Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. A flag snapping in the breeze, and the sudden flash of quiet joy it brings — Ven Jampa Gendun uses this image to anchor the concept of unconditioned goodness in this 46-minute commentary from his Three Fundamental Paths series. He opens with guided compassion and choiceless awareness meditation, introducing the noting technique through a trains-and-boxcars metaphor. He then revisits the eight ego-based preoccupations — hopes and fears around pleasure, gain, praise, and fame — and reads Tsongkhapa’s call to give up this life as abandoning those patterns, not one’s possessions. A reference to a cybernetics text on the mind’s innate self-healing capacity bridges into the main theme: Buddha nature as unconditioned goodness already present in ordinary moments, needing only recognition. Nāgārjuna’s closing verse makes the point that ordinary beings and Buddhas differ only in degree.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 11 H and M of B 1992 06 10.mp3
UUID: cb6aa98d-dc1b-4c22-9de3-96437bcfa0e7
Teacher: Ven Jampa Gendun
Collection: The Heart and Mind of Buddhism (Ven Jampa Gendun)
Date: 1992-06-10
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 46.5 minutes
Words: ~4,180
Begin by adjusting our motivation, getting back in touch with some of our what is central to our life, What is important to us? I guess what taking some time to simply pause and reflect upon the state of our being, where we’re going, where we like to go, and are the two in accord with one another. Maybe it’s necessary to adjust ourselves, redirect ourselves to this continual process of reorientation, which it seems necessary for us to do. It seems as though we’re continually getting lost somewhere along the line, losing sight of what is important to us. It’s a very unique individual.
It’s easy to get sidetracked. It’s difficult, isn’t it, to hold on to what your inspiration what at one time seemed central and most important to your life, which brought meaning and purpose to your existence, the mere thought of which brought you a sense of comfort and maybe even a sense of some kind of inner joy, just contemplating, thinking about. And then other moments that seemed lifeless and dead, you wonder what you were ever thinking at those particular times. Somehow we have to re encourage ourselves in one another and re inspire ourselves in one another. We’re going to be talking about Buddha nature tonight.
Whatever that might be, must mean something that gives us hope, that gives us some sort of light, some sort of direction in our life, whatever it might be. Something which can give us some kind of perspective in space, some vantage point from which to view this confusion that we are often caught up in. To be able to stand upon some kind of vantage ground and be able to plot one’s way and set one’s goals and reorientate and readjust and reinspire and re encourage all these reeds that we seem to have to keep again and again involving ourselves in, reenergizing ourselves. I guess if it was easy, would None of us would be here right now. But it isn’t easy and it hasn’t been easy, and it will continue probably to be difficult.
But maybe that’s okay too, if we can even keep some perspective on that also, on our present pain, our present difficulties, our present confusions, they aren’t going to last. There’ll be moments of clarity, moments of brightness, when it’s enough to be alive, enough to seek, enough to breathe, or enough just to be. And this can inspire us. Maybe we can remember these moments. I think I mentioned that in talking about the spiritual teacher.
The spiritual teacher is one who is there to inspire and help you to believe in yourself, to inspire and help you to believe in yourself and give you the means, the techniques, the ways to actually actualize everything that you can be and act as an exemplary, a living example of that possibility. So I think we have to be our own teacher. The Buddha said, You are your own master. Who else can be your master? By being your own master you will find freedom.
So we have to look for the teacher inside of ourselves. And that’s the only one that we can ever that’s always with us, who knows all our good points and all our bad points, who we can always rely upon. And we have to keep, as it were, searching our inner teacher out. Then maybe in the meanwhile, maybe we have to rely upon grosser aspects of that teacher in terms of someone outside of ourselves, our spiritual community, looking to other individuals for some kind of direction, some kind of guidance, some kind of inspiration. So we need each other.
We have to support one another by accepting responsibility in helping others that we will grow into the ability to respond. But additionally, have to know that we always have the resources within ourselves to take recourse to one’s inner teacher and to gain some kind of trust in our own Buddha nature, perhaps our own this basic sanity, our own it’s hard to say, isn’t it, what it might be. We’re going to be talking about it a little bit tonight, if we will get around to it. These first few words that I usually begin with in the evening, it’s kind of to open us to the possibility, all of us. So that’s something more than a simple academic exercise, another activity amongst all our various busyness during the course of the day, that there’s some kind of context, some kind of openness, some kind of possibility of a meaningful experience creating some kind of atmosphere perhaps.
It’s important, I think, that we believe in ourselves and we believe that we can change. And whatever we may be involved in in the moment, whatever difficulties we may be experiencing, believing that there’s a lesson to be learned, and trying your best to bring your basic sanity to bear on the situation and to learn from it. And then it can become a source of growth. Everything can become our teacher. In this process, inner principle of our life becomes Buddha, this person who’s awake to all the possibilities of life, to its potentialities, but also to the learning experiences which life is continually bringing us, which life is continually confronting us with, all the various challenges.
The Buddha is the one that recognizes the teaching, is awake to the possibilities of learning. Going into Buddha by means of the Dharma, you know, it doesn’t have to be a formal sense, it doesn’t have to be in terms of books or words, but it can be in our living experience during the course of our day. That can be our dharma, our source of inspiration, our source of learning. And within the social context of a spiritual community, that creating some kind of subsystem which demands more than normality, which — the word perhaps — somehow it leads us to restructure the way that we view the world within this social context. That we develop a higher order of self correction, that we move to some kind of higher perspective, another order of being, that we see things in a new light.
We move out of these continual cycles of behavior and thinking and communicating, and there’s some kind of shift. And this is what the context of the spiritual community, this social system in which we are embedded. If you ask the best of another person, then they will not always remain the same. Asking that we all be loving people, that we be compassionate people, that we try to express our innate sanity and our wisdom, and asking that of one another and facilitating their expression, creating the space, the social context in which that growth can occur. And we try to raise the level of our motivation in such that we have to We’re trying to develop ourselves in order to be able to help others in some way.
This seems like even in a very mundane sense, setting aside all the philosophic notions of enlightenment, whatever, or just to be reasonably happy and healthy. We have to in some way concern ourselves with something more than ourselves, At least some of the time, in some way. Something beyond our own ego territory, something beyond our own continual exaggerated self concern, self interest. To be able to step out of this habitual tendency only to see things in terms of what is best for me seems as if it’s tremendously necessary for it to have any sort of quality of life, even in a very mundane sense. I go for refuge until I’m enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma in the highest assembly, and the virtuous merits that I collect by practicing giving and the other perfections.
May I attain the state of a Buddha to be able to benefit all sentient beings, to go for refuge until enlightenment to the Buddha, Dharma, in the highest assembly, In the virtuous merits that I collect for 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 in the highest assembly. And the virtuous merit that I collect by practicing giving and the other perfections, may I attain the state of a Buddha to be able to benefit all people. What do you think? I think it’s helpful?
Is that useful? So let’s meditate. We’ll begin with the development of love and compassion, and then we’ll do mindfulness of breathing. And then I would like for us to practice choiceless awareness. And in this, for those of you, we make use of the technique of noting.
It’s quite useful. It’s noting from moment to moment what your mind is involved in. Normally in the course of mindfulness of breathing we are noting the breath, knowing that we’re breathing in. We know that we’re breathing in. We note in.
Breathing out, we know that we’re breathing out. We note out. In out, in out, in out. We can also use the technique of counting in conjunction with that. In choiceless awareness, we aren’t going to focus the mind on any particular object.
We’re going to allow the mind to become involved in any object that it naturally tends toward, whatever is most stimulating in the environment. It might be an external object such as sound, smells, it might be an internal object, pain, thoughts. But it’s useful if you can simply note those. So we’re going to allow our mind to become involved in any object that it’s naturally drawn toward. And we’re simply going to note.
We want to maintain our perspective. We want to maintain our awareness. We don’t want to lose awareness if don’t observe our mind. We want to maintain our awareness. And it’s helpful if you continue to note.
If you don’t note, unless you’ve trained, then there’s a good chance that you’ll get caught up, you identify with your thinking. It’s like a one analogy that I use, not analogy, what is it, a metaphor. When I was little I used to sit on the railroad banks and watch the trains go by. In the United States, you see trains from all over the states. We play games to see who could see the most boxcars from all the various states around the United States.
We watch the boxcars go by, and sit along the railroad bank and watch the boxcars go by. And sometimes the passenger trains go by, and you’re watching the passenger trains go by, trains. And then you’re watching the countryside go by. You got on the train in your mind. I mean, all these thoughts are coming.
They rise, they go by. These thoughts are coming along, you’re watching your thoughts, then otherwise you lose your perspective, you identify with your thought. And then you jump on to the train, and off you go. Some fantasy, some memory, whatever. So it’s helpful if you can simply observe and note, thinking, thinking, that’s all it is, is a thought.
I’m just thinking, that’s all I’m doing. Whether it’s a good thought, a bad thought, beautiful, ugly, whatever, it’s only a thought, nothing more than that. Simply an object of mental consciousness. Thinking, thinking, thinking, hearing. So allowing your mind to become involved in any object that it wishes, but maintaining your awareness.
It’s helpful if you use the technique of noting. So, for example, you’re going be sitting here and hearing, maybe a car goes by, hearing, hearing, and then the sound of the car drifts off. Your mind tends toward maybe perhaps it’s thinking. Hearing, hearing, thinking, thinking, pain, pain, hearing, thinking, thirsty, thirsty, hearing, thinking, hearing, hearing, thinking, and pain. Just allowing your mind to become involved in any object that naturally tends to work.
So if you take a comfortable posture, I was supposed to actually take whatever posture is comfortable, but a stable, firm posture. We’re going to begin with the development of compassion. First, imagine someone that you care about, that you love, that you like. Imagine that person in front of you. If you can’t see them, it doesn’t matter.
Just feel that that person is there. And just begin with generating a friendly, kind thought. It would be wonderful if you didn’t have any problems. I like that. That would be wonderful.
That would be great. Strengthen that. May you not have any problems. I wish you were free from all suffering. Strong wish.
And then we’re going to strengthen that further. I’m going to help you to solve your problems. I’m going to take responsibility to free you from your suffering. Some kind of commitment. Then the cultivation of love.
First with a friendly gentle thought, it’d be wonderful if you were happy. I’d like that. That’s great. Then strengthen that. May you be happy.
I wish very much that you were happy. And then strengthen that. I’m going to help you to be happy. I’m going to take responsibility to bring you happiness. In order to do that, I’m going to meditate.
I’m going to try to develop myself. Then gently bring your mind in the breath. Just the gentle in in and out natural flow of the breath. And use the technique of noting, noting your breath. Noting gently within your mind the in and out of the breath.
And then let’s allow your mind to become involved in any object that it naturally tends towards. Maintain your awareness, noting gently from moment to moment what the object of mind is. Watch closely. Keep observing. Keep noting.
And then bring the mind back to the breath, just stay easy and gentle In and out flow of the breath. We’re looking at the text The Three Fundamental Paths by Je Tsongkhapa. The Three Fundamentals: developing the Determination to be Free, the awakening heart and the awakening mind. Last week, were discussing the development of the determination to awaken and the determination to be free.
And Tsongkhapa divides this means by which we develop this determination into two divisions, with emphasis on the present state of being and with emphasis on future states. And so we’re looking at it in terms of the present. We talked about the eight principal preoccupations of ego-based existence. That’s quite a mouthful to say. In our mundane life, in our everyday life, These are the coarse concerns.
This is what the outer wall of the prison that we’ve created for ourselves. It’s a many layered wall, as it were. But this is kind of the bastion. This is the thick stone wall that we’ve created for ourselves. Our hopes of pleasure, our fears of pain, our hopes of gain, our fears of loss, our hopes of praise, fears of ridicule, our hopes of fame, our fears of notoriety.
This is what runs us. This is our world. This is what our prime motivating force is. These motivating forces are completely contrary to the path of growth. A life based upon hopes and fears is a life which is enslaved, where there’s no freedom.
All our constant anxiety, all our ceaseless activities are all created out of our hopes and fears. We are as if we were servants to our hopes and fears. And this constitutes our life. Tsongkhapa, he admonishes us, in terms of reversing the emphasis on the appearance of this life, to give up this life. What can we give up?
Can we give up a table? Can we give up our wives, our jobs, money, our house? These things aren’t the problems. These things, they don’t need to be given up. It’s to give up initially our hopes and fears, a life based upon hopes and fears, These eight principal preoccupations of ego-based existence, that’s what it means to give up this life.
Initially, this seems to be something that we can begin to concern ourselves with, to begin to confront our fears. I I might have mentioned this last week, Ajahn Chah, who was a Thai master. He said, Find out what you’re afraid of and that’s what you should do. There’s a lot to be said for that. In terms of our neurotic fears, that which is conceived of as a threat to ego, terms of our neurotic hopes, hopes which which are prioritized in terms of enhancing our own egos.
To hope for something, irrational hope, our irrational fears. We have to begin to see that there’s a more basic ground to our being than ego’s ground. We have to believe in it again, back to ourselves, believing in ourselves, in our own basic goodness. You know, in the end, what is the use of having that life? All we did was fulfill our hope, struggle to fulfill irrational hopes and alleviate our irrational fears.
And there’s nothing to be gained. There’s no real meaning in such a way of life. So a path of growth is completely in contradiction, antagonistic to this way of being. Somehow we have to begin to step beyond our hopes and fears, the ups and downs of our thinking process. We can just be without holding on to all the constant references that ego, the reference point that the mind is continually manufacturing, manifesting.
So then brings us to the point, well, if I’m not these hopes and fears, if I’m not these constant ups and downs of my thinking process, of my mind, then what am I? What am I to do? How am I to improve myself? Actually, have found some very interesting reading lately. And it concerns with the ability of the mind to naturally heal itself if it’s left alone.
That any system, no matter how damaged, has the ability, the resources to heal itself, whether it be a mental system such as our mind, or an ego system, a system of ecology, a forest. It always has the potential if it’s not interfered with. By not interfering is in terms of beginning to not identify with these hopes and fears, then we allow the mind to rest within itself. All this anxiety, all this restless activity which is born out of hopes and fears, It simply hinders the process of the mind allowing it to heal itself. Found this quite kind of It was inspiring, or one could take a sense of heart.
But this was a very extremely rational book on cybernetics, strangely enough. It was very well thought out. And still, that the author of this book maintained its premise that the mind can heal itself, if only we cease interfering with the process, that we have that resource. We have some kind of basic goodness, some kind of brilliant wisdom about us. Perhaps you are sitting at the kitchen table.
You have finished breakfast, washed the dishes and are ready to go out for an appointment. But you are not in a hurry and you sit there looking out the window at the street. It is a warm day with high clouds. People are walking down the sidewalk in bright summer clothes, blue suits, a red and yellow dress, a white shirt. Some are moving briskly, almost urgently.
Others are strolling. A horn toots, a vendor cries his wares, a child strolling. Others are laughing. Suddenly your eye catches a flag flapping in the breeze on the roof across the street. For a moment your mind rests with the flag.
A sudden flash of freshness, almost of joy, enters your state of being. Your mind seems suddenly fresh and open, your body relaxed and warm. There is a quality of lightness, humor, and almost timelessness. It is very simple, yet for the remainder of the day you feel utterly refreshed for no good reason. This is the flavor of basic goodness.
Unconditioned goodness is said to be the most immediate, intimate, and all pervading aspect of our everyday experience. It is always there. It does not come and go. Our recognition of it may be fleeting, but it does not depend upon any particular circumstance. We may be in a very mundane situation, such as I have just described, or in a more extreme situation.
A sudden glimpse of unconditioned goodness is always possible. Traditionally, such realizations are said to be most likely to occur spontaneously at a moment of sudden surprise, or they occur as a result of the practice of meditation. Still, the glimpse of openness can come along at any moment. Such moments are a first step. If they are acknowledged and allowed to enter a state of being, then gradually our life begins to open out.
They begin to cheer up and feel a natural wholesomeness and dignity. If we do not acknowledge these simple experiences, then they are forgotten and our life continues along its particular familiar grooves. Discovering and acknowledging such moments constitutes a journey of opening that needs some discipline and some training. As Chogyam Trungpa says, Discovering real goodness comes from appreciating very simple experiences. We are not talking about how good it feels to make a million dollars or finally graduate from college or buy a house, but we are speaking here the basic goodness of being alive, which does not depend upon our accomplishments or fulfilling our desires.
We experience glimpses of goodness all the time, but we often fail to acknowledge them. When we see a bright color we are witnessing our inherent goodness. When we hear a beautiful sound, we are hearing our own basic goodness. When we step out of the shower, we feel fresh and clean. And when we walk out of the stuffy room, we appreciate the sudden whiff of fresh air.
These events may take a fraction of a second, but they are real experiences of goodness. They happen to us all the time, but usually we ignore them as mundane or purely coincidental. The simplicity and naturalness of discovery of unconditioned goodness needs to be emphasized again and again because although we may never have studied philosophy or been particularly religious, we nevertheless are very much influenced by the philosophical and religious attitudes of our culture. Scholars, theologians, materialists and occultists have made a very big deal out of reality. They have tried to convince themselves and even to convince us that any sense of connection was something beyond our own individuality, any connection with the profound basis of our existence is either impossible or only for the chosen or its meaningless.
So unconditioned goodness, our Buddha nature, is not something that needs to be gotten. It’s not something that we need to develop. It’s not something which is going to be gotten out of a book or that we need to pray for, that we need to ask anyone for. It’s not something which needs to be improved. It’s not something that is somehow lacking, that we need to feel we don’t have enough of it.
It only needs to be discovered, self existing within our own mind. The Mahāyāna scriptures speak of those who are completely ready to open, those who are just about ready to open, and those who have the potential to open. Those who have the potential are intellectual people who are interested in the subject but do not allow enough room for this instinct to spring out. Those who are almost ready are quite open minded, but they are watching themselves more than necessary. Those who are completely ready to open have heard the secret word, the password, tathagata.
Tathāgata means one who has gone. It’s an epithet of the Buddha, Tathagatas. Someone has already done it. Somebody else has already crossed over. It is an open path.
It is possible. It is the Tathagatas path. Therefore, disregarding how or when or why, simply open. It is a beautiful thing. It has already happened to someone else.
Why not to you? Why do you discriminate between me and the rest of the Tathagatas? Tathāgata means those who have experienced the Tathata, which is as it is. Those who have experienced as it is. In other words, the idea of Tathāgata is a way of inspiration, a starting point.
It tells us that other people have already made it, that others have already experienced. Nāgārjuna was sometimes spoken of as the second Buddha, but however we look at him, was one of the greatest of the Indian masters. He wrote the most important text for the study of emptiness, the ultimate nature of reality. He tries to emphasize that the difference between ourselves as ordinary people in a Buddha is only relative, it’s not absolute. It’s only relative, it’s not absolute.
I’m quoting from Nāgārjuna. Just as water in summer is called warm, and the same water in winter is called cold, The person ensnarled in nets of afflictive emotions is called an ordinary being.