Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 41-minute talk from 1984, John Landaw introduces the Buddhist approach to transforming suffering by establishing the foundational concepts of mind continuity, impermanence, and refuge. He argues that mind persists beyond physical death, using psychological examples—how we become different people across decades of a single lifetime—to make rebirth intelligible even to skeptics. From this foundation, he walks through the initial level of spiritual motivation: recognizing that suffering pervades cyclic existence and arises from delusions of mind; taking refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha; and restraining harmful actions of body, speech, and mind. He then shifts to the intermediate level, examining the illusory self-image that perpetually grasps for security and drives compulsive rebirth. Through analytical wisdom, practitioners uproot ego-clinging and allow the mind’s full potential—wisdom, compassion, clarity—to emerge naturally. He concludes by noting that even this peace is not final; genuine enlightenment requires cultivating compassion for all beings.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 02 Intro to Tantra Day 1 no date.mp3
UUID: 8c08879c-64d5-46d9-a793-29bed8c96de5
Teacher: John Landaw
Collection: Introduction to Tantra (John Landaw)
Date: 1984 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Words: ~4,411
So it’s as if this mind that we have is something which comes into contact, takes, you might say, takes different forms for its expression. But the forms themselves are impermanent. They are subject to birth, aging, and death. But the mind itself has its own continuity, existed before this present life, and will continue afterwards. Now, in courses in which we have a lot more time, quite a bit of time is placed into exploring this, because from my own experience I know that this is something big just to swallow, and it’s not good just to swallow it.
It’s good to analyze it, to have doubts about it, to work through the doubts. And this can take a very long amount of time to understand the continuity of the mind and the rebirth that it implies. My own experience, for instance, I studied rather intently for three years, the first three years in my study, and never gave any heed to these teachings. I listened to them, but I always assumed that they were referring to something else, and I always interpreted them in my own way. So whenever the teachers would talk about past lives and future lives, I would take it to mean past existences in this life and the future of this life.
And just on that level, there was still quite a lot of benefit to be received from the teachings, because the teachings still had such a core to me anyway, of psychological truth to them, that looking at them as applying only to the span of this life was still quite helpful. So it took me quite a long time to kind of accept the fact not accept, but to even begin to explore the nature of the mind so I could conceive that mind is something which comes before body and exists after body. So there’s no way of going through all the various points and arguments, And in fact, it may be irrelevant to many people here, because there are people who from childhood had a sense that this is true, had a very strong sense that this is not the first life they’ve lived, nor any sense that when the physical body dies, this will also mean an end to mind. So maybe just for the purposes here, we’ll accept it as a given, that mind has a beginningless and endless continuity to, but not accept it in the same way, in the sense that we accept that it’s true and that’s the end of the matter.
But accept it for any of us who still harbor doubts or uncertainties about this, accept it tentatively. And if we have difficulty accepting it, understanding it fully, then we can just use whatever knowledge we now have about the continuity of the mind and extrapolate from there, expand from that basis. If we can’t understand it from life to life, then try to understand it as a change in transformations occurring within this life itself. We can do that because whatever age we are now, it’s very possible to look upon ourselves when we were younger, let’s say when we were kids, or our forties, our teens years, or so forth, to look at that time and to think that was another life. That person, that person in the photograph, or the person who wrote that letter, which I just found, seems to be a different person, someone I can only vaguely remember, Someone who has some connection to me, but is not me.
Now I am something else. So on that level we can understand that as life goes on, even within one lifetime, we can experience this continuity of ever changing lifetimes. The child that we once were, and whoever it is that we are now, are not the same being. They are not identical. They may even appear to be strangers.
And yet, there is an undeniable continuity. The person that we are now owes a lot to what that kid underwent. In fact, we may find ourselves occasionally having mental pains arising now, which are very clearly which which very clearly have little to do with who we are now, and yet relate very, very strongly to some sort of significant or traumatic event that that child had twenty, thirty, forty years ago. So if we understand that, we can understand how mind is an ever changing continuity and that lifetimes follow one and the other, not randomly, but again out of the pattern of cause and effect, that causes established in one stage of life bear their fruit at future stages. In a sense, the mind is a bit like a self programming computer, that whatever gets printed into it at the moment shapes the functioning of that mind, of that computer in the future.
So if we look at it that way, if we’re able to embrace that sense of change and continuity, then death is just understood as one of the more drastic, one of the more dramatic moments of change, because it’s the it’s the moment in which the mind loses its connection with one form and sets up a series of activities to acquire another form, to replace it. But it doesn’t do so consciously, it doesn’t do so with choice, but it does it through the power of whatever type of activity has been cultivated previously during the life. So that if we live our life in a certain way, the type of body that we find to replace the one that we lost is appropriate to that type of living. So the mind that cultivates a lot of anger and jealousy finds a rebirth in a situation in a body which reflects that type of experience, finds a life in which experiences of pain outweigh those of pleasure. And the opposite is true for a mind which cultivates positive states.
The karmic energy, the wind that blows that mind from one life into another, the magnetic energy that draws it to its future parents, as it were, under the influence of positive states of mind, achieves positive states of rebirth. So death, the contemplation of death, sets up a certain urgency first to do something meaningful and internal about our life, and gives us a sense of urgency that whatever precious opportunity we now have can be easily lost. And the state of existence that we may be thrown into if we don’t clarify the workings of our mind may offer much less opportunity, much less scope for choice and for action than the opportunity we now have. And so there arises from this contemplation of death, from the contemplation of the preciousness and the rarity and the fragility of our present situation, there arises from this a determination to do what is known in Buddhism as taking refuge, to take refuge, to find something, some means to overcome, not merely whatever present dissatisfaction, suffering, and problems we may have, but to help ensure that we don’t experience those same problems and dissatisfactions in the future, to take refuge in something that can protect us against this.
Now, though the phrase take refuge comes from within a Buddhist context, it in fact is something that we’re doing all the time. It’s not something that’s new to us. But generally speaking, the things that we take refuge in, the things that we turn to for protection from suffering, are at best, as we talked about already, only temporary, and at worst are counterproductive. In other words, many of the things that we turn to with the hope of giving us happiness, in fact, only give us suffering. So a true refuge comes from a source which has already understood and experienced the enlightened potential of the mind, has experienced what the mind is like when it is unencumbered by the various delusions, and has the skill of presenting a pathway to achieving that ourselves.
So the teachings, the map, which indicates how we can transform our mind, that’s often referred to as Dharma, Dharma meaning that which holds us back from suffering, And the spiritual source from which it comes is referred to as Buddha or the enlightened mind, of which there are countless, though in this time in history, we’re living in the age of Śākyamūni Buddha, specifically, but there are countless other Buddhas in addition to him. And then Sangha. Sangha referring, if we speak about it in general terms, as the assembly or the group of like minded individuals. Not in the sense of all belonging to one religion or all belonging to one tradition, but like minded in the sense that these are the people who also are turning inwards and trying to tame their mind, and have achieved already some degree of clarity and some degree of peace. So that we, who are attempting to train our minds in a similar way, have these companions to turn to, have these aids along the path.
It’s a very lonely prospect to try to practice an internal Dharma, to set ourselves a goal of internal development, and to live wholly surrounded by people for whom their refuge, their Dharma, is nothing more than the objects of the senses: consumerism, entertainment, amusement, and the like. If we live our life wholly under the influence of such companions, then it’s very, very hard to make any kind of real progress, for we’re constantly being distracted from the internal job that we’ve set ourselves So we have this refuge in Buddhist terms, the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, but basically the source of the teachings, the teachings themselves, which are the actual refuge, and the assembly or the companions of those who have also undergone the training. And the commitment that arises from taking refuge in such objects, as opposed to taking just in external objects, the ordinary refuge. The commitment is to set a watch over our activities of body, speech, mind, to observe what it is that we’re doing now. And there’s several purposes for this.
The main purpose is that by setting a watch on what our body, speech, and mind is doing at the present moment, can judge what type of future, both within this life and after this life, we’re heading towards. So if we notice our activities are harsh and harmful and influenced, motivated by the various delusions and so forth, then we can see that engaging in such activities is only bringing us a future that we would prefer to avoid. And on the other hand, if we can restrain our body from its various negative actions, if we can restrain our speech so that our speech instead of being harsh is helpful and sweet, and most importantly, if we can help transform the mind, so that instead of habitually giving rise to anger and confusion and jealousy and doubt, it habitually gives rise to thoughts of benevolence, love, compassion, clarity, wisdom, and so forth, then by setting such a watch and performing such a transformation, we can prevent ourselves from experiencing unwanted suffering and dissatisfaction, not only during the remainder of this life, but also in future lives as well. So everything that’s been described up to this point comes under what’s called the initial level of motivation.
The initial level of motivation, the initial spiritual level of motivation, is one which sees that life has, to a greater or a lesser degree, elements of extreme dissatisfaction, suffering, the like, and understands as well, to some extent, that the type of experiences we have are dependent primarily on the nature of our mind, the quality of our mind, and not primarily upon external circumstances, only secondarily upon them. And realizing that time is running out to have the leisure to do something about the nature of our mind and the nature of our future experience by understanding impermanence and death, has the motivation then to take refuge in some inner guide and exerts effort to eliminate the negative harmful activities of body, speech, mind, to replace them with what is positive. So everything described up to that point is initial or beginning. The main focus is on oneself and one’s immediate future, and there is a certain element, how to say, a certain element, we might almost say, of fear or dread as part of motivation. In other words, it’s a mind which has tasted disappointment, has experienced dissatisfaction and problems, and has a very deep dread of experiencing more of it.
To put it very simply, it’s a mind which has really understood that there is pain in life and that pain hurts. That pain is something definitely to be avoided, whether it’s physical or mental. So, the type of path which is described on this initial level is largely a path of avoidance, avoiding that which contributes to pain, and then as a result of that, in a direction which stimulates experiences of happiness and well-being. But training just to this level isn’t enough Because by doing this, even though we can avoid the grosser experiences that our delusions can throw us into, the grosser experiences of pain and dissatisfaction. We notice that no matter where we are within the cycle of existence, from the lowest point all the way up to the highest point that was described earlier, the point of extreme sensual enjoyment.
Whatever state of comfort or well-being we achieve is only temporary. Whenever the energy which brought about those conditions exhaust themselves, whenever that energy is exhausted, then our condition in life changes. So we know from looking at our own situation, from looking at the situation of others, that status in life is never permanent. People can work their whole life to arrange all the proper circumstances, the circumstances most conducive for health and for happiness, and yet, because something inside is untamed, there is eventually a fall. There’s no permanent status.
So eventually, we move from the initial level of motivation, wishing to avoid obvious suffering and wishing to experience pleasure instead, to a state of mind which is determined to break free entirely from the entire cycle of conditioned existence, from this entire cycle of being compelled to take rebirth continually without choice from one state into another. Because we realize that no matter what state we achieve, it at best, it’s only temporary. And at worst, it can condition us to experience more harm, more suffering in the future. And so we look within to find what is it that compels us to remain stuck on this cycle of compulsive birth and rebirth. Whether we view that as a compulsive cycle seen just within this life or as a compulsive cycle which entails life after life.
And when we look closely, we find that the root source of this compulsive behavior is an image, a grasping that we have onto an image of self, an image of who and what I am. That it’s by holding on to this image of I, by attempting to serve it, attempting to protect it from what’s harmful, and to gain what is helpful and pleasurable for it, It is this compulsive grasping and holding on to this ego identity which is at the very hub of this continual relentless taking of one existence after another. And so we begin to explore the nature of this self grasping to discover, is this something which is an actual elementary part of my being, or is it just an image, just a confused projection of the mind having nothing to do with reality? Discovering what I’m thinking now about whether we should turn that back on so when we’re done, we’ll be ready. So this is a point that we have to get quite clear for ourselves, and it isn’t something that we can get clear in just one hour or one day or one year.
But the point here, the point being made here, is not that we don’t exist. It’s not that all the sense that we have of ourselves is totally fabricated, because we are here. That’s undeniable. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be this talking and listening and participating going on, because who would there be to do it? That’s not the point.
The point being made is that we carry around within ourselves a certain image of who we are, that because it doesn’t accord with reality, has this kind of compulsive, grasping nature to it. It’s something which is felt to be insecure. And as long as we maintain this fictional sense of who we are and of what we are, then to that extent, we will be out of sync with reality. We will be out of step with the way things actually exist. And as long as we remain out of step, then we remain insecure.
That we feel that we don’t know. We don’t know how to be happy and how to get rid of suffering. We don’t know who we are. We don’t know what the purpose of our life is. And there arises from that a tremendous sense of alienation and insecurity.
And from this insecurity comes a habitual grasping. It’s like we may be standing on the edge of a lookout, like a high cliff somewhere, enjoying the view, feeling quite safe, feeling quite happy, quite content to what we’re seeing. But if the rocks start to slide underneath us, the first thing we do is grasp, grasp onto something, something to hold us back from falling. Now mentally, we do this all the time. There’s a certain sense we have of ourselves, a certain fragile, insecure sense we have of who we are, and we’re continually grasping on things to give that sense of self a foundation.
So what we do is we start by identifying ourselves in a certain manner as I am such and such. I’m like this. I’m like that. That’s who I am. And we identify ourselves according to our needs, for instance.
I’m the kind of person who needs this. I can’t live without that and that and that. If I don’t have this and this in my life, then I can’t be happy. So we identify ourselves that way. Or we may identify ourselves in terms of certain qualities we have.
I’m a very strong person, I’m a very young looking person, I’m a very smart person, whatever. I’m a very fashionable person. I’m a very witted person. And then we, as a result of that identity, we have to grasp continually on to things that support. So if we think of ourselves as a very young looking person, that’s our image, that every time a wrinkle appears or the hair starts changing color, we have to grasp at something to make it look young again.
This is a gross example, but if we check our experiences, we do this all the time. If we have an image of ourselves being a certain way, then we can only stand to hear certain things. Anything which is a criticism of that way of being, anything which indicates that we’re not really what we are hoping to be, is something we just don’t want to hear. We want to shut our ears to it. Whereas all the praise and the flattering and so forth that help support this image, we love to hear.
We surround ourselves by people who will tell us those things. From this insecurity comes a continual busyness, a busyness to collect those things which support our identity and defend ourselves from things which threaten this identity, even though this identity isn’t necessarily something that we’ve clearly thought out. But somehow we’re identifying with only one element of the entire range of human behavior open to us, and we’re saying to ourselves, whether consciously or not, this is who I am. And then we have to rearrange our circumstances, external and internal, to conform with this image itself. Now this doesn’t mean that the image itself that we have has to be positive.
Often it’s not, often it’s quite negative. For instance, we take the example of people suffering from very, very severe inferiority complexes, or beyond that, people suffering from very, very severe cases of paranoia. When we check into their behavior and try to understand why they’re behaving in such a neurotic or perhaps psychotic way, doing such strange stereotypic behavior which seems so out of sync with reality, so out of sync that we classify them as crazy and maybe even tend to put them into mental institutions, or at least feel that that’s where they belong. When we check up deeply for the root cause, it’s because these people have a feeling of who it is that they are, that they’re somehow a bad person, a confused person, a limited person, someone who deserves to be punished, someone who doesn’t deserve to be happy, that at the core there is a very twisted self image. And it’s easier and more compelling to grasp and behave in such a way that supports this twisted image than to give up the image entirely.
Because giving up the image of our self is akin to suicide. Instinctively, on some very deep gut level, we would rather remain with what is familiar, even if it’s twisted, even if it obviously doesn’t work. We’d much rather remain with that because it’s familiar than give it up entirely. Give up that identity entirely, and exist on a level of full potential. Because we hate going from the known to the unknown.
And so there is at the core of our being this intense longing to preserve, to defend, to support a sense of self which we’ve become familiar with over a period of time, even though the sense of self is only a very, very limited edition of who we are and what we can be. So in a sense, through habituation, we imprison ourselves in self image. And instead of living life as it could be lived, in an entirely open and free manner, we live it on the basis of attempting to give security and support to this limited image of who and what we are. So on the second level, the intermediate level of motivation, the secondary level of spiritual development, we focus our attention on this sense of self and try to use a very concentrated analytical wisdom to see if this self reflects reality or if it is just a construction of the mind. And if we discover that it is nothing but an illusory concept, something that comes from a distorted view of the mind, then through this concentrated analytical piercing wisdom, then we uproot this sense of ego grasping entirely from the mind.
And so we change the focus of our life. Instead of magnetically being drawn to this petty image of self existing in this tiny corner of our heart, of our mind, and subordinating all of our activities to this point, instead of doing that, by eliminating that center, then our full potentials, this mirror like mind, this sun like mind, then is allowed to emerge from behind its coverings and radiate effortlessly outwards. So it’s not a case that we cease to exist by overcoming this image, rather we remove everything that constricts the full potential of the mind. So instead of wisdom, love, compassion, skill and so forth being something which has to struggle to come out from under this suffocating ego identity, those qualities of the mind become the identity. And so our center is changed from something egocentric to something which has no one limited center.
In the words of some philosopher, the circumference itself becomes the center. In other words, one’s mind is allowed to expand, to take in the whole of reality. And thus, the suffering, the dissatisfaction, the sense of being limited, and all of the problems that come from the delusions are removed right from the very root. And the mind enters into its state of peacefulness. Now just before I conclude for this morning, just a word to indicate that even this attainment, this attainment of peace and freedom from the sufferings coming from this egocentricity, Even such a freedom is not a final goal.
Actually, in my description, I overstated it a bit. Because by overcoming this egocentricity, while we can achieve a peace and a freedom for the mind, we are not actually activating the full potential of our being. And the reason is, is that up to this point, our sole focus has only been our self, our own problems, our own attainment of peace and happiness. In order to achieve a full expansion of the mind, it’s necessary to cultivate an attitude which takes in the welfare of other beings as well. To begin the process of turning the mind outwards in sympathy and compassion towards others.
Then, as we’ll talk about a little bit more, through the cultivation to these qualities, then not only do we achieve a state of peacefulness and a cessation of our own suffering, but a state of this sunlike enlightenment which is capable of bringing infinite benefit to others as well. So maybe now we can have a break for tea, and in a half an hour, which will be eleven forty, we can return for meditation session. Now, generally, the meditation session we have after lecture is pretty much an unguided meditation in which the various elements that were brought up in the lecture are perused and thought about. And but I thought that maybe this morning is I’ll return for this session, and we can meditate together, and then during it, I’ll just try to bring out or abbreviate a few of the points as a review of the lecture that we’ve had. But most of the time will be spent on our own quiet contemplation, And then later in the discussion group in the afternoon, then we can talk about it amongst ourselves and hammer out some of the points of difficulty or confusion.
Okay. We’re recording now. We should be recording. Okay. One, two, three, four.
What’s your name? Pudding Bin. Who? That’s it. .
One, two, We’ll keep testing. I’ll just take this over here. Testing. Some more. Testing.
Say some more.