Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 44-minute session, Ven Jampa Gendun builds from basic breath awareness into a full bodhisattva breathing practice. He introduces vivid imagery: exhale as black smoke dissolving into vast emptiness, inhale as white light drawing slowly into the heart — explaining that holding one image blocks discursive thought the way a channel stills churned water. He then extends the technique into tonglen (taking and giving): breathing in others’ suffering as black smoke, breathing out one’s happiness and good actions as white light. He reassures practitioners who fear actually taking on illness that the practice cultivates altruistic intention, not literal exchange, and that this very motivation creates the causes of one’s own happiness. He closes with a philosophical note: since afflictions are not intrinsic to mind’s nature, they can ultimately be removed at their root.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 12 OtE 1991 11 20.mp3
UUID: 5e27d85d-3507-4716-9f32-d46921e4a861
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: 44.0 minutes
Words: ~2,455
Begin by cultivating the awakening heart, the kind hearted attitude. For the benefit of all sentient beings, in order that I might bring them happiness, I will bring my training to consummation. Having trained well, then I will be of the best benefit to both myself and others. In order to achieve that end today, in listening to the present teaching, I will listen well in order that I may be able to put it into practice well. So for the next five minutes cultivate such a kind hearted attitude for listening to the present teaching.
We begin with preliminary prayers, which are verses three and then number two. To generate as a motivation. Holding others more dear than ourselves and understanding that all sentient beings are just like ourselves, and everyone wants happiness, no one wants to suffer all exactly the same. And almost all sentient beings are suffering, so developing the wish that may all sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. And most sentient beings don’t have happiness, so again, developing the wish may all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness.
And we’re going to begin with mindfulness breathing, focusing upon the in and out breath. And as you focus upon the in and out breath, additionally imagine that as you breathe in you’re eliminating the sufferings of all sentient beings, and imagine as you breathe out that you’re bringing all sentient beings happiness, and this would be excellent to meditate in this way. We’ll meditate mindfulness of breathing in this way manner for twenty minutes. Normally we are doing mindfulness of breathing, and this is very beneficial for the mind. The practice of mindfulness of breathing is very beneficial to the mind.
It brings a sense of well-being. This is because it’s able by analogy, when you pour water from a great height, churns up the water. And likewise, our minds are always being churned up with discursive thought. So all of these various types of discursive thoughts are continually arising, both negative and positive, presenting problems for the mind. And having problems within one’s mind, the mind is unhappy.
And by practicing mindfulness of breathing, our discursive thoughts lessen. And as these discursive thoughts lessen, our mind is able to relax and we can abide in happiness. As we practice mindfulness of the inhalation and exhalation of the breath, for example in practicing the mindfulness of exhalation, imagining that this black smoke is going a great distance and far away and disappearing in distance. This is one thought that is holding this conception. And as long as the mind is focused upon that one thought, then all other types of thoughts are naturally blocked.
And the same holds true for inhalation. As one is inhaling, imagine that white light is being drawn in and focusing upon this white light being drawn in, entering into the nostrils and coming down to the mind at the heart area. And as long as one is focused upon that conception and in connection with the breathing, then no other thoughts can arise. By means of the practice of mindfulness of breathing, we can lessen and cease the excess of discursive thought. Discursive thought, as was just mentioned, presents us with a problem and therefore it causes us dissatisfaction.
In order to lessen and eliminate discursive thought, then we can focus on this mindfulness of breathing and we will gain a sense of well-being and peace through this method. Imagining this process of exhalation and inhalation in connection with the smoke and the inhalation of light, and when you exhale, imagine this black smoke is going out and as it goes out it goes to an extremely long far away distance and then it disappears and there’s just emptiness, a vast emptiness. And remain focused upon that emptiness and this will bring a great sense of well-being. Upon inhalation imagine a white light which is at a very long distance away and very slowly, not quickly, slowly it begins to draw toward you And in a very comfortable, easy manner, it enters in your nostril and dissolves down into your mind. And then upon that, imagine that everything simply becomes vacuity or emptying and abide in that state for a little while.
This would be extremely beneficial. But if this emptiness that we contemplate simply isn’t any emptiness, it’s simply not just of acuity, but in fact is an emptiness of natural existence, an emptiness of self defining existence or true existence. This is the emptiness that we want to focus upon. If you meditate in this way, then the mind will become very happy. So initially we should adjust our motivation such that we’re not doing this solely for our own benefit, but in fact in order to benefit others, we develop a motivation of an altruistic attitude.
If we meditate in this way, then we will really be able to benefit ourselves, will be able to develop a creative potential. It becomes an extremely skillful action. It will not only bring us a temporal, physical and mental well-being, but will bring about ultimate benefit. So if you meditate in this manner then it would be very useful. So this is the way we can extend the practice of mindfulness of breathing in which we can meditate as the bodhisattva would meditate on.
And to extend this practice even further, begin by understanding that both ourselves and others, all sentient beings, are exactly the same. Everyone wants to be happy, no one wants to suffer. Whoever it might be, human beings or sentient beings, even insects, whatever has life wants to be happy and doesn’t want to suffer. Based upon the fact that all sentient beings are exactly the same, that all want happiness and don’t want to suffer, And upon that we are mindful of the faults of self centeredness and the excellent qualities of other centeredness. Then we have to contemplate, well, what are the faults of self centeredness?
If one has extremely powerful self centeredness and only simply looks after oneself, one’s own interest, then one simply remains indifferent to the plight of others. One simply leaves them aside, it doesn’t matter what happens to others. I’m looking after myself. Out of a strong self centeredness, then we are going to only be concerned with our own happiness, own welfare, what would be profitable for us alone. And out of this motivation, we will instigate arguments with others, we will fight with others, we will cause problems for others, difficulties with others, we won’t be able to get along with our spouse, we will hurt others with our harmful words, we will create enemies, we will even kill others.
And such destructive states of mind can only bring one suffering. So you should try to consider these faults of self centeredness and begin to avoid them as much as possible. What are the benefits of other centeredness? Well, it begins with that we will develop love and compassion. Out of our sympathy for others, when we see others troubled by suffering, we will be moved to alleviate their problems.
We will seek to benefit them. Those who are hungry, we will give them food. Those without clothes, we will give them clothing. We will give medicine to the sick. That is to say, we will try in any way to eliminate their difficulties.
On the other hand, when we see those who are bereft of happiness and do not have happiness, then we will do whatever is necessary to bring them happiness. We will try to benefit them. We will practice towards generosity and ethics and speak in ways which will bring them happiness. And with such a kind hearted attitude we will act in a kind hearted way, and out of this we will benefit both ourselves and others. So in the case of a family, if there is a parent and then say there is five children, and the parents are concerned with the welfare of the children, that they work in order to benefit them, and to alleviate any difficulties they may have.
They are quite willing to go through a lot of trouble, for example having to earn money, etc. Out of this trouble that they go through, the sense of lack of self concern, the concern for the welfare of the family in general, then out of this comes a way of conduct which is beneficial not only to themselves but also to the entire family as a whole. So the same holds true for the family of sentient beings, in seeking to be of benefit to them and trying to alleviate their suffering, to bring them happiness, and practicing the various means to achieve this and practicing generosity, ethics, etc, then this will bring about the temporal benefits to the family of sentient beings in general. But ultimately the benefit will come back to oneself, just as in the case of a family. When the children are benefited and they grow up, it will be of great benefit, it is immediately a benefit to them but ultimately it is helpful to oneself.
On the other hand, if the parents of the family were completely wrapped up in their own concerns, in their self centeredness, and they only wanted nice clothing for themselves, they only to be concerned with eating delicious food for themselves, not watching out for the welfare of their children, then we can see that this is ultimately going to bring about harm to both their children but also to themselves. So these are some of the difficulties or disadvantages of self centeredness. So in the context of this understanding of the benefits of other centeredness and the disadvantages of self centeredness, if we can practice the method of taking and giving (tonglen), then this would be extremely beneficial. So what we’re going to do in the context of compassion, motivate all of our compassion, we’re going to take on the sufferings of others. And we do this with the inhalation of the breath, imagining that all of their various sufferings, their physical and mental illnesses, their poor quality of possessions, everything that all their various troubles are transformed into black smoke which we inhale and coming down into ourselves.
So this is out of our compassion, thinking, wishing that they be separated from these difficulties, we take on their suffering. And then on the other hand, And on the other hand, motivated by our love, wishing that they have happiness. We give away all of our possessions, our body, all of our skillful actions in the form of a white light. And this goes out and brings them a sense of physical health, all the objects of enjoyment that they could want, that they have complete happiness. So this is an extremely kind hearted attitude wishing to take on their suffering and their various sicknesses and to bring them healthy bodies and all the various good things of life.
This is, in fact we aren’t doing this, we are simply developing our potential, our capacity to bring this about. When we talk about taking on the sicknesses and sufferings of others, some people become very afraid. We’re not actually taking on the sicknesses and sufferings. And the same holds true of giving away our happiness and all our skillful actions, that they remain with us. It’s simply imagining that we’re giving them away.
But out of this kind hearted attitude, we create an extremely vast amount of creative potential, it’s a skillful action. What is it that we want? We want happiness, we don’t want to suffer. Out of this meditation we create skillful actions which will bring us happiness and help to eliminate our own suffering. Though we want happiness, we don’t know how to create the causes of happiness and though we don’t want suffering, we don’t know how to abandon the causes of suffering.
But this is the way we can go about it. This is the way the bodhisattva meditates on taking and giving. Through this practice of taking and giving and meditating in this way, though it appears to be repulsive, in fact it only brings a beneficial end. So if we can meditate with the motivation of benefiting others, this would be excellent. But even in the case of simply wanting happiness, when one has an unhappy mind, meditating on this is still an excellent meditation.
So I’m not saying that you have to meditate on this particular meditation, but if you have an inclination towards development of altruism, benefiting attitude towards others, then I can recommend this meditation. So I’m something like a chef. I know many different recipes and I’m explaining these different recipes to you and according to your inclination what you enjoy, then you can prepare whatever meal you like. So we’re going to meditate for five minutes. So how are going to proceed?
Initially we’re going to meditate on compassion and then love. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all sentient beings had happiness and the causes of happiness? May all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness. I myself will bring happiness and the causes of happiness to all sentient beings. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all sentient beings were free of suffering and the causes of suffering?
May all sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. I will free all sentient beings of suffering and the causes of suffering. That the anger and attachment do not abide within the very nature of mind itself. So we can understand clearly from this reason that because of these occasions when they do not exist, then the faults of anger, attachment and ignorance do not abide within the nature of mind. And we can understand because these afflictions do not abide within the nature of mind, then the afflictions and the mind are two distinct factors, that they have distinct natures.
So through this reasoning, we can understand that by transforming the mind, that is, the mind training, we can reduce the faults of the mind and develop the mind itself, That this process can take place, that all the various faults of the mind can be reduced and finally eliminated and the mind itself can be brought to full development. And we can understand that we have the capacity to remove the faults from the very root. We have the capacity to remove the thoughts from the mind from their very root such that we develop a faultless, consummate mind.