Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. A blunt practical question anchors this 49-minute session: should a meditator stay on one Lamrim topic until fully realized, or move on? Khensur Rinpoche answers that planting latencies across the whole path matters more — and that later topics reinforce earlier ones. He then distinguishes reflecting from analytic meditation, explaining how wisdom identifies an object while mindfulness holds that identification so it is not forgotten. The main focus is the four close establishments of mindfulness: applying impermanence, dissatisfactoriness, emptiness, and selflessness to the body. A striking historical note closes the discussion — monks who meditated too intensely on the body’s impurity sometimes developed intentions to end their lives, which is why the Buddha taught this to cut attachment, not generate despair. Suited to practitioners engaged in insight retreat.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 07 IR 1990-10-07.mp3
UUID: 81c3114a-ceb9-4774-931d-9078707e26dd
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Insight Retreat (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1990-10-07
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 49.0 minutes
Words: ~2,280
To be incurred in this way of meditating. And then it’s probably best if you were to proceed to meditate on the first to whatever you were able and then move on without trying to realize it completely to the second. And then you would at least be planting latencies with respect to meditating on on on all of these. And then in the future due to the power of those latencies one could come to an understanding of these very quickly. So you know it’s it’s difficult for us to gain realizations but we can implant the latencies you know that even if we don’t realize these qualities in this life by planting the seeds realization through covering the various objects of meditation we we will be able to understand them in the future.
But additionally, in intermediate, one’s contemplation of impermanence will benefit one’s understanding of suffering. And one’s understanding of suffering will benefit one’s understanding of impermanence. So it would be to in this case of impermanence and dissatisfaction to to meditate both of them. For example, in in meditating the graduated path to awakening if one were own one were to stay on the initial topic without ever until one realized it without ever passing to the to the subsequent topics then if it could you could spend this life it wouldn’t it would be one would not have implanted any latencies with respect to the understanding of later topics. And in this way, one could waste one’s life and not having implanted these latencies.
So those who are expert in the ways of practice are continually seeking to meditate on the complete path of awakening. Therefore, at least they are implanting the latencies for future understandings of the complete path. And not only that, but the meditating on the meditating on the the latter topics benefits one’s understanding of former topics. This is that former topics will benefit one’s understanding of the latter topics. Of the other four, which Okay.
Let’s see. The the So, what the meaning of that phrase here is where it says phenomena being unapprehensible is that which is unapprehended is the true existence of phenomena. The true existence of phenomena is not apprehended. So, this is what the phenomena of being non truly existent is apprehended. Its true existence is not apprehended.
True existence is unapprehendable. The hearers do not meditate on emptiness. So this explanation is given in terms of the Autonomy Middle Way school and not the Consequentialist Middle Way school. This explanation is given in terms of the Autonomy Middle Way school and not the Consequentialist Middle Way school. So I was just asking, you know, we use it.
We use the these three activities of listening, reflecting and meditating. What is the difference between reflecting and analytic meditation? And which I said is the same. And here, what is meant by meditation in this threefold activity is having developed meditative concentration. And then this would be stabilized meditation.
So in there and and listening to the explanation on the on the four four closed establishments of mindfulness. These are the four closest elements of mindfulness that these are what are to be meditated on objects of observation these are the characteristics which have to be meditated in relationship to them and there and when you hear this then there arises a wisdom arising from hearing listening. So then when you when you sit there and you’re you’re thinking about what you heard, this is this the way that this is this, and you make this using your intellect, various reasonings, trying to understand explanation. This this is what you’re doing is contemplation. This this threefold activities or or reflection, and out of this comes the wisdom rising from reflection.
And then if you’ve if you’ve developed if you’ve accomplished calm abiding and through this process of reflecting, you come to reflecting through this examining the object using various reasonings you come to a conclusion then you you cause the mind to buy single pointedly upon that conclusion and this would be meditation and now this rises the wisdom arising from meditation so we have to proceed through these these three activities the order of these three activities of listening reflecting and meditating So, your experience of the pain in your knee is a product of previous karma that you’ve created, but is not definite as to how you created that particular karma. It could have come out of attachment to your body. It could have come out of becoming angry at someone. It could have arisen out of ignorance. So it’s not definite what was the motivating force for the creation of that karma.
If I were a Buddha and you asked me that question, I could tell exactly you did to create the karma to be the experience and what you’re experiencing now. If were to ask a Buddha, he could tell you. To the pain? So there’s one meditation you can make use of. You just think to yourself how terrible the pain is.
I can’t stand this pain. I should go to the doctor and get some medicine for it. Another way you could look at your pain would be that understanding that the pain you’re now experiencing is a result of negative karma that you created in the past. And by experiencing that pain now, you are purifying that latent the karmic latencies, which could have caused you to be reborn in hell. So it’s wonderful that all you have to do is go through this slight suffering and to instead of going to hell.
And this will make you happier. So the great Kadampa master Atisha, he said that suffering is like a broom. It sweeps away all of the dirt and it purifies us. And that is to say we’ve been purified all of our negativities through going through the process of suffering. So just as a room as a broom cleans a room, likewise, our suffering cleans out all our negative karma.
I must, for the sake of all sentient beings, in order to free them from suffering and to lead them to happiness, to eliminate all my various faults, and bring the consummation to all my excellent qualities, must attain Buddhahood. The kind hearted motivation for that in order to achieve that end, I must listen well to the great vehicle teachings on the four close establishments of mindfulness in order that I might be able to meditate on them and practice them. I want to spend the next five minutes developing an awakening heart to develop such a motivation. As it states in his text, the Differentiation of the Middle and the Extremes. Because the body is the appropriate dissatisfactory, because the feelings are the cause of craving, because the mind is the ground, and because the path is the source of nonobservation, non-obscuration, one is led to the truths.
Therefore, meditate upon the four close establishments of mindfulness. So we have finished the discussion of the the observed object and the the common manner and the exclusive manner of meditating on the four close establishments of mindfulness. So here, we’re now going to discuss the the reasons for the meditation necessity. That is say what are the benefits for to be derived from meditating in this way, and this is the citing the the the quotation by Maitreya. So, initially we said that according to Vasubandhu that the four close establishments of mindfulness are wisdom and are classified as wisdom and mindfulness. And in terms of applying these two characteristics of specific and general characteristics to the body, it is the wisdom which examines the body in terms of the specific characteristics and then examines in terms of the general characteristics.
Function of wisdom is to is to examine and know the nature of of its object. And it is the the function of mindfulness to not forget what has been identified by the mind, identified by wisdom. The wisdom performs a function of investigating and identifying the nature of the object, and then mindfulness does not allow the understanding or the identification to be lost. It holds this understanding in the mind. It’s a factor of remembering.
It is able to it recalls, brings back to mind again and again the the understanding which has been brought about by wisdom. And this is the the sense of the meaning of the four close establishments of mindfulness. If if if mindfulness does not hold what has been understood, then it will be forgotten. And therefore, what has been understood is of no benefit. For example, if one were to, by applying wisdom, understand emptiness without the familiarizing process that is with that understanding through the force of one’s mindfulness of what has already been understood, then one will simply forget what one has understood and one has gone through a lot of difficulty for nothing.
So by by means of So the four close establishments of mindfulness initially employs a wisdom which functions to examine the object. For example, in terms of the body, examining it as to its impermanence, its dissatisfactoriness, that is empty, and selflessness. When it has ascertained these characteristics of the body, then the function of mindfulness is to hold this ascertainment in the mind to remember it. And then the process of meditation is a familiarization. Mindfulness functioning to hold what has been understood, and there is a familiarizing oneself with the realization.
And in this way, the level of consciousness is raised in its capacity, its power, and one’s practice goes well in this fashion. So, applying the four close establishments of mindfulness to the body, initially examines with wisdom the body in terms of its impermanence, understand that it is momentarily being produced and disintegrating. Understanding this nature of the body. Additionally, one would look at the body in terms of being dissatisfactory, examining for that quality, understanding that it is by its very nature, it is of the nature of suffering or dissatisfactoriness. Going on to look at it in terms of being empty and selfless, these four general characteristics.
Then arising out of that, one will look upon the body as a prison and as being in the nature of suffering and develop the intention to be liberated from such a type of body. Out of applying these four general characteristics to the body, examining the body in terms of them, one will see that the body is, is a dissatisfactory, a thing which is dissatisfactory. And one will develop an intention to be free from it. That is the, I will, I, I, I, one will develop the attitude, the orientation to turn away from again taking such a type of body because it is a dissatisfactory thing. What we mean by it is a thing which is dissatisfactory that we will we will begin to understand that the body is a source of creation of suffering, that is the basis for the generation of suffering.
But not only that, but it is by dissatisfactory, it means it has a defect. I was trying to think of words for this. Defective or disorder such that it is unserviceable in the practice of Dharma. It serves as a obstruction to our practice of Dharma. It obstructs the liking for engaging in the practice of Dharma.
It is unserviceable in the pursuit of Dharma, and therefore seeing this, one develops intention to be liberated from it or to abandon it. So, you know, to if we’re talking about the the nature of the body previously ancient time, there were a great number of meditators who meditate in the closed establishment of mindfulness and this large congregation of monks. They had really deprived, decrepit bodies. And many of them out of this, there arose intention to commit suicide. On the other hand, we like our bodies a lot.
And I think if we were to talk about it’s all its drawbacks, you wouldn’t like it. If yeah. Anyway, by the way, example, if if you were if you were if you were if you were up to up to your chin if you were up to your chin in a pile of shit, you wouldn’t be able to bear that. You would think, well, I’d rather kill myself than go than stay here. It’s definite that if you know what to say of months and years, if you had to if you had to contemplate in that being in that situation for even a day, you’d think about killing yourself.
So that’s so there are you know, we we eat food, having eaten the food and before it’s defecated, it it had has turned into excrement within ourselves. And that excrement is within ourselves. We were to think well on actual nature of the body, we would we We would come to the conclusion that it’s even dirtier than what that situation that we described previously. But I won’t talk about it because you don’t like it. So in many of the great masters such as Śāntideva and Nāgārjuna and his Precious Garland talk about the the quality of the body.
And also it’s mentioned in these in the various sutras on the closed establishments of mindfulness. And out of this, previously, many practitioners would commit suicide. So some of the monks. So the reason that the Buddha taught this was in order that to help us to cut our attachment and which out of which we create karma and perpetuate cyclic existence.