Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Ven Jampa Gendun marks the completion of Chapter Six of Śāntideva’s Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life — the tolerance chapter — in this 45-minute session. His guiding image throughout is the Buddha as one who is always pointing: naming anger as a distorted coping mechanism the way a physician names a disease, where simply seeing the problem begins the cure. Moving through the final verses, he shows how Śāntideva’s arguments against anger arrive not at cold detachment but at active compassion, establishing that sentient beings are as necessary to our awakening as the Buddhas themselves. The story of a beggar boy who offered a handful of dust with pure motivation and was reborn as King Ashoka illustrates why intention determines the weight of any action. The session closes with Śāntideva’s prayer of aspiration and a preview of Chapter Eight’s practice of exchanging self and others.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 33 Tce 1991 05 22.mp3
UUID: 11c5ce74-b60e-4c69-87b7-dee23e9b1310
Teacher: Ven Jampa Gendun
Collection: Tolerance (Ven Jampa Gendun)
Date: 1991-05-22
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.1 minutes
Words: ~5,402
There’s a, I think, expression by the sixth Dalai Lama. That which is written by ink can be lost with but the working of a single drop of water, but that which is written in your mind is there for eternity. The various actions that we create leave some impression. They condition our mind. They create various dispositions, tendencies, patterns, and they will have a result.
And that result will remain until the proper conditions are met with. And then, just like a seed ripening, some particular train of thought, some particular way of viewing, some particular conception will arise in the mind and it will determine one’s reality. What type of reality are we creating for ourselves? And this is in connection with his meditation on death. We want to gather all of the good things about this, all of the you know, have comfortable, warm, cheerful homes with significant relationships, nice clothing, status, money.
But whether during the course of our life or at the end of our life, if these are to be of any value, they have to be related with skillfully. Whether they are going to become sources of happiness or sources of suffering is very much dependent upon their attitude, the skill with which we can relate with them. And so, beginning to get this sense, some kind of sense, that my primary focus or a significant component of my life must be growth. No matter what else I may do, I must develop some skillful attitude because no matter how much I may gather around me, without these skillful attitude, these productive ways of relating, they’re not going to be of any value to me. They’re not going to bring me the happiness that I want.
They’re not going to be able to help me to solve my problems. But with these attitudes, even a little can go a long, long way to bring us the happiness that we want. So the quality of going for refuge and essentially we’re going to refuge as a reorientation process, this reevaluation, reprioritizing our values to growth becomes a prime value, priority in our life. It’s quite necessary. Just as we have to have food to gain nutrition that our body might grow, so we have to develop our minds so that we can grow, that our skillful attitudes are constructive ways of relating.
Grow in love and wisdom and compassion, creative energy, so that no matter what may happen, no matter what we may or may not have, we can be happy. Everything becomes manageable. Everything becomes workable. So this process of redirecting ourselves, this continual process, we lose our way, we become confused, get out of touch with our own values, if in fact we’ve ever created our own values. What is meaningful for me within my own experience is a unique individual, which we all are.
And rather than unquestionably accepting the values and principles about us, trying to autonomously create one’s own value system, and again and again, getting back in touch with those values which hold you in good stead, which you find worthwhile, worthy of your life and your energy. And that’s all you have is your life. What are you going to give it over to? So this process of realigning our allegiance away from a life based upon expectations and fears toward a life which freely chooses growth. And trying to raise the level of our motivation for this impetus, for this process, a greater and greater degree growing for the sake of others, going beyond our own egocentric involvement in which we we relate everything and everyone as to what’s in it for me, toward a a broader perspective, a universal perspective toward what I can do for others as a real way of breaking out of our prison of our own egos, we have built for ourselves, and developing the creative energy to actualize our fullest potential.
I go for refuge until I am enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the highest assembly. From the virtuous merit that I collect by practicing giving any other perfections, may I attain the state of a Buddha to be able to benefit all sentient beings. I go for refuge until I am enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the highest assembly. From the virtuous merit that I collect by practicing giving any other perfections, may I attain the state of the Buddha to be able to benefit all sentient beings. I go for refuge until I am enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the highest assembly.
From the virtuous merit that I collect by practicing giving any other perfections, may I attain the state of a Buddha to be able to benefit all sentient beings. So we’re going to finish. We’re going to graduate from tolerance school. We’re going to finish the sixth chapter of Śāntideva’s engaging the bodhisattva’s guide to the Bodhisattva’s way of life. Throughout this chapter on tolerance, patience, Śāntideva been presenting a perceptive analysis of the deluded rationale of anger, trying to show us in light of our reasoning and our experience that anger is simply an unskillful coping mechanism.
It’s not in our best interest. And to help us to develop more skillful, more higher order levels of coping mechanisms, ways of dealing with distress, the disturbing factors within the mind. Ordinarily, we are immersed unselfconsciously in our own subjective perspective. That’s all we know. And it’s like a fish asking a fish what it’s like to be on land.
It doesn’t know any it doesn’t even have the imaginative ability to conceive of what to be out of water might be like. That’s its medium of existence. So we have somehow, we have to for many of us, we can’t conceive of change because we can’t conceive of any other way of being. We identify so much with our patterns. Anger.
I am an angry person. How could I be any other way? I would have to not exist if I wasn’t angry. I’m not a loving person, and therefore we refuse. We discount those moments when we are loving, when we are kind, caring, because they are so out of kilter, so contradictive to our self image that we have of ourselves.
That’s why this this this this analysis, there’s some kind of rigorous examination of our unquestioned assumptions and beliefs that we have, in order to acquire some kind of flexibility of the view, our you know, trying to incorporate some kind of objectivity, just enough to transcend our habitual thoughts, our habitual subjective patterns, and to gain some kind of deeper insight. You know, just for a moment, seeing that you are not your anger, that it’s simply a factor within your mind, a particular pattern, a particular way that you have been habitually conditioned to deal with particular types of situations that are activated when somebody pushes your button, that I can survive. I can survive beautifully by not being angry. In fact, it is in my own self best interest to begin to go beyond this particular pattern, beginning to see its destructive nature. So, you know, I think it’s we can think about this.
It’s as if, you know, you didn’t have some particular information. And there was a you didn’t have some particular information previously. And now you have this information. And one can it’s as if, you know, in these paintings of the Buddha and the wheel of life, the Buddha is pointing. The Buddha is always pointing.
He’s saying, look at this. Look at that. Check this out. Examine this. It’s this pointing which is the most valuable because it draws our attention to what has gone unnoticed, what has gone what have deceived ourselves with respect to up to now.
It has been veiled to us. It has not been called to our attention. The fact that there is a system called cyclic existence, these recurring compulsive patterns which govern our lives. And the Buddha said, this system exists, these patterns exist, but you are not your patterns, you are not this system, you are simply caught up in it temporarily. Śāntideva is simply pointing out.
And we have to look, examine for You know, the process of pointing, the Buddha is always pointing, the Buddha within ourselves. You know, it’s trying to avail ourselves of our own wisdom, trying to to energize us, bring it to bear on our problems by beginning to see there are problems, what our real problems are. Looking at difficulties on a deeper level, looking at deeper solutions. And we have to point to these things, draw our attention to be able to draw our wisdom, draw upon our native intelligence to bring to bear. Śāntideva is calling into question, anger, again and again and again as a productive response, as a skillful coping mechanism.
We probably have never questioned, as we have never questioned most of our assumptions, most of our values, trying to see anger is based upon a distorted premise. Trying to see that for yourself, to see that is the function of wisdom, to see. Our lives are based upon ideas, conceptions, beliefs. And to the degree that those assumptions, ideas, belief systems are in accordance with the nature of reality, to that same degree, our expectations will be fulfilled. We will find fulfillment.
We will find satisfaction to the degree that our beliefs, ideas, assumptions are in discord or in conflict with the way things are because we have to accept the way things are. To that same degree that they are in discord with the way things are, to that same degree we are going to experience disappointment, frustrations, dissatisfaction. And so this is why the Buddha has again and again said the truth is therapeutic. It is healing. The truth means that we are bringing our value systems, our ideals, assumptions, whatever, in to accord with the way things are.
We won’t we cannot rec the the the quality of falseness is that the closer you get to it, the more indistinct it becomes until finally it disappears. The quality of truth is that the closer that you get to it, the clearer and more obvious it becomes, until it becomes overwhelming and it becomes a part of yourself. So this process of analysis, looking and trying to get at the truth, and in this process we change. There is a transformation. The diagnosis is inseparable from intervention.
Just by becoming aware that there is a problem, one is bringing about the cure. That’s the beginning. Śāntideva is using various first, he’s saying there is a problem. He’s again and again trying to point out the problem to us, helping us point and say, this is a problem. Maybe no one said it’s a problem.
Many people still don’t believe anger is a problem. Hatred is a problem, aggression, hostility. Many find it useful or believe it to be useful. It’s not a problem. Or I should say they don’t conceive it as a problem.
And so this initially has to be overcome if it’s correct. If it’s not correct, if it’s not a problem, that’s okay. And we’re not trying to be dogmatic or or say that you must believe something if it’s not in fact the case. In a way, it’s quite often useful to look at Buddhism as not a religion, but a way of mental development, if you like. You know, the the Dalai Lama said that if if if science comes up with a a hypothesis and they they establish it beyond any question and it’s in contradiction to Buddhism, then we must, as good Buddhists, forego that particular doctrine of Buddhism and accept the scientific explanation because it’s the truth.
And it’s the truth that’s going to make you free. You don’t have to believe in anything, but you want to understand the truth. So all these various arguments, first the pointing out that anger is a problem, and trying to see, trying to break down perhaps our preconceptions that anger has its uses, aggression has its uses, hostility, and beginning to develop the ability to allow the mind to no longer become distressed in what were previously stressful situations, that is to say, tolerance. All of these various arguments at the overcoming of anger, they don’t lead to an aloof, detached rationality, but they stimulate the growth of compassion. You know, we are not trying to live in an ivory tower, but we are trying to develop a more and more skillful way of relating with others.
That has been emphasized again and again that mental health is a social phenomenon. So trying to overcome our anger with these various arguments not only doesn’t divorce ourselves from connectedness with others, but in fact enhances our compassion for others. So, you know, trying to we develop compassion. The enemy, through this argumentation that Śāntideva has been presenting, the enemy is transformed by the power of reason into one’s best friend. And ultimately, those who cause us harm are seen to be equal to the Buddhas themselves.
Those who cause us harm are shown to be equal to the Buddhists themselves. And in the first verse, we’re going to conclude, I think, one hundred and thirty five verses tonight. Talking about this equality, how are sentient beings equal to the Buddhas? Śāntideva says as follows, Sentient beings are equal insofar that they have a share in establishing Buddha qualities. We depend upon sentient beings, and we depend upon Buddhas to grow. We depend equally on both. But none of them are otherwise equal with a Buddha who are balanced oceans of virtue. Nevertheless, should even the tiniest fraction of the nobility present in those unique embodiments of virtue be apparent to someone, an offering of the triple world would be insufficient to venerate him. Because sentient beings have a share in producing the supreme Buddha qualities, they are fit to be venerated on account of that partial similarity alone. So the Buddhas are at least partially, you know, in dependence upon Buddhas. Let us say, those who have gone beyond, those who have shown the way. That is why the Buddha is revered, respected as an example, as a guide, as a teacher, someone who has demonstrated the possibilities of the human potential and has done it themselves. That in dependence upon their speech, that is to say their teachings by which show us the methods, we can develop these act as the conditions to foster our own Buddha nature and to ripen ourselves to actualize our full potential. And so that’s why we revere the Buddhas. That’s why because they are the condition necessary for us to actualize our Buddhahood, our sanity.
Likewise, sentient beings, they share in that ability, that same quality, acting as the conditions to help us to develop our Buddha nature, to actualize our human potential. Previously, in a verse by Śāntideva, he said, in cultivating the qualities of a Buddha, we rely both on the victors, that is to say the Buddhas, and sentient beings. Just as we pay homage to the victors, how can we not pay homage to sentient beings? If we say that Buddhahood, whatever we want to call it, this paradigm of sanity, this model of a happy, healthy, loving, sane human being, which we call Buddha, someone who’s awake. If we say, this is the solution to my problems, this is the optimum mode of being, if those who show way, those who demonstrate the possibility are to be paid homage to.
Because they assist me in helping me to solve my problems, then why don’t we do the same towards sentient beings? Because they are equally helping me to solve my problems, to actualize my potential. Śāntideva goes on, Moreover, other than by loving sentient beings, how could I ever repay those genuine friends of theirs who grant them immeasurable benefit? There are two quotations from two different sources trying to emphasize the greatness of compassion, the greatness of love, of communion and caring. Even if one were to constantly make vast and varied offerings to holy beings in numberless lands, the merit gained would not compare with a part of the merit gained by a loving mind.
And from the precious garland which we are studying on Tuesday nights, a quotation, a verse, Offering thrice daily food of three hundred divine flavors cannot compare with a part of the merit gained by a single moment of love. The quality of an action is determined by four components. The first is the basis, the object to which we do the action. The second is the intention, mainly the motivation. The third is the commission, the way in which the act is done.
And finally, fourth is completion, bringing the act to conclusion. So if we can the most important of these is the motivation. It’s not so much what we do, but how we do it. You know, this is the power of the mind. More than the substance, more than the outward appearance is the quality of the motivating force which is going to determine the result.
And there’s no greater motivating force in love than compassion. And whether it’s true or not, perhaps it doesn’t matter. But to give you it, there is a story. During the Buddhist time, there was a beggar boy, And he saw the Buddha and great reverence, great respect arose in his mind. And he wanted to make the Buddha some kind of gift, some kind of offering.
And he had nothing, nothing to give. But he picked up a handful of dust and he said, thought to himself, I wish this were the entire world. I wish this were gold and silver, all that is beautiful in the world. And he offered that, that handful of dust. And as a result of that, it is said that he was reborn as King Ashoka, one of the most powerful rulers of ancient India, simply as a result of that act of giving.
And this is the quality of that act. The creative potential, the merit was derived out of his motivation. And if we can develop love and if we can develop the awakening heart, you know, technically, the altruistic aspiration to achieve highest enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings, which sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? But, you know, if we can develop an unobjectified love, radiating out to all sentient beings without limit, then we can proportionally develop the creative potential without limit. And there’s no faster, no more skillful way of developing one’s actualizing one’s fullest human potential than through the power of love.
And previously, Śāntideva had, in another verse, said, If a mere benefiting intention is superior to making offerings to the Buddha, what need is there to mention the benefit of the effort to bring about the welfare and happiness of all sentient beings without exception? You know, there’s there’s no greater way that we can repay the Buddhas than to love sentient beings, because the only reason Buddhas exist is because sentient beings exist. If sentient beings did not exist, there would be no Buddhas. The only reason people are able to achieve Buddhahood, the only reason that they do achieve Buddhahood, is for the benefit of sentient beings. Now one can this is the difference between the individual vehicle and the universal vehicle, sometimes called Hīnayāna, mahayana, sometimes lesser vehicle, greater vehicle.
A person can be liberated, that is to say, can go beyond these compulsive neurotic cycles and find peace, remove all the various disturbing factors from their mind such that they will never return, and their mind abides in complete peace, unable to be ever disturbed again. Why would they want to go beyond this? What need? The only need would be, the only force, the only power which could cause them to arise from their passive peace would be love, compassion. It is only through the power of love and compassion that we go beyond our own self centeredness, our own exaggerated self concern, and try to go beyond our seeking for peace for oneself alone, but try to develop oneself for the benefit of others.
And it’s only this power of loving compassion and concerning oneself with the happiness of others and eliminating their suffering by means of which one can develop completely all of one’s potential. One can achieve liberation, but one’s potential has not been completely actualized. The fullest human potential has not been completely developed. The only way it can be developed, there’s no other force, no matter how much willpower. There’s no reason to develop except for out of wishing to better help others, to love others, to help others.
And this is why I said, wisdom is like the rocket, and love and compassion is the fuel which sends that rocket. And to the degree that you have love and compassion, to that same degree, you’re going to approach the solution to your problem. That is, Buddhahood much quicker. You know, it’s like in other areas, he likens it to a panacea, which cures all of one’s ills. If you have love and compassion, you need not worry anymore.
In the sense that avoiding having to be concerned about one’s own welfare, guarding oneself, protecting one’s territory, you know, always having to make sure that you get yours, Because you will get yours and you won’t even have to try. You know, there’s no greater way that we can repay the kindness of our teachers then to practice what they teach. And essentially what they teach is love and compassion. Śāntideva goes on, Thus, in being good to them, I will repay those who sacrifice their bodies and enter hell for their sake. Even if they cause me tremendous harm, I will behave in an utterly noble manner.
When those who are my lords will disregard their bodies for their sake, how could I who am so confused remain proud and not deign to serve them? There was a story of one great Kadampa master. Kadampa was a particular lineage of teachings which was established by Atisha, one of the two most important Indian masters who went to Tibet, the other being Padmasambhava. And out of Atisha developed the Kadampa lineage. And amongst these great masters of the Kadampa lineage, this teaching tradition was Geshe Chekawa.
And upon his he was nearing death, and he was making these heartfelt prayers, May I be born in hell, may I be born in hell. Because no one these days wants to be born in hell, And I can really be of great benefit to people in hell. They need teachers there. They need people to help them. And if I can only be born there, I can really be of great service.
There’s lots of teachers in this world, in celestial world, but there’s very few in hell. He had a vision as he was approaching death, and he saw a beautiful paradise. And he knew that that’s where he was going to take rebirth. And he told his disciples who were gathering around him, Make prayers, make prayers, make offerings that I might be born in hell. And this was but we, you know one of my teachers in India used to emphasize again and again that we at present, we cannot appreciate the great kindness of our teachers and the great kindnesses of the Buddha.
We don’t appreciate what they do. You know, as ordinary people, even our most altruistic acts are associated with self interest. We are continually evaluating, judging situations and judging people on how they affect me. What am I going to get out of it? What’s in it for me?
How is it going to affect my welfare? It’s very rare that someone is able to temporarily suspend their concern for themselves and act completely involved in the welfare of another. But the Buddhists and many of our teachers, by their example, by the way they live their lives, exemplify complete devotion to the welfare of others. But we, we in our pride and our self righteousness, we sit in judgment. Our teachers and the Buddhas are trying to help every sentient being with complete equality because they hold each of them as equally valuable.
But we, in our pride, in our self righteousness, we sit in judgment upon all of these sentient beings. You’re deciding which are worthy of my help and which are worthy of my harm, which are unworthy of my help. Which are worthy of my consideration, which am I going to be indifferent to. And we think we are right in what we do, unquestionably right. There’s you know, talking about the quality of equanimity from the Christian tradition.
But I say unto you, love your enemies and pray for them that persecute you, that ye may be the sons of your Father which is in heaven. For he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth his rain on the just and the unjust. And then in the Buddhist tradition, exemplifying equanimity, the Tathagatas, that is to say, the Buddhas. The Buddhas, the Tathagatas irradiate the world, the whole world like a cloud shedding its waters without distinction. He has the same sentient beings for the high as for the low, for the wise as for the ignorant, for the noble minded as for the immoral.
But we are our wisdom, supposed wisdom. We make all of these various distinctions about who we’re going to love and who we’re not going to, who is worthy of our concern, our time, our energy, and who is not. And we think we’re quite right. We’re justified. We’re able to rationalize it.
But the Buddhas can’t. God can’t. Śāntideva goes on. The Buddhas are delighted when sentient beings are happy, in distress when they are hurt. So by loving them, I will please all Buddhas, and by harming them, I will injure the wise.
For just as someone whose body is engulfed by fire finds no pleasure in desirable objects, it is impossible for the compassionate ones to be joyous when a sentient being is in pain. The compassion is experienced as mental discomfort. But it’s not classified as suffering because it’s not something to be abandoned. It in itself is a positive state and it is the seed of mental health. You know, for us as ordinary individuals, we must make, as I’ve pointed out in the past, in order to develop ourselves holistically, must make effort with respect to both method and wisdom.
Method being the various techniques to develop creative potential. And primary amongst these is love and compassion. So we must develop both our emotion and our intellect. We must develop both our love and compassion on the one hand and our wisdom on the other. And our wisdom is quite important.
It’s very necessary to develop our wisdom both with respect to the mundane and also with respect to the ultimate. But as ordinary people, trying to understand selflessness, trying to understand emptiness, we have to make that effort. But it’s difficult. As ordinary individuals, the most available means to help us to be happy is altruism, love and compassion. It’s the most available means that we have at present to be happy, love and compassion.
So while we’re trying to develop our wisdom, trying to understand emptiness, we have to place great emphasis in trying to overcome our anger, to develop tolerance and develop love and compassion. So here Śāntideva sets forth a heartfelt prayer: Whatever distress I have caused you, compassionate ones, by doing harm to sentient beings, today I openly declare such evil. I implore you to tolerate that grief. Henceforth, in order to delight the Buddhas, I will wholeheartedly serve the world. Even should a crowd of people stamp on my head and try to kill me, may I please the protectors of the world by not getting angry..
You know, in various texts, especially in the great vehicle literature, the universal vehicle literature, there are prayers, aspirations which are almost illogical to be achieved. May I attain Buddhahood yesterday? Or it would require something superhuman. But it’s not to say that these prayers are not worthwhile. Though at present we may not be able to live up to the aspirations of these prayers, at least we can begin to accustom our mind to the concepts, to the words which these prayers are making use of.
These prayers are expressions of a mind, the mind of the composer. And if we can just by becoming accustomed, familiar with the words, with the concept, we’re coming that much closer to becoming accustomed, familiar with the mind of that composer, unifying. You know, one of the great Kagyu masters of the past by the name of Gampopa, he said that his realization of the spiritual teacher devotion was when he began to understand his mind and his teacher’s mind were not separate. That is to say, It’s not that we don’t have separate mind streams, but we can as we begin to develop these same aspirations, develop these same abilities, the same qualities of love and compassion, our mind and these minds of these great beings become more and more similar. They become more and more close.
Though we retain our distinctiveness, there becomes a universality the qualities of this mind that we share in the qualities of wisdom, in the awakening heart. You know, if we if we work at these prayers and they’re becoming accustomed, they begin to become integrated with our mind. But from time to time, we actually there’s a glimmer of feeling behind the words, and our mind approaches that much closer to the mind of the composer of that prayer. Even if the prayers are and the prayers don’t have to be logical. The heart does not the intellect works on the basis of demonstration and proof.
But the soul, the heart, whatever, works on operates on the basis of belief and meaning. What has meaning, what touches one. And this is not something which is simply dry intellectualism. It must be something which is to be filled. Śāntideva goes on, There can be no doubt that the compassionate ones regard all beings as themselves.
There can be no doubt that the compassionate ones regard all beings as themselves. So why do I not revere these Buddhas who appear in the form of sentient beings? This verse alludes to the practice of equalizing and exchanging self for others. This is taken up in the eighth chapter of this text. There are two main meditative traditions for the development of an awakening heart, bodhicitta, the mind of enlightenment.
One is called the sevenfold cause and effect precept, and the other is called the exchange of self with others. And Śāntideva’s text, the Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, is one of the main textual sources for this second, this latter of these two traditions, exchanging and equalizing oneself with others. First, the mind must be prepared. Initially, develop a sense of equality. An equality between oneself and others, and an equality amongst others.
Essentially, we want to develop a sense of unconditional positive regard. It’s simply not an indifference, equally radiated out to all sentient beings, but it’s positive. We want to, simply most, everyone wants to be happy. This is a fact. And we want to try to see this fact, feel this fact very deeply.
Every sentient being wants to be happy. No one wants to suffer. And we often overlook that. Out of our because of our self centeredness, we have to devalue others. We have to objectify objectify as others in order that we can make use of them, in order that we can lay everyone and everything at the altar of our own ego.
We have to dehumanize them. We have to desensitize ourselves. You know, when you look at a person, you see a form. You see a being of form. You don’t see a feeling being.