Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Ven Jampa Gendun opens this 44-minute session with nine-round breathing before turning to bodhicitta — the awakened heart — and Atisha’s striking claim that your own mind can be your best friend. Drawing on Tsongkhapa’s Three Principal Aspects of the Path and Śāntideva’s Engaging in the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, he unpacks the four currents that sweep beings through saṃsāra (sensual craving, desire for conditioned existence, ignorance, and wrong views), the three levels of suffering, and the logic of extending self-compassion outward to all beings. The second half introduces and contrasts two classical meditative traditions for cultivating the awakened heart: equalizing and exchanging self for others, and the sevenfold cause-and-effect instruction. Suited to students already following the series.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 04 HMA 1997 01 22.mp3
UUID: 1be43339-a15e-4bf9-954c-f8ec8bf5127c
Teacher: Ven Jampa Gendun
Collection: The Heart and Mind of Awakening 1996-1997 (Ven Jampa Gendun)
Date: 1997-01-22
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 44.7 minutes
Words: ~4,634
I’m practicing the nine round breathing meditation, beginning with the blocking the left nostril, breathing in, drawing in white light, and the blessings of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Through the right, down, breathing blocking the right nostril and breathing out all the negativities in the form of thick black smoke, which goes off into the distance through the left nostril. Doing that three times, and three times in reverse of that, and three times both nostrils. So just do that in your own time. And bringing your mind to the breath, just easy, gentle, in and out close natural breath.
And if it’s helpful, using techniques of counting and noting the breath. Just a gentle discipline to bringing your mind back to the breath. That’s all you have to do. Just do that work, and let the process take care of itself. And then in a gentle, relaxed manner, become aware of your your body, your posture, physical sensations.
And slowly become aware of what’s going about you. Just take your time. There’s no hurry. Are you okay? Are you comfortable? Are you comfortable?
Yeah. Okay. So we’re looking at the the second of the three principal aspects of the path. The first being the will to awaken, this determination to be free, to finally be free. You know, it’s in the the actual text of the three principal aspects of the path by Tsongkhapa.
Also, this thought definitely to leave cyclic existence is not conjoined with the generation of the complete aspiration to highest enlightenment, it has not become a cause of the marvelous bliss of unsurpassed enlightenment. Thus, the intelligence should generate the supreme altruistic intention to become enlightened. So, you know, the the altruistic intention to become enlightened or to become awakened, whichever, has as its object all sentient beings and awakening. So it is for for the sake of these people, for the sake of these living beings, I need to achieve this. Now there’s there’s two objects of observation.
For them, I have to get to here for their sake. So in order in order to remove all of their suffering, in order to remove the causes of their suffering, I have to get to here. I have to achieve those abilities and those powers and understandings and that level of compassion that an awakened being has. And now I think we’ve all experienced the fact that sometimes we want to help somebody. We don’t have the capacity.
We don’t have the abilities. We don’t have the skills even though we would we like to. So that liking to wishing to becomes the motivation behind our trying to to actually develop those skills, those abilities. So we can do something more than simply wish. You know, quite often, it’s a case even with our best of intentions.
It’s it’s the blind leading the blind. Sometimes even with the best of intentions, perhaps we create more confusion, more problems than we than we solve, but that’s not for lack of wishing. That’s it. That’s some time or rather, we have to go beyond the simple fact of wishing and actually develop the skills and abilities here, the ability of a of a Buddha. In order to in order to develop this this this wish, this trying, this aspiration, we begin in order to develop this great compassion, it’s necessary for us to reflect on the way sentient beings suffer.
That’s the reason we want to become Buddhas, not because it’s a great trip, because it must be really far out to be a Buddha, but because sentient beings are suffering. There’s no other reason there’s no other force that can get us to that state than that. We have to look at the fact that sentient beings are suffering, that you and I are suffering. We are sentient beings. And this this is done through extending to others the same type of understanding that we’ve come to in terms of ourselves.
Understanding of suffering that we’ve developed with respect to ourselves. You know, we’ve we’ve gone through quite a lot of detail, the different different ways in which we, in fact, do suffer, Perhaps overcoming our some of our denial around the the actual lived experience of our life. Oh, it’s okay. I’m okay. Well, you know, I’m not okay, and you’re not okay, but that’s okay.
We can do something about it. There’s something that can be done in the situation as workable. So in a if we can’t we have to stop dismissing, denying, or discounting what is our real lived experience, if it’s ever going to change, if things are ever going to be in fact different. You know, we can we can can pretty much be born and die with going through the same level of experience in terms of suffering. We can’t confront the quality of our lives and make it different.
So we develop with respect to ourselves, we develop a will a will to awaken or a determination to be free, free of this suffering. You know, getting fed getting sick and tired of being sick and tired. I wanna be well. This determination begins to arise when we when we begin to understand the sources of all of our dissatisfactions, frustrations, all of our disappointments, you know, lies within these compulsively reoccurring dysfunctional patterns within our own mind, most basically ignorance and the various actions arising out of ignorance and therefore having the notion of karma. Any life which is lived under the control of ignorance and all this the dysfunctional patterns which arise out of it, such as attachment and hatred, etcetera, any life which is lived in on under the control of of karma is, by its very nature, dissatisfactory.
It’s like living inside this bird cage. What can we do? Within within this bird cage, we can manipulate all the elements, all the variables, only to make a different type of suffering. That’s all. And it is real freedom, real happiness is not found within the birdcage.
There’s not an element within that set. It’s not it’s not it’s not there to be found that we try and search. And at some time, we have to begin to have it appreciate that we’re never going to find it in terms of our present way of approaching the problem of life because we have to begin to enlist other means. You know, this will to awaken is this determination to be free for ourselves is actively expressed when we begin to take responsibility, you know, assume responsibility and take initiative initiative to end our suffering. You know, we actually are going to do something.
We’re we’re going to do the work. It’s it’s like, you know, expressing our compassion for ourselves. determination to be free or this will to awaken is is is compassion expressed toward ourselves. We but when we we all of this understanding that we’ve got we’ve gathered for ourselves in terms of our our lived experience, we simply turn that understanding and make the object others. And we that under that understanding is compassion.
Compassion directed toward others and develops develops into a will to awaken for the sake of others, the the awakened heart ultimately. So it’s just a matter of all of that we’ve come to understand for ourselves and and initially has to begin with ourselves. Now we know and, you know, if we can’t develop this understanding, this this strong, powerful, stable, compassion, and love for ourselves, knowing our own experience immediately and directly as we do. How could we ever develop for others, knowing only knowing their experience secondhandedly at best, vicariously at best. We we couldn’t.
Now we have to have an intimate experience of our own what we are going through and develop some kind of compassion toward that. I mean I mean, the type of compassion which wants us to be free of that. And then turning our attention toward others, I know everyone in this room, you know, there’s different superficial differences amongst us, different sexes, different different levels of perhaps education, of economic backgrounds, of social status, whatever. But I know at if we go be beneath all of those superficial differences, the core experience that you are going through and I’m going through is very much the same, not much different. Just different outward trappings, the superficial differences at best, but pretty much the same.
We’re not we’re not so special in that way. We’re not unique in terms of the of the dissatisfactory quality of most of our lived experiences of our life. We’re going to look at that in a in a very thorough manner while we begin to investigate the quality of self and others in looking at these two traditions of of meditating the awakened heart. So in in in developing this understanding, developing this this this aspiration to achieve highest enlightenment, what it maybe that we don’t know what that means. Okay.
It’s simply to getting developing some wisdom, some some skills, some insight into the to the nature of our problem, the way our life being lived, and going beyond our usual superficial approach to working with problems. Knowing the way things are at a deeper level, and therefore, being able to work with more profound means, having those tools available to ourselves to help others say, I’ve got something that that I think could could work for you because I perhaps I’ve got some deeper perspective on your problem. Developing that ability and that that inner strength and that power, that charisma that that able to influence others in a very powerful and beneficial manner, and that love that wants to do that. And all of these qualities is is, you know, finding ways to these are able to find creative expression in our everyday life. Tsongkhapa goes on to say in the next few verses, two verses, all ordinary beings are carried by the continuum of the four powerful currents, are tied with the tight bonds of actions difficult to oppose, have entered into the iron cage of apprehending self, are completely beclouded with the thick darkness of ignorance, are torn, born into cyclic existence limitlessly, and in their births are tortured ceaselessly by the three sufferings.
Thinking thus of the condition of mothers who have come to such a state generate the supreme altruistic intention to become enlightened and the awakened heart. So, you know, Tsongkhapa is trying to provide us with the motivating force, you know, what we are to consider in terms of developing the awakened heart. You know, I I’ve gone over last week why we should do this, why we should bother ourselves, you know, the awakened heart. There’s lots of reasons, lots and lots of reasons. Many are pragmatic.
Many are rational. Some are intuitive. Some are simply and, you know, the because it resonates with the deep level of our being. The different we have to approach it from all various possible avenues. But I think if I think developing love is the most is probably the greatest way that we can express compassion toward ourselves if we think about that.
There’s no greater service that we can provide to ourselves than to become loving people. So that’s a pragmatic approach, isn’t it? But I think it’s true, and I think it’s worth considering. Tsongkhapa says that all ordinary beings are carried by the continuum of the four powerful currents. The the four powerful currents, uh-huh, are from if we consider them from the viewpoint of causes, and we we can look at whether for a powerful occurrence from the point of view of causes and the point of view of results.
From the point of view of causes, the this these are the the torrents, you might say, the onrushing of sensual desires, the cravings for pleasure pleasurable sights and sounds and smells and tastes and objects of touch. That’s one current. You know, it’s like we’re being, you know, we’re being swept away, that notion that we’re at we don’t have control. Another current is desire for conditioned existence. And this and even though it’s dissatisfactory existence, we still crave embodiment in such a situation.
Thirdly, third current is ignorance with regard to both karma. So there are two levels of ignorance. One, the level of ignorance with respect to the law of cause and effect. You know, what types of causes bring about what type of results. But a deeper level of ignorance is that of the ignorance toward the ultimate nature of reality, the nature of the self, the nature of the eye, for example, and the nature of the things about us, which is, you know, the ultimate core of our problem, the fundamental cause for our difficulties.
And then finally finally, the fourth current in that which is causing us to be carried away is various types of wrong views, extreme views, views such as eternalism or nihilism where we either think things are permanent and unchanging or we think strangely enough that nothing exists at all. Anyway, various types of wrong views. So these are the four currents from the point of view of causes. When they’re these four currents are looked at from the point of view of results, then they are simply enumerated as the currents of birth, aging, sickness, and death, and that we’re all caught up in these way, uncontrollably so. And Tsongkhapa goes on to say that that they are tied with this tight bonds.
So the tight bonds are these reoccurring compulsive patterns, habitual tendencies, you know, the the of actions. You know, that there is an created a cause, inevitably, there’s going to be a particular result, you know, and we’re bound by that as it were. We are tied with we are we live entrapped within iron cage. So conceiving of a self, an inherently existent self. And when we come to the third of the three principal aspects of the path, we’re going to go into this in great detail.
This is the basis of all our problems is the misconception as to the nature of the eye, the self. Thinking of it, for example, as independent of causes and conditions, independent of its parts, independent of body and mind, independence of language and conceptuality of the labeling process of of being perceived as such. So and then finally, the are completely be clouded with thick darkness of ignorance. And this you know, the the ignorance which is obscured with regard to the ultimate nature of reality are born into cyclic existence limitlessly, and in their birth are tortured ceaselessly by the three sufferings. So, you know, the we’ve talked about the three types of sufferings, the three three levels of suffering, the suffering of misery, you know, physical and mental pain, our experience of suffering, the suffering of fluctuation, the psychological process processes which underlie the dissatisfactory quality of our present state of existence, and the universal conditionality, the metaphysical aspect of our our state in which we find ourselves in it.
You know, it’s simply being predisposed in one way or another to to undergoing dissatisfactory experiences. It’s the nature of our present situation. You know, the end, thinking about the condition of our mothers, and this has a notion that we talked about previously when we talked about rebirth, that that we have been born an infinite number of times to infinite number of parents. And therefore, the logical conclusion that we can come to is that every living being, whosoever has at some time been our mother, and that looking at, you know, developing this this this type of relationship is is taken as the model of the type of relationships that we seek to develop with all living beings, this type of bonding, this sense of gratitude, this sense of intimacy. Thinking thus of the conditions of our mothers who have come to such a state, we determine to help them to awaken and generate the supreme altruistic intention to become enlightened.
You know, the the more we so the more we develop ourselves, develop our rational and emotional potentials, develop in our wisdom and love, developing our inner strength, developing our creative means to be able to benefit others, the more we can be of use to others, the the the greater the possibility that we can begin to translate our wish to help them into some kind of some kind of real reality. We can actually some practical means. So the Quoting from Śāntideva, you know, talking about, you know, if if we want to sincerely help others and, you know, if if if we really want to help ourselves in a in a in a most profound means, there is no more far reaching method than to generate just this. And to spend one’s entire life simply seeking to develop the awakened heart is to have led a meaningful life, to have led a life which could have never been directed toward anything of higher value, a noble life, a life which was tremendously worthwhile, a life which was of great vision. As some Śāntideva goes on to say, and concerning the awakened heart, how can I fathom this the depth of the goodness of this jewel of the mind?
So he’s the jewel of the mind. He’s referring to the awakened heart. The panacea that relieves the world of pain and is the source of all joy. If merely a benevolent intention excels venerating the Buddhas, then what need to mention striving to make all beings without exception happy? You know, it’s hard, isn’t it?
Think, you know, we have we have our we have our present value system, don’t we? And how we’re going to lead our life, and how we’re going to get the goodies of the world and make our life pleasant for ourselves. We have a value system, and we’re going to have a partner, we’re going to have have a particular job, and we’re going to have a particular lifestyle. And this this is a call to something radically different than perhaps what we’re used to, what what we had in mind for ourselves. So, you know, I think it’s we can approach it.
We can we can begin to work toward this end. We can we can appreciate it. Maybe it’s not it’s not ours values at present, but we can, you know, this journey of a of a thousand miles can begin with those first footsteps. At least we can begin to point our cart our cart toward in this direction in this way, you know, aspire to being able to feel what Śāntideva is getting at, ready, you know, to begin to shift our values in some way. Although wishing to be rid of misery, we run toward misery itself.
Although wishing to have happiness like an enemy, we ignorantly destroy it. For those who are deprived of happiness and burdened with many sorrows, the awakened heart satisfy them with all joys, dispels all suffering, and clears away confusion. Where is there a comparable virtue? Where is there even such a friend? Where is there a merit similar to this?
I bow down to the body of him in whom the sacred precious mind of the awakened heart is born. I seek refuge in that source of joy who brings to who brings to happiness even those who harm him. I I I’ve thought about, you know, this is line, where where is there even such a friend? And that’s an interesting line. I I read something last week.
It said it’s it was a simple line. It was by Atisha. It said, your mind can be your best friend. I don’t know if you it’s it’s like we can personify the awakened heart. We we can you know, it is our best friend.
It it only it only will bring us the best of life if we befriend it, if if if we if we travel the path with it, if we cultivate it. It’s some it’s something almost someone we can turn to with all our hopes, with all our aspirations, who will never fail us. Something a refuge, a real refuge. When all else might fail, the awakened heart will always be there for us, you know, can only bring us happiness, can only help us to solve our problems and eliminate our suffering. It is like a best friend, I think.
It’s it’s hard to maybe get our minds around that idea, you know, because we always think of someone out there who we can rely upon, who we can curl up in bed with, or or, you know, who we can tell our problems to, or we can share a good time with or something. But, you know, those individuals can’t always be our best friend, can they? Even though they might like to be. We’re we’re all very deluded, aren’t we? We we don’t even mean to hurt each other, but in fact, we do.
We always can’t be there for one another as we even when we might like to be. But something like the awakened heart never fails us. It’s something worthwhile to cultivate just like cultivating a friendship we can always depend upon. So there are two main traditions for developing the awakened heart. This best of friends of ours.
There’s the the tradition of equalizing and exchanging self for others. This the the the unbroken transmission from Śākyamūni Buddha himself down to various Indian masters down to from to Śāntideva to a Geshe-la, and down you know, it’s I think it’s useful to think in unbroken tradition of student disciple student of of teacher disciple relationship down to our present teachers. This transmission of some kind of energy, some kind of insight is coming down to ourselves. And the second meditative tradition is that of the sevenfold cause and effect precept or seven cause and effect instruction. Again, having an unbroken lineage from Śākyamūni Buddha himself down to Maitreya and various Indian masters to Asaṇga, Vasubandhu, Atisha, and again, down to our present teachers.
And I think, you know, this this should serve to emphasize that these two methods for generating the awakened heart had been in continuous practice for over two thousand years and have been used successfully have been made use of by by great number of extraordinary and not so extraordinary, pretty ordinary people like ourselves successfully. And moreover, it’s not something new that’s just been come out of Southern California, which will be replaced next week by another means, another new age fad or yeah. That these have been tried and tested and refined by yogis and yoginis who have spent their life working with these methods, with part of a a living tradition of success if we’re willing to implement them. So of these two methods, it is said that that the the method of equalizing and exchanging self for others is is able to produce a more powerful awakened heart. And moreover, because it does not rely upon a a strong conviction in in rebirth, in past and future lives.
It may be more accessible to for most of us as Westerners. But, you know, but but but because, you know, each of us has individual tendencies, each of us is very has individual predispositions. For for many, maybe the method of the seven cause and effect instruction might might work best or the or equalizing and exchanging self for others. Or as we as we will see eventually, Tsongkhapa himself combined these two methods into a single meditative technique tradition. So the first of these meditative traditions for for developing, for training in the awakened heart is that of equalizing and exchanging self for others.
So this has it’s it first, we generate a sense of equality. This is an unconditioned positive regard for all living beings. Based upon this sense of equality, we then go on to exchange ourselves for others, our self centeredness for other centeredness. First, this is done first through looking at the disadvantages of of self centeredness and the advantages of other centeredness. Then through then we we meditate on the actual exchange of self for others, involves empathizing and finally developing ability to completely identify with the plight of others.
We know that we actually are able to have an have a experience of how the world might be ex felt in terms of others. And generally well, we’ll go into this in quite a so I won’t go into it now. And finally, the visualization technique of taking and giving, in which we imaginatively take upon ourselves the suffering of others, and we give we joyfully give our happiness over to others. The the second of these two meditative traditions, that of of the seven cause and effect instruction. It has as its basis equanimity.
This is an even minded attitude toward others which is divorced of any attachment or aversion. This is like the foundation. And based upon that, we go on to develop five sequential causes giving rise to two results. Thus, seven causes and effects. Five causes and two effects.
So firstly, in terms of these causes, we we we recognize all living beings as our mothers, and they’re trying to develop this model of way of relating directed at all living beings. Then we we, secondly, we remember the kindness of our mothers. So developing it, and thirdly, developing a gratitude for this kindness that they’ve shown us, wishing to repay them their kindness. And then fourthly, appealing love, where where all, you know, we we we like people, strangely enough. You know, people appear very appealing to us, very attractive.
You know, like like like like like have you ever seen a a mother when she she’s watching her baby play? She’s very proud of the baby. She’s the baby appear very attractive. She takes great joy in watching the baby. Brings her brings her great happiness or or the father.
And then the baby appears very appealing, very attractive, captivated as it were. And then fifthly, great compassion. So these are five causes that we cultivate which bring about the two results. The two results are the sixth of these seven is an intense resolve, you know, a a resolve to become a Buddha for their sake, you know, to take responsibility, and then seventh, the ultimate result, the awakened heart. So we’re going to look at these two meditative traditions, you know, beginning How are you doing?
Maybe I’ll just go on for a few more moments. We’ll actually begin. So I’m going to we’re going to look in we’re going to go through both of these two meditative traditions for the development of the awakened heart, equalizing and exchanging self for others and the seven cause and effect instruction. So let’s look at let’s begin this equalizing and exchanging self for others. So I guess maybe a bit of background on this.
It has its textual source in I mentioned that one in the lineage of transmission that I mentioned that as Śāntideva. I should have. I think I perhaps I didn’t. Śāntideva, there’s an excellent book which has been translated in English, Engaging in the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. And the textual source for this meditative tradition of equalizing and exchanging yourself for others comes from the eighth chapter of that text.
The that that verse that verse I read praising the awakened heart, that those verses I read comes from the eighth chapter.