Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Ven Jampa Ignyen spends this 108-minute teaching clarifying why anger, hatred, and love are not feelings—despite our constant conflation of them. He maps the five omnipresent mental factors and the five object-ascertaining factors (aspiration, resolution, mindfulness, concentration, wisdom), showing how they function together. The core centers on mindfulness as virtue’s guardian: the afflictions are robbers waiting to plunder your accumulated merit unless mindfulness stands at your mind’s door. He explains why staring at a candle cannot generate true concentration—only conceptual meditation can—and unpacks faith not as blind trust but as reasoned conviction in cause and effect. Intended for serious practitioners in a structured Buddhist psychology course.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 2012 10 12 01 – Jampa Ignyen 20121030 Mind & Cognition301012.mp3
UUID: 8366cfa3-a4d2-4878-afb0-a538acf3bca3
Teacher: Ven Jampa Ignyen
Collection: Mind & Cognition (Ven Jampa Ignyen)
Date: 2012-10-12
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 108.6 minutes
Words: ~10,643
Right, so thank you for the test, for putting in for the test last Sunday. I was trying to get the test finished for today but I wasn’t able to do it so I’ll send them out tomorrow. So we’re dealing with some interesting material. So far we’ve looked at the five omnipresent mental factors and I think judging by the responses coming from the tests people are getting a clear understanding of these issues. Although one thing with the mental factors is we tend to probably overestimate feeling.
We tend to think that many things are feelings when they’re actually not feelings. Like hatred is not actually a feeling. Anger is not a feeling. Love is not a feeling. But because feeling is so predominant in our lives we tend to call just about everything a feeling.
And that also indicates that feeling is such a central element to our experience. In fact the feeling is the very experience of the object. I wonder if we just bring over the this whiteboard. I’ll just please that’d be great. It’s a bit of a I don’t know it’s part of our language we tend to say feel.
I feel this and I feel that. And we apply it very liberally to everything. So again what this indicates is that feeling is a central element in our existence and that feeling is associated with many other mental factors. Anger for instance is its own separate mental factor and anger of itself is not feeling and feeling of itself is not anger. They have a different function.
They have a different definition. Different definition. But feeling and anger arise together and mix together and it appears as if they are the same thing. Is that okay? Does anyone have any issues about that?
No. I think it the same yeah. I think it will occur with any other term we use as well. Another word that we could use is maybe sensation. But feeling is probably the easiest term to use to apply.
Emotion because the feeling itself indicates a type of experience of the object whereas emotion could be many different things. An emotion tends to have the meaning of something that moves the mind. Emotion. I think anger could be an emotion in that. I think it’s often with the negative emotions it’s included amongst the negative.
Probably they could be included there although some of them technically wouldn’t be regarded as emotions like sleep is a mental factor. But anger and hatred, love, compassion, we regard as being emotions. Right? But really the central factor that’s moving the mind is intention. That’s the very you know the function of intention is to move the mind to an object.
Yeah so there’s a lot of sort of overlap with this terminology that we’re using and we’re trying what we’re actually trying to do is clear up the terminology so that we have in a way practical and easily understandable ways of investigating our own mind. The purpose of all of this is just so that we understand what the current state of our mind is. Now what we find is that we often use words quite loosely but we do this in general as a society and so For instance when we talk about our feelings I feel this, I feel anger, I feel love, I feel hate, I feel this, I feel that It’s quite a loose use of the language from a Buddhist point of view or from the point of view of the minds and mental factors. Often what we mean what is meant within minds and mental factors is that we have anger as a mental factor, have feeling as a mental factor. They both are within the retinue of a single consciousness like mental consciousness and they have the same object, focal object, the same aspect, the same time, same substance, same basis.
Right? So they appear almost as if they’re the same thing but they’re not. The feeling is not anger, the anger is not feeling. The feeling is not love, love is not feeling. Does that sound a bit unfeeling to say it like that?
It doesn’t detract from love. Love functions perfectly well. What is love? Love is who knows what love is? What’s love?
Yeah. The aspiration, the wish for an another to be happy, even the wish for ourselves to be happy, is what love is. Anyone disagree with that? Okay. You can of course disagree.
This is just the definition. Love is the mental factor that focuses on really another being and wishes that being to be happy. So that mental factor is not actually feeling. It’s not the experience of the object. It’s focusing on that object and just the aspiration, the wish, the desire that that being be happy.
That’s all love is. Our feeling is going to be there. Oh yeah. Our feeling must arise because feeling is an omnipresent. Love is not omnipresent.
It should be but it’s not. Feeling is. So when love arises then there’s feeling that goes along with the love. It must because feeling is omnipresent discrimination omnipresent and so forth intention omnipresent. So anyway I just wanted to bring that point up.
Okay. So we’ve done those five omnipresent. So we need to keep in mind that those five omnipresent are just that. They’re always functioning. Svatragha in Sanskrit or Kundro in Tibetan.
Kundro means always functioning. It means no matter what state of mind we have there’s going to be feeling present. There’s going to be discrimination present. There’ll be intention. There’ll be contact.
There’ll be attention. Right. Okay. So moving right along. Now we’re doing the five, say, object ascertaining or the five object determining Right, any further issues before we finish with this section?
Now one of the things also with the five omnipresent is that those also constitute three of the what are called the five aggregates. Right? So feeling, discrimination, and intention really constitute three of the aggregates What do the aggregates refer to? They refer really to the five things that we impute as I. So these five omnipresent mental factors are extremely important because those first three that are mentioned are three of the main things that we impute I to.
I to the feeling, I to the discrimination, I to the intention. In a sense they’re like three things that define us as a being. Three central things: our feelings, how we discriminate things, how we feel, how we discriminate things, things, how we intend or what we intend. Our intentions. Compositional or formation.
It’s the main one. Actually in that one there are forty nine mental factors. Factors. But of the forty nine remaining mental factors if we take out feeling and discrimination the main one is intention. And as it said earlier that intention is often regarded as the main mental factor because it’s the ringleader.
It’s the intention is the mental factor that object, determines the object. So when the mind goes to an object its intention that is directing the mind to go to that object. So it’s extremely important. And it’s also determining which mental factors engage the object whether they’re virtuous or non virtuous. All right.
Just as a final word on that in terms of these five aggregates Oh look, we’ll leave that. We’ve got time we’ll come back to it. There’s another analogy that’s given that is quite useful but Actually it’ll take a bit of time for us to go through it. If we’ve got time, we might do it a bit later. Okay.
So we’re dealing with the five object ascertaining or the five object determining or the five object determining, object ascertaining mental factors. So the first was aspiration. So we’ve already done aspiration. So the aspiration is really that the initial interest that we take in something. Now our intention has already led us to that object, but the aspiration then is a type of interest that we take.
We have a certain aspiration in relation to that object. Right. And then the second We’ve already covered that from last week. Is that okay? The will.
Here it’s mentioned as will. Another term here we’re using is aspiration. I think aspiration is a little bit better than will because will almost implies intention. An intention we’ve had as the third of the five omnipresent mental factors. Okay.
So aspiration the first. Then the second involvement or here we’re using the term resolution. Everyone found that on page number twenty four? Now again, what we discussed last week in terms of these five is this is the five that actually is involved in coming to understand the object. So first we have aspiration, then we have resolution.
So here it’s called involvement. Involvement also okay. What is involvement? So dealing with page twenty four. It is what holds on to the determined thing or that object we aspire to or seek or search out.
It that which is resolved in that object, is set in that object. So in a sense like it’s their first the aspiration then the resolve in relation to that object, you know, to understand it, to comprehend it, to possess it and so on and so forth. It is awareness that apprehends the object that has been determined by valid cognition thinking. It is only like this and not otherwise. In this regard its specific function is the function of irremovability.
So the resolution there or involvement means that we’re it’s a mental factor that latches onto that object and doesn’t let it go like a dog with a bone. Do we have such a mental factor? Do we? Chocolate would be one. Yeah or just you know when we’re set in a particular object we aspire to some object and then we’re resolved in determining it.
Yep. Attention is just specifically once intention has decided on the general object, attention really focuses on that more closely, holds it more closely. But it doesn’t have an interest in it. What has an interest really is the aspiration and then resolution and that resolution has a deeper level of involvement in the object. Now these five here by themselves are neutral as well.
Ethically neutral in and of themselves. So its function is irremovability, meaning that it this means that when one has firm involvement or resolution with the object that the primary mind has determined, something else cannot pull one away from the object. So there’s a certain level of resolve in relation to that object. For example, in context of taking refuge one considers the difference between say a Buddhist teacher and a non-Buddhist teacher and when one investigates thinking what is an infallible refuge doing so one definitely determines that only the teacher the Buddha is an infallible refuge. Okay, so this is a specific Buddhist example there.
But what it means is that one takes one is resolved in that object. One is set. One has an aspiration and from that aspiration one then takes it to another level where one is firmly set in that particular object. So here the example is taking refuge. But you know we can think of many other examples.
You know where one first has an aspiration aspiration to gain a university degree for instance. First the aspiration arises but still it’s not a resolve. But when one thinks about all the advantages of a university education get a big salary at the end, prestige, so on potentially doesn’t always occur in that way as we well know. Anyway thinking about the advantages, the good qualities of education and so on then we become resolved in it. So the aspiration has moved on to a resolve in getting a university education.
For instance: Being master of the universe is not necessarily a bad thing. If it’s done with a virtuous purpose then if one wanted to become a dictator in order to just, you know, be number one and rule everyone and make them work for one’s own profit or whatever in a negative way then yeah that’s not good. It is. Well, some have a resolve on that level. Want to rule everything.
But if it’s done out of selfish reasons, they’re not good. And of course that’s often the case. It is out of self ish reasons. But it’s hard to judge what a person’s intentions are to be honest. Often it comes clear later in hindsight.
It’s a bit like Hitler. Initially people thought Hitler was you know he was very charismatic and so forth. But other elements of his agenda weren’t apparent in the beginning. Anyway, initially aspiration then resolve. Okay, so doing so one definitely determines the okay.
In addition, through our valid cognition one also definitely determines that the object taught by the Buddha and the communities of those who correctly practice the Dharma are also infallible refuges. Due so one becomes firmly involved with these lasting refuges no longer able to be guided by Tīrthikas and so forth. A Tīrthika is someone in India who espoused say non-Buddhist view. And of course there were many at the time of the Buddha. And India itself has always had a long history of different philosophic viewpoints which is a great thing.
The good thing about examining philosophy is then that we can judge for ourselves whether something is correct or not. So this process of assessing a particular philosophy or a spiritual path depends on these mental factors of aspiration, resolution and so on. For instance we might have aspiration to enter a valid spiritual path. At that stage then we have a lot of doubt about what is the valid what is a proper path. So then at that stage we have investigate and use valid reasoning so that we examine what’s available.
Or they could be atheists, they could be theists. Yeah. It’s really a term that comes up in the early Buddhist literature dealing with those that, you know, lived around the time of the Buddha earlier later who had their own ideas of how the universe came about, of what liberation was, what the path to liberation was, and so on. So they’re generally given this term Tīrthika. The term really means someone who fords a river or whatever.
So it means here referring to a non-Buddhist. That’s all. True! The term Buddhist didn’t exist. All they talked about was Dharma at the time of the Buddha.
Dharma really means has ten different levels of meaning. It means virtue. It means like the way things are. And so on. And in fact at the time of the Buddha everyone had their own Dharma.
So there was Buddhist or the Dharma espoused by the Buddha, the Dharma espoused by Mahavira, the great Jain teacher, and so on. Many. There were many, many. So anyway In a sense our job in this is to investigate the different ideas that come up. And in order to do that we first we need the aspiration to investigate.
We need the aspiration to assess. Why do we need to assess? Because just accepting something doesn’t help us. We have to be critical. Because when we see something is a fact then the acceptance occurs automatically And then there’s benefit because the fact of how things are can help us.
But if we accept something on hearsay it doesn’t really give us doesn’t help us much, doesn’t clarify much for us. Is that okay? Okay. The Bodhicharavatara states: The sage has stated that involvement or resolution is the root of all that is virtuous. In turn, its root is constant meditation on the matured results or on the maturational results or the results of karma, the results that have matured due to prior actions engaged by an individual.
So the Buddha, the Sage here meaning the Buddha, has stated that involvement or resolution is the root of all that is virtuous. So true, what we’re looking at here is a process of first having aspiration and then being resolved in that aspiration. So we want a virtuous aspiration as well. So having an aspiration to establish virtue: excellent. When it gets to the level of resolved in establishing virtue then that becomes the root of all virtuous action.
Okay so much for resolution. Now we move on to mindfulness. So this is the third of the five object ascertaining or object determining mental factors. What is the nature of mindfulness? The Abhidharmasamuccaya states: It is the mind’s not forgetting of an object to which it is acquainted.
So not forgetting. What is mindfulness? It’s not forgetting. Its function is not to be distracted. It stops distraction.
Because we’re highly distracted these days. Our minds are easily distracted to objects of the sense all sorts of things. But what prevents the mind from being distracted is mindfulness. Another word for this is memory. Recollection.
It’s extremely important. It is awareness that has three distinctions. These three distinctions are: a distinction in terms of its object which is a thing which a distinction meaning like a feature or an attribute. So the first attribute is something with which the mind is acquainted. So mindfulness engages familiar objects in other words.
And the second is the distinction in terms of aspect or the attribute of the aspect which is not forgetting the object one the main mind is focused upon. So not forgetting. And the third feature is function which is non distraction. So really it’s these three: the attribute of being of engaging a familiar object not forgetting that familiar object and not being distracted by other minds that may arise and try and draw our attention elsewhere. Right.
Does that sound reasonable? Everyone says very quiet. You might disagree completely with this presentation of Rinpoche. He was one of the tutors to a previous Dalai Lama. So he’s a great scholar.
This work is something that he composed through looking at many different texts. Oh the aspect well no here it’s something to do with the breath itself. The length of the breath so on and where you’re looking at breath like in the belly for instance or in the nose. Not being distracted. Yeah.
Not forgetting is the second. Familiar object breath is the first. Not being not forgetting it. Second. Not being distracted.
Not losing it. To another object. That type of thing. Okay. So everyone looks very determined in the subject so that’s good.
Does this yes. Yes. That’s right. Yeah. Yeah.
We’ve forgotten the object and been distracted. It’s a familiar object that we’ve lost and started thinking about something completely different for five minutes. Our breath is familiar but we forget it quite readily. No? No, it’s just that we’re susceptible to forgetting because the fault of forgetting is something that we haven’t consciously tried to counter very often.
Do it occasionally we’ve got to focus and so we just have to focus on something and not get distracted. If we feel hungry just leave it. If we want a cup of coffee just leave it. I gotta get this work done. I gotta focus on this.
Is losing the object. The focal object forgetting the focal object is losing it. So really the forgetting and the distraction really go together. But we’re very susceptible to losing the object and then taking a while to come back to it losing it again. This is a fault of the mind.
Forgetting the object. Oh absolutely! Yes. One can tune the mindfulness a great deal. One can perfect it so that whatever one is mindful of one will not lose that object, one will not forget it at all.
What’s the benefit of that? Ah, that’s where we’re coming to next. So this is dealing now with mindfulness. Okay, so those there are those three features. Then since mindfulness is not produced concerning a thing which the mind is not already acquainted, its distinction in terms of its object or its feature or attribute in terms of its object is that the mind is already acquainted with it.
Even though the mind is already acquainted with the object there is is no mindfulness of the object if it is not presently appearing to the mind. Thus mindfulness is called the mind’s non forgetting of that object. Since mental stability will further improve through relying on distinctive mindfulness on the feature of mindfulness its functional distinction is that it has the function of non distraction. So these three things go together in a practice of mindfulness: having a familiar object, practicing not to forget it and not be distracted, not allowing the mind to be distracted to some other object. The fact that mindfulness has three special qualities is extremely important in the context of both sūtra and tantra.
So the whole path depends on mindfulness. The entire spiritual path depends on that. The protector Nāgārjuna states, Oh king the Sugata or the Buddha taught that mindfulness of the body is the only path to walk. Hold tight to mindfulness and protect it. For when mindfulness deteriorates, all dharmas or all virtue will be ruined.
So even though one is resolved to practice virtue, if one doesn’t have mindfulness, then it’s unprotected. Really what does it need to be protected from? Yeah, really the non virtuous mental factors. Also the Bodhicaryāvatāra says: Through thy learned faithful and diligent many are befouled by offenses or affected or weighed down by offenses or negative actions because they are flawed by their lack of alertness or introspection. So what is meant here is: even those that are highly learned and have faith and are diligent or have energy spiritual practice, they don’t progress because they lack introspection.
But then what also is implied there is mindfulness. Mindfulness and introspection go together. Introspection or alertness. What introspection is doing or alertness is doing is just investigating what the current state of mind is. Like if we were to ask ourselves at at Is our mind virtuous, non virtuous or neutral?
Right? The mental factor that’s investigating that is alertness or introspection. It’s just sort of looking inside and then assessing: What’s the mind? What sort of state is my mind in? Right?
So it’s hard for us to tell: Is our mind virtuous in the present? Virtuous? Non virtuous. What is my mind in the present? So this we should know because we’re going to inherit the results of this current mind at some point.
So we need some form of assessment such as introspection. Shei shin in Tibetan. Shei shin just means Shei knowing now Which really means a mental factor that currently is investigating internally. Okay. Though I have amassed meritorious deeds, they will end up in an evil realm plundered by the thief that is lack of awareness which follows their loss of mindfulness.
So if we lose mindfulness, we’re in danger of generating non virtue. And if we generate non virtue then we’re in danger of entering a as it said here, an evil realm and so forth. So this we have to protect ourselves from at all costs. This band of robbers, the afflictions, sucks an opportunity. When it has found one, it plunders one’s merit and destroys one’s rebirth in a good realm.
That’s the sort of message we almost should have tattooed on the inside of our arms so we can read it regularly. Sorry? This band of robbers, the afflictions, seeks an opportunity when it has found one it plunders my merit and destroys my rebirth in a good realm. We forget that continuously. We don’t even know if the mind’s virtuous or not.
Right? We walk around the day as if, you know, oh, everything’s fine. But what’s my mind doing? Mind often becomes non virtuous and we’re not even aware that it’s become non virtuous. That’s when the afflictions get a foothold.
This band of robbers like thieves, like a gang of thugs, like a Mexican drug gang, even worse. They’re just waiting for us. Waiting for an affliction. These afflictions they’re just waiting to get an opportunity to take over our mind. And when they found one then it plunders that band of hooligans like a biker gang.
They plunder our merit, our valuables, our gold, our store that is going to protect us from in future. They will take that from us. So that sort of message is extremely important. Therefore, mindfulness should never be allowed to leave its post at the mind’s door. If it does leave, one should put it back remembering the terrors of lower rebirths.
Well, lower rebirths it’s just the hardship we face day to day because the mind is unhappy is due to mindfulness not being at the door of the mind to protect the mind. So that when an opportunity arises: Oh should I take that route? Like resentment, hatred, anger etc etc. Should I take that route? Then mindfulness is saying: Wait!
Check up! Take a second look at that option. Don’t just fall into the option without any sort of compunction or doubt or thought that maybe this isn’t the best thing to do. So mindfulness is protecting us. Mindfulness is there it’s not forgetting.
What’s it not forgetting? It’s not forgetting virtue for a start. Not forgetting the advantages of virtue. Not forgetting that actually if I allow my mind to become angry allowed to be filled with a poison of anger or hatred or resentment I’m going to be unhappy. It doesn’t forget that we must we need to practice a virtue.
Yep. Well, we all know. We all we really know this. That you know we get angry at someone. That anger which is just you know an instant decision that we make to go down that route can create twenty years of heartbreak or rob us of our sleep, make us really unhappy to no positive end whatsoever.
There’s nothing in it. It’s not one atom, molecule, subatomic particle. Not one miniature fraction of a moment of benefit that we derive from it. Nothing. But we allow ourselves to take that route for lack of mindfulness because we know sort of roughly that we should practice a positive mind.
But as I say the robbers of the afflictions are waiting for an opportunity And when an opportunity arises those afflictions manifest. So mindfulness is helping us to be aware of what what options we have and what options we shouldn’t entertain. So mindfulness we need. Does that sound okay? Is that what mindfulness is doing?
It’s sort of not forgetting, it’s guarding the mind? Mindfulness in a way is working on a coarser level. Alertness is on a subtler level. Like mindfulness is aware that we’re keeping a particular object in mind, not forgetting that object, holding it in mind. Alertness is checking up: Am I still holding that object?
You know, what’s the quality of me holding that particular object? It’s a subtler type of awareness. Also because alertness tends to be internal, mindfulness can be of external and internal objects. External objects are coarser than internal objects. Not just a it’s another function.
It’s not regarded as a separate mental function or separate mental factor. But it’s a type perhaps I think it’s included within wisdom. Okay. All virtuous qualities of the various spiritual levels and paths increase through reliance upon mindfulness and discriminating alertness. Any of these concentration mentioned in the sutras and tantras are necessarily achieved through this particular state mindfulness.
Therefore, this practice of devoting oneself to mindfulness is extremely important for those who wish to practice wholeheartedly. The Bodhicaryāvatāra states: Let me lose my possessions, my honor, my body, my life. Let me lose any other good thing but never the mind or never mindfulness. All of these other things don’t really matter that much. But mindfulness is what protects us over many life times.
So that extends far beyond the possessions we may have in this life. So far more important. I beseech with folded hands those who wish to guard their minds Even if your life depends on it, stay mindful and alert. So these are some verses that the author has discovered in various texts that just highlight the excellent qualities of mindfulness that we need to generate and develop. Okay mindfulness.
So we done up to that section. Now we’ll do concentration. So now we’re doing the fourth of the five object determining mental factors. The nature of concentration is stated in the Abhidharmasamuccaya as follows: What is concentration? It is single pointedness of mind upon an entity or engaging an entity or focused on a particular object that is being examined.
Its function is to provide a basis for knowledge, basis for understanding, a basis for wisdom. So it is the one pointedness or the single pointedness of mind that focusing on a designated entity is continuously placed on that entity or on that object. So concentration, really means single pointedly engaging an object. Considering the distinction of concentrate the object of concentration, it says that it is a designated entity. The object is called designated because when cultivating concentration, one holds the mind to a focal object that is designated by the mind.
Or imputed by the mind or engaged by the mind. Furthermore though there appear to be many varieties of concentration focal objects concentration, it is said that one may summarize them in four categories: the focal object of the purification of behavior, the focal object for the for the purification of the afflictions, the pervasive focal object, and the focal object of the wise. Also the object of the wise is said to be of endless or limitless varieties including focus on the five aggregates. Okay, so we just briefly mentioned the five aggregates. Anyone remember what the five aggregates are?
Form, feeling, discrimination, intention, intention, consciousness. So these five. So okay. Concentrating so at least this is the first one focusing concentration focused on the five aggregates. And what are the five aggregates?
It sounds a bit like we’re talking about rock here. Why are they called aggregates? It’s just because they’re made up of bits and pieces. The first of the five aggregates is the aggregate of form. Our physical body is the first aggregate.
It’s got arms and legs and a head and a torso and it’s got thirty two parts of it’s got countless different bits and pieces inside the body. So it’s an aggregate of physical matter that we designate I. True? Do we designate the body as I? Do we?
When we refer to I what are we referring to? Sometimes the body we even say we cut the body and we say I’m bleeding. Actually we’re not bleeding. The hand is bleeding. The foot is bleeding.
But because we identify this physical aggregate so much with ourselves we call it I. I’m bleeding. I’m hot. I’m cold. I’m hungry.
And so on. This these five aggregates are extremely important because they’re the basis of designation of the I. The main basis of designation of the I. What I call I. Feeling is the second one.
I call my feelings I. So we tend to impute designate I to our feelings: happy, sad, unhappy and so on and so forth. Pleasant unpleasant. This internal feeling of feeling that arises for us whether physical or mental we tend to label I, discrimination we tend to label I, Intention to act positively or negatively we tend to label I. And even at the deepest level consciousness factors is the subtlest level of I.
They’re just the bare knowing. All of these are labeled I. Actually none of them are I. Well if the body is eye we finished. When the body is cremated the eye finishes.
And so on. Anyway without going to just interesting to note that including focus on the five aggregates is the first one that’s brought up because the mind body continuum is so central to our existence. Focus on the eighteen elements. Eighteen elements are the extensive presentation of duality, subject and object. The eighteen elements include everything in the universe.
What are the eighteen elements? They’re the six consciousnesses which are the main minds. The six sense bases which support consciousness and the six objects such as form, sound and so on that are the objects of consciousness. So that forms the duality of subject and object. Okay and then we’ve got the twelve sense spheres.
The twelve are actually the eighteen reduced down to twelve. The eight the twelve bases. Don’t worry too much about this. Don’t worry about this sort of why do we investigate these things? Why are these objects of investigation that one applies one’s concentration to?
Why we investigate these issues is because they summarize the nature of existence. What exists? If something exists it must be one of the eighteen elements. It must be one of the twelve spheres or the twelve bases. Why do we investigate this?
Because we need to know what exists in order to understand ourselves. So we eliminate doubt about what does exist. Why do we need to eliminate doubt about what exists? Mainly because we have so many preconceptions about how things exist which are misconceptions. We misconceive so much because we impute things to exist that don’t exist.
Another focus on interdependent origination or dependent arising and so forth. Dependent arising here referring to the twelve links of dependent arising. Or it refers to the presentation of just dependent origination which is the meaning of emptiness and selflessness. Okay so these are objects of concentration so we’re dealing here with the mental factor of concentration. Oh!
What are we doing? No. No. They’re just good things to concentrate on. Just a selection of topics that you should develop concentration toward.
Yep. That’s included there. Concentrate concentration focused on the nature of the mind is just taking the nature of the mind as the object and developing single pointed a single pointed concentration in relation to that object, the mind itself. So that’s all. Yep.
The definition of the mind. What’s the definition of the mind or con Sorry? Right. In Tibetan, Selwa Rigpa meaning that which is clear, Sel and Rigpa cognizant, knowing. So that which is clear and knowing or clear and cognizant is the very essential nature of awareness.
All awareness is just clarity and knowing. So when we look inside to try and understand what mind is then we look around for something that’s clear and knowing. In general we understand it indirectly. When we’re aware of something we’re aware that we’re aware. Indirectly.
Awareness can’t understand itself directly. Are true we’re using a generic image of the mind to conceive of the mind, to focusing on that conceived object. Is that a good definition for the mind? Something which is clear and knowing or clear and cognizant? Ultimate?
Red. Okay. What we’re saying in that definition as well is that it’s non physical. The mind is not the brain. The mind is something that exists supported by the brain and the sense faculties.
But it’s this clear and knowing energy or substance that always retains that nature of being clear and knowing. In essence it’s that. But we have various types of mind and many of them are not clear. Not very clear. Deep down they’re clear!
So rig pa as it’s said in Tibetan. Every mind has a component of clarity and knowing. Especially from the prasangika point of view. It’s very a very important distinction. Yes.
I like clear water. Yeah. I like clear. Yeah. Like the mind in essence is a bit like clear water.
It’s transparent. You can see through it. Right? Most of our minds are a bit like muddy water. But still the clarity is there, but it’s just disguised by the you know, what’s obscuring it.
Our mind is a bit like that. In essence, our mind whatever mind that arises is clear and knowing. But the clear and knowing aspect of any particular mind might be, what covered through the influence of ignorance and afflictions, afflictive mental factors. Well, we’re all like that. We’re all in the same boat.
But why I bring that question up is just, you know, if you have any ideas or, you know, there’s something that maybe doesn’t correspond with your way of looking at it and so forth, then fine to bring it up. Good to bring it up. One of the purposes of a course like this is really just to ask questions. You know, use a particular text like this and just ask questions about the nature of our own mind so that we develop, you know, strategies for investigating our own mind. Why do we want to do that?
It’s really again because we want to minimize negative states of mind and maximize positive states of mind. That’s all. By whatever means. Okay. The method of focusing on the sense objects and such, now the top of page twenty seven, seems to clearly teach the contemporary system of some persons who, going beyond the terminology of the conqueror scriptures, practice staring meditation focused on a form appearing to visual consciousness.
Nevertheless, Ārya Asaṇga has clearly stated that concentration is not produced in sensory awareness but it is rather produced only in mental awareness. He’s also stated that concentration’s focal object is not form appearing to sensory consciousness, but rather that it is only a mental object designated by the mind. Now what that means is that some people say we can develop concentration through sense awareness, like viewing the breath or looking at a candle or staring at a picture. That if we just look at something long enough we’ll be able to develop single point concentration through this practice of staring meditation. But single pointed concentration cannot be achieved through staring meditation.
It has to be conceptual awareness, mental conception. Single pointed concentration can only be established through conception, not through sense perception. So for that reason even focusing on the breath which is one of the types of mindfulness of the body will not generate single pointed concentration. Why? Because it’s focusing on a sensory object, the breath.
Visualization is conceptual. Okay. Oh, just so we don’t fall asleep. A little bit of light coming in. If we meditate and keep the eyes a little bit open, it allows a bit of light to come in.
I think mainly so that we don’t fall asleep when we’re meditating. Yeah. If it is, then close the eyes, but be aware that closing the eyes raises the possibility or increased danger than a falling asleep. I think It acts as a meditation on the breath is like establishing the preconditions for generating concentration. Mindfulness of breath.
What one is focusing on the breath in order to reduce the discursive distracted tendency of the mind. But where the mind is reasonably settled, then we take our mind off the breath and focus on an image. Could be anything. A circle, one of the kasina objects, like a circle of yellow, a circle of red, or say a Buddha image, and so on. Anything can be taken up as an object, but it needs to be a conceptual object.
Right. One might think it is definitely necessary that an object of concentration to be real it is definitely necessary that an object of concentration needs to be a real object. That is not the case. Whether the object be real or fictitious, if one repeatedly cultivates internal attention to it, it will have one will have a clear appearance and non conceptual experience of that object. The Pramānavārttika states, therefore that which is one meditatively cultivates, whether it be real or unreal, will result in a clear non conceptual cognition when that meditation is perfected.
So in other words, even if we conceive on something that’s nonexistent, like the horns of a rabbit, we could still generate single point of concentration in terms of that non existent object because we’re using conception and the main factor that we’re looking at here is just using a conceived image as the object upon which one focuses in order to attain single pointed concentration. Yep, we have to use conception. For single point of concentration there’s no other possibility. This quote by Therefore that which one meditatively cultivates whether it be real or unreal will result in a clear non conceptual yeah. In the end one first develops the conceptual single pointed concentration and that in turn leads to non conceptual single pointed concentration.
It’s a far, the far distant goal. Before that one obtains the conceptual version. But it’s only that conceptual single point of mind that can lead to a non conceptual single point of mind. Yep. Oh no, non conceptual is fine it’s just Non conceptual single pointed mind is an excellent state of mind and that could either be yogic perception.
Right? Or it could be mental perception. Yeah either of those two really. There’s four types of perception possible really only three types if we take away the mind only school. The three types of perception are sense perception, mental perception and yogic perception.
Now at present we have sense perception. Right? Which are our five sense awarenesses and they function all the time. We can’t live without them. Then we have mental perception but our mental perception hardly functions.
Mental perception is said to arise after the final moment of sense perception. Like we look at an object. Like we look at this with our eye awareness. When that eye awareness ceases there is at the end of end of that eye awareness one moment of mental perception of that object. But it only lasts a moment and therefore it’s subliminal.
We’re not even aware of it. It lasts for such a short time that it can’t be valid awareness. Other types of mental perception that we don’t have are like clairvoyance. Like the ability to read others minds. Or the ability to fly in space.
Or type of mental perception that permits one to be able to do that or the mental perception remembering past lives so forth. Divine ear, divine eye these are types of mental perception. Sorry? No. No.
These are mental perception. Should I write these on the board? Are you okay? There’s just these three: sense perception, mental perception and yogic perception. Yogic perception only takes very limited objects as it’s I’ll just write these here.
Those are important because that’s in effect what we’re trying to achieve. Perception. What is perception? It’s really non conceptual awareness. Non I like that kind of action.
It’s a pity we don’t have more time because we could this is the other. And really we can say in general there’s three types. There’s sense, mental, and the third one is yogic. There is a fourth which is asserted by self perception, by the Cittamātra school or the Sattrantika school, but the highest school the higher schools don’t accept that. The fourth type.
We have this and we have that, we don’t have this at present. Yogic perception depends on developing single pointed concentration. And basically this one here is of three types of impermanence. Yogic perception of impermanence. Of Oh okay.
Selflessness. Non duality. I can say there’s We could probably put in four types: impermanence, selflessness, non-duality, emptiness. So perception is really included in these. Everything else is conceptual awareness.
Actually we have to be a little bit careful with how we present this because there are are also states called pseudoperception which are non conceptual, but they’re not really regarded as perception. Anyway. Yep. But that’s just the conception of blank no object. All of our mental activity for us it’s all conceptual.
We don’t have the possibility of stumbling across a mental perception really at present. So it’s all conceptual activity. Our mental consciousness at present is by far mainly conceptual. So therefore dealing with a generic image. But that conception that we have is what makes it possible for us to even contemplate what is beyond the senses.
Without it we’d be a bit like a rock or something. We’re just soaking up sense data. We wouldn’t be able to function. We function because we have conception That allows us to put this data together and interpret it and get attached to it or hate it or despise it or get jealous or all of these other things. All of its conceptual activity.
Okay so what we’re doing here is looking at concentration. Okay and there’s issues that are brought up here by the author but let’s not go into them too too much. Otherwise, we’re not gonna get very far. The Bodhicaryāvatāra states realizing that special insight fully endowed with quiescence insight plus calm abiding or quiescence destroys the afflictions, one should first seek quiescence or calm abiding. One does so through the delight that is unattached to the world.
Also, Vinaya Agama repelledly states that the procedure whereby training and concentration is produced in dependence on moral conduct and training and wisdom is produced in dependence on concentration. Accordingly, those who wholeheartedly wish for liberation should regard these texts as supreme quintessential instructions. Okay. In other words, we we are trained on the three trainings. What are the three higher trainings?
Higher training of ethics, concentration, wisdom. Right. So if we wish to develop a spiritual path, we need ethics, we need concentration, we need wisdom in and they follow in a sequence. Right. Now the fifth of the five object ascertaining mental factors is wisdom.
The wisdom what is wisdom? It is the analysis of the qualities of an entity under examination. Analysis. As a function of excluding doubt. So wisdom overcomes doubt.
That which overcomes doubt is wisdom. So if we manage to get rid of doubt, it’s through wisdom. So what does wisdom do? Wisdom differentiates objects. Another way of looking at it.
Wisdom is able to differentiate the nature of an object, differentiate the value of an object, Differentiate what is good and what is bad, what is virtuous, what is non virtuous. Recognition or discrimination apprehends the unique mark of an object. You know like a chair being a chair. But wisdom is functioning on a much subtler level. Wisdom is able to differentiate the deeper levels of reality of an object.
Not just the course level. Not just to be able to discriminate something from something else. But wisdom is able to know come to an understanding of the very nature of an object, the deeper and deeper levels of a particular object. Because each object has many different levels like a coarse level and then a little bit subtler, a little bit subtler than that, a little bit more subtle than that again. So wisdom is able to understand objects on those levels.
But one of the prime functions of wisdom is to be able to determine the ethical value of things. To determine which path we should take. Having wisdom means that we can determine: that’s the ethical path. That’s a non ethical path. So wisdom is of immeasurable value to us.
On a deeper level wisdom is differentiating the very nature of from the coarse to the very subtle level of that object. The ontology of the object. Ah, so I care. As the text says, wisdom is an awareness that analytically distinguishes the faults and good qualities of things under examination. Objects under examination by wisdom are of three kinds: virtuous, nonvirtuous, and indeterminate.
It analytically distinguishes the faults and good qualities of those kinds of entities. There are four types of reason used to analyze faults and virtuous qualities: functional reasoning, relational reasoning, logical reasoning, and reasoning from the nature of things. If having examined an entity through these four type forms of reasoning, one gains certainty about it, and doubt will be overcome. Hence, discernment’s distinctive function is stated. It has the function of excluding doubt.
With these points in mind, the venerable omniscient Tsongkhapa said, through the four types of reasoning, one fully and correctly examines day and night the meaning of what one has heard. Doing so, one may eradicate doubt with analytical understanding that arises from contemplating the point to be contemplated. The reason for saying that these five mental states, five mental factors, the object ascertaining such as intention and so forth, have a determined object is that these mental states apprehend an object through apprehending separate distinctive qualities of the object. Therefore, it is said that they have a distinctive determined object. I have to look at that paragraph there again.
Alright. So then the five object ascertaining or five object determining mental factors, that is aspiration, resolution, mindfulness, concentration, wisdom. So concentration and wisdom they are the fourth and fifth object ascertaining mental factors. And the three that lead up to those are aspiration, resolution and mindfulness. So this also indicates this development of the process of developing valid awareness about an object which also applies these aspiration, resolution, mindfulness and so on.
Through these we can come to an overcoming doubt about the nature of an object which is the function of the last of the five wisdom. At the time, we have doubts about many things. In order to overcome doubt, we have to generate what? Wisdom. To generate wisdom, we need concentration.
Right? To generate concentration, we need mindfulness. To generate mindfulness, we need resolution. To generate resolution, we need aspiration. To generate aspiration we probably need faith.
And so on. So this whole process, the object ascertaining or object determining mental factors are there in order to overcome doubt through wisdom. Okay. Everyone’s very quiet. Any doubts about this material?
Is it too much information? No? Good. Oh just the reality, the investigation of the nature of what is real, what is reality. Ontology.
The ends of things. Sorry? Oh, not sure. Is it necessary that we understand how things exist? Is it of any benefit to us?
Why? Why don’t we just kick out the effect and then not worry about it? Seems like a lot of hard work to try and discover the nature of reality. True, it’s gonna be problematic. It’s gonna be hard.
Why do we bother? Love, we a lot of people don’t bother. Sorry? What’s a big mess? Our mind is a bit of a mess.
True? Right. That’s where we’re aimed exactly at that. We want to come up with methods that are going to overcome the afflictive emotions. Now what is often said is that we need to understand reality to actually do that.
It’s hard for us at present to see, you know how to bring them all together or how we bring understanding reality as an antidote, a medicine to our afflictions. And we have doubts about this. Yeah. Yeah. In fact it’s hard for us to really quickly penetrate to an understanding of reality, develop that level of wisdom, extremely advanced and pure form of wisdom.
So prior to that we’re looking at virtue, the practice of virtue, as the antidote to the afflictions. This is why we train in the higher training of ethics first. And through training in the higher training of ethics we eventually begin to train on a higher training of concentration. And then through focusing on that then eventually after a long time we can get to developing wisdom, the higher training of wisdom. Anyway.
Yeah. Yeah. True. We need to check and I think that does when we begin to think about these broader questions, when we have the leisure to do that, then we are looking at a large picture trying to bring in enlightenment, the whole issue of enlightenment into our life so that we can begin to take measures in the present that will what? Further that state.
But actually getting to a point where we begin to understand the process takes a long time because attaining enlightenment is the most difficult thing we can achieve and there’s a lot of purification to be done. We have to purify a vast amount. So this higher training of ethics takes a long time. But we need something to what to keep us going for a long time. So we need a bit of faith actually that enlightenment is possible.
Just have a little bit of faith will sustain us. Okay. So the eleven virtuous mental factors. We’ll start on those. The first one is faith.
Eleven virtuous middle virtuous mental states. Faith, self respect or shame, embarrassment, non attachment, non hatred, non-deludedness, diligence or effort, pliancy, conscientiousness, equanimity, and non harm or non violence are the eleven virtuous mental factors. So this is virtue here. So what we need is the higher training in ethics. Higher training in ethics is dragging ourselves by hook or by crook into practicing these. Getting the stick out and saying: Okay I need a positive mental factor or I need the whole eleven.
From a Buddhist point of view, any virtue in the universe is going to be associated with these eleven. Virtue exists anywhere. It’s only because it’s related to one or more of these eleven. There’s no other virtue. So the mind becomes virtuous because one of these one or more of these eleven have manifested, been generated in our mind stream.
So if faith arises, it means: Oh, that’s a virtuous mental fact of faith. The mind that’s associated with that mental factor becomes virtuous. So faith extremely important. And so on and so on for the rest. Okay.
Faith. The nature of faith. It is confidence, inspired clarity, and longing in regard to what is real has virtuous qualities and or is possible. It has the function of providing a basis for aspiration or will. So our aspiration to enlightenment, for instance, comes about through faith.
We have faith that there is enlightenment. So then it becomes an object of aspiration for us. Faith is extremely important. Without having a bit of faith then even the aspiration or the resolution to attain attain enlightenment doesn’t arise. You just can’t stand, can’t kick start it.
Faith is extremely important. It is awareness that has the aspects of trust, inspired clarity, and or longing which serves as the direct antidote for lack of faith. Faithlessness. So faith is a mental factor. It is of three kinds: inspired faith or clear faith or trusting faith.
Inspired clear faith, trusting confident faith, and longing faith. Alright. The first is called inspired clear faith because when one sees the virtuous qualities of virtuous things such as the Three Jewels and so forth, one’s mind becomes inspired and clear. Concerning what is called inspired and clear faith, when one places a water purifying gem into murky water, immediately the murky water becomes purified. So that sort of a gem we we may have faith that such gems exist, we may not.
But the such a gem, we put it into water, immediately all the impurities settle. It’s a bit like a water purifier on steroids or something like that. Just something that so faith has the ability to settle the mind. When faith arises, no matter how turbid or clouded and muddy the mind is, the mind starts to settle and becomes clear through the it’s like a such a gem. Likewise, when this faith arises in one’s mental stream, mind stream, the mind’s murkiness is purified and becomes possible for the virtuous qualities of realization to arise in the mind stream.
The second is called confident faith. When one contemplates the dependently arisen nature of cause and effect and so forth taught by the conqueror, gains confidence. Okay. The second one here, confident faith or convictional faith. There’s a both type of faith.
The first clear faith is a bit like faith that is just arises sort of instantly. It’s a sort of clear nature. It’s a very clear type of faith, but it doesn’t have anything necessarily supporting it. Whereas the convictional faith is supported by reasoning, by logic, supported by common sense. So it’s stronger.
It’s better. For instance, if faith arises in the causality of the mind, if faith arises due to our appreciation of the inner causation of the mind, then that sort of faith is stronger. If one if faith arises in relation to the virtue the virtues of an enlightened being that’s based on an understanding of inner mental causality then that sort of faith is a lot stronger. So what do we mean here by this internal causation? It just means that the mind itself functions completely due to causation.
That enlightenment is a state of mind that is a result of its causes and conditions. When those causes and conditions are put in place, the mind of enlightenment will arise. So what are gonna cause that mind of enlightenment? It’s faith, aspiration, resolution, mindfulness, concentration, wisdom. Enlightenment is a type of wisdom or is always associated with wisdom stemming from faith.
Yep. Left us. Yeah. It’s hope is not defined as a separate mental factor, but that’s that’s okay. We can probably include it in other mental factors or in another mental factor that could go into we could put it in with faith, for instance.
Hopelessness. Yep. Yeah. No. That’s right.
Confidence. Right. Hope. Confidence in something. Hope.
Faith. Just the awareness of the good qualities of something which brings a confidence in that object, brings a faith in that object, which brings hope in that object. Yep. All of those go together in the one mental factor. How does faith arise?
Faith arises because of seeing the good qualities in something. Right. But this convictional faith or this confident faith arises because we understand the underlying cause causation in relation to it. Okay. How are you doing with faith so far?
Okay. Now the third type, longing faith, is as follows: having contemplated the noble truth, the four noble truths, one becomes sure that suffering and origination or origin are both what one should abandon, and the truth of cessation and the truth of path are what one should seek obtain. The other one understands that if one makes the proper effort, one will indeed be able to obtain them. Knowing this, one has faith that thinks, for example, I should definitely obtain them. So that’s the third type of faith here.
This sort of as the translator has said here, longing faith. Döndü Giddeppa in Tibetan. Longing faith. I’m not sure about that term longing but it has that sort of a general meaning. Yeah yeah yeah I don’t necessarily mean that these are in that particular order.
But this first type of faith in a way can refer to blind faith. You know, just having blind faith in something. Now that even though it’s blind faith, it’s still virtuous. But one needs seeing faith and the seeing faith is more like the convictional faith because one understands the causation. How it’s generated.
How what results are generated from it. When one sees the causation, then a very strong and firm conviction arises in that object. That’s the sort of faith we need. That sort of faith then cannot be destroyed. I’ll have this to be sort of convictional faith.
Faith is really that what? That confidence in the good qualities of something. That confidence in the good qualities remains. And we can progressively associate it or sharpen it, refine it as we come to understand more and more clearly the causation underlying it. It doesn’t need to it’s not something to be abandoned.
It’s something good in the beginning, middle and end like compassion. This sort of faith extremely important because it allows us to generate a great deal of merit quickly. As I say that love I’m sorry faith has the capacity to leap. So with strong faith especially convictional faith or reasoned faith then that allows us to generate strong virtuous mind. And the stronger, more resilient, the more extensive the virtue we can generate, the more merit we generate.
And we need a vast amount of merit. Why do we need a lot of merit? Are we being greedy with merit here? We need a good rebirth. Merit merit is like the accumulation of virtue.
In a way, we can say that virtue does in a way, it purifies on a coarse level. Oh, you do. Just having ethics, the accumulation practice of virtue and the accumulation of merit in and of itself is insufficient. We need the higher training of ethics plus the higher training of concentration plus the higher training of wisdom. Those three have to go together.
Oh, without the higher training of ethics, higher training of concentration is not possible. It’s the foundation of the higher training of concentration. Then the higher training of concentration is the foundation of wisdom. Yep. Yep.
Yep. Yep. Oh, it does. Yeah. The accumulation of merit is what allows us to function at present.
Our virtue our past accumulation of virtue is like the ground on which we walk and provides all the opportunities that virtue all the opportunities we have, positive opportunities, come through past virtue. If our virtue ceases we stop we won’t live another second when our virtue is exhausted in this life. Oh we’ve got a vast story of non virtue. We have even from this life we have a vast store of new non virtue freshly accumulated in this life which we have to purify. If possible, in this life so that it doesn’t just remain with us.
Right. Okay. So we do have faith here. Alright. So faith is the first of the eleven virtuous mental factors.
We should understand its defining characteristics, what how it functions and so on. And the three types that are listed here we should read through if we can if we have time. Okay we’re just on nine o’clock so we stop there. The arrow has been very patient. It’s hard material to go through.
Yeah. Please think about the material. If any issues come up, you know, we’ll tomorrow night, will have a bit of time for sort of reviewing the material that we’ve covered tonight. Also the tests will come I’ll send those out after lunch tomorrow. I’ll send out a suggested answer sheet as well and one for the first series of tests.
And thank you for putting in the tests. Everyone’s done very well. A data test is very useful because it just helps in revising the ideas and so it has an added benefit for us if we’re able have the time to do them at present. Otherwise, have to wait until the next time you do the minds and mental factors course. Good to do these tests many times over.
Okay. So we just finished there, and we’ll just do a quick dedication prayer. Due to these merits of these virtuous actions, may I quickly attain the state of Guru Buddha and lead all living beings without exception into that enlightened state. May the supreme jewel bodhicitta that has not arisen arise and grow, and may that which has arisen not diminish, but increase more and more.