Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 45-minute session, Ven Jampa Gendun opens with a pointed diagnosis: our lives run on hope and fear — hoping things will improve while keeping unchanged the inner rules that govern them. Drawing on a line from Ajahn Chah (“find out what you fear and do that”), he reframes growth as confronting avoidance rather than waiting for time alone to heal cyclic patterns. He then walks through the six perfections — generosity, ethics, tolerance, joyous effort, meditation, and wisdom — as practical means to reshape one’s preferred story rather than repeat the same disappointing one. The session closes with a guided meditation: compassion cultivation, mindfulness of breathing, and choiceless awareness using a noting technique to observe the mind without identifying with thought.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 05 HoM 1993 08 11.mp3
UUID: ab77edf0-b2bb-4b10-bdf0-cbf5e0b447f7
Teacher: Ven Jampa Gendun
Collection: The Heart and Mind of Awakening (Ven Jampa Gendun)
Date: 1993-08-11
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.2 minutes
Words: ~3,694
Thank you. You will be mindful. Okay. So, next week, Chenrezig Institute will give our teacher here, Peter Hassell, who will give us a talk. And then the following Monday, which we did last Monday, we’ll talk about the awakening mind, understanding the ultimate nature of the thought, the I, the foundation of all our problems.
We’ll go into that. So, thank you. By getting back in touch, redirecting, reprioritizing some of our values, beginning to look at the quality of the story that we are telling ourselves about ourselves, which is expressed in how we live our lives. Is it the type of story that we want to express? Okay.
To a large extent, our lives are based upon, hopes and fears. Hope in the sense of You know, the Many of these words have have healthy and positive connotations. Quite often the same word can have a negative or dysfunctional, not helpful connotations. In the sense of our leading our life in dependence upon hopes and fears, you know, that’s the primary delusion in which we which limits our life, which which keeps us telling ourselves very much the same story, which, contributes very much to the same outcomes, the same cyclic patterns which constitute our life. These reoccurring compulsive patterns are primarily held in place and depends upon our various hopes and fears.
Hope in the sense that somehow things are going to change. Things are going to get better, but the rules the rules which are governing the situations, the way I’m viewing the world, the way I’m interacting with it can stay the same, can stay the same. And fear is anything which is seen as some kind of a threat or which might lead to a diminishment of self or the loss of security, when what one is able to derive from that. And talking about this, there is the personal sorrow and the sorrow of the world. There is the sorrow of ignorance and the sorrow of time.
This ignorance is the lack of knowing oneself. And the sorrow of time is the deception that time can cure, heal and change. Most people are caught in that deception and either worship sorrow or explain it away. But in either case, it continues. And one never asks oneself if one can if it can come to an end.
So, you know, this one of this deception which I think of is being spoken of here and the sorrow of time is the deception that time can cure, heal and change. You know, I think time can heal, cure and change. Our sadnesses can bring us to a sense of acceptance of loss, acceptance of some types of change. But time by itself cannot cure and heal these reoccurring compulsive patterns. You know, that the quality of our life which is very much concentrated on our continually striving, but continually experiencing the same problems, the same themes of dissatisfaction or disappointment or frustrations in the course of our life.
You know, when finding a new spouse,, a new partner, a new boyfriend, new girlfriend, getting another job, different job, perhaps another degree, another car, moving to another city. And the way we keep manipulating the world and the people about us, it seems as if the same problems keep reoccurring, the same themes keep coming up, replaying the same the same tunes which which are very much, descriptive of our life. There’s a hope that things will get better, that if I manipulate, if I control, if I make use of it skillfully enough, then things will change and for the better. There’s a hope. But in spite of the fact that my attitudes, my own way of viewing, my world view, my way of relating remains the same.
That there’s a hope, there’s a deception, that simply the course of time is going to cure all my ills, that things are going to get better. And we hold on to this hope. And the hope of tomorrow, That where there’s always a sense of disappointment because tomorrow which becomes today didn’t quite deliver what we had hoped it would. But we forget. And there’s always the hope of tomorrow is going to deliver what it is that we want, what it is that we’re searching for, whatever it might be that we’re looking for.
And then tomorrow becomes today, and it didn’t quite deliver what we wanted, but we forget. So there’s this this basic deception in terms of hopes and fears. And fear in the sense of our unwillingness to deal with our problems on the most fundamental level, to the fear of legitimate suffering, to to accept and to work through our difficulties. So this process of redirecting is the the process of realigning our allegiance from a life which is passively passively based upon hopes and fears to one which is actively based upon growth. Having the the There is there is a a sense that that somehow growth in the widening of horizons and deepening of our understanding is somehow common commitment with a more meaningful fulfilling quality of life.
And therefore, you know, going beyond our hopes for a better life, but determining to change the rules which are governing our lives, beginning to to change the plot, beginning to, resurrect those types of stories, ways of beings, which are meaningful to us, which are we find fulfilling within our own experience, and being able to to work through our fears. You know, that as the, I oftentimes mentioned that the the Thai master, Ajahn Chah, said that find out what it is that you fear and do that. But that’s the person who wants to grow. That’s the person who’s who’s willing to to work through their their confront their issues, their own self deceptions, and to admit their fears, and to confront them. So, you know, I think there’s there’s going to be some kind of change over the course of our life.
You know, if we if we simply gradually in a in a in a gentle consistent manner, do not allow our hopes that things will get better to cloud the issue of really doing some work with ourselves. But somehow looking at not allowing that that hope to obscure the necessity to have to bring about the type of life that we want. Simply hoping that things will get better is, in this sense, not enough. Hope in this in the sense that things can very much remain the same. The rules which are governing the game can remain the same.
The story that we tell ourselves about our life can remain the same. But still, somehow within this context, things will get better. This is what I call hope In this sense, in this sense. And we all hold that hope. Hold out some kind of hope.
And to, you know, in in some way, in some gentle but consistent way, begin to confront some of the the issues that we have fear around our life. And the the areas of avoidance that we’d rather not deal with, that we’re not that that we’re continually distracting ourselves from overlooking, pretending as if they weren’t there. This realignment of our allegiance from a life passively based upon hopes and fears to one which is actively based upon growth with a faith that growth will bring a more fulfilling, meaningful quality way of being. And trying to shift the motivation for this process to one which is, very much caught up in self concern towards that which is more and more concerned with others. You know, widening the the scope of our concern to develop a social awareness, a social consciousness, such that our our our ways of being and our stories, that we tell our our preferred stories, preferred outcomes are developed out of a social context within an awareness of our interdependency of others, with others.
So the inner focus of our life becomes Buddha. This optimum preferred outcome, a metaphor for optimum mode of being, the outcome of our preferred story about our life, what it might mean to be a happy, healthy, loving, sane human being. And trying to implement the methods to achieve this in through the Dharma. Those methods, those techniques, those truths, those teachings, whatever, which help us to actualize, help us to perform our preferred story, help us to actualize our own inner Buddha, the solution to our basic most problems within the social context of a spiritual community, such as yourselves. And those, individuals who who take, the principles of wisdom and love, enlightened activity as central values to their life.
And they want to make those, express those in their life. And they voluntarily associate with one another in order to support that process to assist others in performing their preferred story, their preferred story, and to authenticate their story. And doing whatever is necessary to facilitate this process as guides, as friends, as companions, as, teachers, as inspiration. And this becomes, you know, the way that we can begin to work through our problem. There’ll be some kind of change, and we will not we won’t remain the same the same person with the same problems and the same disappointments and the same frustrations, but there’s going to be some kind of evolution, some kind of movement.
You know, the in this first step, we we formula for going for refuge, you know, trying to consider the fact that going for refuge is something that is beyond fiction, something that really works, something which is beyond my hopes and fears, which can actually deliver the goods of the quality of life that I want to experience, which we personify as the Buddha was inside of ourselves. And we we do this in raising lower motivation, both for ourselves, but also others. And it mentions in it mentions in this verse, and virtuous merit that I collect by practicing giving any other perfections. So the this is the way that we can very practically These are sort of suggested means that we can begin to perform our preferred story. These lead to the preferred outcome that of a Buddha.
You know, the giving, generosity, and becoming more open handed with whatever we have, whether it be time, energy, materials, knowledge. You know, opening one’s hand a little bit more readily and letting go a little more readily. There are this is the first of what are called the six perfections, sometimes the six transcendences and the means by which we can actualize Buddha with inside of ourselves, the means by which we can actualize practice the Dharma, generosity, ethics, developing a sense of trust in our own and others basic sanity, and therefore, developing the ability such that we can begin to relate with others in a non violent manner, you know, trying to address others’ own basic sanity. I think Mahatma Gandhi was a great practitioner of this, trying to always address that finest part of others, regardless of the superficial appearances which in which the person might temporary temporarily be, subjugated by. And people can respond.
Ethics, tolerance, you know, creating some kind of space of understanding where we can we’re able to work through our own and others’ neurosis peacefully. Ethics, tolerance, joyous effort, some kind of tremendous energy, a willingness to to work for the sake of others through simplifying one’s own life. You know, some kind of inspiration to go beyond our own emotional complications and conceptual frivolities beginning to simplify. And through trying to simplify our life by developing a greater vision, and there develops a sense of joyous effort in what we do. And the the idea of joyous effort is that we don’t have to be handed heavy handed with ourselves in our practice.
If there’s understanding, there is a development of a greater vision, we have to find some way to use our intelligence to facilitate our practice. Otherwise, we’ll we will probably be duplicating many of our oppressions which which we have been working under in in all our various ways up to now. It will simply our Dharma practice will simply be another way that we can find ourselves wanting, insufficient, that we can bring another way that we will simply do harm to ourselves. Unless we bring some kind of intelligence to the practice. Unless we can create some kind of vision of a new order of being, and therefore arousing some kind of joyous energy in what we’re doing.
One begins to gladly involve oneself in these practices, gladly go beyond one’s hopes and fears. It’s not sort of a drudgery or it’s not governed by shoulds and musts, but there’s some understanding, some wisdom at work. Joyous effort. The fifth is meditation. You know, meditation has many connotations, many types of meditation.
But, you know, may maybe we can simply say that meditation is the the the basic practice, which is a willingness to work unceasingly with our own neurosis, our own speed, our own delusion. This willingness to work with our problems, the the means by which we can begin to learn about ourselves. You know, I think perhaps more than anything meditation is simply that, a means to learn about ourselves, perhaps for the first time. You know, we don’t operate our minds very well because, we don’t know how they operate. So beginning to, reorientate ourselves from ex external orientation which we have been which we are habitually involved in and becoming more and more aware of this inner lit this dimly lit inner world of ourselves, our own mind.
And finally, the sixth perfection, the perfection of wisdom. Some kind of real interest to learn and to see things really beyond all your beyond dogma, beyond one’s delusions. They’re really wanting to see the world as it is, the way things actually are. Some real curiosity, interest, some drive toward that end, wisdom. So it’s by these means, these practices, which we’re able to facilitate the the development of our preferred story, way that we grow, the way that we begin to exercise the inner Buddha inside of ourselves.
Generosity, ethics, tolerance, joyous effort, meditation, and finally wisdom. And this is done. You know, the these are divided, the six perfections, six transcendences. I said that the two, generosity and ethics, have the main thrust for oneself. They have the main thrust of developing our own welfare.
Whereas through tolerance, joyous effort, meditation and wisdom, we can bring about the welfare of others. And joyous effort is both in terms of facilitating our own as well our ability to help others, the welfare of others. So, you know, through these practices, we are not only helping ourselves, but we are also helping others, Perhaps presently only indirectly, but ultimately there will be some benefit, some real practical benefit. I go for refuge until I’m enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the highest assembly. From the virtuous merit that I collect by practicing giving any other perfections, may I attain the state of a Buddha to be able to benefit all sentient beings.
I go for refuge until I’m enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma, and 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’m 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 attain the state of the Buddha to be able to benefit all sentient beings. So we’re finally beginning with our meditation, with adjusting our motivation through cultivating the three levels of each of compassion and love.
And we can do that toward someone that we like, someone that we’re very close to, but perhaps someone of the same sex, imagining someone of the same sex. We’ll try to develop these states with respect to them. And then we’ll meditate mindfulness and breathing. And then I thought we would practice a training in what is called choiceless awareness. I think we’ve probably done this before.
In choiceless awareness, we simply allow the mind to become involved in an object that it naturally tends toward. We don’t try to focus it or determine what object it it is to, attend to. Normally, is going to be naturally drawn to that object in the environment which is most stimulating. It might be an external object, a sound or a smell. Might be an internal object, maybe pain, some feeling, a thought.
So allowing the mind to become involved in any object that it naturally tends toward. Is generally what we usually do. But here, there’s a slight difference. We’re going to try to be aware of what our mind is involved in. And this we can do by noting.
You know, we’ve talked about noting in the past. Simply noting from moment to moment what the mind is involved in. Hearing, thinking, smelling, hearing, thinking, thinking, thinking, thinking, hearing, smelling, feeling, thinking. From moment to moment, simply keeping track, keeping note of what the mind is involved in. And then we’re going to try to become a take as a con as the the focus of our awareness, the mind itself, consciousness, the thinking process, the various images which arise in our mind.
And I think it it will be extremely useful if you continue to note thinking, thinking. Quite often we identify with the thinking process and then we’re lost. We lose our ability to maintain awareness. Here by by noting the thoughts, the images which arise in the mind, we can maintain some kind of perspective, kind of space. We aren’t identifying with the thinking process.
And thoughts arise, they will abide, and they will cease of themselves. It’s like the like the waves in the ocean rising and moving across, and then they return back to the depth where they arose from. And likewise with the thoughts and various images within our mind, if we neither repress them nor indulge in them, they will cease of themselves, creating some kind of space, maintaining some kind of perspective. And the way we can do this is by simply noting within the mind, thinking, describing what what process is occurring, thinking, thinking, thinking. So first, mindfulness of breathing, if it’s helpful using techniques of counting and noting.
And then we’re simply going to, practice choiceless awareness, and there we’ll use the technique of noting, noting whatever the mind is involved in from moment to moment without directing the mind to any particular object. And then we’ll try to become aware of the mind itself. This the thinking process, the the process of all these various mental images, ideas, thoughts arising in the mind, various emotions and feelings, all the internal stuff of the mind. And the way that we can maintain our awareness is through the process of noting. Thinking, thinking, thinking, feeling, feeling, thinking.
Hoping to try that. So if you take a comfortable posture. First, thinking of someone that you are close to, someone that you like very much, someone of the same sex as yourself. And imagine that imagining that person in front of you. If you can’t see them, doesn’t matter.
Just feel that they’re there. And beginning to cultivate compassion toward this person. First, with the simple friendly thought, it would be wonderful if you didn’t have any problems, if you were free of all suffering. May you not have any problem. I’m going to help you.
I’m going to commit myself to working with you and solving your problems. And the cultivation of love, first with the thought, it would be wonderful if you were happy. May you be happy. I’m going to help you. I’m going to commit myself to working with you and finding happiness.
And the way I’m going to express my commitment here at this very moment is through my meditation, by developing my skills, my wisdom, my love, my abilities. Eventually, I can be of a real, practical, significant benefit to you. And then bring your mind to the breath. It’s a gentle and easy in and out flow of the natural breath. If it’s helpful using the techniques of counting and noting.
So if you’re counting, stop counting, but if you’re noting, continue to note or begin to note. Just note it neatly in and out of the breath. Now allow the mind to become involved in any object that it naturally tends toward. But it continues to note what that object is, what the mind is involved in, whether it’s hearing or thinking, smelling, feeling. Quiet, gentle noting a watchfulness and alertness.
Stay aware. Continue to note. Keep watching. And then focus upon your inner awareness, the mind, thoughts, feelings, images. And continue to note watching the consciousness itself, watching the mind itself.
Continue to note thinking. Thank you. Continuing to observe the mind, the consciousness, but stop count stop noting. And just rest the mind, but try to maintain your awareness of the consciousness itself. Resting the mind within itself in awareness.
And then bring the mind back to the breath. Gentle, even in and out flow of the breath. Slowly becoming aware of your body. Becoming aware of your surroundings. Gently in your own good time.
So of the four stages in the development of the awakening mind, we’re looking at the first, what is called the hearer stage. And it is called the hearer stage. Within the individual vehicle, there are two types of practitioner. These two types are called the hearer and the solitary realizer. And so this is where it’s driving its name.
The hearer, a practitioner of the individual vehicle, hears the teaching on the universal vehicle, the great vehicle, but does not put them in the practice. It simply repeats them to others. So this type of practitioner