Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Ven Jampa Gendun opens this 30-minute first session of a four-week introductory course by pointing to a framed Dalai Lama quote on the wall — that inner happiness depends on love and compassion — and uses it to anchor the whole series. He explains the session format (motivation-setting, teaching, meditation, group discussion) and offers a practical suggestion: identify one person you want to be kinder to and let that be your motivation for showing up. A story about the newly enlightened Buddha telling a passing stranger “I am awake” then introduces the course’s central question: what does it mean to be awake? He outlines three qualities of a Buddha — wisdom, love and compassion, and personal power — before tracing the life of Śākyamūni from royal birth through the four signs of suffering to enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. Pitched at complete newcomers with no prior exposure to Buddhism.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 03 IB 2007 03 03.mp3
UUID: f0a690e4-5145-42e3-8938-f0aa16adffd8
Teacher: Ven Jampa Gendun
Collection: Intro to Buddhism (Ven Jampa Gendun)
Date: 2007-03-03
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 30.0 minutes
Words: ~4,329
Going through the motions, the various forms, rituals and so forth are no guarantee of success. It’s very much dependent upon our motivation. I just brought out that picture. It’s not a picture, it’s a frame of a quotation by the Dalai Lama. Usually it hangs on the outside of that door there, back in the storage room.
I always glance at it when I come in here to give a talk or to attend to meditate and so forth. I don’t know if I can read it from here. I believe the purpose of life is — I believe the purpose of life is to be happy, and the greatest degree of inner happiness comes from the development of love and compassion. So he’s one of my heroes, the Dalai Lama.
And I think I’m trying to verify what he’s saying in my actual experience in my life. Basically, why we’re here is to be happy. I hope that’s the reason. It’s an innate desire to find happiness and to overcome our sufferings. And so we’ve all developed various methods, various tools to achieve that end.
And Buddhism can be another tool amongst your whole array of methods to work with the problems of life and to find the happiness that you’re looking for. So I think we come down to our own actual lived experience, that maybe things could be better. Now, I’m not saying you’re basket cases, okay? I think you’re extremely healthy people. You know, to be normal in an insane society is not to be very healthy.
You know, normality simply is not enough. We want something more out of life, some kind of fulfillment in our life that maybe hasn’t been there up to now and up to now. How are you? Good. But maybe things could be better.
I don’t know. I know they could be for me, and I don’t think you’re so much different than myself. You know? There’s all kinds of shapes in this room and sexes and maybe education backgrounds and economic backgrounds and so forth. I’m American.
I hope you won’t hold that against me, but, you know, so we all have our different backgrounds, our different mindsets and so forth that we bring to whatever the activity is we do. But essentially, if we scrape beneath the superficial differences, I think we’re all very much alike. Basically, we all want to be happy, and we don’t want to suffer. And is the said, it’s the essence of life to find happiness. It’s our right.
And perhaps we can begin to become more skillful about how we go about fulfilling our right to happiness. And one of the ways, and I’m saying that I don’t want you to fake it or be artificial. I don’t want you to coerce you into feeling there’s something that you’re not feeling, by all means. Probably most of us have had enough of that. But just to plant the seed in your mind, it’s said in the Dalai Lama’s quote in this quote, that the degree of our inner happiness is very much dependent upon our love and compassion that we have inside of ourselves.
And of course, I think love and compassion has to begin with ourselves in terms of loving ourselves. By love, I simply mean sincerely wishing happiness, that we can begin to sincerely wish ourselves happiness. And by compassion, mean sincerely wishing that someone not suffer, and we can begin to wish that we didn’t, ourselves, didn’t suffer. In a genuine fashion, I really mean it. But maybe in this occasion, we can raise the level of that motivation, even if only slightly.
And by that, I mean not only direct that wish toward oneself, that love and compassion, but extend it to one other person. That’s all. Somebody besides, one other person besides yourself. And it might be your partner, might be a parent, might be a child, relative. I don’t it doesn’t matter in a way.
You know, this is the you know, relating to the world, being in this world with others. You know, Buddhism is not a matter of escape or finding realizations and isolations from the world, but how to live better in this world, how to find some skillful way of being in this world with others. And the basis of a successful life cannot be measured by material things or power or status and so forth, but in terms of how we relate with others in terms of love and compassion. So within your own hearts, and I can’t govern this, can only suggest that you might consider, Is there someone that you would like to be a little more caring, a little more patient, a little kinder to, a little more understanding? And maybe what we pick up here today and over these following three weeks, these four weeks in total that we’re going to be looking at Buddhism, maybe I can be there for that person in ways that I haven’t been, because I would like to be able to do that, because I love them, I wish them happiness.
I don’t want to see them suffer. Maybe there’s something here to be begotten. Maybe there’s something on offer we can make use of toward that end. And if that’s our motivation, we can be assured. Even if, you know, no matter even if I don’t know what I’m talking about half the time.
Nonetheless, it would be beneficial. It would be useful if for no other reason than your motivation was positive. It was a beneficial intention. Okay. So I’d like to welcome you to Buddha House, and we’re going to be looking at introduction to Buddhism for the next today and the next following not quite the following, but for three more weeks after that.
I’m going to give you some material. In the just we’re going to in the beginning of each session, we’ll spend a couple minutes to adjust our motivation. Normally, we call normally, we talk in the Buddhist context, we call this going for refuge. That is, say, recommitting ourselves, you know, getting back in touch with what is of meaning and value to ourselves, what is most important to ourselves, getting back in touch with our priorities, in other words. And then I’m going to, in my kind of clumsy way, I’ll say a few words about Buddhism on the basis of these notes that you’re being given.
So you can take them away, you can look at them and study them. And we’re going to do some meditation together. And I’ll explain the meditation and we’ll go through we’ll actually have a meditation session together. And then we’ll have a group discussion. If you have some ideas to to share, if you have some questions.
You know, I come with the understanding that I have, you know, I’ve been in a fortunate situation where I picked up some information from my teachers. I don’t know, I don’t understand most of what I’ve been taught, but I can try to pass it along without distorting it as best I can. I have hung out with lots of really wonderful people. My life’s been very blessed in that way. And I’d like simply to relate what I’ve heard from others, which might be of use to you.
I found it useful in my life. And then I also believe that we all have some innate wisdom, and that you all have your your own knowledge that you’ve built up over the course of your life through your experiences, through your own understandings. And so I’m not a sole source of wisdom around here. I think you all have some wisdom to share. So in these discussions that we’ll have at the end of each session, toward the end of each session, by all means, you know, it’s a community project.
Mental health is a social phenomenon. The world is like a hospital, and we’re all nurses in that hospital, to help one another. So we can share in this by all donating to this to this situation, whatever wisdom that we have to offer. And I’ll do the same. But and I’ll try to clear up all the messes that I make along the way, you know, to clarify the confusions along the way.
So we’ll adjust our motivation, then we’ll talk a a little while on the subject matter that we’ll be covering, the introduction to Buddhism. We’ll do a meditation, and then we’ll have a discussion. But having said that, if, you know, in the course of my presentation, if presentation, if if something’s not clear, which is quite likely, by all means, sometimes it’s good if we stop right there and clarify. Sometimes just a word or two. Sometimes people misunderstand the word, and the the rest of the whatever is being said, in dependence upon that is just a lot of confusion.
So in the course of what I say, you’re by all welcome by all means, you’re welcome to stop me and say, I don’t understand a word you’re saying, you know, something like that. And I’ll stop and clarify this. But it would be helpful if you kind of stuck to what we’re actually the subject that I’m addressing right then. And then later on, we can have a general discussion. We can work at we can work through some of these ideas and bring in other understandings and information.
Okay. Is that okay? People go along with that? So this is a community project. I don’t claim to be an expert.
So I hope you’ll help me along. Okay, Buddha house. This is Buddha house. I don’t know if this is Buddha house. Just to keep your throat lubricated.
Thank you for that. Just a few words about Buddha House because just to situate where you are physically. It we’ve just moved in this premises just this year. It’s brand new, so we’re still working out the air conditioning and lots of other technical difficulties. We used to live we used to be in Fullerton on Nelson Street.
We had to move for various reasons, and we found these premises. I think it’s I think it’s turned out quite well. I find it, you know, this is like a mandala. A mandala is like a physical environment which you place your mind in. And it’s like a support.
You know, it can brighten up the mind. It can help the mind. It can be conducive to development of the mind. And this is kind of the situation we present ourselves. And I realize there’s lots of strange pictures in here, lots of strange objects.
You must be wondering what these are all about. Sometimes I wonder myself. But, you know, maybe we can clarify some of them. Some of them I don’t understand myself, and we can ask other experts who who do have the information. But, you know, the the it’s more in terms of not the material aspect, but the teachings themselves.
You know, in Buddhism, we talk about three refuges. And I realize the idea of refugees might sound rather foreign or rather Buddhist. I don’t know. But in fact, one way or another, we are all we have all been going for refuges our entire life. You know, where it is that we think is going to we’re going to find happiness.
What’s going to solve our problems? So, generally, we talk about the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha as our refuges. And I’m going to talk more about these these in the notion of refuge. But I’m the only reason I’m saying that is because, essentially, the actual refuge or the actual method of helping ourselves and changing our mind is the Dharma. And the Dharma is can be interpreted in various ways.
Sometimes it’s, you know, can be interpreted as as the scriptures or the teachings, you know, the texts and so forth, the trainings, the techniques. But in essentially, it’s the truth of things. And the way things they are in their actuality is the truth which is going to make us free. So this is what we want. These these other things are perhaps secondary.
They help us to they support us in finding that truth. But, you know, if somebody is pointing to the moon, you don’t get hung up in their finger. You try to find out, try to look beyond their finger to what it actually is being indicated. So all of these fingers around us are trying to point to something, trying to point our way to the truth and the solution to some of our problems. And so this is kind of the situation that we set up for ourselves, a situation, an environment which is conducive to finding that truth, trying to develop our minds.
So the the place of Buddha House was established as a place to make the teachings of Buddha. And we’re going to discuss what a Buddha is available to the wider community, trying to create the conducive conditions for the integration of Buddhism. These are the truth of things. When you can read, you know, the, the, the founding of Buddhism or the founding of Buddha House was, it was founded in nineteen eighty one by Lama Thubten Yeshe. Lama Thubten Yeshe, on my left, on your right, there’s there’s a vertical row of three small pictures.
And there’s a lovely looking face in the middle picture. That’s Lama Thubten Yeshe. He was a brilliant psychologist. He was a very special person. I feel very blessed to have known him.
He was kind of a radical, very much so. But he had a way with people that he could have You know, this was in Nepal when I first met him, where he spent most of his time having run away from the monasteries in India. He was a dropout. You know, he could have a a junkie doing, you know, doing prostrations and, you know, twenty four hours later after having met him and totally changing people’s lives for the better. You know, it was quite remarkable.
And the fact that he founded a worldwide network of what is called the FPMT, the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahāyāna tradition. Today, I guess, I don’t know, it keeps growing, but maybe it’s about one hundred and twenty centers and monasteries and nunneries and retreat centers around the world. And it shows difference that one person can make. The reason that we’re sitting here, the reason that this all exists, is because of that person sometime many years back, and the waves, the reverberations that are moving out in the world. So we can make a difference.
One person can make a profound difference in the world. Many of his students invited him from Nepal and asked him to come to the West and give teachings, and he came to Adelaide amongst the various other cities. And there was one student named Dot White. He now lives in Melbourne. He said the students approached and said, we want to carry on our practice, but we’re here.
We’re each isolated from one another. We want to start some kind of community, some kind of center. So he he helped him to establish Buddha House. And initially, it started off in the garage of Dot White’s house, just converting the garage into something that resembles this, but not quite. And from there, it grew.
And they found new premises in Fullerton. And now we move to here. And it’s all under the guidance of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. Picture on your right, for this right hand side is the Dalai Lama. He’s the I guess everybody knows the Dalai Lama.
Maybe I maybe I he’s going to be in Melbourne in June. So if you get a chance, you might like to go over to actually hear him teach in person. And then our spiritual director is Lama Zopa Rinpoche. And of these three pictures, he’s the bottom picture. So anyway, that gives you some of the politics of what we’re involved in.
But let’s talk about the Buddha. I like this quote. I’ve written it in your handout, Introduction to Buddhism. It is said that soon after his enlightenment, the Buddha passed a man on the road who was struck by his extraordinary radiance and peacefulness of his presence. The man stopped and asked, my friend, what are you?
Are you a celestial being or a god? No, said the Buddha. Well, are you some kind of magician or wizard? Again, the Buddha answered no. Well, my friend, what then are you?
The Buddha replied, I am awake. So, you know, the word Buddha, you you probably have heard that many, many times. You’re going to hear it many, many times again. It is a Sanskrit word, and it simply means one who is awake or an awakened one. So, you know, I guess the next question, what does that mean?
I’m awake, aren’t I? I’m half awake. You know? I woke up early this morning, so I’m still a bit still sleepy. Anyway, what does it mean to be awake?
It means, essentially, what did did we use the Buddha as our paradigm, as a model of what is possible for ourselves. It’s like an orientation. When I talked about adjusting our motivation and reestablishing our priorities. Buddha becomes like a priority in terms of what we could become, who we could be, the most meaningful way we could live our life. You know, I don’t know what a Buddha is, to be honest.
You know? I can only you know, what is the best thing I could be in my life? You know? We we’re all telling ourselves a story about ourselves. What is the best possible, you know, best possible story we could tell ourselves about ourselves and who we can be and what we can do, how we can lead our lives?
And I just let loose with your imagination. That’s your Buddha. Okay? Okay. What are some of the as as in terms of Buddhist attitude toward what a Buddha is like?
First, there’s a there’s the the quality of wisdom. It is to see things clearly, to know things directly without mistake, without misconception. A mind that sees without wrong thinking, unconditioned, without any obscurations. Okay? That quality of mind is qualified.
Or another characteristic of what we mean by awake is love and compassion. You know, a burning desire that others find happiness, that they too awake, that they too be free of suffering. And sometimes it’s compared to a mother’s love and compassion toward her only child. That quality, you know, it’s really something extremely powerful. And moreover, this is extended to all living beings equally.
That’s hard to imagine. You know, it’s difficult enough to sincerely love ourselves, let alone to wish all sentient beings equally happiness. But anyway, that’s what we can imagine. That’s what we can work toward. That can become a priority.
And moreover, there’s sense of personal power about a Buddha, a sense of inner strength, a abundance of will. A Buddha is not a wimp. There’s a capacity to make a difference, to be effective, just like I mentioned about Lama Yeshe. What one individual can do, that’s personal power. And then finally, we talked about the fact that mental health is a social phenomenon.
So it’s simply a matter of developing inner qualities. It’s we also have to find ways of skillfully expressing these qualities in the world. And so a Buddha is expresses their wisdom and their love and compassion in this personal power in terms of skillfully and fearlessly working with others, you know, to help them to experience the same, you know, doing something in the world, benefiting others, something beside yourself. So when we speak of awakening, essentially, we mean a consummate state of wisdom, love and compassion, and personal power, and their skillful and fearless expression in our daily lives and working with others. So there’s a little in his handout, there’s a little brief extremely brief biography of the Buddha, you know, the actual history of the historical Buddha.
You know, there have been infinite numbers of Buddhas. There is one particular Buddha who whose whose teachings are the source of our present teachings, and that Buddha is referred to as Buddha Śākyamūni. And that’s I don’t know what I don’t know what he looked like. We don’t know what he looked like. But, anyway, if we had to we had to if we had to make a picture of him, this is what he would look like on the on the left hand side wall there.
That’s a picture of Buddha Śākyamūni. Śākyamūni, Shakya, is simply means the clan that he came from. He was born in Lumbini, which is on the northern border of India, between India and Nepal, modern day Nepal. So he was born as Siddhartha Gautama into a royal family. And it was prophesied that this child was either going to be a great king or a great wise person, a great sage.
And his father, I guess like most fathers, even today, wanted him to follow in his own footsteps. He wanted him to eventually inherit his throne. So he he tried to prevent him from seeing all the difficulties of life, you know, the sufferings of life. He wanted he just he provided him with all the various pleasures that were available at that time. But eventually, Siddhartha saw four signs.
He saw an old person. He saw a diseased, sick person. And he saw a dead person being carried. But he saw a fourth. He saw a wandering monk who looked extremely peaceful, had a certain radiance and presence about him.
And he’s you know, he said, well, this isn’t working. You know? This is this is what I’m experiencing is completely artificial. It’s not really what life is all about. I’ve got I want to find a way whether the dissatisfaction, the suffering of life, Is it inherent in life?
You know, do is life a bitch and does we die? Is that is this our situation? Or is there some way around it? Can we actually solve the basic fundamental problem of the human condition as as he experienced it? And this is a big problem.
This is a big question. And he was he was courageous enough to and willing to forego what this life superficial pleasure to to try to dig to answer this question for himself. So he renounced his royal family. He left home at the age of twenty nine. He followed various teachers over over a number of years, and he practiced what we call ascetics for six years.
You know, you’re really going through some really heavy handed ways of dealing with his mind and body. This was an accepted manner of finding liberation in those days. No one was quite sure if it worked, but they didn’t know any other way. And he found that neither indulging in pleasures nor repression, neither indulging in our, what we call, the afflictive emotions. By afflictive emotions, and we’re going to talk a lot about this, afflictive emotions such as attachment and hatred and pride and jealousy.
Neither indulging them nor repressing them was the way best way to work with them. Neither way actually brought any kind of success, any kind of peace. So finally, he he gave up his ascetic practices. And there’s a there’s a nice story about how a shepherdess, a young woman shepherd, gave him some maybe some curd, some yogurt drink, and he felt it made him stronger again. And then he sat beneath this what’s called a Bodhi tree, the tree of awakening, tree of enlightenment in what is called what is now modern Bodh Gaya.
And he said, you know, I’m not going to get up from this seat until I find out what the truth is. You know, is life a bitch and then you die, or is there an alternative open to us? And it’s a real taking control of our destiny, of our life, and we’re not just simply leaves blowing about in the wind. We this is what I’m going to do. That kind of determination, that kind of inner strength.
And it said, I don’t know, then this is the way the story goes. As dawn arose, he had an insight into the actual nature of reality. And by means of that, his mind was liberated from all the afflictions, most basically ignorance, which we’re going to talk a lot about. And having eliminated the basis of suffering, and to say ignorance, his mind found peace. And he found what he was looking for.
He became awake. And he spent the rest of his life, which is about forty five years, teaching what he found and the way to go about doing it. And, you know, the the I don’t you know, it’s many of these stories, whether they’re completely factual or completely made up up or beside the point, but they are are part part of Buddhism. And it’s more important what they’re trying to point out to ourselves. You know, just like I was talking about the finger indicating something.
The Buddha was not an ordinary person. He was an awakened one, an awakened person. He became the embodiment of wisdom, love, and compassion, and personal power, and their skillful and fearless expression in our daily life. But Buddha Śākyamūni was not always an extraordinary person. He was not born, or he was not in the nature in some way of being an extraordinary person.
He became