Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 77-minute talk, Ven Jampa Gendun introduces the third of the six perfections — tolerance — drawing on Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra to argue that subduing one’s own anger is more effective than retaliating against every enemy. He makes the case through a sequence of concrete analogies: leather shoes protect against thorns without needing to cover the entire ground; a hand gets burned because it touches fire, not because the fire came looking for it; a doctor stays calm when a confused patient throws a stone. He covers the three types of tolerance — bearing others’ harm, bearing suffering, and bearing the difficulties of practice — and traces anger’s damage through couples, families, and whole communities. The session ends with a Q&A that includes a guided analytical exercise: examining exactly where in the body anger resides, and discovering nothing solid to point to. Suited to a general audience with no prior Buddhist background.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 15 1995 05 07 Tolerance.mp3
UUID: a43a26c6-dfdd-47bb-8e3f-e2360f985506
Teacher: Ven Jampa Gendun
Collection: Public talks 1988-2010 (Ven Jampa Gendun)
Date: 1995-05-07
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 77.5 minutes
Words: ~4,768
So the refuge at the very beginning has its own specialties, its own qualities. Like in every starting of the session, as a Buddhist, they all do the refuge prayer and it has its own special qualities like its causes and kind of object we take refuge in and with what kind of motivation we take refuge in. So there are these different explanations. So you take refuge not only for yourself. When you’re taking refuge, take refuge for the sake of all other sentient beings, which which as in Buddhist, visualize all sentient being being your have been your mother or being your mother.
And then on that basis, like, generating this thought towards all the sentient being dead, on that basis, you take the refuge. So so then in what which objects as Buddhist take refuge in? Is there, like, three objects? So as the first refuge object is the Buddha, the enlightened being, and then the second is that the Dharma or the teachings which acts as an antidote towards these different delusions or different afflictions. That is like they count in different numbers.
There are one number which says four twenty four different delusions which acts as teachings which act as an antidote towards that. That is what the Dharma teaching is. So for how long we take refuge? We go refuge to these objects for some time. That is like until we achieve full enlightened state.
Until that time, one takes refuge in these different objects. So so I like going refuge in Dharma, which means that, like, during the practice, like when you are thirsty you take a drink as water to quench your thirst. In the same way go refuge in Dharma which we practice the teachings. So then the third object of refuge is that of the Sangha, the spiritual community. Take refuge in the spiritual community also because it is the one the spiritual community is the one who gives help along the path, which is if one is to travel some distance in a dangerous place, then like the friends that you go with, it’s like that.
So as taking refuge, usually we chant like refuge three times in the very beginning. So today we just do one time. If you if anyone wish to do that, it’s on page number one. Like, number one at the very beginning. So then, like, when we start first taking with the refuge, we start the practice with taking refuge.
Then next step we go usually is that like doing prostrations or paying homage and then making offerings and then doing purification practice and so on. So this we don’t do today. So what we’ll be discussing or what we’ll be talking here is Buddhist teachings, the teachings from Buddhist point of view and they are like different points that we can talk about. The teaching here is Mahāyāna’s teachings Buddhist Mahāyāna’s teachings and for that one need to listen to that kind of teachings, one need to set up a motivation. So, as the teacher, Buddhist the Buddha taught the first teaching, he said or the Buddha said that oneself is one’s own master or oneself is one who controls oneself.
Saying that oneself is oneself master or in other words, in another meaning it is that saying that one is responsible for oneself. And then if one is able to train one’s mind or lead into a positive in a a in a right path then that can lead oneself to the liberation or to the enlightened state. So if one is able to lead one’s own mind on the right path, then sooner or later, as result, one achieves the state of liberation. That is the state which is perfect in all qualities. In the other hand, if we are unable to lead our mind on the right path and go on the wrong path which is getting confused by these different delusions, that of attachment, hatred, ignorance and so on.
Then that circles us in this cycle of rebirth. As long as one goes under that, under the control of these delusions, then there’s no chance for this high achievement or the enlightened state. So how one leads our mind on the right path? There’s two ways. One is gathering the qualities and second is removing the faults of our mind.
So, gathering qualities of our mind means that in making rich like, enriching our mind or making it rich with the practice of bodhicitta. That means if one is able to do that, that means one has gathered the qualities of our mind. So the faults of our mind is those of the delusions, that of attachment, hatred, ignorance, and so on. And as long as we are under this state of mind, we go through different sufferings and different problems. So, to remove these faults of our mind that are of those delusions, that are the attachment, hatred, and so on.
How we do that is like mentally we visualize, like how we sit here, all other sentient beings around one. So first, how these delusions come around, like the attachment and hatred. For example, it comes about because one’s close attachment arises within one and because of one’s enemy, those who are around too. That brings about the hatred. So we visualize that all sentient beings around, being very kind to one.
And thinking that there’s no point for me to feel angry towards or generate hatred towards, like they are all kind as my present mother. So in that that way, one thinks. Like visualizing them in front one, all those sentient beings in the form of mothers or in the form of close one around one and then generating this thought of love towards them. I will lead them to the state of happiness or bring them happiness and then I will free their suffering, generate that kind of wish which is that is the wish which is known as the bodhicitta and the altruistic mind. So, on that part we do short meditation.
So so set up your motivations, like making the most positive motivation that I will be I will I will free all sentient beings from the state of suffering and bring them into the state of happiness. So make the best motivation as you can. So right now, with this meditation, we set the motivation, which is on bodhicitta. So we’re generating this mind, the altruistic mind or the bodhicitta. What the next step, what we want to do is then train on different stages and path.
So, as in the Buddhist teachings, there are like Mahāyāna’s teachings and there are the Hīnayāna’s teachings. The Mahāyāna’s teachings, we’re going to speak here is the Mahāyāna’s teachings which is most beneficial to others. So so as advice in the teachings, one of the main advice is to work for the benefit of others. That is what stress most. So, working for the welfare of others means not only the human beings, but all all levels of beings.
Like, there are these six six levels of beings, six realms. So, like, all the animals, like insects and so on, to all work for the benefit of all those. Working for the benefit of others or for the welfare of others, how you do that is training yourself or practicing the six perfection. So, six perfection, or known as the six paramita, This the first of that is the perfection of giving, the practice of giving. And the practice of giving here is giving wealth, giving one’s body and also giving one’s the virtue or the merit that one accumulates, like sort of giving that to the other sentient beings which mainly here the wish to give all these objects.
The wish to give is what the first perfection of the practices. So, every actions of giving, like giving food to the birds or feeding the dogs or giving food to the dogs, any action of giving becomes a cause for our future wealth. So then the next perfection or paramita is that of morality, and that is like keeping or avoiding the ten non virtuous actions. So, it says that in the teachings that the practice of morality or keeping pure moral, that is the cause for our better rebirth in our future, like the higher rebirth. So the third practice is the practice of tolerance, and that is a very important practice.
So, in this, the practice of tolerance, as the master Śāntideva explains in his text called Bodhicaryāvatāra, he said in his text that the anger or the hatred is the most destructive, the most heavy negative actions and the practice of tolerance is the most beneficial practice, which is the practice that is most worth it. So, as a tolerance, there are three types. And the first one is tolerating others harm, which is not retaliating when someone harms one. So, the first type of tolerance is that tolerance of not retaliating if someone harms one. Like for example looking to this life as we have our own different enemies and when the enemy gives harms to one, hurt one or said some bad word, like at that very time, not to retaliate, instead practicing tolerance.
So if you find difficult sitting in cross leg, you can, like, stretch your leg also free. So, what one need to be aware of for the practice of tolerance is also one need to know how bad these two are, the hatred and anger. What damage it brings about. So, like, thinking about how bad the anger is before one have the anger. Like thinking on these different points how the anger is very bad.
And then when someone harms one, when that very time when anger arises, Then at that very time one tries to practice the tolerance. So if if one to retaliate all all all the harms that one received from the enemies, then then, like, there are many enemies that there’s no way one can, like, defeat all the enemies. So, for example, if you caught one enemy and then you kill that, and then there’s another one, and then you try to kill that one, then there are many others which you accomplish doing all. So how should one subdue the enemies is that, as an example, if there’s a very rough surface where there are like many thorns. If you have to go work on the thorns all over, then if you bring something to cover, like leather to cover it, Then the place is too big where you don’t have enough leather to cover.
So then not to get harmed by the thorns. What should do what one should do is once you just put a shoes, good leather shoes, And then if you walk on top of all these places where there’s a lot of thorns, you won’t get harmed. So as the example as the example that instead of subduing or controlling all the enemies, if you just see the faults of your anger and control that practice tolerance, Then that’s the best way of doing it. So another example, for example, if you touch the fire, you get burned. It’s because you touch the fire, your hand touch the fire that your hand gets burned, not the fire that came around to you and burns your hand.
So so same thing same thing like like the example that when when others feel angry towards one, the actual the cause of that anger or the the cause of that anger is created by self. Another example that, for example, if there’s a crazy person and there’s also a doctor there, and even if the crazy person does something like throw a stone on the head of doctor, doctor will still don’t get angry and still try to help help the crazy person. So same thing like when if if the son gets crazy and like does something bad towards her mother his or her mother, then the mother, instead of getting angry, she tries all all her like, all different ways to help the child, the crazy child. So in the same way that if someone is giving harm to one, one should instead of giving harm to others, one should not give harm right back, instead one should practice tolerance. And same thing when among among, like, husband and wife or the partners when they have problems of one getting angry towards others.
One should if one someone shows angry, one shouldn’t instead like, one shouldn’t react in anger. Seeing the faults of anger, and and then on on that on that basis, if you practice tolerance, then that brings about a good result. So what for ourselves, what harms most to us is the, as a temporal and like for long run or for ultimate, what harms most is the hatred and the hatred or the anger is what harms most to us. So that hatred is our enemy. That is which brings harm to one and the other.
So, if one is to develop the loving kindness or the good heart, then that is what brings peace in one and that is what brings peace in others. So the peace or the happiness that we experience is the result of our loving kindness and good heart. So like through the practice of Dharma, that we develop these two qualities, the loving and the good heart? So if you look to the world, at this present world, then are lots of development are happening, many different changes are happening in the world and there are different types of weapons which are being created or made and which can be harmful to many and which has been harmed many of the beings. And at that part, if those people, if the people in the world are able to practice the loving kindness and the good heart, like they put effort in building all these, what do you call, all the external weapons.
Then that is what actually brings happiness, not the external weapons that brings happiness. So you look like when one have mental suffering or physical suffering, then at that time if you look to, if you depend on these different things like the external development, like the wealth that you have and the other things, if you depend on those things, they are not going to help one to remove those mental and physical sufferings. So, what helps most when one have these physical and mental problems, then it is the the loving kindness and the good heart that helps most. And and that that practice, how how we develop that practice practice within one is through the practice of Dharma. So practicing good heart and loving kindness.
Here if one to practice and look on its result, how it is beneficial to one’s own experience, then one can see. It’s not only that I’m saying it because it is like said by the Buddha or it is taught in the teachings. So in short, like, if you just look to the families or to the to the neighbors or to the village in the countries. If the people are good hearted or has the thought of loving kindness towards others, then there is always this result as a peace that they that they that they have or that they enjoy among. Instead of that, if you have on the other hand, if you have a rough mind, in other words, like a hated mind, a mind that hates a lot, or a mind of anger, Then that is what brings problems or the unhappy feeling in the family, the neighbors around, in the broader community.
So if one mind is not controlled enough and if it’s always going under the influence of anger and hatred then that is what brings about all the problems among the families and so on. Then as a result, out of that what result one’s experience is that as a couple they get divorced or they live in different place, or among the families, some of the families move out then it’s all this feeling of pain. So then, on the other hand, if one is to practice loving kindness and like a good heart. And on the basis of this, if you want to practice tolerance. Then as a result, is like the peace.
It brings about the peace naturally. So so, like, if one is to live in in in in peace as a result of loving kindness and a good heart, then as a couple if they live in this peace, then their child also will experience the peace. So so that that brings, like, the peace to the to the to the children’s, which not only as a temporal peace that they experience, but also that they experience the, like, future or the the ultimate type of peace. So so in the other hand, if the if the couple are short-tempered and goes through lots of problems, then their children too somehow becomes short-tempered and brings more unhappiness in the family. So as you see, of the children, they grow up they get problems with their families.
And they get some mental sufferings, mental pain, that how they were treated by their parents in the early time. And and then they don’t get along very well. This this is because of how the how the parents live their life. So so that one goes through these different problems, and then when one face these different problems like not getting along well with the parents and being alone which is having the thought of loneliness and then unable to take the responsibilities oneself. And then this is like that’s how one these different states of like pain or suffering that one goes through.
So not to have these problems. What is the best thing that one can do is the practice of good heart and the loving kindness. That is the root of all our peace or happiness. So as in so to say that if one of the village around like, if they are having if they if they have, like if among them, it it goes along very well. No problems.
And if it happens that if a person comes from outside and gets into the town and then if he or she is like a very short-tempered and then just one person coming in can bring lots of troubles, lot of problems in that town or the village. So so the the problem that comes in the in the village or in the town is because of the anger of that person or the anger of that person. Like the anger one new person came in and being very short-tempered, and the anger brought about all these So then if one have a good hearted mind or good heart or a peaceful mind or if one is able to control one’s mind, then that is what brings the happiness to this life as well as to the future life. So like in the in the Buddhist teachings, like, are the these different points are what is taught to control or to subdue one’s unsubdued mind. So how one have this unsubdued mind is because of the hatred or the anger that makes our mind unsubdued.
So so the main point that Geshe la is going like, explaining here is that living friendly among, which is being friendly among the couples in the family or being friendly towards the neighbors around. So so like keeping the practice of tolerance in in the mind that even if someone to harm give harm or feel anger towards one, instead of retaliating with anger, like practice tolerance or or like say something good. As example, like, if someone hits hit a stick on your head. So if we do feel angry angry, if someone hits a stick on our head, and if we do feel angry, to to what we should feel angry to? Should we feel angry to the stick or to the person who moved the stick, like to the hand?
So so what actually made the person to move the stick and hit on our head is the unsubdued mind within the person. So then, like, that is what caused, like, the unsubdued mind is within the person move the stick, and then the real cause of our pain, the real cause is created by ourselves. So so not having the thought of hatred or anger towards others when someone harms one and practicing good heart and the tolerance there is what which brings like the peace among among all. So this lesson, probably we’ll do this much today. And if you have any questions, you you can ask.
So whatever questions you like to if you like asking, you can. Yeah. Cut the net and. Yeah. Yeah.
Mhmm. Sorry? Mhmm. Mhmm. So, Geshe-la only explained one because if you go into this the other two, then it needs more time to explain.
It needs a lot of time. So he didn’t explain the two. So then this like, as it is, numbered out, there are three. The first one you already got, and the second one is that able to bear the sufferings, the tolerance of able to bear the sufferings. So, sorry, the first one we got, the second one we got.
Now the third type of tolerance is able to tolerate in the practice of the teachings like, what is it, able to go through the difficulty in the practice of the teachings. That’s the third one. Yeah. Good. Yeah.
So when the anger rises at that time, you should check where the anger is. You should analyze where is that anger that comes about. So you you check through to within your body, like, you’re feeling angry, which part, like, from top to bottom within your body? So if you analyze and if you are able to find that, the spot or wherever you can point to, then you should ask the question to that place, why are you angry? But then most of the time there’s no reason that can give.
There’s no reason that the person that part can give why he or she is angry. And same thing you can do to the other person like to whom you feel angry towards. And you can still analyze that to which part of the person you are feeling angry to. Is it the head or is it the legs or so on? So when you analyze in these two ways, then you don’t find both like the person who is feeling angry and the person to whom you feel angry.
And then same thing it happens when you analyze the anger itself. If you analyze, then you are unable to find it. So when you analyze in this way, then there’s nothing that you can find point to. Then pointing yourself now why there’s nothing that you can point, no reason that you are feeling, there’s no good reason or solid reason that you can point to so why you are feeling angry. And then you analyze within yourself and you blame it to your own karma and delusions.
That is what brings about. So if you do that, then that is what weakens the anger. And if not only one time but doing it many times, like continuing doing that and pointing to delusions and the karma And then thinking over again and again. That like weakens your thought of anger. Any any more questions?
Yeah. Returning full circle upon me, and that’s my karma. And that doesn’t actually alleviate my getting unamiable at someone’s extraordinary ignorance or or incredible cruelty or or like, I So it’s less saying, it depends how deep one think to this point, like how deep one think to the point, like how deep one think that is caused by our own karma and delusion. Yeah. And if you are able to think very deep deeply within that, then it does help to reduce.
So as example, like when like if someone does something wrong, then one gets angry. So like then one sees something something doing wrong. That is because one is doing something wrong and one sees that. So for example, like if someone is living together, like say a couple, then one of them to tell the other one or give some advice not to drink. Then one gives the advice not to drink.
Drinking is not good. I like saying this. And then one does that, one gives this advice to others and sometimes once they get drunk or drink. And then if the if the other person who to whom you one gave the advice, if he or she sees sees that, then suddenly, they’re like, again, the thought comes now. Okay.
He’s drinking and I should drink too. Like, that thought arises. So for that point, like if you like as a couple, if one is like a hundred percent rely on the words of the other partner, then if both of them rely a hundred percent, then this problem doesn’t come about. That’s what gives you the things there. Yeah.
Is it better in achieving tolerance to go back over past hurts, for example, when things might hurt you as a child, or is it best to ignore that and to concentrate or to practise tolerance really here in the present? So the best is to do at present. Practice patient tolerance at present. Like what happened in the past is already past. So in that sense it’s best to do with patience and what is happening at present.
So what happened in the past is already like past. I mean, it’s gone. It’s done. And so what we do what we need is we need something good in our future. So that is depends on our present and how we do.
I forgot. Sorry. So like practicing patience at present is the best. And like how you do is that if even someone happens to get angry or do something bad towards one, like once you at present once you try to say something good, do something good just there and try to practice tolerance which like offer to the person cup of tea or like some cold drinks. So these actions, if you do that, then because the other one is also like you, like it is a person.
So definitely changes his or her mind. So so then, like, the the person is, like, calmed, it’s that it’s calmed when you are and then when the person is calm and then you start like we can discuss about the point of why you are angry and such and such at this point. And then at that point when the person is calm then he or she can accept and just accept what happened. So, like, what is it? Shouldn’t be like a a hen or chicken.
Like, if one is shouting like, if one makes noise, the other one makes noise and, like, sort of party. Yeah. Are you there? Other questions or stop? Yeah.
Yeah. Are we supposed to never get angry? Isn’t anger a natural emotion? The anger is not natural. It’s a as example, it’s like a what do you call dry seed.
So, that as we say as out of our karma or doing something wrong, like keeps imprints or potency within us. So it’s like the same thing, like to the seed, it meets with the conditions, then it can brings about the sprout. Same thing like with this imprint of our karmic actions. If it meet with the conditions, then the anger sort of brings about. Yeah.
Yeah. So so we stop here and we do the dedication. Go on with the dedication. So if you want to join, it’s number five page number five, number eight, and number nine, that’s what we will be reciting. So if you’re like, if you feel to ask, like, a private question to Geshe la, then you can make an appointment and you can see you, like, privately him to you can see him privately.
So he said he will, like, give answer or do best as he can to you.