Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Khensur Rinpoche opens this inaugural 59-minute teaching at Buddha House with a single verse the Buddha gave to summarise all his teaching: never commit wrong, amass virtue, completely subdue the mind. He explains how happiness and suffering each arise from causes, then introduces the Dalai Lama’s Opening the Eye of New Awareness through a headache example — a person without mental training adds mental anguish on top of physical pain, while a practitioner does not. He locates the twentieth century within a thousand-year arc of Śākyamūni’s teachings, calling it the “phase of ethics.” The talk then previews the study of mind (Lorig), defining consciousness as “clear and knowing” through a mirror analogy and carefully distinguishing mere reflection from the mind’s active movement toward its object. An accessible entry point for students new to either text.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01 Inaugural Teaching.mp3
UUID: 0755db62-8970-47bf-b84e-9ef980de55a6
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Inaugural Teaching (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1988 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 58.9 minutes
Words: ~3,410
Rinpoche is very happy that we’re gathered here together to make an offering ceremony. So having received a letter of invitation from Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Lama Buddhendra, and then Jampa Gendun having arrived at Sera Monastery to personally invite Rinpoche, he was very happy to come and he’s very happy to be here and meeting you and that you’ve been able to come together. Rinpoche has been here for a few days now and during this period that we’ve had various meditation sessions. For example, Tenjur meditation sessions and the various other practices that we’ve been engaged in. And that he appreciates this very much and he’s very happy when he sees this.
So we’re going to begin a program of teaching here at Buddha House and among the teachings that will be given are the Opening the Eye of New Awareness by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and a text on the study of mind, awareness and knowledge, and the Patience Chapter from Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds. And tonight we’re just going to give like a preliminary to these two texts which will be taught in the evenings. That is opening of the eye of new awareness and the study of mind. So we’re just going to give a very rough introduction to these two texts. So in the beginning, it’s necessary that we set a proper motivation.
If we have good motivation, then our listening to the dharma will be of great benefit. We should develop a kind heart as our motivation. Now what exactly is motivation in developing this kind heart? We should seek that we’re going to try to develop the intention that we’re going to listen to this this teaching in order to benefit all sentient beings. That that all sentient beings without exception that we may able to bring them pure peace and bliss.
From from Rinpoche’s side, he is going to make request to himself to to the lineage of the of the the lamas, the teachers, in the hopes that that his teaching of the Dharma will be of great benefit. So as a as a preliminary, Rinpoche is going to mention a verse by that the our teacher, the compassionate, the transcendental destroyer Buddha gave a very a single verse that he gave which sums up all his teachings. So Rinpoche is going to, you know, briefly comment on this four line verse which was taught by the Buddha. In this four line verse he says that sums up his teaching saying, never commit the slightest wrong, amass a wealth of positive energy or virtue, and completely subdue your mind. This is the teaching of the Buddha.
So everywhere in the world, everyone in the various realms of existence, whether it’s the all the various types of migrants, migrators, all types of sentient beings, whether they’re hell beings or hungry ghosts, all the various types. They all they all want happiness and none want to suffer. They’re all exactly the same. But the problem is that even though all sentient beings want happiness and don’t want suffering, when we ask we ask, what where does happiness come from, and where does suffering come from? So when we compare amongst all the various types of migrators, We as human beings have, you know, we engage in various activities.
We engage in, we have, we’re intelligent, we have, you know, various types of understandings. These are exceptional qualities which set us apart from the rest of the various types of migrators such as hell beings and hungry ghosts. So even amongst human beings, there are various types. There there are there are those who understand the causes of happiness and those who not do not understand the causes of happiness. There are those who understand the causes of suffering and those who do not understand the causes of suffering.
So there are some people who think that who in trying to gain the happiness that they’re seeking engage in great action such as killing and harming others. But in fact, these are not this is not the causes of happiness. And those who, in striving for happiness, for example, the the various in order to gain the the marvels of this life, all the wealth, etcetera, make make a great deal of effort in gathering together material wealth, for example. Though this will this will bring some slight happiness in this life, it’s of a no benefit to the future life. So amongst amongst we who are Buddhist, we we have conviction in the law of cause and effect.
karma. So what this would mean is that happiness arises in dependence upon a cause, unhappiness arises in dependence upon a cause. So amongst those who are Buddhists, then we can as to what are the two types of causes, those which bring happiness and those which bring suffering, we can depend upon the teachings of Buddha. Without these teachings, they would be quite difficult to establish what are the actual causes for happiness and what are the causes of suffering. So what is this cause of suffering?
This is this is contained in this fir the first line of this verse in which it said, never commit the slightest wrong. If we look at the various wrong actions, unskillful actions are the actual causes of suffering. If we don’t want to suffer, then we have to forego engaging in these types of wrong act actions or unskillful actions. And likewise, the the cause of happiness are are the very skillful actions, positive actions. And therefore, in order to amass a wealth of positive energy, we this will be the cause of bringing us happiness.
So if though our negative actions, our unskillful actions are very powerful, are very strong presently, If if we begin to abandon them, begin to they will we can decrease them, their force of these negative actions, and eventually we can eliminate them altogether. So likewise though our happiness Positive actions are the cause of happiness, skillful actions. And though our The skillful actions that we engage in presently might be very minor. If we can simply increase them every day in various ways, for example, you know, meditating on emptiness or generating the awakening heart of bodhicitta, in doing this, then we can increase them more and more. And thereby, we’re going to not only be happy in this life, we’re going to be happy in the next life and the lives all the lives after that.
So in his text, the Opening of the Eye of New Awareness, His Holiness the Dalai Lama begins by talking about the difference between those who practice Dharma and those who do not. Those who train their minds and those who do not. And he gives the example of two people who you know, we’re just talking about happiness of this life with two people who both have a headache. So both of these people have a headache. Now with respect to the person who does not engage in the Dharma or does not engage in spiritual practices, he has a headache.
And he has a physical suffering. And then, in dependence upon his physical suffering, he might think, Oh my head, I have all these problems. I have this headache and he can’t stand this headache. So therefore, in not having a trained mind, he adds on top of his physical suffering a mental suffering. So he ends up with two types of suffering, both physical and mental suffering.
But for someone who practices the Dharma, who has trained their mind, then even when they have physical suffering such as a headache, think to themselves, well this headache, this suffering that we’re experiencing is, you know, I’ve created the cause in the past for this to be experiencing this present suffering and that was an unskillful action, non virtue. And in thinking this way that this has arisen in dependence upon non virtue in the past and now I’m suffering due to that fact, then such a practitioner would develop even a stronger conviction in the teachings of the Buddha and his teachings on law and cause and effect. And so though this person is undergoing physical suffering, he can still So this the person who has actually trained his mind, since his mind does not become distraught by his physical suffering, his mind is able to maintain a happy mind even while he is physically suffering. By maintaining a happy mind, due to the fact of this happy mind, this will lessen. This will influence his physical suffering and will lessen his physical suffering itself.
And actually, we can get rid of the physical suffering through keeping a happy mind. So for example, if someone if a person went out and committed a crime and and the police the police saw him. And they they came and they and they and they arrested him. And they and and they beat him. If he could say, oh, it doesn’t matter.
You know, what what they do to me. If he could keep that that state of mind, then he his mind would be you know, would not become he would not have to suffer mentally even though he was suffering physically. Do you understand what? So the the very first line in the text, His Holiness, the Dalai Lama pays homage to the final exalted wisdom thoroughly differentiating phenomena. So what is being paid homage to here is the exalted wisdom.
There’s the wisdom which is able to distinguish, you know, the various qualities of objects. This is this, this is that. This is dharma, this is not dharma. This type of wisdom in its most when it’s brought to full culmination, you know, it’s brought to its fullest extent, then this is personified by Mañjuśrī. And it’s here that His Holiness, the Dalai Lama is paying homage to Mañjuśrī.
So in explaining this this first this second line of the actual text where it says at the time of this twentieth century, the text goes on to say that in this in this world as we know it, there will in this era, there will come there will be one thousand universal teachers who will attain enlightenment at Bodh Gaya. So of these one thousand Buddha’s universal teachers of this era, four have already come. The fourth was Śākyamūni Buddha who attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya.
The fourth was Śākyamūni Buddha. So the teachings of the of Śākyamūni Buddha will last will remain in this world for five thousand years. So within this five thousand year period, there are ten periods of five hundred years. So amongst and within the teachings are the three higher trainings. The higher training is ethics, concentration, and wisdom.
So amongst these So of these ten five hundred years periods, five hundred five of these periods have already passed. So during the during the during the present five hundred year phase is difficult, the phase of ethics. The phase of ethics. This is the twenties so this in this twentieth century is the phase of ethics. So previously, the you know, though we have in the twentieth century progressed materially, we’ve advanced tech you know, our technology.
We we’ve developed in our technology. We have not developed in our inner qualities. So our material culture is as is advancing greatly. But but, you know, our our inner qualities of the mind are not. So the Dalai Lama as the the Dalai Lama says that we have to advance both, both our material material culture, but also our inner mental qualities.
So we all have you know, everyone has a mind. But amongst these amongst these minds, and there are various varieties of minds, various types of minds, there’s good there are good minds and and bad minds. So in order to develop to increase our skillful minds, positive nature of our minds, then it’s necessary to engage in the act activities of listening, reflecting, and meditating on the various teachings of the Dharma. So, you know, it’s necessary to listen to the various teachings on the Dharma to develop our minds. And, in the discourses that the Buddha gave, their various teachings, they’re quite vast and extensive.
And they’re, you know, hundreds of volumes and which are beyond our our present capacity. And therefore, His Holiness says that I’m going to take the essence of all the teachings, know, the voluminous teachings of the Buddha and write this text called opening the eye of new awareness. So there’s just a few words just to take a look at at the beginning of the text and we’re gonna you know, we’ll continue with the text in the teachings in the future. So now we’re going to talk a little bit about the study of mind. The actual, translation is awareness and knowledge.
So there exists a translation of the text that we’re going to be using awareness and knowledge in the study of mind. Rinpoche hopes that as we go along that you can, look at the text, look at the English translation of the text, then this will be a benefit. And then Rinpoche will expand on the various meanings which are presented. So to understand awareness and knowledge, have to understand we have to begin with two two things. That is, we have to understand the the, the nature of objects and the nature of subjects.
So generally, when we say objects, we’re talking about the various objects of use, the various objects around us in our environment. For example, the houses, food, clothing, etcetera. So the when we say use, that is the the know that which is that which is So the objects are that which are made use of, that which acts as an object of a user. And there are three types of subjects which make use of objects. The three types of subjects are beings.
I’m gonna use the word person. It’s much simpler. Persons, consciousnesses, and terms. So the the when we we’re talking about that which that which knows an object, we’re talking about these three types of subjects, persons, consciousnesses, and terms. So there so there there are two two subjects which know their objects.
There’s the the persons and the consciousnesses. And when we talk and in the discussion of awareness and knowledge, the main subject that we’re discussing is awareness. That is consciousnesses. So the text begins with is divide initially is divided into three parts, definitions, divisions, and the explanation of individual divisions. In the first, Knower.
A knower? Knower. So, you know, we can look around the room. We see many objects. We can see people.
We can see the house. We can see many things. That which is doing this thing is the knower. Do do all of you see the rose, the flower? Therefore, by because we see the flower, then we know we can understand that we know the flower.
There is a knower. So by by looking then we can see the flower and therefore we we say that we know the flower. If we were to close our eyes then we would not we would not be looking and we would not we couldn’t know the flower. So the the flower is the object and the the seer or the eye consciousness is the subject. So the the definition of consciousness is that which is clear and knowing.
Sometimes this word clear is also translated as luminous. That which is clear and knowing. So so there’s two parts to this definition. There’s the the term clear. Now what is meant here is that, for example, whatever is placed in front of a mirror arises within in the mirror.
If we place the mirror in front of you, then all of you would, for example, be able to see your face. That the that the this clarity exists. That this this ability for there to rise the the image within the mirror. And likewise, there’s the ability for there to rise the image within the mind or the or the consciousness. Yes.
Even though all the various you know, that we can all appear in the mirror, that is, the objects can appear in front of in the reflection in the mirror, but the mirror itself cannot go from its side and know the various objects. So therefore, the awareness is is not quite similar to a mirror. They they they’re similar only in the fact that the objects are able to appear both in the same way for a consciousness or for a mirror. But the mirror itself cannot know the objects. It cannot cannot go forward and move toward the object in order to understand the object.
Whereas consciousness is able to move toward the object and know the object. So, for example, if we take the flower, within the eye there’s a very extremely small subtle matter which is the eye sense faculty. It’s not the eye consciousness but the eye sense faculty. And this the the flower the image of the of the flower arises within the eye sense faculty and the consciousness knows that image that which is being reflected within this eye sense faculty. There’s the image which is being cast to the eye sense faculty and the eye consciousness knowing the image, the eye, the flower.
So in this definition we have clear and knowing, or luminous and knowing. So this, the first term denotes that the quality of the object being cast and appearing in the, being cast and making its appearance. And then from, and then knower, that is the knowing part, going forward and actually understanding what object is being cast. So there’s a movement from the object side produces an appearance. And then from awareness side there is a movement toward the appearance and there is a knowing of the appearance.
So this together makes a consciousness, produces a consciousness of that particular object. So this is the clear and knowing. It’s the trying to give understanding meaning and, you know, trying to get across the meaning of what it mean what it when it says when it defines this term as clear and knowing as as the definition of consciousness. So there are three terms. There’s the term awareness, knowing, and consciousness.
These three are mutually inclusive. They are synonymous. So when we say awareness, we mean simply the ability of any object as we explained in the example of a mirror, any object which is placed before a mirror, persons or whatever type of object is able to appear in that mirror, is able to arise in that mirror. Likewise, when we say awareness, is the quality of any object which is placed before for it able to arise within that arise as an appearance for that. When we say knower, we mean the the factor which which moves out toward the object and actually knows the object, understands the object.
And then when we say consciousness, we mean the discriminative quality of the mind which is able to discriminate this is this, this is that. The knower, the understander of these qualities, this discriminator is what we mean when we say consciousness. Though they have individual names, these three terms have the same meaning. For example, in English we use the word water. In Hindi they use the word pani.
And in Tibetan they use the word chew. Though these different terms, they all have the same meaning. They’re synonymous. Likewise, these three terms, awareness, knower, and consciousness, though they have distinct terms, they have the same meaning. You understand?
Yeah. Rinpoche has enjoyed himself very much and I think we’ll we’ll we’ll stop here for the day. So the study of mind is on when is it? Tuesday nights? Thursday nights.
Mind, which is, you know, which is another it’s the same subject. Awareness. The study of mind or awareness and knowledge, the actual translation is on Tuesday night? No. Thursday night.
Thursday night. It’s on Thursday night. Lorig. Awareness and knowledge is on Thursday night and the opening of the eye of new awareness is on Tuesday night. Don’t forget to return this to the home.
The wall. Then now we’re we’re dedicating the positive energy that we’ve created.