if we’re habituated with following our desires and our aversions, then it’s difficult for us to change our mind from that. Is that okay?
Yes. So So how did our mind get The reason that we say our mind is clear and knowing is because our mind knows what it sees or experiences. That’s why it’s clear and knowing. Our mind hasn’t had much experience of doing positive things. It naturally goes towards negative things, our desires and our aversions.
That’s why we have to work to, avert that. Think about their insides. I don’t know if everyone heard that, but just for the tape as well. A lot of the time we’re attracted to people, when we’re supposed to think about their insides, if we have feelings for our family and everything, obviously thinking about their insides isn’t going to help what we do then. Okay, so having loving feelings towards your family and everything isn’t something you necessarily want to abandon.
It’s a positive thing. We owe a great kindness, especially towards our parents and the people that have looked after us and our family for loving us. So therefore for loving back is not desire. It’s a positive thing. It’s a valid version of liking.
There’s a word that means like pramāna, valid cognition. It’s like a valid mind. It’s a valid way of thinking to be loving towards our family and our parents and our relatives. They’ve shown us kindness and we want to show them kindness. It’s also valid to have loving feelings towards Buddha and other spiritual teachers because they have shown us great kindness as well.
This isn’t something to be get rid of. Okay. So, yes, that is part of the way that we can see it is if they’re showing us kindness, but the real way that we can tell if a mind is valid or not, if it’s going to help us or not, is if it brings us happiness. We’re desiring someone or something, then that’s not going to bring us happiness because once we have it, that doesn’t make us happy. Right?
But if someone is showing us kindness and then we appreciate that and have love towards them for showing us kindness, then that’s going to bring us happiness. So that’s how we distinguish whether it’s a valid mind or not, it’s on the outcome of that mind. Yeah? Uh-huh. Okay.
So if the mind I didn’t repeat the last one either. If the mind is clear and knowing, how come we ended up in Samsāra, and what’s the guarantee if we attain nirvana that we won’t end up in Samsāra again? So the mind is in saṃsāra because it’s not trained. We haven’t trained our minds properly. Now the actual ignorant mind is also clear and knowing in its form, in that it knows, it doesn’t project onto something and it knows.
Yeah? The clear comes in, it doesn’t project and it knows what it experiences. So that’s where the definition clear and knowing comes from. So because we don’t see the true nature of reality, we’re in Samsāra and there has never been a time where we didn’t we did see the true nature of reality because even our ignorance is still called clear and knowing in that it doesn’t project, therefore it’s clear and it knows what it sees. What it sees is just wrong it doesn’t understand the true nature of reality so therefore it has mistaken conception, but it still knows that mistaken conception.
Therefore, it’s not that we fell into saṃsāra from clear and knowing. Our clear and knowing mind has a misconception and always has had misconception therefore is in saṃsāra. I only got the first question The reason that we don’t fall back into saṃsāra once we’ve attained nirvana is that the reason we’re in saṃsāra or cyclic existence is because we have afflictive emotions or emotions we don’t control. Once we get rid of them and their seeds, they don’t come back. Because they don’t come back, there’s no reason for us to take rebirth in saṃsāra again.
We take rebirth in saṃsāra because we have afflictive emotions or negative emotions and karma. The negative emotions create the karma so if we don’t have the negative emotions we don’t have karma and without either of those there is no reason to be born there’s no cause to be born in saṃsāra again. So if you take them away and they’re seeds you don’t regenerate them. They’re gone. You also generate positive power.
You actually generate positive power as well. That doesn’t that doesn’t fit. When you’re saying okay. Saying that you don’t fall back into because by the time you reach nirvana, actually have got rid of all the negative Mhmm. afflictions of the mind and karma.
Mhmm. But by that implication, it implies that all karma is negative, but we’ve talked about here that karma can always generate positive There’s three different types of karma. There’s negative karma, neutral karma, and positive karma. The thing we want to get rid of is the negative karma. Once we’ve abandoned negative karma, we’re no longer born in saṃsāra, but we don’t want to abandon positive karma.
karma that goes along with afflictive emotions is different to the karma that a Buddha or a person who has realized or achieved nirvana has because they only have positive karma. They have no negative karma. Or they only create positive karma. They don’t have any negative karma. Okay.
Mhmm. Oh, yeah. There’s no word in Tibetan for intuition, so I’ve got to try and think of another way to describe this. Okay, so the thing that we call intuition is actually a subtler aspect of our minds or a subtler aspect of our karma that means that we don’t get into situations that we think that may be negative. Wisdom is seeing the true nature of reality and that’s a different thing.
Intuition is like we usually deal with the grosser aspects of consciousness and of our karma, but intuition is the subtler aspects of that. But it’s different to what wisdom is. Yeah, sorry. I was I had to explain what intuition was. Yeah.
Getting back to that. Yeah. The question was if creating positive karma actually leads us to be reborn in higher realms or in positive states, and if we want to get out of saṃsāra instead of being reborn in higher states, then shouldn’t we be practicing some kind of neutral karma or neither good or bad, yeah? Is that something like it? Akarma means — oh, akarma.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Not actually neutral. It’s something that’s done in relationship to only Dharma.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. So Geshe-la said that so is a karma that’s related to Dharma only? Is is that what we should be practicing? Akarma is related to only self-realization.
So oh, yeah. So the the any action that we do, its outcome depends on the motivation and the dedication that we have with regards to that action. So if we do a positive action and we do before we think it before we do it, we think, may this be a cause for me to achieve liberation, may this be a cause for me to achieve Buddhahood, then that action becomes a cause to achieve liberation or Buddhahood. If we don’t think that before we do it, then it’s it’s a positive karma, but it’s not a it’s a cause for liberation or Buddhahood. So if if we want to do if we want to create positive karma that will lead us out of saṃsāra instead of instead of into the higher realms of saṃsāra, then we should do it with the motivation, the right motivation, and then have the right dedication after we’ve performed it by saying, may this be a cause for me to achieve liberation from suffering or may this be a cause for me to attain Buddhahood for all beings.
And then if we do this, then it doesn’t become a cause for us to achieve higher rebirth only. Yeah. Mhmm. Okay. I I gotta keep remembering to repeat everything for the tape.
Okay. So if we want to now I don’t even remember what the question is. So if we’re trying to help others, wouldn’t a good karma be that we just take on their suffering, yeah, instead of thinking that we go to a higher realm. Can’t we, yeah, can we best serve them by Okay.
By taking their place and taking their suffering. Yeah. So That idea of taking on other’s sufferings, of taking their place, is incredibly powerful and what’s called a Mahāyāna mind, the mind that has potential to become a Buddha. It’s not possible, but it’s a very powerful mind. It’s not possible for us to take on others’ suffering because they have created the causes and the conditions for it.
If it was possible, the Buddhas would do it for us. But it is an amazingly powerful mind to have that idea, and so we should try and cultivate the idea with as much strength as we can. Okay. So there’s an example in a text where someone actually does do what Geshe-la said they can’t.