Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 29-minute review session, Ven Jampa Gendun opens with Jung’s observation that “the avoidance of legitimate suffering is the basis of all neurosis,” using it to frame why religious practice matters: growth requires voluntarily entering difficulty rather than cycling the same patterns. He then revisits Chapter 1 of the Dalai Lama’s “Opening the Eye of New Awareness,” arguing that since the mind is the source of all problems, transforming the mind is the most far-reaching solution available. A long quoted passage from the Dalai Lama makes a cross-tradition case that compassion is the essence of all religion, with wisdom serving mainly to make compassion limitless by dismantling afflictive emotions. Chapter 2 introduces the two truths: conventional reality, shaped by language and culture, and ultimate truth — emptiness, the absence of inherent existence in all phenomena. Suited to those already following the series.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01 OtE 1992 02 05.mp3
UUID: 09d56b53-c69a-4a28-89c0-c4f4508cc8c9
Teacher: Ven Jampa Gendun
Collection: Opening the Eye of New Awareness 1991-1992 (Ven Jampa Gendun)
Date: 1992-02-05
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 29.4 minutes
Words: ~3,538
So it’s time to readjust our motivation, this process of re orientating ourselves, re evaluating, resetting our priorities, getting back in touch with perhaps some of our more central values that we’ve hopefully over the course of our life autonomously determined for ourselves, as seen as important, as fulfilling, as self authenticating means to experience what we’ve been wanting our whole lives. Something which has great meaning for us. But from time to time we lose touch with, we lose sight to us in the course of our busy days, in the course of having to deal with all our practical necessities in life. We oftentimes lose sight of what is important to me as a very unique individual, What makes me happy? What makes me feel good about myself?
And helps me in relating with others. Some of them are really prime, those things which are of prime importance and quite easy to get caught up in secondary and even superfluous issues and they take on an importance which in the light of our wisdom and our clearer thinking, we would normally not give them. But sometimes we aren’t functioning in the context of our wisdom and our understanding. We get carried away. Through this process of realigning our allegiance from a life lived on the basis of hope and fear, to one lived on the basis of actively choosing growth.
Whatever we do, whatever comes our way, to be able to transform it into a means to develop ourselves, to grow both outwardly in our horizons and being able to encompass within our presently limited love and compassion more and more individuals and peoples, indiscriminately and inwardly in-depth in terms of our understanding of the nature of our own mind, in terms of love and compassion. It seems that we try. We all have our conception about what happiness is. And we try our best to make use of whatever methods are available to us, whatever skills that we may have developed along the way to realize our conception of happiness. And amongst you know, we’re going to talk about in reviewing the Dalai Lama’s book, Opening the Eye of New Awareness, the necessity for religious practice, that is to say, essentially that we need to grow.
Because amongst all our various techniques, skills, tools, means, methods, which are quite justifiably, you know, both material, psychological, but also spiritual. We need to have a whole different array of means to find all the various types of happiness that we’re looking for. And amongst these are spiritual growth. We sort of can take have a conviction, have a faith in growth, in the sense that we don’t have so much control over what this falls is. But if I grow, then I know whatever may occur, I’m going to land on my feet.
I’m willing to voluntarily take on legitimate suffering and voluntarily take work with difficult problems. It’s a real faith that the more I develop myself simply the better things are going to be. And it’s like one of the most our basic creed. I think life is very difficult because life is full of problems and solving a problem is painful. And so there’s a tendency to avoid them, but as Jung said, the avoidance of legitimate suffering is the basis of all neurosis.
So we have to have some kind of faith to willingly involve ourselves in difficult situations, willingly go through the pain of growth. With some sort of abiding faith at the end of it we’re going to be a better person. We’re going to be a better person not only for ourselves but we’re going to be a better person for others. And there’s some fulfillment, there’s some meaning, there’s some meaning in one’s life. Probably either way you’re going to suffer, but at least suffering legitimate suffering, there’s going to be some kind of evolution rather than continually circling through the same neurotic patterns over and over again, this cyclic existence that we’re caught up in.
If we grow, at least there’s a spiral, there’s some change, there’s some movement in some direction. And so this is the direction that we’re continually trying to reorientate ourselves. And the direction ultimately is Buddha, and the Buddha within ourselves. And that is the ultimate refuge, the ultimate solution to all of your problems, to become a happy, healthy, loving, sane human being. That Buddha will always be there.
You can always depend upon that Buddha in all the vicissitudes that life brings us wherever and whenever. Nothing outside of that Buddha can be an ultimate refuge, can help us to ultimately solve our problems. We can take inspiration and guidance from the Buddhas outside of ourselves, but ultimately it is only by their showing of the truth that they can help us. You know, there’s a verse that the Buddha spoke, The lords of seduers, the lords of seduers is an epithet of the Buddhist. The lords of seduers do not wash away sins with water, nor do they remove suffering with their hands, nor do they transfer their realization to the minds of others.
But by the showing of the truth, all will be made free. So we go for refuge to the truth, is the Dharma, the way things are. The truth is therapeutic, if we’re willing to You know, whenever there’s suffering, there’s probably some illusion at the basis of it. And if we’re willing to work through that illusion and come to the reality of it and accept that reality, even no matter how painful it might be, then there’s some growth. We’ve broken through one of our layers of our illusions and we’ve come closer to living truth within our lives rather than simply having the truth as part of our knowledge, information.
We become an embodiment of that truth. You know, whatever you know, the means by which we become Buddha, the means by where we go from an ordinary human being to an extraordinary being. And this is done in the social context. Mental health is a social phenomenon. And it’s done in the environment of other human beings who equally made a choice to grow.
The qualities of love and compassion and wisdom and caring and development are central to their lives. And this free association of these caring, sensitive people in order to facilitate one another’s growth, We create an atmosphere of love and companionship, caring and communication. So these are the refuses. This is getting back to some of what is more central in our lives, what can be of greatest value in solving our problems. So the internal focus of our life is Buddha, which is achieved by means of the Dharma in the social context of the spiritual community.
And we try to raise the level of motivation such that, you know, we’re not only trying to grow for ourselves because this is a temptation, but in the end it’s self defeating. But we’re trying to grow for both ourselves and others, for everyone. So, you know, whatever I’m going to do, may it somehow help me develop myself. It might not be apparent to me how it’s going to benefit me, but somehow may I adapt it to my practice as a path towards self development, towards growth, towards expressing my inner Buddha for the sake of all sentient beings. I go for refuge until I am enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the highest assembly.
From the virtuous merit that I collect by practicing giving and the other perfections, may I attain the state of the Buddha to be able to benefit all sentient beings. I go for refuge until I am enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the highest assembly. By the virtuous merit that I collect by practicing giving and the other perfections, may I attain the state of the Buddha to be able to benefit all sentient beings. I go for refuge until I am enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the highest assembly. And the virtuous merit that I collect by practicing giving and the other perfections, may I attain the state of a Buddha to be able to benefit all sentient beings.
Sticking with mindfulness of breathing, you can take a comfortable but firm posture. There’s nowhere to go, nothing to do for the next, say, five minutes. So this is just giving yourself some space and time. Remember this, we’re looking at Opening the Wisdom Eye, Opening the Eye of New Awareness. There’s another translation of this called the Wisdom Eye Opening the Eye of New Awareness, by the Dalai Lama.
So I thought tonight this would be a very quick review of everything that we’ve covered up to now, just reinforce what we learned last year. So in the very first chapter, Holiness sets out the necessity for religious practice. As I mentioned previously in the opening in setting our motivation, we all have a unique conception of what constitutes happiness and we try our best, the best we can, to use whatever means, skills are available to us to realize that our conception. Some people are vegetarians because they think it’s going to make them happy. Some people eat a lot of meat because they think it’s going to make them happy.
Some people give up sex because they think it’s going to make them happy. Some people have lots of sex because they think it’s going to make them happy. Some people go off in the caves. Some people go to nightclubs. And everybody has their unique conception of what constitutes happiness for them.
And they try their best, we try our best. And there are many conceptions, many types of happiness. And accordingly, each of these types of happiness, even for one individual, during the course of the day we seek sensual pleasure, food, drink, listening to music, even for one individual over the course of one single day, that individual is striving for many types of happiness, types of satisfaction, longing to feel pleasure. And so obviously if there’s going to be these different types of happiness, the individual is going to have to employ different means. There’ll be an expected different means to find each one of those different types of happiness.
And amongst our array of possible means for finding all the various types of happiness to lead a healthy, fulfilling, rich life. One of them is religious practice, a life based around growth, self development. And as I mentioned life is I don’t think I’m being cynical. I think I’m being realistic. I say life is difficult, I find life difficult.
Can be terribly painful at times, confronted with many problems. As I said, the solution to solving our problems is painful. Change is painful. We don’t want to change. We’re either dragged willy nilly into pain against our will or if we have some perspective and perhaps some maturity, we’re willing to take on legitimate suffering, the legitimate suffering involved to change.
We’re voluntarily entering into difficult situations, we’re voluntary entering into types of situations which there’s a sense of transitoryness, getting unstuck from the maintenance of the status quo and involving ourselves within the process of some sort of transformation, whether it’s external in relationships or places or internally with one, the way one is dealing with the world, one’s thinking patterns, one’s thinking patterns, one’s emotions, one’s feelings. The source of all our problems is the mind. And religious practice is the most far reaching method whereby to transform the mind. So therefore, religious practice is necessary because it is the most profound means of mental transformation. And it’s through mental transformation that we’re going to ultimately solve our problems because it is the mind which is the source of the problem.
So we’re dealing very directly. There’s no middle person involved with the source. What is the essence of religion in spiritual practice? We’re just going to go through this roughly and review what some of the things that the Dalai Lama said. In fact, this quotation is not even from the Opening the Eye of New Awareness, it’s from another book by the Dalai Lama, but I think it’s worthwhile to put religious practice in the context of what is the essence, the most important, the primary focus of our attention and growth.
The development of love and compassion is basic, and I usually say that this is the main message of religion. When we speak of religion, we need not refer to deeper philosophical issues. Compassion is the real essence of religion. If you try to implement to practice compassion, then as a Buddhist, even if you do not place much emphasis on the Buddha, it is alright. For a Christian, if try to practice love, there is no need for much emphasis on other philosophical matters.
I say this in a friendly way. The important thing is that in your daily life you practice the essential things. And on that level there is hardly any difference between Buddhism and Christianity or any other religion. All religions emphasize betterment, improving human beings, the sense of brotherhood and sisterhood, love. These things are common.
Thus, if you consider the essence of religion, there is not much difference. I myself feel and also tell other Buddhists that the question of nirvana will come later. There is not much hurry. But if in your day to day life you lead a good life, honestly, with love, with compassion, with less selfishness, then automatically it will lead to nirvana. Opposite to this, if we talk about nirvana, talk about philosophy, but do not bother much about day to day practice, then you may reach a strange nirvana, but it will not reach the correct nirvana because your daily practice is nothing.
We must implement these good teachings in daily life. Whether you believe in God or not does not matter so much. Whether you believe in Buddha or not does not matter so much. As a Buddhist, whether you believe in reincarnation or not does not matter so much. You must lead a good life.
And a good life does not mean just good food, good clothes, good shelter. These are not sufficient. A good motivation is what is needed. Compassion without dogmatism, without complicated philosophy. Just understanding that others are human brothers and sisters and respecting their rights and human dignity.
That we humans can help each other in of our unique human capacities. We must share in each other people’s suffering. Even if you cannot help them with money, to show concern, to give moral support, to express sympathy are themselves valuable. This is what should be the basis of activities. Whether one calls it religion or not does not matter.
Compassion as the essence of religious practice. Even wisdom, which is emphasized a great deal within Buddhism, is even only to assist us in developing our compassion limitlessly. To cultivate compassion, altruism, meditation is necessary to have the assistance in meditation it is necessary to have the assistance of wisdom. It is said that with the help of wisdom, compassion can become limitless. This is because the afflictive emotions prevent the development of limitless compassion.
And in order to destroy these afflictive emotions, it is necessary to know the nature of phenomena. The reason for this is that the afflictive emotions superimpose a goodness and a badness upon phenomena which exceeds the measure of what is there. The sign of this is that this being that after we are either very desirous or very angry and that emotion has subsided, then we look at the same object. We see it entirely differently and even burst into laughter at ourselves. To counter this superimposition and hence prevent the arising of the victim emotion, it is necessary to know the final nature of phenomena correctly.
Without superimposition. We need to know the absence of inherent existence of all phenomena. So therefore the necessity of religious practice is to cultivate compassion which is assisted by wisdom, understanding the ultimate nature of reality. This is the essence of our practice, the essence of the necessity to practice, to cultivate compassion which is assisted by seeing deeply into nature of reality, wisdom. This is where all of Buddhism is leading, and this is where all of religion is leading.
That’s the bottom line. To help us to solve our problems and give us the skill in helping others to solve their problems. We weren’t meant to have problems. Life was never meant to be difficult. It is the given, it is the situation we find ourselves in, and we must work with what we find, situation that exists and we suffer, we have problems.
So the way that we can extricate ourselves from this situation which is dissatisfying for both ourselves and others is through the development of compassion assisted by wisdom both for ourselves and others, the necessity for religious practice. In the second chapter, His Holiness describes the way in which religious practices are set out, the way in which the teachings, the Dharma, is set out. Within Buddhism, the Dharma, the teachings are set out in terms of the two truths. So first he said, Okay, we need to practice religion, some kind of spiritual path. And then how is this path presented?
It’s presented in terms of two truths, conventional truth, ultimate truth, sometimes called the relative truth, superficial apparent truth, ultimate truth, sometimes called absolute truth. I like conventional truth and ultimate truth. So the teaching, the method, the means whereby we can realize compassion assisted by this wisdom is presented in terms of two realities, two truths, ultimate and conventional truths. The Buddhist teachings of the Dharma rely on two realities. The social superficial reality and the reality of ultimate import.
Those such persons as Buddhas, they do not teach only one reality or one unreality. They teach two realities, a relative one that is superficial, lying on the surface. And social, conventionally structured by our culture, which shapes consciousness through language. And an ultimate absolute that is profound, transcended yet real, knowable, and hence a supreme import being ultimately liberative and transformative.
Those who do not discern the difference between these two realities do not understand the profound principle of the Buddhist doctrine. And we discuss and we’re going to discuss when we come to the higher training in wisdom, the import of these two realities. Why is it necessary to describe our world in terms of two realities? You know, the Buddha taught in terms of these two realities, the social reality or superficial reality, that reality which is conditioned by our culture, which is conditioned by our language. You know, the world does not our world does not exist objectively outside of ourselves, independent of ourselves, but it’s dependent upon causes, conditions, parts, but most importantly our own mind.
Our mind is continually organizing our world and with our thoughts we make the world. So there is a world which is conditioned by our thoughts. Our thoughts are made up of language. So our reality is conditioned by language. Our thoughts are conditioned by our culture, our society.
So our reality is conditioned by our culture, by our society. Different societies, different cultures will perceive a different reality, very unique to them. This is the superficial, the social reality. It’s a type of reality. It is real, but it’s a conditioned reality.
It is a type of reality. But there’s another level of reality below that surface. This table is a conventional truth. It is a relative reality, relative to my conception of it as being a table. You know, all of these things, people, houses, tables, they’re all conventional truths.
They are agreements, conventions that we’ve been educated into. The teachings on conventional truths help us to understand the world around us and how to deal with the world around us skillfully, how to relate with it effectively. And the teachings on ultimate truth help us to understand that these conventionalities that we’re making use of are mere appearances. They don’t ultimately exist. They don’t objectively exist.
So we aren’t captivated by them. We aren’t hooked by them. That we can live in the world amongst conventionalities and still transcend it simultaneously. We can make use of conventionalities, we can relate with the world productively and wholesomely, but we need not become caught up in it. We can be of the world, but we can transcend it simultaneously.
There is only one phenomenon which is an ultimate truth that is emptiness. The non objective existence. The many synonyms which we’re going to discuss when we talk about the higher training in wisdom, you know, non naturally, like things do not naturally exist, they do not inherently exist, they do not exist from their own side, they do not independently exist, they do not truly exist, they are not self defining. They are all synonyms getting at the same idea. That things are empty of inherent objective existence.