Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. This is a pure content-generation task with all inputs provided — no code, no codebase. I’ll write the paragraph directly.
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Ven Jampa Gendun opens this 37-minute talk with a personal account: leaving society for a communal farm brought no real freedom, because the true captors — hatred, attachment, and ignorance — were always internal. He identifies two “epistemological errors” at the root of all suffering: belief in a solid, unchanging self, and the conviction that self-cherishing is an effective path to happiness. The snake-in-the-rope analogy then anchors a key distinction — therapy helps us get along with the ego-snake, but Buddhism reveals the snake doesn’t ultimately exist; yet, he argues, we must be somebody before we can be nobody. He maps the four Lamrim reversals — precious human life, impermanence and death, karma, and the dissatisfactory nature of all ego-based existence — before closing with a guided loving-kindness meditation that expands from self outward to strangers, enemies, and all beings across Australia and beyond.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 04 1988 02 19 3PA.mp3
UUID: 5e4cd4ca-18f7-4fa0-8143-e6cc3d4ceb9e
Teacher: Ven Jampa Gendun
Collection: Three Principal Aspects of the Path 1988-1990 (Ven Jampa Gendun)
Date: 1988-02-19
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 36.6 minutes
Words: ~3,517
Structure. I thought these were my own ideas, but as it later turned out, I began to recognize an effect. I was just enacting out a program which was being, what would you say, punched into me by my peer groups, by my society, whatever. And I decided, oh, I wanna be free of this. I wanna be free of all outside influences.
You know, I wanna be free of society, which was very well and good. But then I began over the years to realize that I wasn’t free even if I was living out in the country, living on a farm, even a commune with all the things that go with that, the good people, whole grain rice and all that. I was still I was still under the power of hatred, attachment, ignorance, jealousy, desire, miserliness. I I wasn’t free, but now I began to see what I wanted to be free from was not necessarily outside of myself but what was in my own mind. And so this developed my determination to begin to free myself.
Because I think we all experience moments of what Lamrim calls a taste of freedom in a perhaps. For me it was quite often just walking in the woods when I felt a sense of completeness about myself. When just to be was enough. I didn’t need anything. There wasn’t the feeling that I There was no feeling of arrogance in that not needing anything.
But I felt that that moment was sufficient, that I was sufficient. I felt a very complete sense of freedom, unconditioned freedom. And I thought that this must be the way enlightenment feels, I don’t know, in some way, in some small taste. It’s a desire for freedom to go beyond all the various programs, to go beyond ego. But at present, believe in a controller.
That is, we have this firm conception of a solid, independently existing, unchanging ego identity, self image, self, whatever you want to call it. We believe in a controller, someone who’s under, who’s under, who’s directing the show. And because of that, we see pleasure lying outside of ourselves. Because we project alienated qualities onto other people, for example. Because we feel a sense of poverty within ourselves.
The things will not naturally come to this, that we have to go out and drag in these things back into our own territory. You know this idea of this lack of conviction in the law of cause and effect that I was talking about. The lack of conviction in our own basic sanity. There’s constant struggle to go out inappropriate, the sense of poverty. And because of the anesthetic effect of these programs, by anesthetic effect is by simply leading a mechanical life acting out these patterns, we become numb.
And based upon this, we make everything and everyone into objects for our use. That is we develop cultivated sense of insensitivity, of insensitivity. We don’t acknowledge the humanity of others. We don’t acknowledge others as feeling beings. We see them as mere forms for our use.
Everything is objectified. And, you it’s just like the everything becomes a way, you know, like this firebrand I was talking about. If you move it faster and faster, it glows brighter and brighter and brighter and brighter. Looks more and more solid, more and more solid. And everything becomes, in some respects, really a way to make our light glow a little brighter, to make ourselves look a more a little more solid, other people and other things.
It’s the way we make our egos alive, and this is the basis of self-cherishing. So these are the two basic premises upon which we base our lives. The belief in the independent, unchanging self, and the efficacy of self-cherishing. By efficacy, again I mean that this is the way we’re going to be happy, that we have to drag things back into our territory. That this is the way to be happy.
This is the way we’re going to get everything that we want, the happiness that we’re seeking. That is an effective means. Using self-cherishing as a basis is an effective means to gain the happiness that we want. The efficacy, efficacy. That was self-cherishing.
So these are what I call epistemological errors. From which all our sufferings are coming from. What does epistemological error mean? So epistemology is the theory of the methods of knowledge. It’s simply this, you know, essentially the way we know things, the way we know it.
The way we know things. We’re making error in our method, in the way we understand things, the way we know things. This error is an epistemological error. It’s an error in the way we understand the world, the way we know the world. So at the core of our belief system we’re making some basic mistakes.
And we have some misunderstandings upon which we operate our lives, which create all our problems, which create all our disappointments, frustrations, and dissatisfactions. In discussion of seeing deeply into the nature of reality and a discussion of selflessness and emptiness, we’re going to make use of a very traditional analogy or illustration. It’s quite popular. It’s called the snake in the rope. It’s a great source of debate.
Roughly, I’m going to use it to explain a little bit more, so I’m going to explain it very roughly at this point, not in its ultimate sense, but just in the context that I want to use it. You know, it’s it’s getting dim. It’s the sun’s going down. On the side of the road, there’s there’s a coiled striped rope. So conditions are are difficult.
It’s not just difficult to see when you’re walking down the road. And you look over and you see a snake, and you become very afraid. So this is the illustration. This is so due to the various conditions, we’re seeing a a striped rope as a snake which produces fear. So we’re making some epistemological error based upon which we experience the suffering of fear.
Now, I’m going to make the point. I’m going to use this as a point, the difference between a psychological approach and an epistemological approach to our mental health. Okay. A psychological approach, whether it’s Western psychotherapy, whether it’s psychology, is going to help us deal more skillfully with that snake. It’s to help us make friends with that snake.
It’s going to help us to live in harmony with that snake, adjust our lives so that we get along with that snake. Ultimately, Buddhism says that this approach is at best remedial. It’s at best a temporary measure. Why? That’s not a snake.
So why why get used why adjust your life, your existence to something which in fact doesn’t exist at all? Why spend your life trying to adjust to something that ultimately doesn’t exist? So here we’re beginning we’re getting at the two levels of truth. We’re gonna go over this later. But it’s important that you begin to understand.
The two levels of truth begin to emerge at this point. The psychological, that is the conventional truth, and the epistemological, that means the way things really are, the way we understand our knowledge of them. This is the ultimate truth. So the snake is the ego, isn’t it? The snake is the ego.
Within the cons within the context of a mistaken belief system, it exists. The snake exists for a mistaken consciousness. Ego exists for within the context of a mistaken belief system. For ignorance, for example. The ego exists.
This is conventional truth. This is relative reality. We have to learn how to deal with this. We have to learn how to deal with it effectively, efficiently, skillfully. Even though the ego in fact doesn’t exist ultimately.
We, Within the context of a mistaken belief system, we have to develop a healthy ego. So there’s no contradiction. We have to learn how to get along well with the snake. We have to learn how to get along well with our own egos. This is the realm of psychology.
Psychology. In other words, we have to have to be somebody before we can be nobody. We have to develop good feelings about ourselves, feelings of self worth, you know, develop a healthy ego. This is the realm of relative reality. The realm of how we can deal with our psychological problems.
But at the same time that we’re cultivating a healthy ego, learning to live in harmony with the snake, we have to try to correct our mistaken belief system. Ultimately the ego doesn’t exist, ultimately. Ultimately the snake doesn’t exist. It’s a rope. It’s really a rope.
But we believe that the snake exists for that moment. We believe that the ego exists for this moment. This is the realm of epistemology, that is gaining an understanding of the way things are. This requires a great deal of work and a great deal of effort. And we’re never going to sincerely undertake this task unless we see that even a healthy ego is dissatisfactory.
That living with the snake, even if you get along well with it, is no fun. So we have to see very deeply into the nature of ego and see that by nature it’s dissatisfactory. Even a healthy ego is dissatisfactory. Otherwise, we’re never going to make the effort to see that ultimately it’s an illusion and become completely free rather than becoming experts in how to live in saṃsāra, becoming masters of saṃsāra. That all states which are based upon mistaken belief systems, all states which are within the boundaries of ego are dissatisfactory, frustrating, disappointing.
That we can go beyond this. This requires a great deal of determination, determination to be free, determination to emerge from the all the patterns of the ego. That patterned existence is not satisfactory. That we have to begin to transform our basic assumptions. So even within the within the realm of the snake, even within the realm of ego, there are more basic assumptions, more basic assumptions which form the fabric of our everyday life.
So we we have to begin to work on these to transform these values. That’s that’s all we’re doing is beginning to see clearly the mistaken assumptions, ideas that we have about reality. We become aware of them, we confront them, and we begin to transform them, and we become happy. We become unconditionally free. No longer disappointed, no longer having dissatisfactions or disappointments.
It’s a very straightforward process. So we believe ourselves to be limited, insufficient, incomplete. That is one of our assumptions that we’re operating on. You may not be aware of that, but I’m almost sure that that is the basis from which you’re operating your life. That you’re incomplete, that you’re insufficient, that you’re limited.
Yes, sir. This is a mistaken belief, a core assumption that we’re part of a fabric of our life, how we operate. We act as if we’re never going to die. Rationally, you say, I know I’m going to die, but that’s not the way you act. Act.
So we have to begin to differentiate between how we think rationally and how we actually act in the world or in the emotional quality of our lives. We act as if we’re going to live forever. And even if we were to think, well, okay, one of these days I’m going to die. We don’t even entertain the possibility that we could die tomorrow. That’s beyond the realm of possibility.
It’s definitely some far, vague, distant future time. Some way in the distant time. Definitely not tomorrow, not next week. This is another basic core assumption upon which we’re operating our lives. We feel we are victims of society, of our family.
My mommy didn’t love me enough, that’s why I’m so screwed up. That you have this victim mentality. That somehow we have no choice. That somehow that our happiness and unhappiness are not our responsibility, that they’re influenced by factors outside of our control. That’s out of our hands.
Another basic assumption, belief, idea that you’re operating from. We hold that which is dissatisfactory in nature to be a source of pleasure. That which is impermanent, we hold that as permanent. That which is And we try to secure a self which can never be secured. So these are some of the beliefs upon which we base our lives.
Incorrect beliefs. And because they do not accord with reality, inevitably we have to meet with disappointment, frustration. If you hold that your partner, that your relationship is permanent, perhaps you’ll die first. But if you don’t, then you’re ultimately That very belief is going to cause you suffering because your relationship is not permanent. But you’re operating as if it does.
You’re holding that relationship as if it is a permanent relationship and it’s going to cause you pain. You know, it’s as if we believe a photograph of a piece of chocolate cake to be a real piece of chocolate cake. And no matter how much we eat that photograph, we never quite find the happiness that we seek. We feel disappointed, frustrated, and it’s very dissatisfactory. So this is the process of developing the determination to be free.
To retrain ourselves in what is called the four reminders. These four reversals represent the transformation of a mistaken beliefs that we’re operating with. We transform into correct awarenesses of the real nature of psychological reality. So these four reminders are the methods of training in the development of the determination to be free. First we become aware of our potential, and then we appreciate our chance that we all possess to actualize our potential.
Then we become aware of the definite, that death is definite, the time of death is uncertain, and at the time of our death the only thing which is going to be of any benefit to us is the actions, the positive actions that we have created during this life and the extent that we’ve developed our mind. Nothing else can help us at that moment. The third is the law of cause and effect, karma. And the fourth is simply the the dissatisfactory quality of all states of existence which are bounded by these compulsive behavior patterns of the ego, are based upon the mistaken belief systems, are based upon ignorance. So these are the four reversals which are going to transform our psychological reality.
Make it come into accordance with the way things actually are, which are going to develop into a determination to be free. And this determination to be free will represent it, will express itself in training and opening to others and a deeper insight into the nature of reality. But these four reversals are necessary foundation that we have to develop, that I want to grow, that I want to go beyond the state of egohood. It’s dissatisfactory. And in order to do that we have to transform these mistaken core values, these assumptions which are causing us problems.
We have to see them and see that it’s possible to correct them. And then we’re going to determine to go about actually doing that. To grow, to change, to transform. And so next week we’ve already discussed this last year, the first principal aspect of the path, developing the determination to be free. But next week I’ll briefly go over these four reversals and how you can actually use them in your meditation and how they actually operate in order to develop determination to be free.
So meditate on loving kindness. So if you get comfortable and get loving. Think about your own problems, your own difficulties. You know, become sincere with the moment and the fact that you want to be happy. You want to be happy.
No matter what you’ve done in the past, what mistakes, you can simply regret them and determine not to repeat them again in the future. And no matter how you may conceive of yourself, you can change. You can begin again and become anything that you want to be. We’re not stuck. But for the moment, we have to make friends with ourselves, accept ourselves, all the good and bad qualities of ourselves.
And quit torturing ourselves, be gentle with ourselves, and wish ourselves happiness. May I be happy. May I grow. May I be well. Have some compassion for yourself and love for yourself.
Now think of someone you like, that you love. Imagine that person in front of you and recall how happy that person makes you. Pick someone of the same sex. And wish them happiness as you radiate out your natural good feelings that you have toward this person. Now think of someone you neither like nor dislike, a stranger.
You feel neutral toward. Imagine them in front of you. We have to try to go beneath the superficial appearances that we usually dwell upon. Appearances of sex or age, beauty, economic status, intelligence, personality. Try to go deep to the central quality of what it means to be a human being.
That person is just like ourselves. They want happiness and they don’t want to suffer. There’s no difference. And just as we wish our own self happiness, we have to begin to wish this person deep down happiness because it’s how we feel about that person deep down. It’s a reflection of how we really feel about ourselves deep down.
I wish them well. Wish them happiness. Think of someone who disturbs your mind, but you have problems with an enemy. Imagine that person in front of you. This person wants happiness and doesn’t want to suffer just like yourself.
And perhaps their method of finding that happiness and eliminating their suffering has come in conflict with yours. But that’s just a conflict of interests. You’ve hurt others in the past either intentionally or unintentionally to find the happiness that you want. And this person’s done the same. And if you’re ever going to forgive yourself, you have to begin to forgive this other person for wanting to be happy, for wanting to get rid of their suffering and common conflict conflict with your wants.
So just for the moment, set aside your grudge and your hurt, your anger, and see a human being who’s suffering and alone just like yourself and trying their best to find happiness and wish them that happiness. Now imagine all four together, yourself and these three others. All equally want happiness, all equally don’t want to suffer. There’s no difference whatsoever. To radiate out equally, feelings of positive goodness, feelings of wishing well.
And all the people in this room, all the people who are trying to take responsibility for their lives or their happiness, trying to grow, searching with intelligence. They want to become more loving, healthier human beings. Simply radiate out positive feelings to everyone in the room. May you find everything that you’re looking for. May you grow.
May you help others. Spreading out further, all the people on the block watching television, eating, cooking, getting ready for bed. Whatever they’re doing, whatever they’re saying, they’re doing it to find happiness. So wishing them the happiness that they’re looking for. In all of Adelaide, people in their cars and buses coming home from work, in their homes.
Spreading out further all of South Australia, all the people, animals, insects. And further, Perth and Darwin, Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Hobart, the entire country. Spreading out further, expanding your heart. New Zealand spreading out over the entire southern hemisphere. Enveloping the entire world in your caring, concern, your wish for happiness.
All the people, black, white, red, yellow, all the animals, insects, everything that lives. Radiating out further out into space. Center, the wish, may all things be happy. May all things be happy. So we’ll dedicate the positive energy created by our listening and meditating.
To come to some understanding one aspect of what we mean by positive energy, It’s a quote by Don Juan again. It doesn’t matter what one reveals or what one keeps to oneself, he said. Everything we do, everything we are rests on our personal power. If we have enough of it, one word uttered at us might be sufficient to change the course of our lives. But if we don’t have enough personal power, the most magnificent piece of wisdom can be revealed to us and that revelation won’t make a damn bit of difference.
It all rests on our personal power. It has something to do with the merit or positive energy that we’re creating. Through these merits may I soon attain the enlightened state of Guru Buddha, and may I lead every migrating being without exception to that state. May the precious bodhi mind not yet born arise and grow. May that born have no decline, increase forevermore.
Thank you.