Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. A glass of water held steadily in the hand — tilt it one way and you have excitement, the other and you have laxity — is the central image Khensur Rinpoche uses in this 95-minute session to explain the interplay of mindfulness and introspection in calm-abiding practice. Working through Maitreya’s five faults and eight antidotes, he explains how mindfulness grips the meditation object while introspection watches for drift, and why equanimity must replace effortful application once the fault is resolved. He then introduces Maitreya’s nine mental abidings as a parallel framework, naming each stage from initial placement through to effortless equipoise, with the six powers and four mental engagements that carry a practitioner through them. A Q&A covers the causes of coarse and subtle laxity and excitement, their specific antidotes, and how physical and mental pliancy emerges through sustained practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 10 MM 1997 01 28.mp3
UUID: 55a44a53-61f8-4565-8b4a-dc2024a7e4bf
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Mahāmudrā 1996-97 (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1997-01-28
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 95.0 minutes
Words: ~4,974
O Mahāmudrā, we pray to the magnificent that our speech and your speech, father, that our mind and your mind, father, may become inseparably one. Alright, that According to a verse by Maitreya where he says, Laziness, forgetting the advice, laxity and excitement, non application, the application. These are asserted as the five faults. So we’ve been discussing the means of overcoming the five faults by applying the eight antidotes, and we discussed the first of these four antidotes, which are a means of abandoning the first of the five faults that are laziness. Now we’re going to go ahead and explain the remaining four faults which are abandoned by means of the four remaining antidotes.
So the first of these faults was that of laziness, and the second was that of forgetting the advice. And we’ve discussed that, but as been mentioned, this is to be understood as losing the object of meditation. In the case of where we take an image of a Buddha as our object of meditation, it would be losing the object of meditation, that is to say, losing the image of a Buddha. It is lost. And this is forgetting the advice, and therefore the means of overcoming this is through holding the image by means of mindfulness, so the application of mindfulness.
So if we forget the in forgetting the advice, the object of meditation is lost and therefore we are no longer meditating. So how are we to overcome this fault of forgetting the advice, we have to practice non forgetfulness. And this is developing the ability to abide upon single pointedly upon the object in a continuous fashion without losing the object. And in order to do that, we must develop the faculty of mindfulness. So it is necessary to strengthen our mindfulness to overcome the forgetting of the object in meditation.
So what is the method by whereby we can strengthen our mindfulness? First, the mind is placed upon the object of meditation and we determine not to forget the object. We hold the mind tightly to the object and place the mind in a continuous single pointed manner upon the object and developing a stability, a placement, and able to remain for a long duration upon the object. So additionally, we are to take to mind the object again and again. Literally, we are to think, we are to reflect upon the object again and again, or think of the object again and again.
Just as in the case in general where we think we’re going to forget something, we have the thought there’s danger of forgetting, and the way to not to forget is to bring it to mind again and again, to think about it again and again. Likewise here, we again and again place the mind in a single-minded manner upon the object, reconsidering it again and again and again. And through this will develop mindfulness, non forgetfulness, and stability upon the object. So supposing that we have in fact developed in our meditation to where we’re able to abide single pointedly upon the object that we’re developing in our mindfulness and able to hold the object in such a manner. Now we have to consider whether the faults of laxity and excitement are arising.
So in order to do this part of our mind begins to examine how we are in fact holding the object of our meditation, and this part which does the examining is the factor of introspection or awareness. I use the word introspection. Think alertness also translates as alertness. So mindfulness holds the object and whereas this factor of introspection examines whether thoughts in the way that we’re holding are arising, are excitement arising. Is excitement arising?
Is laxity arising? So the factor of introspection arises in dependence upon mindfulness. It is a result of mindfulness. If we’re able to abide upon the object well through the power of our mindfulness, we will develop as a result the factor of introspection or awareness. So if there is no mindfulness, there will be forgetfulness.
And with forgetfulness there can be no introspection. There can be no inspection of the object since we’ve lost the object. So the rising of introspection is dependent upon mindfulness. Without mindfulness we cannot develop introspection. Without the cause we cannot achieve the result.
If we lose the object of our meditation due to a lack of mindfulness, then we cannot develop an introspection. So it is necessary that if we cultivate mindfulness and able to hold the object of our meditation without losing it, then in dependence upon that, introspection will arise. Rinpoche was using an analogy to, of course, help us to understand mindfulness and introspection, and taking as an analogy a glass of water and holding it in your hand. The glass of water is the object of our meditation which we’re seeking to hold onto, and that which is holding on is the hand and the hand is analogous to the factor of mindfulness. So just as the hand holds the glass, mindfulness holds the object of meditation.
But part of our mind is watching the glass is full of water, watching to see whether we move and thereby spill the water or not. So part of our mind in holding the object of our meditation is examining to see whether laxity or excitement is arising and that part of our mind which is doing that watching, that examining is that of introspection or simply alertness and awareness of the mind. So watching to see whether we spill the water or not and thereby if we’re beginning to spill it we make adjustment and likewise this is the function of introspection whereby to inspecting to see whether these faults are arising or not with respect to the object of our meditation. And so in this analogy again, the movement of the glass of water back or forth and the possibility of spilling is analogous to the possibility if it spilled one way it would be the arising of excitement if it spilled another way it would be the arising of laxity. So these would be the faults that we are examining for.
So in the case of the analogy of the glass of water, we make and if we begin to spill one way, we make correction and we bring it back to balance. And if we begin to spill it another way, we make a correction and bring it back to balance, holding it in an even manner and making these adjustments through having seen by means of our alertness or introspection in order to make that adjustment. Likewise with respect to our object of meditation that we are holding it with the factor of mindfulness and while that’s proceeding the part of our mind, this factor of introspection, is examining to see whether laxity is about to rise or whether excitement is about to rise. And introspection has this ability to come to know whether these are about to rise. If through examination by introspection we become aware that either of these is about to rise, then we make correction to the imbalance.
We bring the mind back to a balanced state again. So if either of these faults, that of laxity or excitement were to arise, this would make the mind unserviceable. It would be a fault of the mind. It’s a dysfunction of the mind, both laxity and excitement. So it’s necessary that through the antidote of introspection, becoming aware that a fault of the mind is about to rise out of laxity or excitement, that we apply an antidote.
And this becomes the seventh of these eight antidotes, that of application. So application is the seventh of these antidotes which are to be applied. So at the sixth antidote is that of introspection, and it functions to examine whether a fault is about to arise or not in the way meditation is proceeding. If it becomes aware that there is a fault, then we then apply the seventh antidote. That is, we make an application.
We stop the fault which has been seen to be arising. Application is applying an antidote which stops the fault, which is seen by the introspection. So the antidote of application amongst the two types of karma or action there is physical and mental. Here the antidote which is being applied is mental action. And mental action gives directionality to the mind.
It is able to move the mind from a skillful object to an unskillful object or to a neutral object. It moves the mind in various directions. It supplies directionality to the mind, gives the mind a direction in which to move. And it’s just like it’s comparable to the steering wheel of a car. It gives direction to the car.
On the severity. So this seventh is a mental factor, the mental factor of application. Which I was explaining it, it is analogous to a magnet that is able to draw the mind in a particular direction just as a magnet can draw iron toward itself. If through this factor of application, if the mind is falling to laxity then it’s able to draw the mind back from laxity. If the mind is about to fall into excitement it’s able to draw the mind out of excitement.
So the fault which is being corrected is that of non application that is, say, not correcting for the possible rising of laxity or excitement by making use of the mental faculty of application. Now once we’ve made use of application such that we’ve pacified the fault, the possibility of falling into laxity or excitement is no longer present in the mind. If we were to continue to make use of application, this would be considered a fault. This is the fifth of these five faults. It’s termed literally application, but maybe in parentheses over application would be helpful to think of it that way.
So to over apply when the antidote is no longer needed, the laxity or the excitement has been stopped, but we still apply the antidote of application. This would be considered a fault of overapplication. So we have to, as a means, as an antidote to the fault of overapplication, apply the antidote of equanimity. This would be to desist applying application, Simply allowing the mind to abide single pointedly upon its object in a quiescent state is the eighth antidote of equanimity. What are the causes?
What is the cause of laxity and what is the cause of excitement? In the case of laxity, the cause is lethargy and sleepiness are the causes of laxity. But holding the object overly tight, holding the object extremely tight, also brings about laxity. Then with regard to excitement, excitement is scattering to the outside due to the force of coming under the control of attachment. Object is lost.
Our mind is scattered outside because of coming out of the control of attachment. So we have to withdraw the mind inside, we have to do this in a balanced fashion. We don’t want to overly withdraw the mind inside nor do we want the mind to allow the mind to be distracted outwardly. So neither to withdraw too much inside nor to allow the mind to be distracted outwardly, to find a balance, a place of equanimity, not equanimity, but a balance or an evenness between the force of drawing within and not allowing it to move outside.
So a middle ground between overly withdrawn and not withdrawn within enough. So if we can bring the mind to a state whereby it is single mindedly placed upon its object in a stable fashion and the object is appearing clearly and there is an intensity of clarity, then we can quickly develop calm abiding. So, as we’ve discussed, if we can develop in the course of cultivating calm abiding a pliancy of mental and physical pliancy where we experience bliss both in our minds and in our bodies, however long we wish to remain in meditation that we’re able to without any problems, without any difficulties. When we can remain in such a state for six days, then we have cultivated pliancy of body. So once having developed calm abiding, we then set aside the present object of an object of meditation, that is to say the image of a Buddha, and we take the view of emptiness as our object.
So we now focus upon emptiness. So from initially beginning the cultivation of calm abiding until its actual achievement, we should not change our object of meditation, our object of observation. But once having achieved calm abiding, then we can meditate on any object that we wish. We can meditate on impermanence, emptiness, or leisures and fortunes, the four noble truths, or death, or whatsoever. So These five the abandonment by means of the eight activities or the eight antidotes of the five faults is spoken of by Maitreya in his Discrimination of the Middle and Extremes.
Also, Maitreya speaks of the means for the cultivation of calm abiding in his text, Ornament for the Mahāyāna Sutras, where he outlines a ninefold method for the achievement of calm abiding. So we are all unique. We all have different minds and therefore we can make use of different methods. Various teachings are given according to differences in our aptitudes, which is going to work best for ourselves. So for some people the method of cultivating calm abiding and that of abandoning the five faults by means of the eight antidotes, would be the method best for them to use, that would be most readily able to put into practice.
For others, this method of the nine mental abidings would be the best, the most readily available means to practice for them. So it’s not necessary to use both of these methods. So if we were going to go through these nine mental abidings, these nine methods for cultivating calm abiding, first our minds are running around all about, and we initially must take the mind and place it upon our object of meditation, and that is, in this case, an image of a Buddha. So the first of these nine mental abiding(s) is called setting the mind. So the mind is actually placed upon the object of observation.
So you should write this down. If you can keep it in your mind, well keep it in your mind. But actually it’s most important that you keep it in your mind. That’s where we mainly want it. If you can’t keep what is being spoken of, what is being explained in your mind, then by all means it’s important to write it down.
Once you’ve taken notes, should, in taking these notes home, review them in the next few days so that they do penetrate into your mind. That’s where we ultimately want them, somewhere in your mind. So to review them, it’s no use simply to take notes and set them aside and never to look at them again. That’s of no benefit. So at this first mental abiding we are the mind.
When we’re able to remain upon the object, this is the second of the nine mental abidings, and it’s called continuous setting. The mind is able to remain upon the object. But it’s difficult to remain upon the object of meditation. That we’ve placed it there, it will, due to, for example, excitement, it will be distracted outwardly through some external object and we will lose the object. So by the force of our mindfulness we have to bring our mind back and replace it upon the object of meditation and therefore this third mental abiding is called resetting.
Having developed the ability of mindfulness to replace the mind back upon the object of meditation, our mindfulness is increasing in its strength and we reach a point where we no longer lose the object due to the strength of our mindfulness. Therefore, this level of mental abiding, the fourth, is called close setting, where the mindfulness is strengthened to the extent where we no longer lose the object. So proceeding, we proceeding, we reach a point where we’re able to overcome a mental factor in our mind which is a dislike for the cultivation of meditative stabilizations. We have no liking for meditative stabilizations. By thinking, reflecting upon the wonderful qualities that we are able to gain by cultivating meditative stabilization, we actually develop a factor of liking for meditative stabilizations.
We’ve overcome an aversion for cultivating meditative stabilizations. We develop an attraction and a liking to develop meditative stabilizations. Having reached this point of having the mind has become disciplined in its course of cultivating calm abiding, and this level of the mental abiding is termed disciplining. The fifth is called disciplining. Proceeding in our meditation, now reach a level where we, due to the power of our introspection, we’re able to we are alert to the arising of laxity or excitement in the course of our meditation, and by applying the proper antidote to bring these factors to a stop.
We’re able to pacify the arising of laxity and excitement. And this level of mental abiding is therefore, the sixth is referred to as pacifying. So I left out a word at the level pacifying, the sixth level, the introspection is able to come to know the rising of coarse laxity and excitement and then the antidotes are applied and they’re brought to a stop. Here as we proceed in a meditation, awareness becomes introspection is alert to the arising of even subtle laxity and excitement, and thereby we can make use of antidotes as a means of stopping even the subtle laxity and excitement. Therefore, this seventh level mental abiding is referred to as thorough pacifying.
So we have just brought an end to even the rising of subtle laxity and excitement. There are no longer faults, these faults no longer are arising in our mind. The mind is able to abide in single-minded placement continuously upon its object and so we have achieved the eighth of the mental abidings that are making one pointed. So at the eighth mental abiding, though the faults of even subtle laxity and excitement were not arising, Still there is the activity of introspection, which is examining to see if in fact they are arising. And moreover, there is a in placing our mind on object, some initial exertion is necessary.
We have to be motivated and actually exert the mind, making effort to place the mind on that object. And there is this remaining factor of alertness as to whether excitement and laxity are rising, even though they can no longer arise. As we proceed, we will reach the point where we no longer have to be concerned whether, even to examine whether excitement or laxity are rising, and there is no longer even necessary to make an initial effort to place the mind upon its object. There is an effortlessness of placing the mind upon an object. The mind is as if spontaneously is placed upon the object and is able to abide on the object without any effort, effortlessly so, without any faults for as many days as we wish.
So this is the ninth of the nine mental abidings that of setting in equipoise. So did you get these nine? So first, setting the mind. Secondly, second, continuous setting. Third, resetting.
Fourth, close setting. Fifth is disciplining. Sixth is pacifying. Seventh is thorough pacifying. Eighth is eighth is making one pointed, and the ninth is setting in equipoise.
So these are the methods employed in the course of the nine mental abidings. This is not easy as a way to assist us in progressing through these nine mental abidings. We make use of what are called the six powers and the four mental engagements. The six powers are the means of attaining these nine levels and the four mental engagements are the manner in which they are applied, the manner in which these are progressed through. So the first of these six powers is the power of hearing.
And it is by means of the power of hearing that we are able to attain the first mental abiding setting the mind. So what do we mean by this first of these six powers, the power of hearing? Initially, we haven’t had teachings on the way to cultivate calm abiding. Then a lama, a teacher, explains the methods for cultivating calm abiding. First, to make use of an object of meditation, not allow the mind to be distracted outwardly, but to actually place the mind upon the object of meditation.
So in dependence upon this explanation and upon hearing this explanation, we are able to achieve the first of these nine mental abidings. Actually able to initially set the mind on the object. We’re setting the mind. So do you understand the meaning of this first of the power of hearing? So, the teacher, the lama, is explaining, initially explains to us the method for cultivating calm abiding.
The Lama advises us to not allow the mind to run to external objects, but to place the mind on the internal object, mindedly place the mind upon the internal object of observation or the meditation. Is by the power of that explanation is how we initially begin the process. And therefore it is in this manner, by the power of that explanation, we attain this first of these nine levels setting the mind. The second of these six powers is the power of reflection or thinking. So here we, having initially placed the mind, not allowing to run to an external object, but placing the mind on an internal object of observation, we again and again reflect upon the object.
We consider the object again and again. We think about the object again and again. By this means, our placement develops some continuity that we’re able to lengthen our placement upon the object and therefore it is by the power of thinking or considering the object, maybe considering the power of considering, that we’re able to achieve the second of the nine mental abiding(s) of continuous setting. So we’re just going to, and if we explain a lot all at once, I think maybe it’ll be worrisome for you. So we’re just going to explain up to that second poem for now.
So there’s a very much a Tibetan tradition that a great deal is not explained in one session. That only the sessions are brief and therefore more is absorbed. If a lengthy explanation is given, then the mind becomes confused. So we’re going to stop the teaching there, but if you have some questions. Yeah.
We discussed the causes for the rising of laxity. Therefore, allowing the mind to be unrestrained through the five faculties, the five doorways that we have to we talked about binding, I think a better word I’ve thought about that was restraining. Restraining the five sense faculties, like eating food causes the mind to become sleepy. So what are qualities of laxity? The object does not appear clearly to ourselves.
We feel sleepy. Our mind is there’s a darkness with respect to the object. There’s a heaviness, a mental and physical heaviness. To the extent where the lack of clarity of the object can extend to we actually lose the object. Now the difference between losing the object, we also lose the object when there’s excitement.
With excitement the object is lost when the mind is distracted externally. But here the object is lost but it’s not due to the mind being externally distracted. So a lack of clarity, a sense of sleepiness, a darkness, lethargy, a heaviness of mind and body. In the case of excitement, due to attachment, the mind is distracted outwardly to an external object. So this would be a case of excitement.
So the methods for bringing a stop to excitement are to contemplate impermanence, repulsiveness of an object, the sufferings of cyclic existence, to bring the mind down in its over heightened state, to bring the mind the mind is in an overly high state is necessary to bring the mine down. As a means for eliminating laxity, we have to raise the level of the mind. It may be necessary to, we want to do something which is very pleasing to the mind. Maybe we look upon the form of a Buddha or we look upon the form of our Lama, calling to mind our spiritual master, or we can actually look about us at a bright light to stimulate the mind, to overcome lethargy. So in overcoming laxity and seeking to raise the level of the mind, we call to mind an object of our liking.
For example, that of a Buddha or a Lama. Now, a liking toward such objects is categorized as faith, having a delight in such objects as faith. On the other hand, if it’s a liking toward objects which if the object is a liking out of attachment, then it becomes an obstacle to our cultivation of calm abiding. So here we’re calling to mind an object for which we delight in, but which is not that of an object of attachment. Otherwise it would be a fault.
Method of overcoming laxity is taking an object of delight where there is no attachment. So we talked about with regard to the faults of laxity and excitement, there were two levels. There was both a coarse and subtle level. With regard to coarse laxity, the object is actually lost to a sleepiness of the mind, that there is an over withdrawing of the mind, and the object is actually lost. With coarse laxity, with subtle laxity the object is not lost, the object appears clearly to the mind, but there is no intensity of the clarity.
So without that intensity, it’s considered subtle laxity. So as explained previously with regard to coarse excitement, the object is lost and the mind is distracted to an external object of some sort. So in the case of subtle excitement, the mind is abiding upon the but not in a single pointed fashion. That the complete mind is not abiding on the object. Part of the mind is involved in another object.
So the totality of the mind is not absorbed in the object. A part of the mind is occupied with another object. So this would be subtle excitement. Okay. So as we talked about last week in developing the antidotes to laziness, the main antidote is that of exertion.
This is what mainly overcomes laziness. But as the method for developing exertion, we make use of the antidotes of aspiration and faith. Through faith and aspiration these result in effort, which is the main antidote to laziness. And as a result of that we develop plant. This is a result of developing meditative stabilizations in general.
With regard to pliancy, physical pliancy and mental pliancy, generally we have to eat coarse foods, rice, etc. And these coarse foods bring about a heaviness of the body. They bring about an unserviceability of the wind energies in the body. Due to this, meditation is difficult. It induces unserviceability of the body, we can’t proceed well in our meditation.
If through pliancy, if it’s not necessary to rely on coarse foods, then the body develops a serviceability. It becomes very healthy when the body becomes less of an obstacle in proceeding in our meditation and we actually develop a physical bliss. And dependence upon the physical bliss, we develop a stability of mind. By the power of this physical bliss, we will eventually develop the bliss of mind. That we will develop a calm abiding where no laxity or excitement any longer arise and developing the pliancy of mind which is a bliss of mind.
So essentially through plant we are able to remove the unserviceability, physical and mental unserviceability, and we cause bliss to rise, both mental and physical. So the factor of unserviceability is overcome through plant. There’s certain factors which are inhibiting the usefulness of our body and mind, and the arising of bliss. So through the cultivation of meditative stabilization, the mind abides in bliss and the body experiences a lightness. It is extremely flexible, smooth.
It’s like, as we mentioned previously, like cotton wool. It’s soft and light and pliable and flexible. It’s able to remain in any position that we want to maintain. That’s its serviceability. We’ve developed that ability where the body’s at our service.
This is physical pliancy. There was one, was, what was it, yeah. So it would be difficult to develop a calm abiding upon the breath. In the course of breathing, the mind, the breath is moving out and in, and along with it the mind is moving out and in, and therefore it would be difficult to remain single pointedly placed upon the object. So in the cultivation of the calm abiding, mean it’s necessary that the mind remain single pointedly upon its object.
Wherever we place the object, where we place the mind, it remains upon that in a single pointed fashion. It’s placed there and it remains there. If you enjoy meditating on the breath, then in the cultivation of calm abiding, you could begin by observing the breath until the mind was relaxed, and then actually beginning the session of calm abiding where you take your object of observation and cultivate it in dependence upon that. Okay. Yeah.
It doesn’t do it. In speaking of holding the object with the mind, is the entire