Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. “Coping isn’t enough” is the note Ven Jampa Gendun opens with in this 46-minute session, drawing on a men’s weekend workshop to argue that functioning well above a layer of quiet desperation is not genuine peace. He develops the idea that afflictive emotions are adventitious conditioning patterns rather than identity, and that the very drive for dissatisfaction signals a basic sanity and capacity for change. A guided meditation then moves through breath-counting with noting, choiceless awareness, and watching the mind itself — illustrated by the image of suddenly finding yourself on a train you were meant to be watching from the bank. The session closes with chapter four of the Dalai Lama’s Opening the Eye of New Awareness: ethics as the foundation for concentration and wisdom, the ten unskillful actions, karma as natural law, and an introduction to the three levels of vows.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 07 OtE 1991 11 13.mp3
UUID: f9932149-e918-4772-a7da-af208173f890
Teacher: Ven Jampa Gendun
Collection: Opening the Eye of New Awareness 1991-1992 (Ven Jampa Gendun)
Date: 1991-11-13
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 46.2 minutes
Words: ~3,409
Difficulties that we experience, a lot of the the afflictive emotions that are continually arising in our minds are simply adventitious. They’re conditioning factors. They’ve been in place over time, But they are not us. We have a basis of sanity, a basis of awareness, a basis of innate intelligence. And that we can, upon this basis, form more skillful patterns and then ultimately go beyond all types of conditioned modes of existence altogether.
And just having this confidence in oneself. In this sense our only limitations are those we acknowledge. And it’s in the sense that in seeing our patterns as patterns there’s nothing more than that. That we are not our anger, that we are not our pride, jealousy, hatred, miserliness. That simply these are reoccurring condition patterns of the mind, these compulsive patterns of the mind.
And that within, the very fact of seeking, the very fact of dissatisfaction is indicative of sanity, the drive for mental health. The methods that we have predominantly implemented, employed up to now haven’t worked to the degree that we wish, that we want. What is it we want? We want complete, stable peace. Call it what we will, happiness.
However you might conceive of that happiness, whatever refinement you want to make up on that word in your own unique way. That’s what the mind is moving towards, there’s a drive for this peace, to remove distress from the mind. And this is indicative of a basic sanity. This is what we would call sanity. And it’s never quite satisfied with those methods and means which don’t bring this in ultimately.
In terms of anxiety, are able to cope very well. Coping isn’t satisfactory, we are coping. Upon our ability, upon our desperation there is a level at which we are able to function extremely well. But this level of being able to function well is covering over a quiet desperation in which we live. The isolation, the feelings of fragmentation, the loneliness, the dissatisfactoriness that is pervasive to everyone who has misknowledge, who has ignorance.
And so it’s not our fault that we’re in this situation. There’s no need to add guilt to complicate our dissatisfaction. But we have these distress patterns which have been installed through conditioning over time, since the beginning of this time. And they are going to continue unless we begin to change, unless we begin to trust in our basic sanity rather than being swept up by the influence of our hopes and fears and operating upon that basis. So in terms of the mind becoming open to and inspired to the possibility of an ultimate way of life.
And we don’t know any better in a sense. When one is completely within one’s pattern, completely enveloped in one’s isolation, for example, it would appear that others don’t care, and that one self becomes defensive and withdraws. The world appears hostile and threatening. That’s the way it appears. But it’s simply an expression of one of our particular distress patterns.
And so we never quite we can get to the point where we don’t quite buy in to the appearances, through our experience and through our understanding, through our own wisdom. We begin to realize that this is a mere appearance dependent upon my condition. This is not the reality of my situation. And one has great faith in the possibility of transcending one’s limitations, one’s compulsive pattern. No matter what happens on the outside, all the various situations that arise, gathering together all the material good things of life, relationships with significant individuals, finding meaning in your work, in your vocation, that location, it becomes necessary to take up this work of reconditioning ourselves, of developing more skillful patterns, discharging the distressed patterns.
And then finally, entrusting ourselves to our own basic sanity, beginning to go beyond all patterned modes of existence and existing within spontaneity and freedom and peace. The inner principle becomes one of growth, of our life. And this is taken as our model, the Buddha, who acts as our paradigm of sanity, someone who saw through the appearances of his own distress, his own, transcended all of his various afflictive emotions. And became a happy, loving, healthy, sane human being. So we can take inspiration from all the many past Buddhas, and we can take inspiration from our own future Buddhahood, our own potential, our own ability to develop wisdom, own ability to develop compassion and love, and our own ability, own potential and capacity to experience spontaneity and freedom and creative energy.
Potential that we all possess expressed, the means of expressing this potential is by the method of the dharma, that which activates and that which brings to fulfillment the potential of the mind and our ability to transcend our patterns. And this is done in the social context of a spiritual community. If I’m not for myself, who will be? If I’m only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?
Somehow we seem to be waiting for something, we’re not quite sure what it is or who it is. Someone to take responsibility for our difficulties. We’re We’re waiting for a better situation, we’re waiting for the right teacher to come along, the right spouse to come along, the right something. And we never quite take up, we never become sincere with the moment. And we never may take the power to make the decision.
And part of our problem is that we haven’t taken the power, we haven’t assumed the power, that we’ve given it away to whatever it is we’re waiting for. We’ve lost the ability to decide for ourselves to be what we want. And this in itself is part of our problem. Continually waiting for something better to come along, for something else, something to solve our problems and we never take up, you know, it’s our responsibility, no one can ever do it for us That we are empowering ourselves, caring for ourselves, making the decision not to hurt myself any longer, not to hurt others any longer, deciding to help myself and to help others. Making this decision, taking that power.
They talk about activating one’s lineage. Rinpoche in his teachings on Tuesday night is talking about the way in which we vitalize our Buddha nature. And part of this is simply, and there’s no magic to it, one decides. I mean that sounds like an oversimplification, but it perhaps is more true than not. One simply decides to change.
And most importantly, the decision must be consistent. And one begins to contradict all of these distress patterns, all of these afflictive emotions in the course of one’s everyday life as they come up. The consistent choice of growth, making we do it formally, we recite a formula, I go for refuge, etcetera, etcetera. But it’s in the almost trivial insignificant events of our lives by which we gain, we assume the power that we have given away over the course of our lives, over the course of our lifetime. That we can begin, that we find a way to express our sanity, our brilliant wisdom.
There are very few, during the course of most of our lives, are probably very few occasions when we will make dramatic decisions, will have earth shaking effects for remainder of our lives. But there are infinite number of myriad seemingly insignificant minor trivial decisions which we make over the course of every day, which determine which are our lives. You know, our lives are not something other than what occurs every day from moment to moment. It doesn’t stand apart. It’s not something abstracted.
You know, I want my life to be better. One decision opens up a pathway to other decisions, other possibilities, and closes off other possibilities which can never be anymore. So in the light of one’s understanding as best as one can, one makes decisions, takes that power, rightly or wrongly. It’s okay to make mistakes. But It is masochism never to make a choice and remain powerless for the rest of your life at the mercy of hope and fear, tossed between and cut up in these recurring compulsive neurotic patterns.
So in a sense we recite this formula and it’s quite useful. It makes us stop and think hopefully. But the actual going for refuge, the actual redirecting of life is a continual creative ongoing process. It’s not to say that if you do this that people won’t die, that the stock market won’t crash with all your money you lost, that you won’t have car accidents, that terrible things might not happen to you. But there’s a certain peace, there’s a certain authenticity, there’s a certain wholeness which is to be gained out of making this consistent choice of this path of heart.
Where one becomes one with this path, one becomes one with one’s life. One is no longer standing outside of it. And you become, as it were, the master of your destiny. For better or worse, you take responsibility, and you quit blaming others, and you quit remaining a victim. It becomes your world, it becomes your life.
I go for refuge until I’m enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. From 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. I go for refuge until I am enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma, 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.
From the virtuous merits 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 guess what I was saying was sharing some of the thoughts in a rather nebulous way, I must admit. This weekend when I went to a men’s workshop, they’re talking about the simply to cope is not enough. Can all cope very well. All very good at that.
We can get by, we function very well above the desperation which is beneath all that fine coping, that fine ability to function. Is that enough, simply to be able to cope well? Is that the kind of life that you want to live? Just to be able to cope and function adequately, to keep it together? So we’re going to do some meditation.
We’re going to begin with mindfulness of breathing. And if it’s useful, making use of the techniques of counting and noting. And if you don’t usually use the technique of counting and noting, it would be for this present meditation to make use of noting. As you all know, the natural breathing, breathing in and out. If you’re going to use the technique of counting, count one, in out two, in out three, up to five, back down to one, one through six, one through seven, one through eight, one through nine, one through ten.
And again, with noting, simply note whatever the mind is involved in at any particular moment. Ideally, it’s involved with the breath. Breathing in, we know that we’re breathing in, we note in. Breathing out, we know that we’re breathing out, we note out. So we have this combination of counting and noting.
In out one, in out two, in out three, in out four, in out five, in out one, in out two. If the mind will become distracted, it’s going to wander. The moment you become aware that it’s wandered, simply note whatever it was, hearing, thinking, feeling, tasting, whatever the object, whatever the sense consciousness involved was. Some way of noting so that we emphasize the effect of awareness. We know what the mind was involved in and we bring the mind back to the breath.
And then we’re going to practice choiceless awareness in which we’re not going to focus the mind on any particular object, but we’re going to try to maintain awareness. And so not focusing the mind on any particular object, simply noting mentally. And so the mind is going to flit like a bird on a tree from one branch to another to whatever is most stimulating in its environment. It may be an external object, maybe the sound of a car going down the street, the sound of somebody coughing, you simply note hearing, hearing, hearing. It may be an internal factor, maybe there is some pain in your knee, feeling, feeling, pain, pain.
It may be a thought, thinking. It may be a picture in your mind, Thinking, thinking, thinking, hearing, feeling. Maybe there’s an itch. Itching, itching, itching, hearing. So just allow your mind to naturally move to whatever object it wishes to.
But from moment to moment be aware, maintain your awareness, and note whatever the object is. And then we’re going to focus on the mind itself. We’re going to take as the object of awareness, the mind, and we’re going to watch the mind. And you want to maintain the noting, thinking, thinking, thinking, thinking, thinking. Whenever thoughts arise, simply note thinking.
We’re going to focus our awareness on the mental consciousness. And this noting will help a great deal. Otherwise you identify with a thought. You’ll get caught up and you’ll be lost. You will lose your awareness.
It’s very much like if you were sitting on the bank watching a train go by. And you’re sitting there watching the train go by, watching, watching the train go by. And car after car goes by, car after car goes by. And then the next moment, you find yourself on the train watching the countryside go by. So this is if we can maintain our awareness, we can simply observe thoughts, observe all the various images, pictures which arise in your mind, watching them by maintaining awareness.
And what’s going to help you maintain your awareness is this practice of noting. Thinking, thinking, just noting. This is what is occurring. Thought is an object of the mental consciousness. These pictures, mental images, are objects of the mental consciousness.
They are not the mental consciousness. They are not you. Thoughts are not you. They are objects of the mind. Just like sound, taste, touch, etcetera.
We can just watch them thinking, thinking. But the moment you identify, it’s like getting on the train and one is lost, one will be caught up and lose awareness. So if you take a comfortable, firm posture, For the next few minutes there is nothing to do but to create some space and time for yourself to rest your mind and body. Nowhere to go, nothing to do. If you have things to think about, worries that need to be worried, lists that need to be made, they’ll all be there when the meditation is finished.
But just for this present time, set that all aside. This is a special time just for you. Just for your mind and your body to rest. Begin by getting in touch with your body, becoming aware of any tightness or tension in your body, especially in the neck or shoulders. Any tightness.
Consciously bring your awareness to these areas and consciously relax, soften the muscles, soothe the tension. Relaxing, softening, feeling almost a physical sensation of the tension moving down and out of your body. And then gently bring your mind to the breath, the natural breathing. Following the even tempo flow of the breath. Bring the mind back to the breath.
Soft body, gentle breath, and quiet mind. If you’ve been counting, stop counting, but continue to note or begin to note the in and out of the breath, whatever the mind is involved in. Noting softly, gently whatever the mind is involved in. Focusing on the breath. Now we’re going to practice choiceless awareness.
Maintain your noting, but don’t direct the mind. Allow it to move to any object it wishes, but note what the mind is involved in from moment to moment. Observing, watching, noting what the mind is involved in from moment to moment. What is the object of the mind? The consciousness.
What is the mind involved in?? Thinking, hearing, feeling, touching, what is the mind involved? Now focus your awareness on the mind itself, on the mental consciousness. And continue to note thinking whenever thought arises. Focus upon the mental consciousness itself, that which observes thought.
And then focus the mind back on the breath, stay gentle, even, natural breath. Was there ever a time that there was no object of your mind? Was there ever a time there was no object of awareness? You can watch, see if it ever happens. So we’re looking at the fourth chapter in His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Opening the Eye of New Awareness, which takes up the first of the three higher trainings or special trainings, the higher training in ethics.
We said that ultimately we have to develop wisdom. All of the teachings of the Buddha came down to the development of wisdom in one form or another. The way that we can finally liberate our mind is through understanding its ultimate nature. And this wisdom is dependent upon training, in the higher training of wisdom, which in turn depends upon training in the higher training in meditative stabilization. Without a strongly focused, concentrated mind, it’s difficult to perform profound analysis, penetrating very deeply.
The mind continually scatters and is distracted and can never go deeply for long periods of time into any particular object. And in order to develop single pointed concentration, let’s say that it would be dependent upon pacifying the grosser aspects of our behavior in terms of internal conflicts and external conflicts between ourselves and others. And this is done through the practicing in the higher training of ethics. Wisdom depends upon concentration, concentration depends upon ethics. Ethics is the foundation of practice.
And we talked about the natural ethics of abandoning the ten unskillful actions. Anybody know what the ten unskillful actions are? Ten unskillful actions, three physical, okay? We’re Buddhist, non-Buddhist, whether we’re atheists, whatsoever. By acting in conflict with abandonment of these unskillful actions, let us say by enacting these unskillful actions, one is creating negative karma.
It’s not a matter that if you believe in karma then it works for you, if you don’t then it doesn’t. It’s not something which is an Eastern law. If you throw a brick up in the air, straight up in the air, and you don’t move out of the way, you shouldn’t be surprised if it falls back down on your head. There’s nothing out to get you that brick was simply obeying a natural law of physics, or a natural law of the universe. Physics didn’t invent it, the law of gravity.
They just discovered it and described it. It existed previous to its description. Likewise, with respect to unskillful actions. It’s not that it was invented in the East or by Buddhism or even previous to Buddhism. It was that certain individuals were able to discern that particular variables in the way of one’s conduct produced certain experiential effects in terms of pleasure and pain.
And they began to see a relationship between what we do, what we think and how we speak and what we experience. And they call this the law of cause and effect, the law of karma, actions and their results. And we talked about infallibility of these relationships, etcetera, etcetera. Now the Dalai Lama goes on to talk about talks very briefly, mentions very briefly the three levels of prescribed ethics, or that is to say, more formal way, more formal types of ethics, not natural ethics, but prescribed. Prescribed ethics, the ethics of individual liberation, the ethics of the bodhisattva, and the ethics of secret mantra or tantra.
Generally speaking, essentially we’re talking about vows and the usefulness of vows and why we take vows. It’s difficult enough already why restrict oneself or why place all these limitations on oneself. Generally speaking, vows are taken as a means