Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 45-minute teaching, Lama Lhundup introduces the commitments and practical instructions of the seven-fold mind training, a progressive method for transforming self-cherishing into compassion for others. He begins by establishing the foundation: recognising that all suffering arises from self-interest, then cultivating renunciation by contemplating impermanence, the suffering inherent in cyclic existence, and the kindness of all sentient beings. He walks through concrete commitments for practitioners, including abandoning actions mixed with self-interest; not returning harm for harm or dwelling on others’ faults; practising equally toward all beings without bias; and maintaining natural conduct without special pretence. Throughout, he emphasises inward transformation paired with outward consistency, and warns against self-cherishing disguised as spiritual ambition. Suited for practitioners familiar with foundational Buddhist ethics.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 09 7FMT.mp3
UUID: 4d628d2c-b6ce-4a16-b1b8-bd20574b8074
Teacher: Lama Lhundup
Collection: Seven-fold mind training (Lama Lhundup)
Date: 1987 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 44.8 minutes
Words: ~2,467
So the today we’re going to cover the the commitments on the training of the mind and instructions on training of the mind and advices on training of mind. Commitments and advices. So what do we mean by training the mind? What are we training We have to begin to see that all our suffering and difficulties are arising from our self-cherishing. And seeing this we train ourselves into rather than cherishing ourselves, cherishing others.
There are many different types of training the mind but here we’re specifically trying to develop the cherishing of others rather than cherishing ourselves. So in order to actually develop the training of the mind that is to cherish in others rather than cherish in itself, it must be the prerequisite for training well in the common path that is the graduated path of being of small capacity and being of limited capacity. If you train well on those then your training of the mind in this case will go well. So if we don’t train well on these preliminary practices then mind training is merely words. We don’t actually get the experience.
It’s just we haven’t actually integrated into our mind. It’s extremely difficult for us to give up our attachment to the happiness of this life. Unless we actually are able to give up our attachment for the happiness of this life then the door in which we are entering into this practice of mind training remains closed. So in our case even we do our various commitments. We do a meditation.
Actually we’re doing it, it’s not in the depths of our heart. Deep within is we’re doing it for only to gain some happiness. The way we can actually begin to lessen and finally eliminate this attachment for the happiness of life is that every day to contemplate the impermanence and death. This is the method for reducing our attachment and finally eliminating our attachment for this life. So not only can you perhaps we go on beyond the attachment to this life but we think about the happiness of future life and we attach to happiness of future life.
This in itself is also obstacle to the training of the mind in this case. So we have this attachment. So in order to eliminate, reverse this attachment we have to have to cultivate renunciation. So we have to think about the fact that wherever we go within cyclic existence we have the highest realms of cyclic existence down to the lowest realms of the hell realm. Pinnacle of cyclic existence from the pinnacle of cyclic existence, the highest most place in cyclic existence down to the So there’s no place that we haven’t been born.
We are continually circling through the beginning of this time. Whatever body that we have taken has only been a cause of suffering. However, whatever possessions that we have had, how much wealth, wherever we have gone, wherever we have been, whatever possessions we have owned, these have only been in the nature of suffering and that everything within is actually in the nature of suffering but we think of it as happiness and therefore we make effort to gain these things. So unless we contemplate well the suffering of suffering, the suffering of pain, then we we will not develop renunciation. When we get sick we say oh now I have some suffering.
Then when we aren’t sick we say, Oh, now I’m happy. This isn’t really what we mean when we say happiness. This is really happiness. It’s really not happiness. So we have to understand suffering and in order to do that we have to check up our own experience.
Have to analyze what is really suffering, what is really happiness. We have to think about it and then we get experience about what is real happiness and what is suffering. So sometimes we think, oh, it’s happy to be at home. But that’s not always the case. Sometimes we have to go outside.
We have to go we want to go out for a walk. So therefore that’s not always happening. So then we go out for a walk and then finally we get tired of we have to sit down. And then we get tired of sitting down, we have to get back up. These are all signs of the nature of suffering.
So we have to think about this again and again. We have to examine our experience and that the happiness that we are experiencing now isn’t really fully qualified, real happiness. That the happiness that we experience is impermanent, it’s not to be trusted. It’s always transforming into something else. First it’s happiness and then it immediately begins decrease and then it transforms into suffering.
So now we have to unless we see within our own self on these contaminated aggregates are in the nature of suffering then there’s no way that we can develop renunciation. We have to see that whatever within cyclic existence or whatever possessions, whatever wealth we may have that they’re all within the nature of suffering. We have to examine this for ourselves. So we have to think about suffering. We have to examine it and then understand the nature of suffering.
And then once we understand the suffering that we really understand the nature of suffering within ourselves, then we can understand that others are also in the nature experiencing the same suffering that all sentient beings who are actually our mothers are experiencing the same So if we understand this, then we will develop the compassion for the suffering which is our mothers are being tortured by. We have developed compassion for them. We remember thinking of the suffering of all our mother sentient beings, remembering their kindness. Then this is the mind training in this case. That is we begin to see all the faults, all the problems with self-cherishing and all the excellent qualities that were developed from cherishing others.
So then we train the mind in stages. We see that our own self-cherishing is the basis for all our suffering, problems and we begin to seek a way to eliminate this self-cherishing and that cherishing others is the basis, the source of all excellent qualities, all happiness. And therefore we begin to train in order to bring about this complete transformation, the giving and taking, we begin to take on the sufferings of others and to give away all our happiness. And this is in order to train our mind. We’re doing this in order to finally attain Buddhahood for their sake and therefore this is the basis for our training.
So we’ve completed the outline of this text in mind training. We’ve completed five parts of the outline and today we’re going to cover the sixth and seventh that is the commitments of training in the mind and instructions or advice on training in the mind. So when one decides to cultivate, to train in the mind training, So we shouldn’t think that even though now I’m trying to cultivate my training, this is my practice that it doesn’t matter whether you keep your vows of individual liberation that you do not act in accordance with for example the ten virtues that you don’t abandon the ten non virtues. You shouldn’t think in this way acting contradiction to them. And also, you know, thinking that, oh, I’m I’m training.
I’m a I’m a practitioner of mind training now. So even though one believes in such beings as nagas and gods and that sometimes we would say, now I’m a mind trainer and I don’t have to pay any attention to such things. And You go around haphazardly cutting down trees and things like this. So we should also not be biased, biased in our practice of mind training. That is that we should practice toward all objects with no difference whatsoever in our attitude.
We shouldn’t, for example, that when we practice giving and taking, we take on the sufferings of our friends and we give away our happiness only to our friends and that we completely neglect our enemy. This would be biased in your practice. So we should have we we should practice equally with equal regard to all sentient beings with no difference whatsoever. So, So we’re practicing in order to transform our mind, transform it from what it was previously in the nature we had a nature of self-cherishing trying to change it to the cherishing of others. So this is our inner practice but outside we should remain natural.
Before due to self-cherishing we we brought about a great deal of suffering and this should be eliminated. But though we are practicing inner practice of mind training mind training, we should not act in a special way and I think, you know, try to act in some special way other than what people are normally doing. Acting and thinking that you’re somehow special and trying to act in a special way, especially some kind of special conduct other than what is ordinarily acceptable for most people for sitting, making that I’m a great meditator, you know, sitting there with your eyes closed in this way, this acts as an obstacle to your practice. So for those who are training Yes. Yes.
So that for those who are training training their mind, even though when they see faults of others, they shouldn’t speak about them. And even if we should not only not speak about them, but even within ourselves, we shouldn’t even think about them. We shouldn’t think having seen some fault, you know, and all that he’s he’s really bad. He he has his fault. This and this we keep thinking over and over again.
We shouldn’t do this. So, you know, we should purify whatever afflictive emotions is heaviest, for example, know, whether we should look within our own minds, see whether attachment or jealousy and this is the heaviest one, the most powerful one, that’s the one we should try to purify through. So for those who you you should not engage in the training of the mind in order and hoping for some kind of reward, some kind of pleasure that’s going to come back to you. So we shouldn’t have this hope. Because this this type of thinking is merely self-cherishing.
So the next commitment is abandoning poisonous food. Just like we wouldn’t eat poisonous food, get rid of poisonous food, then we should not we may do have some kind of constructive actions and virtue, but we should abandon if it’s mixed with self-cherishing, any types of bodies, any actions of body, speech, mind which are mixed with self-cherishing, we should abandon it. We should not respect respect. Oh, we should not we not mix our practice with self. So, you know, at this if at those times when an afflictive emotion, so self-cherishing becomes manifest that we should not let it, we shouldn’t discontinue that we should immediately try to stop it, that we should apply an antidote.
Again, if in a case where someone calls you a name? Yeah. So if someone, you know, directs some kind of hurting words towards you, you shouldn’t immediately you shouldn’t return it with more hurting words. So we as a Buddhist, we should not return harm for harm. If someone says bad words, hurtful word.
Right? I said You don’t you don’t return at the same time. So we shouldn’t we shouldn’t return anger for anger. These are the four ways of training in virtue. So the next is do not lie in ambush.
If someone does something bad, a negative action, deep or something like that and you don’t do anything at that time but you think to yourself, Well one day I’m going to get back at him. I’m to beat him or I’m going to kill him or something like that. So, the next is that hurting someone very deeply, someone that you don’t like. Perhaps he does something. Someone you don’t like, they do something bad and then you wait until you’re many people in front of many people and then in front of many people you say this person did this, this person did this, and this person has this fault, this person with this thief in order to hurt them.
So we shouldn’t we shouldn’t, you know, talk about lift the thoughts of others in front of other people like that. So we should not load the axe with the load of a zoo. Load an ox with the load of a dzo. Dzo. So what this means is that you should you Guys, you have some kind of heavy responsibility. So so you have some you have some some something you have something difficult to do, but you but you don’t do it.
You you get somebody else to do it. Yep. So the next is called making a competing by last minute spurt. Competing by last minute spurt. Right?
What this means is if there’s some something which is some common common property or some kind of common work activity. For example, do you think if there’s something that’s going to be shared, you think I’m going to get the best for myself first. I must get the best before anyone else gets. In the west, foreigners aren’t they don’t have very much of this, but in the east People are very much into this. So we shouldn’t have the motivation for our actions.
So, though we might do for the present we might work for the welfare of others, our deep motivation for doing it is for our own happiness, for our own welfare. So this very much the case in the world today that we work for the benefit of others because in order to gain name, reputation, people like us, that we make effort working for others in order to get something for us. So the next one is do not bring the do do not bring a god down to a devil. Do not bring a god down to a devil. So if we make if we make request request to god, they will benefit us.
But but but they are but it oh. And we were so but but when the same god brings us harm, then he he falls down to the to the level of a devil. He’s not a god. So likewise, we we should not bring our practice of mind training, which is is like a god trying to benefit us down to the level of a devil. The reason we are training in mind training is to develop antidote to self-cherishing.