Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. The root of fear and anxiety lies not in external enemies but in the afflictive emotions within — a claim Khensur Rinpoche anchors with Śāntideva’s image of trying to cover the world in leather to avoid thorns: impossible, but a patch under the foot gives the same protection. In this 83-minute talk, he opens with karma’s farmer-and-field logic — harming others plants suffering, benefiting others plants happiness — then traces fear and anxiety directly to negative states such as ignorance, hatred, and attachment. Since these are falsities, truth can displace them; Rinpoche walks through love and compassion as the practical antidotes, noting that wishing others well creates the causes of one’s own happiness. A Q&A closes with guidance on controlling the preconception-laden mind, directing those without tantric empowerment toward love, compassion, and emptiness.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 32 1993 04 04 PT Fear and Anxiety.mp3
UUID: c3fb3ead-6f6f-4d1f-beb7-493e8f1912aa
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Public Talks 1988-2003 (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1993-04-04
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 82.8 minutes
Words: ~4,794
Begin by cultivating compassion for ten minutes. Begin with cultivating immeasurable compassion, which is expressed in a thought. It would be wonderful if myself and all living beings were free of suffering and the causes of suffering. The cultivation of immeasurable compassion. May myself and all living beings be free of suffering and the causes of suffering.
An immeasurable resolve expressed in the thought, I myself will free all living beings from suffering and the causes of suffering. Developing the attitude for our motivation in order to achieve this, and I am going to meditate well. There are a few preliminary prayers that we usually recite before the teaching. If you’d like to recite along, you’re welcome. The first of which is on page one verse number three.
Verse number two. And in verse number five on page four. So the great bodhisattva Nāgārjuna said that all that arises in this world and beyond, all the harm and benefit that we may receive arises from through negative and positive ways of acting. So with respect to the world, what do we mean by the world? The world is consists of those things which are made up of causes and conditions, are momentarily disintegrating.
So all those things within the external environment and those things which are included within the continuum of living beings with inside of ourselves, which are continually momentarily disintegrating are what we mean by world. So looking at the world in terms of the external and internal. With respect to the intern the external world, there are there are the two overall categories of of positive and negative qualities of our environment, the world outside of ourselves, but there is both positive and negative. And the same holds true in terms of our inner world. There are happiness, sense of well-being, health on the one hand, and various positive factors, internal factors, and negative internal factors, ill health, unhappiness, sense of discontentment.
So if we were to question considering these varieties of qualities and degrees of negativity and positivity, both respect to our external environment, healthy types of environments, types of environments which are conducive to well-being on the one hand, and negative types of environment which are conducive to a sense of ill being. But also in terms of our inner qualities, those qualities which are of a positive nature, sense of well-being, sense of happiness, but also the opposite of that, negative factors with inside of ourselves, those senses of ill being, that sense of unhappiness. From questioning, well, where do these varieties and qualities of negative and positive in terms of external and internal, how do they arise? From what? In answering this question, there are many extensive reasoned explanations, many types of ways of considering the nature of this situation.
There are many who have written extensively, many experts on the nature of the world who have written text which explain in a variety of means, reasonings, in a variety of examples the nature of our situation. But if we simply confine our discussion to in terms of what is a benefit and what is harm to ourselves, these types of categories, then we can we can say that from benefiting living beings, we a very positive type environment arises. On the one hand, on the other, from harming living beings, a very negative type environment arises. So in answering this question, we can first come to an understanding in a way which is quite readily we can quite readily understand in terms of analogy that of a farmer and her field in which the the quality of the crop which comes from planting the field is very much dependent upon the quality of the seed which is planted. So in seeking to gather food, to produce food, then it’s necessary that we have a proper type of cause, that is to say a positive type of seed, in order to bring forth the desired fruit that we want on the one hand.
On the other, if we don’t plant a proper cause, a positive type of seed, then we aren’t going to achieve the type of result that we’re seeking. So the the variety of the result is concordant with the variety of the cause. Just in extending this analogy, if we were to plant a a seed of a hot variety of plant, then we would, the result of that seed would be a hot variety of plant. If on the other hand, we planted a type of seed which produced a sweet type of fruit, then the, having planted that seed, we would get the natural result of that would be a sweet fruit. So in explaining this analogy that living beings are are analogous to a field, and each of us is like the farmer planting that field.
Field in which we’re planting our various seeds, the seeds are ways of acting. If we were to harm living beings, that is to say, act in a negative fashion, then this is like planting the seeds which will ultimately bring harm to ourselves. On the other hand, if we were to, out of a sense of altruism, a sense of beneficial intention, bring about the welfare of living beings, help them, then as a result of this, as in planting a seed in the field, positive variety of seed, we, as an ultimate result, would experience happiness. So the, a type of environment which is able to bring us benefit in terms of the world outside of ourselves, but additionally internal factors such as our own well-being and happiness are a result of benefiting others, benefiting living beings. And on the one hand, on the other, then through harming others, through negative ways of acting, that we are creating a very degraded type of environment for ourselves externally and internally, that we ourselves will experience unhappiness as a result.
We will have a lack of happiness within within internally. So one’s own happiness rises in dependence upon giving happiness to others. So in order to experience happiness oneself, we need to make others happy. So one’s own happiness is related to the happiness of others. On the other hand, not wanting suffering, then it’s necessary that we see bringing suffering to others, that we abandon suffering.
Why? Because our own suffering is intimately related to the sufferings of others and how we conduct ourselves with respect to them. So some people are able to, are fortunate in experiencing a very positive type of environment. Others have a very deteriorated, poor type of environment. These varieties of environments that the various types of individuals experience is a result of the types of ways of acting which they have engaged in in the past.
In benefiting others, they are able to experience the result of a beneficial type of environment on the one hand, and through harming others, they are in a situation which is not conducive to their well-being. Some some people are are in a situation where they live in a very poor environment, a type of environment where perhaps there’s a scarcity of water. There’s crops that are unable to grow. There’s the degradation of the forest. There’s very little food.
They find difficulty finding clothing, and all of these various poor conditions. And these all arise in dependence upon negative ways of relating with others in the past. These are our results of harming others. So there’s an intimate relationship between the external environment and one’s inner experience. So various internal experiences, states such as fear and anxiety.
But additionally, various various fears and anxieties that we have, you know, some people have anxiety about not getting enough to eat. Some have anxiety about fears of traveling in airplanes. Some have fears of getting various diseases. That the types of fears and anxieties that we have, all of these various fears and anxieties that we have arise through, that is to say, all undesirable, unwanted experiences are a result of harming others. If we don’t want to experience negative states, let us say undesirable states internally, states such as fear and anxiety, then we have to begin to cease ways of harming, the ways in which we harm others.
We have to abandon causing others hurt. So if we want to experience a well-being, a lack of sickness, if we want to experience wealth, if we want to experience long life, a sense of lack of fear, a lack of anxiety, what are the means we can go about gaining those experiences? How did they arise? All of these positive experiences that are desirable arise through abandon harming living beings. If we want to go beyond all of these negative states, these undesirable experiences, then we have to cease harming others.
If we cease harming others, then these will gradually be eliminated from our internal minds. Whatever the the quality of the world may be, it arises in dependence upon the general quality of the way of acting of living beings. Whether our environment in the world is progressing toward is improving or whether it’s regressing, whether things are getting worse, is all dependent upon our ways of conduct. That everything, our world in general, is a result of our common ways of acting. That is to say the commonality of ourselves as a group, the way we act in the world, our environment and the people they’re in.
Their quality is a result of our common way of acting. Whether it’s a type of environment which supports happiness and well-being, or whether it’s a type of environment which supports unhappiness is progressing or regressing is the the sum total of the commonalities of our ways of acting. Is producing a particular product. The quality, you know, it’s a very large factory and quality of the final product which comes out of that factory is directly dependent upon common effort and the common quality of the work in which each of the workers engage. If together they work the work that they put in is of high quality, then quite naturally, the quality which comes out, the product, the final product is of high quality on the one hand.
On the other, if the work is lacking, if it’s a poor quality, then naturally what’s going to come out the final product will also be of a poor quality. We can easily, we can readily understand that. The final product is directly related to quality of the group effort in producing it. And this and the groups are made up of individuals, and therefore, it is the it comes down to the individual’s quality, the individual’s quality of action, which produces the overall effect. So the overall effect is a product directly related to the commonality, the common effort of the group producing that.
But in terms of our individual individual experiences, it is directly related to our individual way of acting in terms of if we if in acting as an individual in a negative way, negative way, that we as an individual will internally experience suffering. On the one hand or on the other, as an individual, if we act in a very positive fashion, we will have an the individual experience of happiness. In terms of the even within an instant type of institution, if one as an individual produces a high quality of work, has a good motivation, and, you know, it doesn’t doesn’t interfere with the work of others, then even one progresses within that institution itself. So general the quality the the general quality of the world is dependent upon the common the common quality the collective on the one hand, but our individual experiences within that collective, the general quality of the world is dependent upon one’s individual acts, the quality of one’s individual way of acting. So if each individual were to seek to develop themselves, to improve themselves in terms of the way they act toward others, benefiting others as as opposed to harming others, beginning to hurt others less and less acting in a negative fashion toward them.
And through this cause, not only does it act as individual cause cause for individual happiness, but it raises the general quality of the collective, the quality of the general world. If we were to question, well, how do fear and anxiety arise? Where from whence do they come? They do not arise from external factors only. That is to say, they didn’t are not a product of our particular environment or the people around us, but in fact, arise through elements factors within our own minds.
So the various experiences of fear and anxiety arise through internal factors, factors within the mind itself. Factors which are the afflictive emotions, types of emotions for it such as, for example, ignorance or hatred, pride, attachment. That is to say these negative states of mind are the sources of all our fears and anxieties. If we wish to be rid of fear and anxiety, then it is to say that we begin to rid ourselves of negative states of mind. And we can, that is to say, we have to transform our mind from these turn it away from these negative states to more positive states, beginning to cease negative ways of thinking and develop more positive ways of thinking.
So whatever it might be, whether it’s fear or anxiety, but even further, all enemies, everything that’s undesirable arise, has its origin in, is dependent upon, is established through these internal factors of the mind, these negative states, that all our unhappiness are a direct result of negative states of mind. Remove these negative states of mind within ourselves, and if we do not, then we will never be rid of the negative results of unhappiness, all our various fears and anxieties. We if we simply simply see these factors which produce our unhappiness outside of ourselves, if we see the factors such as, you know, the enemy outside of ourselves, is that which is fearful outside of ourselves. Then no matter how many times we destroy our enemy, another will replace it. There are enemies and those things which are we are to fear will continually be arising one after another.
There will be no end to it. On the other hand, if we get rid of the internal enemy, that is to say the afflictive emotions, then we can remove once and for all all our fears, all that we under undesirable states. I’m gonna give an analogy from Śāntideva. Somebody say. Yes.
Okay. So in this analogy, if, you know, if we lived in an area where there which is full of thorns and wherever we walked, we were continually being stuck with thorns. And we had the thought, well, I’m gonna cover the entire area with leather and thereby to protect myself from being stuck with thorns. Well, there simply wouldn’t be enough leather to cover the world wherever you might want to go in order to protect yourself from thorns. But if we were simply to cover the sole of our foot with a piece of leather, then this would serve the same function as covering the entire area with leather.
Wherever we walked, our foot would be protected from being stuck by thorns. And so the meaning of this of this metaphor is that, you know, our external enemies are infinite. We simply cannot subdue them all. It’s beyond our control. But if we if we control one factor, that is our own mind, then it is if we control all the enemies outside of ourselves.
So if we control the inner enemy, it’s the same as controlling the outer enemy. So the root of all undesirable results that we experience are the very afflictive emotions and the negative states within our own mind. So that’s where we need to look to cease our undesired experiences. If we cease these negative states, then we will cease seeing the enemy outside of ourselves. We will see we will cease seeing harm coming from anywhere outside of ourselves.
Nothing outside of ourselves can harm. So therefore, if, you know, if all of our fears, if all of our undesired results that we are continuing to experience do not arise from external factors but arise from the mind itself, that is to say from negative states of mind, the very afflictive emotions, then it’s very necessary to cease experiencing these undesirable results that we begin to transform these negative states into more positive states. So it’s necessary that we we make effort in generating positive states, type of states of mind or attitudes which are beneficial to others, which seek to benefit such as altruism as opposed to our present attitudes of seeking to harm others. There’s various negative states of mind. Why?
So if the positive states, a beneficial attitude is the opposite of our present attitude, which is bringing about these undesirable results. So if we want to bring it into these undesirable results, then we have to make effort in generating these opposite states of mind, which cease the negative states and promote positive states with bringing desirable results. But we might question, well, can positive states of mind actually overcome or get rid of negative states of mind? And if we were to go on an answer, they can. And why is this?
Because all of these negative states of mind that we’ve been describing are all falsities. That is that they they all have an erroneous mistaken element. They all in some way are not seeing the situation as it actually is. So they all are mistaken in error in some way on the one hand. On the other, the positive states of mind are concordant with the actual facts of the situation.
They are non mistaken, non erroneous. That is to say, these positive states of mind are in accordance with the actual nature of the situation, with reality. And it is a situation such that the truth is always able to overcome falsity. So, you know, we we all can understand it quite readily that that falsities are able to be to be rid of by means of the truth, the actual situation. Something that isn’t can be eliminated by understanding what is the fact.
What the means, I mean, Falsity is able to be eliminated by truth. So we can begin to cultivate healthy states of mind, positive states of mind. For example, the development of the healthy state of mind of compassion.
Compassion is a is understanding that living beings simply don’t want to suffer, that they don’t want suffering nor do they want the causes of suffering. And therefore, if one were to develop the attitude which wishes them to be free of suffering and the causes of suffering because suffering is brings harm to living beings. The attitude which wishes them to be free of living of suffering, of harm is is a beneficial attitude. It’s a positive state, the kind hearted attitude of compassion. An awareness which which wishes very strongly that they be free from harm is an attitude which wishes them benefit.
And because we are wishing that the harm of sentient being living beings be eliminated, we are wishing them we are developing a positive state of mind. Again, if we were to question, well, can I actually free them from suffering and the causes of suffering? And I expressed in this attitude of compassion, which wishes beings to be free of suffering, the causes of suffering, when in fact we can. Why? Because as we have just pointed out, all our various undesirable experiences, that is to say suffering, arises in dependence upon falsities, in dependence upon mistaken ways of thinking, upon wrong patterns of thought, and these can be transformed.
Therefore, we can get rid of suffering and the causes of suffering by by transforming our ways of thinking. So if we were to develop this attitude, the attitude of compassion cultivating, trying to generate it within our own minds, it it is a really a wonderful quality to possess. It’s extremely powerful and tremendously beneficial. Why? Because it is a quality of mind which wishes to benefit others.
And as we have tried to emphasize, this beneficial the quality of wishing to benefit others as its ultimate result, benefiting of oneself, that as a result of this quality of mind, oneself is made happy. And the the benefit to to regain out of cultivating compassion is that one self will accumulate a great deal of creative power and potential. That one is creating the causes of one’s own happiness. So though it may not directly be of benefit to the person to whom this compassion is directed, still it will bring about the benefit to oneself. So the same is true of the complement to this beneficial attitude of compassion, the beneficial quality of love in which we we wish others happiness and the causes of happiness, that understanding that others want happiness just like our just like ourselves, that all others are exactly the same in terms of wanting happiness.
And therefore, cultivating the attitude which wishes all beings to have happiness and the causes of happiness is, again, an extremely positive state. And it’s a very wonderful quality because it will ultimately bring ourselves that quality of happiness that we’re wishing toward others. You know, we’re trying to understand that these negative states of mind which are directed toward others ultimately bring about our own suffering, whereas these positive states that we are directing toward others bring about our own happiness. In the case of love, love wishes others to be happy. And though in fact that attitude in itself may not bring others happiness, still it has as its result the bringing of happiness to oneself.
But additional product result of these beneficial intentions of love and compassion is that others begin to see that we have a beneficial intention toward them, that we are wishing them happiness in terms of love, that we are wishing that they not suffer in terms of compassion, that it’s a that we wish others no harm. And those others as a response to being able to see our attitude and how we are wishing them well begin to respond in in like manner toward ourselves in return. That they are very that people are pleased when they know others are caring toward them, when they when they begin to see that others aren’t out to get them, but in fact are trying to help them. That they experience a sense of caring back. There’s a sense of loving in return.
And therefore, whatever fears and anxieties we may have in respect to others are ceased through through this interaction between ourselves and others and developing positive attitudes toward others, our own fears and anxieties cease. Animals respond to a sense of caring that if you if you have a a wish an animal well that you and you speak softly to them, then, you know, they won’t bite you. Like, for example, a dog. They and they aren’t as clever as people on in general. That but, you know, what on the other hand, if we speak harshly to them, if we treat them badly, then they they get they develop anger, and they’ll they’ll try to bite us.
So if animals will respond this way, what to say of humans? If we want to eliminate our fears and anxieties, if we want to bring ourselves happiness and well-being, then it’s necessary to develop a sense of altruism, a beneficial attitude toward others, cease harming others, and these will all come about. But if we don’t reflect in this manner, and we don’t think in these terms, if we if we simply try to continue harming others, if we fight with others, argue with others, hurt, you know, use hurtful words towards others, then how can we expect to develop peace and harmony in our relationships using these ways of interaction, using these ways of as causes that that we can that our the situation can only deteriorate because these are mistaken methods to bring about the ends that we want, a sense of well-being and happiness. It is it is love which is able to overcome our enemy, which not overcome. It is love which is able to bring bring our enemy to us.
In which we’re it is love which yeah. Overcome. It is love which is able to overcome our enemy, which we are we are able to subdue our enemy. It is not through harsh ways of acting. Harsh ways of acting actually create distances and cause increase in animosity and our enemies.
On the one hand, it is love which brings others toward us and draws them into ourselves in which we are able to subdue those who are our enemies. So it is mainly through love and compassion that we can find real happiness. This is the attitudes of wishing to benefit living beings. If we can but we can go on to develop the this beneficial attitude of love and compassion and develop exceptional resolve, and we can go on and develop the awakening heart and develop other qualities of mind such as the wisdom realizing emptiness. It is by means of such states of mind that we are able to eliminate all our various faults from our mind, all the various afflicted emotions, and develop all the positive qualities, bring to consummation all our positive potentials.
And we can follow a gradual path in the development of our fullest potential. I mean, in this way, this is the method for developing happiness. So within the universal vehicle, there are there are numerous and extremely skillful methods, means by which we can begin to cease, bring to an end these various negative states and begin to cultivate, develop more positive states. So we’re going to stop there. But if you have some questions, we’ll take some more time for questions.
How to control the conceptual mind? So we have many continual preconceptions arising in our mind. Another way to translate this is superstitions. And many of these preconceptions, these ways of thinking are quite negative. So we have to and these causes us these causes great problems.
Simply, there’s nothing really existing which is the problem. Simply, our own thinking process is causing us problems. So looking at what we’re thinking as to whether it is exact whether it is in fact the case, whether it is true, try to examine whether, you know, sometimes we think, well, this person is going to do this, or this person did this, and this person is going to do that. And we have all these ways of faulty, these dysfunctional ways of thinking. Are they in fact true?
Can they are they in accordance with the accordance with the actual situation? And trying to analyze in such a way that you will find that most of them are mistaken somehow. And this will help to cease the the fear of these of these possible situations that you’re imagining. The situations that you’re imagining. So within Buddhism, there are various methods to overcome these these faulty conceptions that are continually rising within our mind, especially within secret mantra, a particular area of Buddhism, in which in overcoming these faulty conceptions as with respect, for example, to our body.
And we we can we can we meditate on ourselves as the embodiment of a deity, a meditational deity with that we can with respect to our means of communication, we we we meditate through recitation of mantra. And then in terms of faulty conceptions with respect to our mind, then we we cultivate the attitudes of, for example, emptiness and compassion, love, these various positive states. Compassion, love, these various positive states. Anybody else? Okay.
A meditation or a mantra? So in in order to to be given a a mantra, if necessary, that one receives an empowerment initiation. So we can’t do that in the present situation. But the method that you can use in order to overcome these faulty conceptions is to cultivate an understanding of emptiness and the awakening heart. So the best means that you can use until one has received an empowerment is to cultivate understandings of emptiness, love, compassion, the awakening heart.
So at the end, we normally recite two prayers of dedication which are on page five verses eight to nine.