Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. “He always receives honour, but I receive nothing” — Ven Jampa Gendun opens this 38.5-minute session by deliberately reversing Śāntideva’s pronouns so “I” refers to the other person and “he” to oneself, making the exchange of self and other viscerally felt rather than merely conceptual. He walks through three structured reflections: putting yourself in the position of someone you feel superior to and looking back at your own arrogance; exchanging with an equal to expose competitive impulses; and inhabiting the perspective of someone you envy, noticing what may lie behind their apparent advantage. Śāntideva’s dialogue verses are read and unpacked at each stage. The session closes with a guided loving-kindness meditation that expands from self and loved ones outward through difficult people, all of Australia, and ultimately to all living beings in infinite space.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 10 3 PA 1989 11 11.mp3
UUID: 8fa2c748-7229-49f6-9b59-6bf3a3ffd659
Teacher: Ven Jampa Gendun
Collection: Three Principal Aspects of the Path 1988-1990 (Ven Jampa Gendun)
Date: 1989-11-11
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 38.5 minutes
Words: ~3,757
When he says I, it means the other. When he says he, he uses he. He is referring to ourselves. We’re actually transposing the grammar of the verse. I is applied to other, and other, in this case he, is applied to ourselves.
We’re trying to actually completely identify reverse roles. So in the in this first of these three meditations, we’re going to exchange places with someone we feel to that is inferior to us in some way. In some respect, whether it could be education, wealth, prestige, talent, beauty, it doesn’t And if we search, we can find somebody who we feel is inferior to us in some way. Maybe it’s only in one way, but in that way they’re inferior to us. Don’t have quite the level that we’ve attained or whatever.
And we’re going to identify with that person. We’re going to change places with that person, put ourselves in that person’s role. Completely identify with them as much as possible. Having done that, we’re going to look back at our former self. So this is the first of the verses that Śāntideva sets forth.
So, I’m going to read you the verse. He or she always receives honor, veneration for his good qualities, but I receive nothing at all. Okay, we’ve exchanged a place with someone we feel lower. This is one possibility of a type of dialogue, a type of role playing that could take place. There’s infinite possibilities.
This is one that Śāntideva has written to act as a model of how we could go about this exchange of self and others. So whenever we’re exchanging ourself with a person, we feel in some way superior to this person is lower than ourselves. That is our former self. He, he or she, okay, always receives honor and veneration for his good qualities, but I receive nothing at all. He has great wealth and many possessions, but I am destitute.
He receives much praise, but I am despised. He has happiness, but I suffer. I have much heavy work and many tasks to perform, while he is able to relax comfortably and remain at rest. His reputation has spread throughout the world, but I am known only for my inferiority. If we can get into that, how would there’s a person that, in some way, that you feel superior to, that this person is lower than you?
Begin to put yourself in that personal position and look back at yourself. How does that person experience you looking down upon him or her? Know, putting yourself in that person’s position, how do you feel? How would it feel? Then Śāntideva goes on, You might develop an overwhelming feeling of discouragement, lack of self worth.
So, Śāntideva goes on with his dialogue with the same person. This bodhisattva So, he’s talking about You know, Śāntideva is talking about, in this exchange which is taking place, the bodhisattva is someone who says, Oh, I’m going to practice Dharma, you know, I’m going to get myself together, I’m going to grow, whatever great aspirations you might have. He called him this great bodhisattva, who, at least superficially, at least to appearances, is trying to develop him or herself. This bodhisattva, this lower person, now talking back to this great bodhisattva. This bodhisattva may be superior to me, but there are many bodhisattvas greater than him.
Furthermore, although there are many beings higher than myself, there are also many who are lower. Therefore, there is no reason for me to feel so disheartened. So, you know, he’s at least trying to pick himself back up. He’s not completely discouraged. Know, is our feeling of superiority, can we really justify it?
So, Śāntideva goes on, It is true that my morals, views and conduct have deteriorated, but this is not my fault. I have no freedom in this matter. It is the force of my delusions that cause this degeneration. If that superior bodhisattva were really truly compassionate, he would restore whatever deteriorated in me. Such a bodhisattva should work hard so that I and all similar beings can generate good qualities and achieve realizations.
While working for our sake, he should willingly bear any problems, hardships he might encounter. So, you know, if we’re at least ostensibly, for the sake of appearance, saying that, Okay, I’m someone who’s interested in spiritual practice. I’m someone who’s trying to develop myself. Then who are we, this lower person that we’ve identified with? Are we bothering to help this person?
Are we actually doing anything? Isn’t our practice simply from the mouth, an appearance of practice? You know, have we really benefited this lower person? This lower person is looking back at us and asking us, Have you done anything for me? You know, you’re saying that you’re trying to practice to grow, to develop yourself.
But this so called bodhisattva is doing nothing to help us. Although he has the abilities, he neglects to aid us. Therefore, what right does he have to be scornful? Have we ever received any benefit from him? Despite the fact that we poor beings, because of our degenerated morals, are dwelling within the jaws of lower states of existence, this supposed bodhisattva has no compassion for us.
All he does is develop false pride in his attainments. He even goes to the forest presuming to contend with and disparage the wise. You know, in such a situation, this is an example of a possible dialogue that we could direct back toward ourselves. You know, how can we feel arrogance, this sense of false pride, this feeling of superiority in the face of seeing ourselves, who we actually are, seeing who we really are, maybe for the first time, how another person actually sees us. It’s very rare that we ever get this kind of insight.
You know, it’s very rare that someone will actually tell us the truth about ourselves, let alone that we can see it for ourselves. Do we ever really do anything to help others altruistically? Or is it simply a matter of motivated by some in some way, by our selfishness, in some way for our own gain? You know, many people talk about growth, they talk about love, they talk about spiritual practice, but do they really do anything? If the heart of all religious teachings is love, is it benefit others, then if someone is at least from their mouth saying that I’m practicing, I want to develop myself, I want to grow, then you have to be doing something, even if it’s only a small something.
In thinking this way, we can begin to diminish our arrogance. We can begin to diminish the feelings of smugness, of self righteousness, you know, with respect to those who we feel, in some way superior to. Now, the second meditation. We go on to someone we feel in some way equal to, you know, generate the the associated attitude of competitiveness. You know, so we we change places with someone of the same status, someone of the same rank, you know, someone with comparable ability, comparable intelligence, equal in beauty, whatever.
And we we identify with this person as strongly as possible. We try to see ourselves out of their eyes, out of their mentality. And we look back at ourselves, our old self, with this feeling of competitiveness. This bodhisattva is my equal, but in order to outshine him, I shall defeat him in many ways including debate. I shall proclaim all my own qualities throughout the world, but his I shall hide so that no one hears of them.
Also, shall hide all my own faults while declaring his openly. I shall make sure that I receive veneration from others and that he receives no praise at all. I shall have fame, possessions, and material gain, but he shall have nothing. I shall take great pleasure in seeing him receive problems, abuse, and the like, for a great length of time and shall seek to make him laughing stock of all, an object of ridicule and blame. So, you know, if we meditate in this way, reflect in this way, make use of this method, then our our natural inclination to compete with others to their detriment as a, you know, as a means to increase our own happiness, we can begin to diminish it.
You know, we’re making use of our natural inclination to compete with others to their detriment in order to bring ourselves happiness. We have this natural tendency, and we’re making use of that to go beyond our own self-cherishing. How does feel to be confronted with such a person? How do people feel when they meet us, when they’re confronted with us in the various ways in which we relate, through superiority, our arrogance, through jealousy, through competitiveness. And then the final exchange, you know, exchanging places with someone that we feel is superior to us in some way.
And we exchange, we identify, and we look down upon our former self. That deluded being is trying to compete with me. But how can he begin to compare with my learning, wisdom, family and wealth? May my superior qualities and realizations be known to all beings, and as a result may they develop such bliss that their hair in their pores rises with delight. In this way may all beings be conjoined with happiness.
As for that lowly bodhisattva, whatever possessions, good qualities, food and clothing he might have, I shall take away by means of my superior power and use for my own and others’ benefit. Since he is working for our sake, I shall leave him just enough to sustain his life, and the rest we shall use for ourselves. I shall curtail his happiness and comfort, burden him with all our sufferings and afflict him with all our problems. Try to imagine what may be going on in the mind of someone who you feel is superior to you. In this way we can really begin to transform, to substitute compassion for our jealousy, our present jealousy, if we only knew what may be going on in that person’s mind, towards that person towards whom we now feel jealousy.
This also has a quality of countering our laziness, know, laziness of discouragement. Discouragement is one type of laziness. Self defeatism. You know, it’s a way we can avoid making effort. Thinking You know, we often think that these people who are we view as superior to us have no problems, that they’re somehow better than us.
But this is totally unrealistic. Through training in exchanging self for others, we can begin to actually destroy our self-cherishing attitude give birth to qualities of love and compassion. Ultimately to cherishing others. Being at least as concerned for others as we are for ourselves in a limited fashion initially. There’s this natural tendency of self-cherishing to categorize, you know, to compare, which results in these various mental attitudes of, you know, arrogance, competitiveness, jealousy.
We’re making We begin to feel others are simply objects. And they become, you know, they become objects of our pride or objects of our fear objects of our fear, when there’s this sense of competition, sense of jealousy. In either case, you know, can there be real love? Maybe we can, you know, kind of adapt this, this type of meditation, this exchange of self for others. So there’s these three possibilities, these three categories.
But, you know, in training, in in exchange of self for others, we should use, you know, various categories, various types of people. You know, as many types as there are people, probably. You know, we’re very much stuck with seeing people from only one point of view, you know, and that is our own. That’s the only point of view we have is our own. So in exchanging self for others, we develop a multifaceted point of view, maybe universal point of view, like an aerial point of view.
You know, we begin to understand others because we more and more see the world, how it appears out of their eyes. But how do you know you’re not imagining? I’ll finish. Okay? Never mind.
We’ll go on. It’s almost finished. How do I how do I know that I’m not imagining? Okay. Beginning to develop other perspectives, possibly universal perspective, beginning to understand others and thereby the possibility of loving others.
You know, as has been said a number of times, to love others is to understand others, and to understand others is to love others. And to understand yourself is to love yourself. And to a large degree, love that we feel toward others is very much an overflowing of the love that we feel toward ourselves. And we talked about this last week, the necessity toward self affirmation. And always, you know, as without developing a healthy ego, without being somebody we can never be nobody.
But we have to always be aware of which self we’re affirming, self are we validating, are we valuing, the self of self affirmation or the self of self-cherishing. You know, we can exchange places, practice exchange of self with others, you know, with your husband, with your wife, with your boyfriend, with your girlfriend, with your children, with your mother, your father. And look back at yourself. Put yourself in their position. Identify completely with their mentality.
How, you know, how you view their mentality, how they would look back to you. You know, what do you see when you look at yourself through your husband’s eyes, through your your girlfriend’s eyes, through your mother’s eyes? When you look at yourself, what do you see? Are you fulfilling their needs? Are you fulfilling their wants?
When you are them, do you feel loved? Do you feel valued? Do you feel understood? When you are them, and do you feel respected? Are you respected?
Do you see your former self respecting them, valuing them, loving them? Then you can exchange places with someone that you work with every day, but you perhaps have never developed any particular relationship with. Exchange places, identify completely with them. How do you see yourself? What do you see?
How would you experience yourself? Would you see indifference? Do you see competitiveness? Exchange places with a poor beggar. That beggars, you’re holding out your hand to yourself.
Holding out your hand to yourself. And you look into your own eyes, and what do you see? And if you see contempt, pity, indifference You know, you can exchange with somebody that you’re having a disagreement with, with somebody you’re having some problems with. You know, and try to exchange, try to see their side of the situation. Try to be them, their side of the argument, and the way in which you are presenting your side.
Try to see how you’re presenting your side of the argument. Know, Śāntideva calls exchange of self for others a sacred mystery. It’s very startling to see yourself through to get a firsthand experience of yourself out of another person’s eyes. Now we view everything and everyone within the framework within the frame of the reference of ourselves, of our own ego, of our own self-cherishing. The world is perceived and evaluated only in terms of our self, in which we feel very deeply to be worthy of our ultimate commitment.
As I said, we’ve, to a large degree, unknowingly created a prison for ourselves. And we’re continually torturing ourselves. We’re constantly dedicating ourselves to the struggle of figuring out the secret to happiness, this continual struggle of trying to find the key, trying to find the secret to happiness. Never seen that it’s this very struggle for our own happiness to the exclusion of others that prevents us from ever really being happy. Okay.
We’ll stop there. Yeah. The question was just about I was just really worried about trying to imagine what someone else was thinking, that it would be me just projecting my own things into them. But I as you kept going, I guess the point is to reflect upon how you feel about how you’re actually projecting yourself to yourself, really. That’s great.
Yeah. Yeah. We don’t we don’t know. That’s yes. I I see very clearly what you mean now, but it doesn’t really matter even if we haven’t got it right because we’re actually saying what we deep down know about ourselves anyway.
Okay. Thanks. Meditate on loving kindness. Consider some of your own difficulties, feelings of dissatisfaction, problems, and the fact that you want to be happy. Whatever you may have done in the past, the various mistakes that you may have created, you can simply regret them.
And as best you can, not to repeat them again in the future. You can begin again. However you may conceive of yourself, whatever identity you may hold to, you can change, you can become anything that you want to be. For the present, we want to try to become friends with ourselves, all the various parts of ourselves, even the parts perhaps we don’t like. Be gentle with ourselves and wish ourselves well.
So just generate and direct some warm positive feelings towards yourself, wishing yourself happiness. And wish yourself all the things that you’ve ever wanted, all the good things. May I be happy, may I not suffer, may I grow. And be kind to yourself. And think of someone that you like, that you love, someone of the same sex, and 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 remember all the good times that you shared together, all the happiness, the kindness that this person has shown you. Begin to direct, to radiate out the feelings of caring, of wishing happiness, naturally begin to arise, thinking of this person. Just wish them good things, wish them happiness, and all that they might wish for.
Think of someone that you neither like nor dislike, someone you feel indifference towards, and imagine that person in front of you. And we want to try to go beneath the superficial appearances that we usually judge people by, that we usually cling to, whether they’re male or female, whether they’re young or old, beautiful, ugly, intelligent, unintelligent. Beneath all of that, try to see the essence of that person, that there’s someone there who wants to be happy and doesn’t want to suffer just like yourself. And just as you wish your own self happiness, in the same way, wish this person happiness, because it’s very much a reflection about how we feel about ourselves, essentially. How we feel about this person, since essentially we’re exactly the same.
So just direct some caring, warm feelings toward this person as you would yourself. Think of someone that you have some problems with, someone that disturbs your mind, someone you don’t like, someone you’re having difficulties with. Imagine that person in front of you. This person wants to be happy and doesn’t want to suffer just like yourself.
Perhaps their method of finding their happiness, eliminating their suffering, has come in conflict with your method of finding your happiness, eliminating your suffering. But it’s just a conflict of self interest. You’ve hurt others either intentionally or unintentionally in the past to find the happiness that you were looking for. And this person has done the same to you. And just as you have to forgive yourself for the mistakes that you’ve made in the past, you have to begin to forgive this person for making mistakes.
So just for the moment set aside your hurt, your grudge, your anger, and try to see someone very much like yourself, doing the best they can to get some happiness out of life. Oftentimes being very confused about how to go about it and making many mistakes along the way, and wish them happiness just as you would yourself. Imagine all four people together, yourself and these three others. Though they have different appearances, though you have different feelings for each one of them, try to see them from the perspective they’re exactly the same in wanting happiness and not wanting to suffer. From that point of view, there’s no difference.
Without any feelings of bias, just radiate out some caring warm feelings to all four equally, wishing them well, wishing them happiness. And all the people in this room, people trying to take responsibility for their lives, for their happiness, trying to grow. I wish everyone in the room success. Wish everyone that they find whatever it is they’re looking for happiness, love, peace. Wish them good things.
Wish them all that you would want for yourself. And all the people on the block watching television, eating, cooking, reading the newspaper, Everything they could do and say is in order to find happiness, to get rid of their suffering, to radiate out some positive caring feelings to everyone on the block, them, wishing them that they find the happiness they’re looking for. Extending this wish out further and further to all of Adelaide, all the people in their cars and buses, on the streets, in their homes, in offices, shops. Extending out, radiating out further to all of South Australia, all the people, animals, insects. Further and further, Alice Springs, Perth, Darwin, Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Hobart, the entire country.
Further and further, extending this wish out to New Zealand. It’s radiating out thoughts of wishing happiness. The entire southern hemisphere. Enveloping the entire world in your heart and you’re caring, all the people black, white, red, yellow, the animals, all the insects. Everything that lives on the earth is touched by your wish that they’d be happy, that they not suffer.
Extending out in all the directions of space. Further and further without any sense of limit. To finally, without any boundaries, without any center, pervading all of infinite space, I wish may all things be happy. May all things be happy. And we dedicate the positive energy that we’ve created.
Through these merits, may I soon attain the enlightened state of Guru Buddha, that may I lead every migrating being without exception to that state. May the precious bodhicitta not yet born arise and grow. May that born have no decline, but increase forevermore.