Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Khensur Rinpoche opens this 81-minute talk by naming a contemporary problem: people who feel their lives are meaningless or insufficient, some turning to drugs or suicide, precisely because they have never been shown the vastness of their own mind. The main body turns on three similes attributed to Maitreya — a Buddha image sealed inside a lotus, honey buried under a swarm of bees, rice locked within its husk — each mapping one obscuring affliction: attachment, anger, and ignorance respectively. Rinpoche explains how contentment loosens attachment, love and compassion dissolve anger, and meditation on emptiness clears ignorance, before arguing that this human life carries the capacity to achieve Buddhahood — citing Milarepa as evidence — and that practicing now is like saving for guaranteed happiness in future lives.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 11 NoM 1992 03 10.mp3
UUID: 4c410bad-b0cb-46b9-b209-97c0924205a9
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: The Nature of Mind 1991-1992 (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1992-03-10
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 81.2 minutes
Words: ~3,802
So we’ll begin with meditation. If we meditate in the context of a kind heart then it will be a benefit to both ourselves and others. And what do we mean by a kind heart? We mean an altruistic intention, a beneficial intention. So what do we mean by altruism?
First off, that we, like ourselves, we want happiness and we don’t want to suffer. Likewise, all sentient beings want happiness and do not want to suffer. When we consider the elimination of suffering and the bringing of happiness in terms of ourselves, we are expressing the kind hearted attitude toward ourselves. When the same attitude of wishing to eliminate suffering and to bring happiness is directed toward others, then this is altruism or a kind hearted attitude toward others. So in Meditating on Compassion we begin with the thought, It would be wonderful if all sentient beings were free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
May all sentient beings be free of suffering and the causes of suffering. I myself will free all sentient beings from suffering and the causes of suffering. And then we meditate on love which is expressed in the thoughts, it would be wonderful sentient beings happiness and the causes of happiness. We can meditate on the awakening heart, which is expressed in the attitude of in order to lead all sentient beings to a state of happiness and free them from suffering, I myself must eliminate all my various faults and bring the consummation of all my excellent qualities, that is, I must achieve Buddhahood, and this is the awakening heart. And we can also go on to meditate in the graduated path, the lam rim, initially with the meditating on leisures and fortunes and thinking that in order to practice the Dharma then I need a basis, a human body, and I need but more than that a human life which is free of inhibitory conditions and has all the necessary conducive conditions to practice.
Aware and appreciating the fact that we do have these conditions and rejoicing in what we do have. And we can meditate on emptiness. Meditating with respect to the nature of all phenomena: that they appear to us to be not imputed by terms or concepts. But though they appear this way, in fact they do not exist that way. They are empty of this way of existing.
Can also meditate on mindfulness of breathing. In breathing out we can imagine that all our various sicknesses and suffering, all that is undesirable within us is going out in the form of a black smoke which goes far into the distance and finally disappears into emptiness. And then upon inhalation imagining that all various happiness and well-being comes in the form of a white light completely filling our body with bliss and peace. So we’ve outlined a number of meditations and teachings and you can meditate on love or compassion, meditate on the graduated path, the lam rim, the awakening heart, emptiness or mindfulness of breathing. So according to one’s own individual wish you can meditate on whatever you like for the next ten minutes.
So we’re discussing the nature of the mind, qualities, and understanding the nature and its qualities of the mind we can understand the potential, its capacity. The reason that we’re discussing is that in the world these days there are many people who have a sense of self insufficiency. They feel they have no capacity or abilities, and also many people find life meaningless. Out of this sense of meaningless and insufficiency, many commit suicide and turn to drugs. In order to cease this, then we’re discussing the present topic.
Potential of their human life. They do not understand their own abilities, that they feel this sense of discouragement, that they feel a sense of insufficiency and lack of confidence. Through the discussion of the nature of the mind we can come to understand the capacity and potential that we all possess. Understand what is the nature of the mind and its ability to bring about a cessation of all that we seek to avoid and the ability to bring about all that is desirable. And it is this that we can come to understand through our present discussion of the nature of the mind.
So how are we to come to an understanding of the nature of the mind and its vast potential. We cannot see the mind and therefore it’s difficult for us to actually appreciate its potential. We say that we have the ability to generate far reaching qualities, but some kind of doubt arises in our mind because we cannot see the mind, we doubt if in fact we have such an ability. So this inability to appreciate simply arises out of our having never heard about the nature of the mind, and not having listened to a description of the nature of the mind, we have not developed any wisdom with respect to our own abilities. That’s due to the various afflictive emotions that we are unable to appreciate the potential of the mind.
Such types of afflictive emotions as attachment, anger, pride, jealousy, miserliness, and ignorance. These various faults of the mind inhibit or act as a veil to understanding the potential of the mind. So in coming to an appreciation of our potential, it is easiest to understand initially by establishing this potential by means of an analogy. Once we understand the analogy then we can begin to understand what the meaning of that analogy is. So if we were to ask who is it that taught this analogy, These were taught by the superior Maitreya.
So beginning, rather than analogies, be more popular to call these similes. The first simile is that a Buddha, a small Buddha image within a closed lotus. So because the Buddha image is unfolded by the petals of the lotus, the Buddha image is unable to be seen. So who would be able to see such an object, this small image enclosed within the petals of a lotus? Someone with clairvoyance.
It would not be obvious to everyone if a clairvoyant were coming to know that within this lotus there was something extremely precious, telling others that in fact there was something that was simply not obvious to you. And then they would come to understand that if they were to peel back petals of the lotus that they too would be able to see the precious object enclosed within. So if we take the meaning of that analogy in terms of our own mind, the nature of the mind is emptiness. That is to say it’s clear light, it is without fault, it is pure. And this quality of the mind is obscured due to attachment and therefore it is not visible to us.
We are not able to see it. But who can see it? It is said a Buddha can because a Buddha has abandoned attachment and therefore is able to see the actual nature of the mind. And likewise with respect to others, if we make effort through a gradual means of applying effort with various methods, we can eliminate attachment and the actual nature of mind becomes more more obvious manifested to us. So this is the first simile, the simile of that just as a small Buddha enclosed in a lotus is not obvious to us, likewise the nature of the mind is obscured from our view.
So just as the Buddha image enclosed within the lotus is obscured by the petals, likewise the pure nature of the mind is obscured by attachment, and so attachment is analogous to the lotus. Initially when a lotus grows out of the water, everyone appreciates its beauty, they like very much. But as it grows older, then we don’t like it. When we first see an object, we think how wonderful it is and we become attached, but as the object wears away and becomes old, then our attachment toward it decreases. So again, another simile, a second simile, is due to, just as in the case that attachment was able to obscure the wonderful pure nature of the mind, likewise anger and hatred is able to obscure this pure nature of the mind.
But we can develop the positive qualities of the mind, The positive qualities such as a kind hearted attitude. And this has been done by a Buddha who has eliminated their anger, abandoned their hatred, and developed their qualities of love and compassion. Likewise, if by cultivating love and compassion and developing these positive states of mind, such as a kind hearted attitude, we are able to decrease anger and finally eliminate it altogether and thereupon able to see the actual nature of the mind. So this, if we were to present this as a simile, it would be, a simile would be honey covered by bees. Due to the hive has honey, but the hive is covered over by bees.
Let us say, bees are able to obscure us seeing the honey within the hive. And the bees obscure us being able to see it. So in general, for most people they aren’t able to see the honey since it’s covered over by bees. But if a beekeeper wanted to get at the honey, and this is a common practice in Tibet and India, that they would have a fire which created a lot of smoke. And the smoke would drive away the bees.
And then by drive away the bees, the honey would become obvious and the beekeeper could get at the honey. By driving away the bees, then the honey becomes, one is able to see it clearly. So the bees and the anger bees and anger are analogous. Becoming angry, one harms oneself, but additionally harms others through spiteful, hurtful types of words and harmful intentions of the mind. So bees are are very angry.
Bees are very aggressive. And what they do — if you disturb them, they will sting you, harming you. But in stinging others, they also harm themselves because they lose their stinger. So in this way bees are very much like anger. They harm others and oneself. Bees and anger are quite similar.
And we can, by removing the, driving away the bees, are able to see the honey. Likewise by removing anger from our mind, we’re able to see the pure nature of the mind. It becomes obvious to us. So we were talking about the obscurations which hinder us from seeing the nature of the mind. And we talked about attachment and then anger.
But additionally there is the ignorance of delusion, that is to say the delusion which prevents us from seeing the nature of phenomena. This also acts as an afflictive emotion which acts to obscure the nature of the mind. Due to the obscuring quality of delusion or that is to say ignorance, we aren’t able to see the great capacity of the mind, its great potential, its wonderful potential, its ability to be developed. We aren’t able to appreciate it. So we can ask, well who is it that is able to see Buddha is able to see this actual quality of mind, having eliminated ignorance from his or her own mind?
And if we ourselves were to make effort in the various methods, first by listening to the teachings, studying the teachings, reflecting upon them and meditating on them, and especially meditating on emptiness, then we will gradually eliminate ignorance from our mind and this tremendous capacity, this of quality of the mind becomes obvious. So what would be a simile with respect to what we have just described. The simile would be rice in a grain enclosed in its husk. Within the essence of the grain. But we cannot see it and we cannot make use of it while the husk remains.
So if we want to prepare delicious food, that’s making use of rice for example, and want to eat it, then it’s necessary to hull the rice. We have to get rid of the husk. And then once we’ve rid of the husk, can actually take the essence of the plant, which is the rice grain itself, and we can make use of it. So it’s necessary to remove the husk to get the essence and make use of it. So just as we are unable to see the essence of the grain until we remove the husk, until we remove ignorance from the mind, then the positive potential of the nature of the mind is unable to be seen.
But through the process of listening and reflecting, meditating on emptiness, then gradually we can eliminate ignorance from our mind and the tremendous potential of the mind becomes more and more obvious to us. So these obscurations of the mind, which cause us to not appreciate its great potential, such as attachment, anger and ignorance, are great faults of the mind. And out of these great faults, these afflictive emotions, we engage in various actions. We create karma, and let us say we create negative types of karma. Having created negative karmas, we then necessarily have to undergo the results, various types of experience of suffering, and we are unable to achieve happiness.
So these afflictive emotions are faults of the mind. They are undesirable qualities presently abiding within our mind, creating all our various types of suffering. If we understand the nature of our mind well and the way in which these reside in the mind, then we’re going to bring about their cessation. Ceasing these afflictive emotions, we’re going to bring about the cessation of our suffering. And having done that we’ll find happiness and we’ll experience a healthy mind.
So in order to bring about cessation to attachment, and what we mean by attachment is having great desires, and especially with respect to food, clothing and shelter, we have to try to cultivate contentment with what we do have. I mean to have small desire and be easily made content or satisfied thinking, Oh this food that’s good enough, or clothing that’s good enough, or this shelter, my home that’s good enough, and being content. But on the other hand if we simply say, Oh this food is not good enough, I need something better, or This clothing is not good enough, I need something better. Then we experience no contentment, there is no satisfaction. And so it’s an important practice to find contentment in what we do have and to lessen our desires and to have only small desires.
If we have small ones then our mind is going to be very happy. But on the other hand if we have great wants, great desire, then there’s no contentment. If we have for example a hundred dollars, we’ll want a thousand dollars. If we have a thousand dollars, we’ll want ten thousand dollars. If we have ten thousand dollars, we’ll want a hundred thousand.
If we have a hundred thousand we’ll want a million going on and on. And even when we have enough then we’ll think we’ll have to worry about losing it. We’ll have to worry about other people’s taking it away from us and the mind is never happy. In accordance with how in proportion to our wealth we will have that much suffering. We should reflect upon what we mean when we talk about happiness of this life, wanting happiness in our lives.
We mean is we want a healthy body without illnesses and we want a happy mind. If we can bring about a happy mind and a healthy body, then this is not only going to be beneficial for this life, it’s also going to be a benefit for future lives that we are able to find it will act as a means for finding happiness in the future also. So many people have had the experience of when they have trained their mind through the practice of Dharma, prior to the training of the mind and the practice of Dharma, and they were happy. If in fact there were no other lives other than our present lives, then whatever we do would be okay. This is in fact not the case.
We are going to experience future lives as we are experiencing in our present life. If we were to cultivate love and compassion, emptiness, the awakening heart, generate an altruism of beneficial intention toward others, then not only would this have does this have the ability to bring about happiness in this life, but it also will bring about happiness in future lives. This is in the case that if we want to be happy next year, it’s necessary that we implement some methods this year in order to ensure that we’re happy next year. Likewise, in order to ensure that we find happiness in the future lives, it’s necessary that we implement methods in the course of this life. The person of next year and the person of this year is in the same continuum.
The continuum of the same individual of next year and this year. And it’s the same with respect to our present life and our future life, that it is the same continuum of the same individual. Other than the dissimilarity in our bodies, we’re very much the same with respect to this life and a future life. In both of those lives, we will wish happiness and not want to suffer. It’s just like a drama or a play where one character, one person is playing a variety of characters.
First they come on stage dressed in for example a red costume and then they go away and they change costume. They come back with a white costume. The same person only the costume has changed. So this is analogous to the taking on of new bodies over the course of our lives. This is the case of changing a red costume to a white costume, likewise from one life to another, we simply are changing the costumes of our body with essentially the same person who continues on.
Aside from the demise of the body in taking on a new body, the individual does not cease. So many people begin to save up for their old age, for their retirement while they’re still young and they don’t feel any difficulty in setting aside money to ensure they’ll be happy when they reach an old age. Are young, they save up money to be able to use and find happiness when they’re older. Likewise through our meditation, creating skillful actions, we can ensure that we will able to use those results to find happiness and a healthy, happy body in the future in mind. In this way, ensuring that our future lives go well, that we can create those means in the course of this life, then our life becomes meaningful.
But we proceed in this way in order to ensure that our future lives go well. But even we can just set aside the future lives. We can just talk in terms of if we were to meditate well, then we could, even in this very life itself, we could eliminate all our various faults and bring to consummation all our excellent qualities. We could achieve a state completely without any suffering, the happiness of liberation. This human life that we possess has tremendous power and capacity.
It has the potential that if we were to practice in accordance with the universal vehicle, and especially the practices of secret mantra, then we can in the course of this life eliminate all our various faults, bring to consummation all excellent qualities, and we can become a Buddha. Where has this in fact been the case? There have been many who have achieved this In India, Tibet there was Milarepa who achieved this state. So this life in our human body has great capacity. It has tremendous power.
We can accomplish any activity. Appreciating the great potential and abilities that we have that this human life affords us whereby we can eliminate all our various sufferings, we can find happiness if we’re simply willing to implement the methods through our practice and in that way things will go well. So if you have some questions. So the nature mind is such that once it is free of fault, once it has been free to the faults, then it transforms into the nature truth body of a Buddha. Presently that potential of the mind is obscured due to the afflictive emotions.
The afflictive emotions don’t allow us to see that our complete potential to eliminate all our various faults and bring consummation of our excellent qualities. So we aren’t able to see that complete potential of the mind but we can see a partial potential of the mind. So we can begin to appreciate partially the capacity of the mind by understanding whatever quality that we train in, we can generate that quality. We can understand that whatever we train the mind in, then we can develop that ability. And understanding this, then we can see the capacity and in dependence upon what are we able to do that.
It’s the nature of the mind that has this potential, this capacity. And if we train our then gradually we can generate qualities and by seeing that even in a partial way we can understand nature of the mind. We can understand the partial potential of the mind. We can begin to infer its great potential by seeing this partial potential. Likewise with respect to negative actions, you know previously having committed negative actions and we realized how detrimental they are, the faults of these types of actions, and we think, I’m not going to do this again.
And we abandon such types of negative actions. And this ability to abandon these negative actions helps us to understand the potential of the mind, that it’s able to rid itself of faults. So we can come to understand the the tremendous potential of the mind by seeing that we are able to, even in our limited experience, cultivate qualities which we didn’t have previously. We have been able to eliminate faults which we had previously through cultivation. Seeing that we can abandon that negativities which we’ve previously had, we have come to understand things which we did not know previously.
We’ve developed qualities which we did not have previously. Then we can begin to appreciate in a partial way the potential of the mind. Prayers. The first one is on page ten. And then the final prayers are verses eight to nine.