Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Using a factory-worker analogy — money as Buddhahood, lineage as the factory, we as both worker and owner — Ven Jampa Gendun makes Buddha-nature immediately concrete in this 41-minute talk. He defines Buddha as one who has eliminated all faults and perfected all qualities, then shows that every sentient being already holds the cause for this within them: lineage. He distinguishes natural lineage (the unchanging emptiness of mind) from developmental lineage (the mind’s continuum and trainable potential), drawing on the Madhyamaka view that all beings possess lineage equally. A Q&A section clarifies why developmental potential varies between practitioners before the talk closes by grounding everything in daily life: generating healthy mental states and abandoning harmful ones, moment by moment, is how we cultivate lineage and give our lives meaning.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 11 OtE 1991 11 20.mp3
UUID: f4dcc55a-67d3-4b14-afab-c8a1973938e9
Teacher: Ven Jampa Gendun
Collection: Opening the Eye of New Awareness 1991-1992 (Ven Jampa Gendun)
Date: 1991-11-20
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 40.9 minutes
Words: ~1,881
So what do we mean when we say a Buddha? What we mean is an individual who has eliminated all of the various faults and brought to consummation their excellent qualities. We don’t mean other than that when we say Buddha. And each of us has the cause whereby to generate Buddha within us. Each of us has the cause whereby to realize Buddha within us.
This cause we call lineage. This is the nature of mind. So I think you understand this readily if I make use of analogy. The reason that we use analogies is that often the meaning is difficult to understand. And the analogy is a method whereby we can present a similar example which is more readily understood as means to understand the actual meaning we’re getting at.
Probably, most people in the world are after money. Why is everybody after money? Because the benefits of money are that we can have all the various material things that we might want. We can have food, drink, clothing. Can have comfortable homes.
We can have good transport. These are some the benefits of money, this is why everybody’s after it. So these are some of the main objects of our striving after money. That’s why we want it. In order to get the money that everybody wants, then they implement various means.
Some people work in factories, some people work on farms, some people work in hospitals, some people work in stores. And these are all means of getting the money that we want. So making use of one example out of these, that the place where the person works is like a factory, for example, and that the factory worker does the work at the factory. The factory is where he works and doing the work is the means that the factory worker can get what he wants. Taking this analogy and speaking of it in terms of the meaning, that is trying to understand what lineage is.
That In order to bring about this result of achieving these material things, we need money. And so the factory worker goes to the factory as a means to achieve this end. So likewise, what is it that we want? First, what is it that we don’t want? We don’t want suffering, and we don’t want these various afflictive emotions.
And what is it that we want? We want happiness. We want ultimate happiness. And the way of achieving, of getting rid of what we don’t want is by eliminating our various faults. And the way of achieving what we do want is by developing all the excellent qualities.
Now the place that we’re going to do this at, that that that what we’re trying to get will arise from is lineage. That’s the place we go to in order to achieve our end. So the lineage is analogous to the factory. That’s the place we go to where we get the money, what we want. So I’m going to discuss lineage in terms of Mahāyāna lineage, or the great vehicle lineage.
Those who are striving for such a lineage are those individuals who seek to benefit others who have altruism. So Buddha is analogous to money. It’s the same as money. Lineage is the same as the factory. So just as the factory worker goes to the site, the factory site of the factory, the factory site in order to for what?
In order to get money? Likewise, the place the site that we go to in order to realize Buddha is lineage. So the lineage is the site which we go to as a means to realize Buddha. So in order to realize Buddha, we rely on lineage. And what is the way in which we realize Buddha?
Just as in the case of when we want to get money, it’s necessary that we are hired on by the owner of the factory. We didn’t build the factory, so there has to be a factory, there has to be someone who already started the factory. And then the factory owner hires us on and we go to the factory to make our money. So in this analogy, lineage is analogous to factory and then the owner of the factory is ourselves. We are analogous to being the owner of the factory, we are the owner of a lineage.
What is it we want? We want money Buddha. How are we going to get what we want? We have to rely on someone else. And just as the factory owner wants to see his factory grow, Likewise, we are seeking to develop our lineage.
In order to understand the nature of our lineage, then it’s necessary that we rely on someone who has an understanding of what is to be adopted and what is rejected. This is what is to be abandoned. This is what is to be practiced. That is to say, we rely upon the teachings of an understander, in this case, the Buddha. So in explaining the nature of our lineage, the way in which we are to eliminate our various faults, what are our excellent qualities, the various methods to achieve these ends, that the Buddha can teach these out of his own experience.
By ourselves practicing in accordance with these instructions, then we achieve the same result, that is Buddha. And by ourselves having realized the resultant Buddha, then we have brought fulfillment both our own welfare and the welfare of others. So how did this come about? How did this come about? Did you did you understand?
So money is analogous to Buddha. And just as in the case, the more that one has, the more that one is able to benefit others in terms of material things, giving them food, clothing, all of these things. Likewise, in terms of ourselves, by developing our lineage to the extent that we achieve Buddhahood, then whatever is a benefit to others, we can bring that to them in the same way as if we had money. So money is like the Buddha. So I think it would be good if we stop there.
And if you have some qualms or some doubts, then I think it would be good to clear those up. What is the cause of lineage? The cause of lineage. And lineage according to the Madhyamaka, is it equal for everything? Equal for everything.
The answer to the second question first. According to the middle way school, all sentient beings possess lineage and this lineage is the same with respect to all sentient beings. They all have equal lineage. There are two types of lineage. There is the emptiness of the lineage, which is one type of lineage.
And this has no cause, it’s permanent, It is an emptiness. And the other second type of lineage is the mind itself. And this refers to the continuity of similar types of mind. That the mind of today rose out of a similar type of mind from yesterday. And that mind of yesterday arose out of similarity of type of mind of the day before.
So there is a continuity of similar types of minds. So there are these two types of lineages. So the clear light nature of mind has two meanings. One is the emptiness of the mind, in that the mind does not truly exist and therefore is empty of this true existence. This is the final nature of the mind.
This is the final clear light. But then there is a superficial clear light, which means that the faults are not inextricably mixed with the mind. That is, clear light denotes the purity of the nature of mind. The faults are not in the nature of the mind. Denotes the purity of mind.
There are two types of lineage. One is called natural lineage. The other is called developmental lineage. Natural lineage refers to the emptiness of the mind. Developmental lineage refers to the mind itself, that which goes on to the various attainments, that which does the attaining and which is developmental lineage, it actually develops.
And then the emptiness of the mind, because it’s emptiness, it does not change, it’s unchanging. So there is the changing lineage and the unchanging lineage, natural lineage and developmental lineage. Is a potential of the mind, the potential of the mind? So you could say that the developmental lineage is both the mind itself and also the potential of the mind. So it is the non afflicted mind itself and the potential or the ability of that mind.
The afflicted emotions do not have lineage. So it’s the non afflictive mind plus its potential. They both can be termed developmental lineage. What do you mean it’s the same for every sentient being has developmental lineage? So are you asking, is the developmental lineage the same?
So there is a difference in the potential of developmental lineage. For those who have high qualities and develop through the mind training, then they have a great ability with respect to their developmental lineage. Those who have not understood emptiness, who lack compassion, then they have very small potential with respect to their developmental lineage. So what is the purpose for trying to understand what lineage is? It is so that we can appreciate that in fact that we can eliminate all our various faults and we can bring to consummation all our excellent qualities.
In order to appreciate this, we try to understand And in dependence upon that we can come to understand that we can completely eliminate all our suffering and achieve an ultimate happiness. Understanding that, ask, well, how do I go about realizing this potential of the mind? And this is simply by means of eliminating our various unhealthy states of mind and promoting healthy states of mind. And if we see this, that this is the case and we appreciate this fact, then each day we will be motivated to practice the means to improve our mind, to generate healthy states and we’ll be motivated to eliminate unhealthy or negative states in each moment. And in this way, we will bring about the ultimate end of eliminating all our various faults and bringing to consummation all our excellent qualities.
So the benefit is that if we understand that each day I try to generate positive attitude, and each day I try to abandon my harmful attitude, and then this is the way that we carry on our practice. And it’s trying to come to this appreciation. We will come to understand the benefits of mind training. And understanding this, then we will proceed with the transformation of our mind by implementing and developing healthy states and beginning to eliminate unhealthy states. And in this way, our life has great meaning.
So the way we can bring our life meaning is by ridding ourselves of various unhealthy states which bring us suffering and trying to implement to develop healthy states which bring ourselves happiness. In this way, we can abide in happiness. Slowly, slowly, we’ll get lots of Buddha and lots of money. And stop there. And then the concluding prayer, beginning on page ten.
Verses eight and nine.