Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 51-minute commentary on the Ornament of Clear Realization, Kyabje Rinpoche addresses a core misconception: that meditation on selflessness means eliminating the mind. He clarifies that the self to be refuted is not consciousness itself, which is momentary and flowing. He teaches the four close establishments of mindfulness—on body, feelings, mind, and phenomena—and how they develop wisdom to abandon suffering and its causes. Through the lens of contaminated versus uncontaminated objects, he shows how our usual perceptions, tied to attachment and aversion, bind us to suffering, while meditation on emptiness frees us. He offers practical techniques including walking meditation and breath observation for stabilizing the mind, and concludes with Q&A on how self-grasping arises during any meditation lacking wisdom of selflessness.
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File: 1990-05-31 – 43B – KR.mp3
UUID: 03ccc273-6fe0-4c70-90fc-79fc3b875322
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Ornament of Clear Realization
Date: 1990-05-31
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,591
So for those who are non Buddhists or for those who have not trained their mind well, have not listened to much Dharma, then since they equate the mind with the self, when they hear about meditating on selflessness, they think that they have to get rid of their mind. They think, in order to attain liberation I have to eliminate my mind. And if there’s no mind, there’s no liberation. So, I’m not going to meditate on selflessness because there is a mind and therefore I’m not going to try to don’t want to get rid of my mind. So understanding the mind, understanding its nature that is its impermanence.
Understanding that we will understand that the self is not the mind. That is to say, the self which is to be refuted in the theory of selflessness. That the this self which is to be refuted in the theory of selflessness is not the mind. One one will understand that it cannot that the mind cannot read itself since the mind is momentary. That is, it’s constantly changing by moment by moment, constantly changing moment by moment.
It is moment by moment disintegrating. That that even though it’s disintegrating moment by moment, it’s not does not become nonexistent, but it is like a flowing stream just like a river. Not not if one not understanding that the self is not the mind, that is to say holding that the self is the mind, one will not meditate on selflessness and therefore not achieve cessation. On the other hand, understanding the actual nature of the mind, understanding that the mind is not the self, one will strive in meditation of selflessness toward liberation and will achieve cessation. By the closest establishment of mindfulness on on the mind, one will develop the the the awareness which strives strives for the attainment of the among the four noble truths, the noble truth of true cessation.
So terms of the fourth mindfulness, it’s the close established mindfulness and phenomena, one will meditate on the selfless phenomena. And it is by this means that one will understand that it is by means of the one understands that by meditation of the selfless phenomena that the various faults, the afflictive emotions can be abandoned and that all the higher qualities, the paths can be cultivated and therefore one will become one will develop an awareness which strives to engage in among the four noble truths, the noble truth of the true paths. One will develop a striving for the true paths. So if we condense what we’ve just meant, what we’ve just been explaining, what has been explained, then by means of the first mindfulness, the close mind close established mindfulness on the body amongst amongst the four noble truths, we will we will develop the awareness which seeks to to abandon the noble truth of suffering, the truth true sufferings by means of the close establishment of mindfulness on feelings, the the awareness which seeks to abandon true sources. By means of the close establishment of mindfulness on the mind, we would develop the mind which strives to attain true cessation.
And by close establishment of mindfulness on phenomena, we will develop the mind which strives to engage in the practices of the true paths. So whatever we’re seeking to obtain, whether it’s the liberation or a Buddhahood, we must we we must see that we must engage in the practice, we must seek to abandon true sufferings and true sources and to practice true cessation and true paths. Though these are the main practices, these are the main strivings of the lesser vehicle, but but though they are not the main strivings of the greater vehicle, still they are the greater vehicle practitioner is still striving toward them, but though not his main practice. So in terms of the the great vehicle paths of the bodhisattva, as we’ve mentioned, there are five paths, path of accumulation, preparation, seeing, meditation, and no more learning. In the path, the first of these, the path of accumulation, there is the small, middling, and great.
Whereas first, the smallest of the least, least powerful as our power with the path increases,. It we develop the the middling, and then as that increases, the great of these three parts of the path of accumulation. So when a Buddhist when the bodhisattva newly generates the awakening heart, he attains the small of the path of accumulation. The main object of meditation of the bodhisattva on the small of the path of accumulation are these four close establishments of mindfulness. So it is through this meditation on these four close establishments of mindfulness and the small accumulation that they they develops the wisdom which there develops an increase in wisdom which seeks to eliminate true sources, abandon truth, true sufferings, abandon true sources, obtain true cessation, and practice true paths.
So the the upon the attainment of the hearer, upon the attainment of the small accumulation, his main object of meditation his main object of meditation are the four close establishments of mindfulness. And I I I think I made a mistake. With the bodhisattva on the small accumulation, it is not his main object of meditation. But he must meditate on these on these four close establishments of mindfulness. It is only by developing by this meditation that he will develop the wisdom which seeks to abandon the true sufferings and true sources and seek to attain true cessation and true paths.
It is by this meditation that he attains this realization, but it’s not a main object of meditation. So by by meditating on the nature of the body, feelings, upon mind and phenomena, we will develop we will be able to abandon attachment and therefore it is extremely beneficial. But this is not only in connection with our own body that if we also can reflect upon the nature of the bodies of others and we would likewise develop, we would develop the, we would abandon our attachment for bodies of others. These days these days most people are putting into practice methods for developing attachment to other bodies. And not many people are trying to pacify their attachment to bodies.
So there are many ways that will help us to develop attachment toward bodies. But for those who are seeking to practice Dharma we should employ those methods which help us to abandon attachment. And then when we reflect on feeling, we’ll begin to see that it is in dependence upon pleasurable feelings that we develop attachment. When, for example, we see that something is good, gives us a pleasurable feeling arises and we want to look at it again and again. On the other hand, when we see something that we don’t we don’t want to see, when there’s something there’s there’s something we don’t want to see, well then we develop, in dependence upon that,.
We develop a displeasurable feeling and we develop hatred toward that object. And further with when we see something which is neither pleasurable nor displeasurable we develop a feeling of confusion toward it or delusion. Sometimes it could translate as delusion. So when when we come in contact with an object, when in dependence upon that object, develop a pleasurable feeling. And depends upon pleasurable feeling, develop attachment.
That is a a contaminated pleasure. And depends upon contaminated pleasure we develop an attachment and this attachment is such that we don’t want to be separated from that object and we also, the thought also arises, may I have this object again in the future? So the the close establishment of mindfulness in the body is extremely important. Only as as was explained hitherto up to now, but also as a means for taking as an object upon which we can stabilize the mind, that we can that we can train our mind to abide on that on that on the body as an object of observation. So this is as we have done in the past and in our retreats when we do in the close establishing mindfulness on the body in our walking practice that we try to keep the mind abiding on the motion of the feet and we’re thinking, noting that raising, placing, the mind reflecting upon I’m raising the foot, raising, raising, keep placing moving, moving, moving, lowering, lowering, lowering, keeping the mind completely bound to the motion of the body, that is to say on the foot and then the next foot begins to lift rising, rising, moving, moving, placing, placing.
And this way this will prevent all types of various thoughts from arising. And we can also this is also true of taking the breath as the object of observation, thinking the breath is flowing out and holding the breath, the mind will abide on the breath and then for example taking the breath back in, imagining for example the white light coming back in, and this prevents all types of various thought patterns from rising. So that’s the four close establishments of mindfulness. If you have some questions. Pleasure.
Contaminated and uncontaminated pleasure. If I said that, that was wrong. It should be uncontaminated pleasure. So the contaminated has there are many different types of way we can explain contaminated, but mainly in terms of conception, contaminated as from the point of view of conception and contaminated from the point of view of afflictive emotion. And here what we’re talking about contaminated from the point of view of afflictive emotions, and that is to say that from the point of view of afflictive emotions, any object which is able to either generate directly or is associated with generating an afflictive emotion is said to be a contaminated object, either directly or associated with generating a an afflictive emotions is a contaminated object.
So if we take an example of our body, our body rises out of karma and afflictive emotions so that it has arisen from these past afflictions. But even now it is able to act as a basis for the generation of further afflictive emotions. in dependence upon our body we generate afflictive emotions. Therefore, it is contaminated. So the flower is also arose out of karma and afflictive emotions, and also it is contaminated since in dependence upon that flower we can develop attachment with our isn’t that a good flower, a beautiful flower, and develop attachment to it?
So it’s a time when thinking, is thinking that the flower is good. One would develop attachment toward it at that time. So an example of an uncontaminated object would be emptiness or true cessation. We do not develop afflictive emotions with respect to emptiness that is that we do not develop attachment, hatred, or confusion with respect to that object nor can emptiness serve as a basis for the further development — emptiness does not generate the attachment, hatred, or confusion nor can it act as a basis for the further development of these. in dependence upon those, we can’t generate.
in dependence upon emptiness, we cannot generate these afflictive emotions. The. So in through a close mind close established mindfulness phenomenon, one begins to understand the nature, begins to discriminate amongst the various types of phenomena as to their goodness or badness. That is to say, whether afflicted, what types of phenomena are afflicted, what types of phenomena are non afflicted, what types of phenomena are to be abandoned, what types of phenomena are to be cultivated. The faults of various types of phenomena, and the good qualities of other types of phenomena.
And therefore, one begins to be able to discriminate what will lead one from toward out of cyclic existence and toward liberation and one begins to cultivate those phenomena which are the paths which will lead one toward liberation and therefore one engages in the cultivation of true paths. Situation when we go into a department store that is full of all types of different merchandise. We examine them according to their quality and understanding that this is a poor quality then we say, oh, I’m not gonna buy that. And we oh, look at this. Oh, this is really good.
This is very good. I’m gonna buy this. And it’s the same discrimination that we make with with respect to phenomena. So in general phenomena, there’s there’s various articles which we are able to recognize. And then for example, the table, the flower, the vase, all of these are in general phenomena.
But when we talk in in Tibetan, the the the same word that for phenomena is Dharma. Yeah. So in Tibetan, the same word. So we but when we say the word we mean that those type of phenomena which are able to produce which are able to produce a result of pleasure or happiness, we call Dharma. So, Dharma in Sanskrit is the same word for phenomena and spiritual practice.
Would your — was your grasping for self increased upon meditating on the impurities of body? Grasping itself. Self grasping. Self grasping or just what? Mean?
Yeah. I can say so. May not be what you mean. I know. It’s an afflictive emotion.
Ignorance. Yeah. Is that what you mean? Would that increase would that be present or increase? You It’d be very present.
The same time that you’re meditating on your period in the body. At the time of meditating on the impurity of the body there is the occasion where there would be self grasping. So this would hold true for anything for meditating on anything but emptiness. You can be meditating on the awakening heart, and you could generate a self grasping. You meditate on impermanence, you develop self grasping.
So unless one has the wisdom realizing selflessness, then anything can act as a means for generating self grasping. Self self-cherishing and self grasping? Self Self grasping and self-cherishing. Cherishing. Self self-cherishing.
And self grasping. So what is the difference? So, the difference between self grasping and self centeredness. Self centeredness is my term, translation for self-cherishing. Yeah.
The difference is that self grasping is always a mistaken consciousness. It’s always It is a distorted awareness. Self centeredness is a factually concordant is a factually concordant consciousness. It’s correct. So the mind which thinks, may I only may only I be happy be happy.
That’s self centeredness, but it’s also a factually concordant consciousness. It’s factually concordant. Any other questions? The mind is correct with respect to its main object. The mind is correct with respect to its main object.
That’s what we call factually concordant. So with respect to self centeredness is the the main object is the the having the happiness and the elimination of suffering, this is the main object. Having happiness and elimination of suffering for oneself only. So this this coming, this arising of happiness and the elimination of suffering is the main object of awareness of self centeredness. Elimination of one’s of suffering and the arising of and the having, happy, happiness is the is the object, main object.
And this is in terms of oneself only. Maybe in the future as we go through the the teaching and during the interval of the teaching, can bring up your questions as we go along rather than having the teaching and then having the questions. Maybe you’re too tired at the end to bring up your questions.