Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Ven Jampa Gendun opens this 46-minute talk by asking practitioners to look back and notice how they have genuinely changed over the past few years — kinder, more tolerant, more joyful — as a way to build trust from personal experience rather than doctrine. He walks through three path activities: listening to gather new ideas, reflecting to test them against reason and lived experience, and meditation as habituation, making love and compassion one’s actual way of being. The spiritual community is likened to a greenhouse where delicate qualities take root before facing ordinary life. A guided meditation covers compassion toward a stranger, mindfulness of breath, and appreciating one’s own admired qualities. The session then introduces the sixth of the seven causes for awakening the heart: exceptional resolve, the aspiration to extend concern steadily beyond those already close.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 13 HoM 1993 03 24.mp3
UUID: d1a69943-d796-433e-a2ab-0c56fca371d3
Teacher: Ven Jampa Gendun
Collection: The Heart and Mind of Awakening (Ven Jampa Gendun)
Date: 1993-03-24
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.8 minutes
Words: ~3,749
Prioritizing our lives, getting back in touch, what is important for us as very unique individuals. It seems as if response to our intrinsic instinct toward wakefulness, this need to become whole, to strive for authenticity, to heal the split at a deep level of our being. It’s necessary that we get in touch with what it is that we’re experiencing ourselves, what we feel, what it is that we believe at some very deep level. It’s not sufficient to look around about it, what other people may be doing, how other people may be going about their lives achieving or not achieving their goals. What actually works for us, what has meaning, what we can believe in.
So it’s a it’s a very delicate and subtle process that we’re involved in because to a large degree, The influences of our everyday life are very much taking us in other directions and perhaps those directions that in the light of our own wisdom and understanding. Our love and compassion, we might desire to travel. So it’s not very necessary to be aware and to continually be getting back in touch and rededicating, as it were. This process, as I mentioned many times, involves three activities, those are listening, reflecting and familiarization meditation. Listening means to gather the information, the ideas and ways of thinking, the methods and means which we may not have thought of before, which we may not have heard of before, which perhaps we weren’t ready to hear before.
Gathering together information, sorting it out, getting the categories, the ideas straight in one’s mind. And then most importantly beginning to reflect upon them, to contemplate them, beginning to validate them within one’s own experience, using one’s own reasoning, one’s intuition. Seeing whether they’re true or not. Seeing whether one’s method of validating them is correct or not. And this process seems fairly important in the sense that we’re trying to trust is an extremely important function of the mind, a mental factor.
Extremely important attitude to develop in whatever it is we might do. Whether it’s the nature of our relationship with a partner, with respect to trusting the decisions that we make in the practical everyday world of relating with the world, or trusting in some spiritual path. That trust has the ability to help us to get ourselves over, to integrate, to incorporate, to become what it is that the object that we’re looking at. And we have reservations. We’ve had some kind of fear, some holding back.
And it is the activity of reflecting. We have to work through doubt, this reservation, that we’re almost always in some degree or other fragmented split in our thinking. We’re in the jaws of conflicting emotions in every important decision of our life. And we have to be able to gain an understanding. And from the point of view of Buddhism, doubt is a precursor, is a context in which true understanding can take place.
Without doubt there is no true understanding. So we listen to all these various teachings and we begin to validate them looking within our own experience, using our reasoning, using our logic, rational mind. But if we’re going to integrate them, if we’re going to incorporate them, make them a part of who we are, then we have to pass through this process of reflection. There’s no other way. Otherwise, the teachings become something very much like oil poured on water.
They just kind of float on the surface. There’s no integration. There’s no change taking place. It makes no particular difference to one’s life. Perhaps only intellectually it fits.
It becomes something of a mere academic pursuit. So this process of evaluating, using our basic sanity, using our reading to check up, using our experience to see whether it’s true from what has happened to you in the past. And then there’s a sense of out of this understanding then there reaches a point when there’s no more hesitation, there’s no holding back. One can give oneself over to the process of meditation. In meditation, in the simplest to be whatever it is that we’re contemplating, to become, to practice.
You know we’re talking a great deal about love and compassion. To see whether it’s not just a good idea that sounds good on paper, but is it in fact something that’s worthy of living, a way of living your life. To reflect upon that fact, to validate it with one within one’s own experience as best as one can and with using one’s in light of one’s own wisdom. And then to be that one, to practice, to make it a part of oneself. This is what meditation doesn’t necessarily mean.
Sitting across legged and particularly contemplating a single object. That’s an important part of it. But even the word meditation in Tibetan simply means to get used to, to make something a part of it, to become habituated to. And the time that we spend on our seats in meditation is extremely short as compared to the rest of our lives. So if we’re going to bring about a process of change, then we have to make the idea of meditation a part of our daily existence.
That is to say continually trying to practice to be what it is that we’ve worked through and decided it’s worth becoming, to be love, to be compassion. I think it’s I’ve noticed the I think there’s been a change over the last year or two years. I noticed in the discussion groups there’s a movement toward a deepening of thought, a greater clarity, a real searching question, exploring new ideas. There is a I sense some movement that certain ideas we become accustomed to. And we’ve heard them many, many times And we’ve thought about them many times.
And to some degree, we’ve become what we’ve learned, what we’ve thought about. And then there’s been some change. A difference has become a difference in our lives. And I think we can take this as a source of inspiration to look back and review our life, to think of the change that has occurred over perhaps the last two years or three years. I’m thinking I I have changed.
I’m a better person. I’m a bit kinder, little more caring, a little more tolerant, perhaps a little more joyful, a little more thoughtful. All of these qualities which probably are qualities that we think of when we think of who we would like to be. And it’s quite easy to overlook all that we have done, how far we have traveled. Quite often we simply continually focus on our insufficiencies, our lack of what needs to be done yet.
And if this continually done, it can become terribly discouraging. Rather than discounting, forgetting, overlooking, we begin to focus upon remembering and keeping in mind all that we have achieved. And then we become inspired by what we have done. And we we gain trust out of our own experience because it seems to be working for us. It’s not it’s something which no one can take away from us.
Our experience is self validating. No one can tell us otherwise than what we ourselves have experienced. Beyond our dogma, beyond our doctrine there’s some change that we can feel. And I think then the this is what brings about a deepening of our sense of commitment, of giving over, of lessening the need to hold back because there has developed a sense of trust. Trust out of our own experience.
There’s something seems to be working in our lives, that we’re becoming the happier, healthier, loving, more loving, more sane people that we would like to become. And so our actual experience validates what we’re up to. And we become our source of our own inspiration. And this sort of becomes like a feedback loop because the more that we see within our own experience the validity of what we’re about and what we’re doing, what we’ve achieved, the more we can believe in where we’re going and the more we’ll kick ourselves over to the process because it is very much a process, A process all along, you know, lessening those types of thought patterns which we find dysfunctional in our lives beginning to evolve more functional, more effective, more skillful, ways of thinking and communicating, acting in the world. And they’re they’re associated with more fulfilling, satisfying, happier experiences.
That we’re more we’re a greater use to ourselves and greater use to others. Whether we whether we believe in Buddha or not doesn’t matter all that much. Whether we believe in Buddhism or not, all that much doesn’t matter. But we have to feel that we are moving somewhere towards the goals which we feel worthy of our life. Something over and above the immediate gratifications of our hopes and fears.
Something which with noble moments, we feel that it’s worthy of our life and giving ourselves over to that process. Within this context, then we can carry on all the various other demons with our lives, meeting all our various immediate goals, intermediate goals. But there’s some kind of perspective. Is some within the context of all of these daily activities. There is some movement toward long term goals, toward higher achievement.
What we haven’t done up to now we can become. We don’t die with the same mental roles that we were born with, that there’s been some evolution. We can see that somehow we’re more loving people, That we like and are liked more than we would. That we’re more valued to ourselves and to others. That we have some perspective, some understanding on the nature of our other human dilemma.
But things aren’t quite as problematic as they once were. Still we have the problems of being a human being and all the various difficulties. But there’s some kind of confidence that there is a direction in our lives and a sense of self respect. A deep sense that one is responding to some very deep need. We’re responding to this intrinsic instinct toward wakefulness, and it’s becoming authentic more and more.
And whatever the vicissitudes of our life, whatever the ups and downs, there’s some kind of refuge in that sense in itself. If we’re trying and we’re going somewhere, it may be an up and down movement or maybe like a spiral. And maybe keep keep returning to very much the same pattern, maybe keep them alive. But they’re not quite the same. We don’t come back quite to the same place.
There is some movement towards there’s some focus from us in our life. So this process of listening, reflecting and meditating is what we’re what we’re trying to accomplish here. And I feel very encouraged. I feel like what I do is worthwhile. It makes me feel very good that we can share And sense of a growing closeness amongst us all and a growing sense of understanding amongst us all and some kind of involvement amongst us all.
So this process of redirecting, reorientating, rededicating, of realigning our allegiance in a life based upon hopes and fears. Hopes of gain, fears of loss, hopes of pleasures, fears of pain, pain and notoriety, praise and ridicule. This is very much the value that we’ve lived under the impression of up to now. And now I think there’s a working through. I think we beginning to realign our sense of allegiance from dictates of hopes and fears to one to living our life based upon actively choosing growth.
And we’re trying to raise the level of motivation to engage in this process. Now this vocabulary that we’re learning, the vocabulary of love, the vocabulary of wisdom, which is not the currency of our society. It’s extremely rare, I think, and it’s extremely wonderful that we can share in talking about these things together and open and sharing in our discussion because it accustoms our mind to thinking along other lines that normally were influenced to think by the pressures about us, by our peers, by our culture, our society. And it’s a it’s a, you know, it’s like a greenhouse where we can tend to our sprouts. These delicate flowers of love and compassion just can take hold and begin to grow.
And then we can begin to get them out of the greenhouse eventually. And we can stand up to the the weather of the world as it were. But it’s a wonderful opportunity to have this environment, to be in this situation where we can trust these values which aren’t very highly thought of in our society, in the world at large. Continually trying to consider love and compassion, we’re opening the scope of our concern. First becoming sincere about solving our own problems, but widening that scope of concern, ever widening, gaining some kind of perspective until ideally we can begin to develop concern for a living being to the same degree that we are concerned about ourselves.
But at least we can to reorientate ourselves to some degree. A shift in our motivation from what from completely myopic vision where we’re focused only upon our own needs and self concerns to where we become aware that there are other people, the development of social contact, that we live in interdependence with others. And the social and the ecology of the social ecology of our mind. Becoming aware of that and beginning to foster more skillful ways of relating more harmony. So the inner focus of our growth, of our life, becoming Buddha, the Buddha within all of our sorrow.
And it’s a trust, you know, last night, was talking about trust. Trusting in the Buddha, for example. Trusting in that part of ourselves, which we which unless we listen to, unless unless we search out and create space and time to to allow it to unfold, we will remain out of touch with. This process is creating that space and time, beginning to listen to, to create the conditions to foster the process, to focus upon the Buddha within inside of ourselves. We don’t have to remain the same people we have always been.
We don’t have to simply with the changing of the styles of fashions, on different clothes, put the same body remains. Do you know what I mean? There can be some inner transformation. We can do that. There’s no reason why they can’t.
Real change can come about. I’m sure it will. There’s no reason why we change whether we have directed that change or not. We have changed over the last five years, over the last ten years, over the last fifteen years. But to a large degree that change has been undirected.
Or if it directed at all, it’s been directed on the basis of hopes and fears or prime preoccupations of either saṃsāra-based existence. But what happens if they begin to direct that change purposefully, consciously, in terms of growth, in terms of wisdom, in terms of love and compassion, and continue accustoming, familiarizing, integrating these ways of being until they become our nature and then just change. We have become the person who we have always wanted to be. We can focus upon that person in the form of a Buddha, this potentiality to be a happy, healthy, loving, sane human being which we all possess and look inside of ourselves. And the way we manifest, the way we actualize that Buddha is by means of the Dharma.
What the teachings, the truth, these techniques, these methods, these words, this atmosphere, this building, all of this which fosters action of cooperative cause to awakening on Buddha and the social context of the spiritual community. Those who rely on, support who guide us, who inspire us, who reach out and who we can reach out to when we need help. And raising the level of our motivation for the involvement in this process, for the reason in which this process exists, such that we’re not limited as far as some, but ever trying to widen the scope of our concern to incorporate more and more others and others, more and more others in our life. And then our life becomes purposeful, it becomes meaningful, and there’s change. I go for refuge until I’m enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, from the virtuous merit that I collect, to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the highest Sangha.
And the virtuous merits 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. So let’s begin with meditation. We’ll begin by adjusting our motivation, the development of love and compassion towards someone who we’re not particularly intimate with. Maybe someone of a different ethnic origin, national origin, but someone who looks appealing, attractive to you, pleasing, but you aren’t particularly close to that person. And then we’ll do meditate on mindfulness and breathing.
And then we’ll meditate on appreciating ourselves and developing, becoming aware of the qualities which we all possess. And I’ll lead you through that meditation. So if you take a comfortable firm posture. So begin with the cultivation of compassion, thinking of someone that you’re not particularly close to, but is appealing, is attractive, perhaps someone of another nationality, another ethnic background, of another color, whatever. Just a little bit removed from you in your usual circle of familiar friend, background, culture.
Beginning with a simple, friendly thought. It would be wonderful if we didn’t have any problems, if didn’t have any dissatisfaction. No, you’re not having problems. I wish you had no suffering, frustration, disappointment. I’m going to help you.
I’m going to take responsibility to limit myself to working here the best I can in solving your problem. We’ll be happy. We’ll be wonderful to be happy. I wish you great happiness. I wish you all the good things in life.
I’m going to commit myself to working with you, whatever I’m able to. In a way I’m going to express my commitment to you, at this very moment is through my meditation. By helping myself at this present moment, I’m eventually going to be able to help you in a real way. I’m going to try to do this for you. That you’ve made over the last five years.
Some of the things that you’ve accomplished, the goals that you’ve achieved, the ways in which you’ve developed and grown over the last five years. How you’ve changed. Really look at your life and how you’ve developed. And congratulate yourself for all all that you’ve done. I think of a significant female in your life.
What do they like about you? What do they admire about you? What qualities? What characteristics is about you that they find worthwhile, that they like. And then imagine that quality of the characteristics that you admired by the same qualities infinitely many more times developed, fully developed.
And imagine the situation where you express this fully developed quality. Give yourself a way to an imaginative role expressing an expansively developed quality. And think of a significant male in your life. What quality about you do they think of, admire, respect, like in you actually. And again, imagine a situation where you express this fully developed admired quality.
And then finally, what quality of rest of yourself do you like, do you admire, do you respect? And again, imagine a situation where you express that quality. It’s even more developed. No need to know. On the basis of developing this determination to awaken, this determination to be free, seeing the nature of the human dilemma, the situation in which we all find ourselves in, and deciding it’s necessary to change at a very deep level.
And then begin to pursue that change, to open out in terms of development of an awakening heart and the awakening mind. So we’re looking at the second of the three fundamentals of the path, development of awakening heart. Within the awakening heart there are two meditative traditions. That’s the systematic ways of training the mind, of transforming our thought patterns, which culminate in awakening the heart toward all living beings. The first of these two meditative traditions is the seven point cause and effect instruction.
The second equalizing and exchanging self and other. So we’re looking at the first three of these. It is based upon equanimity, developing an even minded attitude, which does not on the basis of attachment hold some close and on the basis of hatred or aversion hold others at a distance. It develops a like minded attitude towards work towards others. And it is on upon this even ground that we begin to build the edifice of the awakening heart.
Upon this even minded attitude of equanimity, then we go on to recognize all living beings as our mothers, begin to appreciate their great kindness, develop a sense of gratitude which wishes to repay their kindness, developing a sense of affectionate love in others that are pleasing. We like them. They’re very attractive. We’re captivated by them. Want to get involved.
Development of great compassion. And then finally, the sixth cause, exceptional resolve. All of which bring about the seventh effect result in the awakening heart. So we’re looking, tonight we’re going to talk about the sixth cause, that is the exceptional resolve, high resolve, unusual aspiration. So I’ve talked about growth in terms, it means an enlarging and expanding of our horizon.
A growth of our boundaries, outwardly in perspective and inwardly in-depth. So we’re opening up and we’re going deeper. This this dual direction of our growth. So initially in the development of great compassion, our compassion is directed only towards those we’re probably sure are friendly toward us. We have some sort of more connection with.
And it’s simply the development of a friendly thought as we’ve been doing every Wednesday night. How wonderful it would be if this person was happy, if this person didn’t have any problems, if they didn’t suffer, didn’t have any dissatisfaction. So it’s just a sense of beginning to open ourselves up to the problems of others and a gentle concern about what is happening in their life. And then we begin to expand our horizons out and begin to open.