Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 109-minute teaching, Ven Jampa Ignyen examines Buddhist psychology through a detailed analysis of how the mind works and what mental factors shape our experience. Rather than focusing on a specific practice, he methodically explores the distinction between mindfulness and concentration, why contemplation requires mental imagery rather than external objects, how conceptions allow the mind to access what lies beyond the senses, and why feeling is fundamentally different from emotion. The session then centers on the three roots of virtue—non-attachment, non-hatred, non-delusion—that generate all virtuous action, before examining individual virtuous factors: shame and embarrassment as inner guards against harm, non-attachment at three levels of motivation, effort as joy in practice, pliancy as mental flexibility, and non-harm as compassion. A persistent theme throughout: wisdom requires study and contemplation; analytical understanding cannot be bypassed. Pitched at practitioners with some Buddhist background.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 2012 10 31 01 – Jampa Ignyen 20121031 Mind & Cognition311012.mp3
UUID: aff7c926-2c48-4123-a4ef-6b92d869c7e5
Teacher: Ven Jampa Ignyen
Collection: Mind & Cognition (Ven Jampa Ignyen)
Date: 2012-10-31
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 108.9 minutes
Words: ~11,124
I wish to thank everyone for the test and so on. One of the reasons why we’re doing a test is that it just helps to refocus So why is that useful? It’s useful because it just enables us to reflect on our own mind what sort of state it’s in to begin the process of understanding how the mind functions. This is extremely important because we are the activity of the mind. Who we are at present is a result of our past mental action.
Who we will be in future is reflected in our current state of mind. Our strongest habits in the present would tend to produce our future existence. Studying these minds and mental factors helps us to at least lay down imprints for understanding the Buddhist presentation of mind. The four omnipresent mental factors Now look this is not easy it’s Not obvious nor easy. What we’re doing is we’re just in a way we’re relying on text of these Tibetan masters who say that this is how it is.
Examine it. Does it fit in with your experience? Is that how you experience the world as well? The Tibetans themselves are relying upon the great Indian masters, like Vasubandhu, Asaṇga, Nāgārjuna. Exactly.
This is one thing. Okay. They’ve they’ve spent lifetimes examining and also they develop Samādhi. These beings practice meditation until they have a Samādhi which is like single pointed concentration, effortless, continuous, hour after hour, single pointed concentration. When they try and examine these issues they have much clarity about it.
Because actually, to distinguish the different mental factors from the minds they’re associated with is extremely difficult. It’s one of the most difficult things that the Buddha did. In fact, one of the purposes of attaining enlightenment is to be able to distinguish the various elements of the mind itself. Why is that? Because enlightenment is a type of awareness.
We’re trying to attain enlightenment, distinguish in a way what that is, and then get there. Sort of nudges towards enlightenment and then Okay. It might take three countless eons to get there, but that’s the direction one is heading. Why does it take three countless eons? It’s because the mind is so vast and deep and purifying it takes such a long, long time.
It’s not like we just have to walk around and find a light switch. That would be nice if it was that way. That would make it easy for us we just take it easy. Attaining enlightenment is a vast amount of hard work. We can see it ourselves: even to develop a little bit of single pointed concentration takes a lot of effort.
Developing single pointed concentration which is in the next set of five mental factors the object ascertaining or the object determining mental factors even there’s nine levels to attaining calm abiding or Samādhi, even to get to the second level, might take years and years for us to do. There’s no danger we’re going to attain enlightenment quickly or single pointed concentration. The nature of mindfulness is just not forgetting. Meditate and we have a mental image come up, like a Buddha image, then just not forgetting the image, completely losing it, and wandering off onto something else. Maintaining the mind on that object is mindfulness, not forgetting it.
Concentration is single pointedly abiding on that object. Yes. It does. They go together. Yep.
Or a candle or something. Yep. Along with the eye consciousness. Mindfulness is there. It has an object.
You can’t develop single pointed concentration through your sense awareness. It has to be mental awareness. One of the reasons put forward is that the object is not stable. You can’t attain single point concentration with an impermanent object like a sense object sense data like a candle. You need a permanent object so therefore you need a conception which is using accessing a generic image which is permanent.
Oh well. Yeah, it’s just that looking at something is not going to make the mind single pointed. That’s basically yeah. Yeah. And one of the reasons for that is that that physical act or the act of just generating awareness is not overcoming the five faults of the mind such as laziness.
Just looking at things doesn’t overcome our laziness to developing single pointed concentration. It doesn’t overcome forgetfulness forgetting the object, forgetting the instruction. It doesn’t overcome laxity and excitation. These two primary obstacles to obtaining single point concentration. When you’re focused on an object, excitation is when in a sense the mind is becoming too active and excited in relation to the object.
Laxity is sinking and you tending to go to sleep in relation to the object. You need a conception focused on a particular object to be able to deal with these potential faults of the mind. You can’t eliminate them with a sense consciousness. There’s a number of reasons why but we need to do it on the base of mental consciousness. Permanent.
Yep. Because it’s a negation. No, it’s not consciousness. A generic image is an image which conception accesses. No, it’s an object of an idea.
Well, no, we often don’t get to that level of subtlety about it. We just access generic images through conception in order to conceive of that which is beyond the senses or to even think about sensory objects that are present. What conception does is like the memory of someone is done through conception. Right? For instance if we remember our car we can remember the car and we get an image of the car coming up, how is that possible at present?
Because we don’t have any sense that there’s no sense consciousness that is able to see, hear, touch, smell, taste our car. But what is that memory? How can it do it? How can we remember something that’s not present? What’s the process?
Oh it’s not shared by anyone else but other people have similar generic images. Therefore we can agree on a particular object like your car what it is, what it looks like. Now what is said to be occurring when we develop a conception of something we don’t have an external focal object that sense consciousness can engage. So mental consciousness what it’s doing in order to apprehend that object is that it accesses a generic image something which is similar to the object or represents the object and by accessing that it’s able to hold say your car. This is said to be what the process is.
Now the generic image is regarded as a negation. Well that’s an example of a negation which does exist. So the generic image I think the definition of the generic image of a vase is that image which appears to conception which is the negation of non vase. Generic image of a candle is permanent. We can’t use it.
It doesn’t do anything. Anything. We access it but it doesn’t interact causally with anything because it’s permanent. Right? All it is it’s just an image of that which is not not something.
Like the image of this clock. If we negate the clock we have non clock. If we negate non clock we have clock. It’s said that the mind accesses the negation of the clock in order to conceive the clock. Okay this comes up Sorry?
Yep. Same. All the time. Are we? There’s no other way.
We need generic images. Yeah. Yeah, no that’s fine. You can use a generic image of a camera. You can’t use the sensors to develop single point of concentration.
Well what you’re using is the eye to focus upon it so your eyes are going to get tired after a while. Or then then you have the conception that’s using a generic image. Because often we use both together like we look at that with the eye consciousness but we tell the time the conception focused on the clock because the eye consciousness cannot tell the time. Can it? You sure?
Eye consciousness doesn’t read numbers. Well that’s right. We have eye consciousness and conception functioning together and they go together. They’re like friends they assist each other. But when we tell the time on the clock it’s not through the eye consciousness or it’s not that the eye consciousness is understanding the time eye consciousness understands shape and colour.
Conception comes in and through our previous learning processes where we’ve learned our numbers conceptually we look at the clock and we can interpret the time. This is the same for many things: Our ear consciousness hears all sorts of sounds sharp ones and low ones and so on but our ear consciousness cannot hear language cannot hear a conversation that’s done through conception and generic images. Similarly when we’re reading we’ve a book in front of us our eye consciousness is seeing these massive shapes but it’s our conception that’s reading it. So too when we’re practicing single point of concentration we’re not doing it with sensory awareness even though sensory awareness may be aware of the object that we’re taking to develop single point of concentration. In fact we might have to look at the object to begin with.
Say if we were using a Buddha statue we’d look at the Buddha statue and think oh yeah it’s like that size. Those features okay then we not look at it and then we bring that image up. And the image we bring up conceptually is what we use. That’s all. Negation just means to negate There’s no hidden meaning in a sense there.
Like the negation of the clock is negates the clock. It just means not the clock. Right? If we negate the clock it really implies everything else but the clock. Right?
It’s indirectly implied. If we negate clock in a sense we are referring to everything else other than the clock. If we negate that we refer back to the clock. But that double negation is a double negation and that is permanent. Double negation not not we use it all the time though.
I can’t not do that means that you know I mustn’t do that but the negation itself sorry? Well okay okay, thank you. Well it often comes up in philosophic works actually, not there’s two types of negation: there’s an affirming negation and a non affirming negation. Now, like: ‘Fat Devadatta doesn’t eat during the day. Right, if we say that then it negates him eating during the day.
It’s a negation. But what does it affirm? It affirms, it implies. Exactly. So that’s an affirming negation.
Well it’s given us the example of an affirming think about it: Is it a negation? Does it affirm anything? Anyway think about this. A non affirming negation is just like no elephant exists there. That’s a non affirming negation.
Saying no elephant exists there doesn’t affirm anything else just negates an elephant. Both of those examples are negations and negations are permanent. There’s no underlying substance of the negation which changes moment to moment. They’re just negating. They negate.
We should have a class on logic. This is where it comes. This whole Okay. Back to the mental Anger is a mental factor which we will come to which really focuses on just the negative attributes of something and is the tendency it aspires to harm that object do harm to that object whether on a mental, verbal or physical level. That’s what anger is.
Now feeling is just the experience of the object. They have completely different definitions and functions. Feeling is not anger anger is not feeling. However, because of the centrality of feeling in our lives we tend to apply feeling to many things which are not feeling, such as anger. However, anger is always associated with feeling.
Although anger is not feeling, it’s always associated with feeling. When anger arises in a retinue of mental consciousness always there will be a feeling accompanying the anger in the retinue of that mental consciousness. Probably not positive. This is where we need to check: check on the feeling that arises when anger arises: is it a good feeling? Is the mind virtuous at that point for instance?
This is extremely important because we’re so susceptible to anger Often we think the anger is like a free hit or a free something that we can engage in without any consequences downstream for us. But really we need to investigate this. But that’s what’s said the feeling and the anger are not the same. However in our experience of things feeling itself is defined as the experience of the object like the taste of the object. If we put it that way what feeling is doing is like if object was food, feeling would be tasting it.
Often when we’re getting angry that taste is a bad taste. A disagreeable taste. And the anger arises automatically it’s so quick! All of these mental factors arise quickly, know, in the first instant. When we have consciousness arising we have the five omnipresent mental factors there in the first moment.
They’re already up and running. They’re not physical. They’re just there instantly. And they all appear to be the same because it’s they’re mixed together. So yeah.
Four. Yeah. Yep. Or well it can be a rise in a sense awareness or it can arise in a mental awareness But it’s always awareness and it has an object. Yeah.
Feeling is awareness is a type of awareness that has an object. That’s all. And it’s the Well pleasant feeling is a type of awareness that engages an object. Pleasant yeah. Yeah feeling is just the experience of the object the pleasant, neutral or experience of the object.
Oh we do and this is what I’m saying: we have to be careful with the terminology here. Unfortunately we could invent a new language! We could go back and all learn Tibetan because it’s so much clearer in the Tibetan because they’ve had a thousand years to refine their language in terms of psychology and it’s all quite clear and standardised. Now when we translate these into English we find that feeling is used for just about everything but it’s a sort of term we can’t not apply because it’s actually the meaning. But we tend to use feeling for just about everything.
That’s okay because why we do it is because of the importance of feeling. Feeling is one of the most important types of mind we have. Well Oh, we have to investigate all of those things, reinvestigate them. True. No way around it.
Right. Okay. And we better make a start on the positive mental factors. Otherwise, we’re not gonna complete the positive mental factors. Now we’ve done faith.
I think we’ve done enough on faith. Right? Faith is okay. And faith is the first mental factor which illustrates its importance as a factor. And what that also means to us, if we generate faith, faith wherever it arises is virtuous.
No matter what religion one accepts, or philosophy, or whatever, faith, when it arises, is a virtuous mental factor. Okay, the next one is self respect on page number twelve. Or shame? Shame is another way we can describe this mental factor. Is shame okay as well?
A sense of shame? Or a sense of shame. All right, self respect. Self respect actually it’s a little problems with that term is that there’s another term for respect in Tibetan Gupa which is very important. This term here doesn’t although it implies something like self respect Okay, we can use self respect!
Those two go together: shame and embarrassment. Shame is a positive mental it’s a virtuous mental factor here. And what is meant? Okay, we’ll just look at the meaning and we’ll come back because one of the that’s true what we’re working through is the connotations of the term and how we interact with these terms. So what is self respect here?
It is to avoid wrongful actions in regards to oneself and has the function to provide the basis for abstaining from evil conduct or non virtuous action. So it’s not engaging a sense of shame means not engaging in negative actions for one’s own sake or for what one will think about from the point of view of how one will think about oneself. It’s a bit like conscience. In other words one doesn’t engage in a negative action because one is going to generate regret about that later for one’s own sake. One’s going to think about it later and think: Oh what have I done?
Look where this puts me and I’ve really done badly to myself. So it’s a sense of shame. Self respect Okay self respect, shame or even conscience. Right. Yep.
Whatever makes sense to us we can use here. Self respect, shame, conscience they all have some meaning in this term. But it’s really not engaging in negative actions out of the concern for oneself how oneself will be viewed for one’s own purpose. Embarrassment is not engaging in negative actions out of consideration for others. Sorry?
How they view us. We don’t engage in a negative action I will offend other people. That’s the second one: embarrassment. I don’t engage in negative actions because I will offend myself. That’s the difference between those two.
Both are extremely virtuous mental factors that guard us from committing many negative actions. So that sense of shame and the sense of embarrassment are both very important positive or virtuous mental factors. The difference between respect and embarrassment is that despite this similarity in avoiding wrongful conduct when one comes close to engaging in wrongful conduct self respect avoids that having considered that this should not be part of my doing. Embarrassment means that when one comes close to engaging in a negative act, one avoids it on account of others, thinking it is not suitable since others will reprimand me. The primary object of this restraint concerns the restraint that one experiences when one is afraid that one’s Gurus, teachers and so on will be embarrassed about one’s actions.
In terms of its function, the text says: It has the function of providing a basis for the restraint of wrongful behaviour. This means that self respect and embarrassment are definitely necessary for restraining the wrongful deeds of body, speech and mind. And there is not any self respect, shame and embarrassment. And if there is not, one is unable to restrain from any wrongful behaviour. So it’s these two things that prevent us from entering a negative action.
And if they’re not present, we enter. So like the guardians at the door. Prevent us from committing countless negative actions. Just thinking what are others going to think about me if I do this?’ or what am I going to think about me if I do this?’ So extremely important. Okay, the next one: non attachment.
Non attachment is explained in the Abhidharma Samuccaya. What is non attachment? It is non attachment to existence and the necessities of existence. Its function is to provide a basis for non involvement in wrongful conduct. It is an awareness that is fed up with cyclic existence and unattached to it.
Non attachment or detachment is a virtuous mental factor. Even though we got the non there it’s not a negation. It’s a positive mental factor. Non attachment. It almost sounds to us as if it doesn’t do anything.
True? Detached non attachment. These are the virtuous and the virtuous tend to be practiced less than the non virtuous. Non attachment is something that we need to practice because it’s virtuous. Any time we generate non attachment we get attached to everything.
We look at things and attachment arises. We look at things with our eyes and then conception comes in. Conception associated with attachment. It’s there instantly. I’ll buy it.
I like that one as well. I’ll buy that. I’ll get that later on. Oh I’d like to get that one of those. We are doing it.
Oh that’s a nice house. Oh I like that car. Oh that’s a nice dress. Oh that’s a nice pair of shoes. We look here all the time and attachment is like THERE.
THOOMP! All the time attached. So non attachment is in a way paring that back a little bit giving us a little bit of space: Oh I’m not attached to that! Being aware of the danger of attachment and practicing non attachment is virtuous. Desire night and day to leave saṃsāra.
That sees the fault in saṃsāra renunciation. Now it’s associated with but renunciation and non attachment are not the same thing. Yes, non attachment is necessary. We need the perfection of non attachment. We do.
Need to think about the advantages of non attachment which means fighting against all the ads we see all the time about how good these things are, how wonderful that is, how beautiful this is, how attractive that is all the time being pushed at us. If we just sit there passively and accept it then it means our non attachment is weakening our attachment is strengthening. When our attachment increases the burden increases our existence becomes heavier and heavier. Non attachment is light and virtuous. Depends on whether you’re saying is true or not I guess.
I mean that’s part of it. Look, we live in a world and we have to work. We need to understand the potential faults of the work that we’re engaged in and minimize them as much as possible but at the same time we have to survive. Stand back and just be aware. Inevitably, like what can one do?
Main thing is to understand the fault. If there is fault there, understand it and avoid it as much as possible. And if one cannot avoid it, then minimise it with a positive motivation. But that’s where we are. No matter what we do we drive in a car, we’re crushing all these insects all the time.
What do we do? Do we not drive a car? Do we not walk? Yes. But understand that you know the potential fault there as well.
If we’re saying that with attachment then having attachment means there’s fault. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What we can do to make it accurate is just to also be aware of the faults of the shoes.
Once we wear shoes at the same time attachment to the shoes cannot survive. Oh yeah you can. Absolutely you can. You can. Otherwise there’d be no hope for the Buddhas or other enlightened beings.
Buddhas wear enlightened beings walk around with shoes, but they don’t have any attachment to the shoes. They used to wear their feet? And that’s True. Well, depends on how you define need really. It’s said that the Buddha himself, herself, like the supreme emanation body, doesn’t even walk on the ground.
They walk a little bit above the ground. So don’t actually sorry? But still they wear shoes or they wear robes. They wear they conform because it’s beneficial. They wear shoes because it’s some benefit from other beings.
Anyway so attachment is we need to begin to control it and essentially here non attachment is virtuous. A virtuous mental factor one of the eleven there’s not many so we need that in our arsenal in our weapon bag. We need non attachment. We can’t overlook non attachment. Look at the faults of the object.
Well look at it and look on you. Oh this is only going to last five years. That’s a fault. The workmanship over here is not so good. Oh you know there’s a drop stitch over there, the thread is broken over there.
They’re faults. Look at the Always be aware of the faults. Then that will allow us to step back from being attached to it. That’s why when ordained beings get new robes they often out and wipe a bit of dirt into them. Because when something’s new, it’s so susceptible to getting attached like a new car.
You know it’s all shiny and it smells and there’s no we have this idea that there’s not a fault there. That’s the attachment being so strong. But when we can introduce the faults of the object But understanding the faults of the object do take contemplation. The thing is impermanent. It’s not fixed.
Actually there’s no object there really if I try and find it. It’s contaminated. The object itself is contaminated. Why is that? Because just looking at it I can generate attachment towards it.
If an object is uncontaminated you cannot generate attachment to it. So it’s contaminated at the deepest level. It looks new, looks fresh. Everything we see morning to night, night to morning is absolutely completely contaminated. There’s nothing that’s uncontaminated to our sight or ear or nose or tongue or body.
They’re all contaminated whether we’re viewing it with attachment or hatred. It’s all contaminated. Only looking at the positive not merely exaggerating only looking at the positive. So therefore it’s not a valid assessment of the object. It’s our mind that’s contaminated.
But because the object can act as an object to which attachment can arise we regard the object itself as contaminated. But the real contamination only exists in the mind stream internally. Okay. Non hatred. So the next one is non hatred.
What is non hatred? It is the absence of malevolence or negative harmful harmful intent and so forth with regard to living beings to suffering and the conditions of suffering. So three objects are mentioned there: mainly towards living beings a mind of malevolence or that wants to harm other beings. So it’s a mental factor hatred is a mental factor that wishes to harm. So the absence of that absence of wishing to harm The negation of that.
No no it’s not a negation itself. No because here what is it’s a mental factor it’s a type of awareness. It’s a positive entity. It’s a stream of awareness. And what does it do?
The object that it takes it’s not generating malevolence towards. So mainly living beings. Or to suffering. We can also generate it towards suffering or the sources of suffering. Not generating that is very positive.
Not being malevolent to others. And we have to train ourselves in this. It does. We have a tendency to be malevolent towards others. They don’t need to do much.
They just give us a look in the wrong way and look at me that once way once more and I we have a malevolent thought towards them. A thought to harm them. Very easily it arises. So not doing that is non hatred. Very very important.
If a Buddha conforms to in that context it came up. Now it is good to conform in order to benefit others but one doesn’t have to conform in everything by any means. One has got to think through all these issues oneself. If we conform out of laziness oh the society says I should do it this way and I’ll do it because society says so. That’s not going to protect us if it’s a negative action.
And we don’t have any recourse Oh but they said Yeah we can’t say later But everyone did it that way. Know or you know we all you know I was told when I was young that I should do it that way. So that’s no excuse we have to think through these all these ethical issues ourselves. Right okay so Non hatred is a positive mental factor so we need to keep that in mind. Hatred, non attachment very positive.
They generate virtue whenever they’re present. So identifying them is extremely non attachment, non hatred. If they arise then latch onto them! Stay stay in my mental continuum a few more seconds, a few more moments you’re generating virtue for me. Cultivate them, nurture them, pat them on the head, make friends with them.
All of these things. These we have to do. Because they’re opposites we generate so easily. Attachment, hatred. So we want their opposites.
Then we’ve got non deludedness this next one. What is non delusion? It is the analysis and understanding through karmic maturation scriptures or realization. It has the function to provide a basis for non-involvement in wrong conduct. So it’s a type of analytical wisdom included in wisdom but separate.
It’s here it’s classified separately but it has in a way the mark of wisdom. Non ignorance? Yes. Yep. But it’s a mental factor and it’s always virtuous.
So understanding through karmic maturation scriptures and realizations so developing what? Non delusion, non ignorance through one’s past positive karma matures and one develops insight into something for instance. Through the strength of one’s past positive actions of similar type such as having that level of wisdom in a past life. It reemerges in this life through karmic imprints. Without having to do the work in this life it arises Inborn wisdom for instance.
So that we have everyone has a measure of this. Through the hard work we’ve put in in past lives that sort of non delusion can re emerge in this life from karmic imprints. Or it can come about through the scriptures. So reading these sorts of scriptures on the minds and mental factors that are based on the works of past masters such as Nāgārjuna, Vasubandhu, Asaṇga and so on based on the teachings of the Buddha we can develop non-deludedness. Or it can come about through realization new, fresh realization itself in this life that comes about through contemplation.
And so on. Okay. It is analytical wisdom which whether it comes from a cause obtained through birth or through practice has the ability to counteract delusion or deludedness. These three mental states non attachment, non hatred and non delusion are like the root of all virtuous karma. So they’re the three roots of virtue.
They’re the three roots of virtue just as we have the three poisons which are attachment, hatred, and ignorance are the three poisons. So these are the three roots of virtue. So our practice in this life, in all lives, is accentuate these three roots of virtue. Make them as strong and enduring as possible. I like the roots of all they are the roots of all virtuous karma.
The method for stopping all wrong conduct, all wrong deeds, all negative actions and even the essence of all the paths so any path leading to enlightenment will be associated with the mental factor of non attachment will be associated with the mental factor of non hatred and be associated with a mental factor of non deludedness. So that gives us an idea even at present what the mind of enlightenment some of the qualities in the mind of enlightenment. They had these three positive mental factors. The mind of enlightenment in future will be associated with these three mental factors. All parts and stages are for the purpose of eliminating the three poisons along with their imprints and all wrongful conduct definitely comes from one or another of the three poisons.
Alright. Hence the function of these three states is to provide a basis for non involvement in wrong conduct. So manifesting these mental factors prevents us from engaging in wrong The varieties of these mental states are limitless because under the broadest categorization they include all the paths and stages. Furthermore non attachment can be explained as follows: beings with attachment to this life turn being without attachment to this life one turns away from this life and strives for future lives. This is directed at the state of mind of a person of limited motivation.
Being without attachment to all the abundance of saṃsāra, one utterly rejects desire. This is directed at the state of the mind of the person of middling or medium scope, medium motivation. And a being without attachment to both saṃsāra and nirvana when one seeks nirvana, mere personal liberation. This is directed at the state of mind of a person of great motivation. Okay so we’ve got the three scopes of practice there: small scope, medium scope, great scope practice.
So for those three types of practice which lead to three types of result: small scope being, medium scope being and a great scope being are associated with non attachment. If non attachment is explained in this fashion one would have to explain all the scriptures all of the scriptures relation to it and how could one do so? Just a little is taught here for the sake. For those who have discernment. Likewise, the same applies to non hatred and non-deludedness.
So what it’s being said here is that there are three scopes. The small scope being tries to attain a better future life. They’re focused mainly in this life on accumulating the causes for a good rebirth. That’s the least level of spiritual practice. If one is not doing that one is not even on a has no spiritual practice.
If all we’re involved in is this life and trying to improve our conditions in this life we lack a spiritual practice. Not even a hint of it exists in our mind stream. But if we do at least try and accumulate merit for our next life then we’re at the least level of a spiritual practitioner. If we are trying to get beyond saṃsāra completely one enters the medium scope practice of a spiritual practitioner. But that’s only a medium level.
Getting there is difficult because we’re so attached to saṃsāra. But the great scope practitioner goes beyond the medium scope thinking I have to get beyond Samsāra for the sake of all sentient beings and that becomes the main motivation. So that truly is great. If one seeks to get beyond Samsāra to help others. Then that’s truly great.
So non attachment can be described in terms of those three aspirations just as non hatred and non delusion can as well. And the author goes on to say that if we want to expand this further and further there are limitless classifications or limitless ways of explaining these positive mental factors. So then he goes on to say: Here non deludedness or non delusion is analytical wisdom and it can be acquired by birth or through practice. Now we might say at this stage: Wait a minute we’ve covered wisdom why are we doing it again here? Right?
Is that a good question? Are we repeating ourselves? In a sense what is being said is that though technically we could categorize it as a type of wisdom. Here we’re looking at it from its function as not being deluded as a type of non delusion. And as such, even though in substance it might not be that different from wisdom, in its function so forth it is.
But we would include it within as a type of analytical wisdom. It can be acquired by birth or through practice. Wisdom acquired by birth since it does not occur in relation to the conditions of this life but through the maturation of previous actions is said to be from maturation or karmic maturation. Wisdom acquired through practice is what comes from study, contemplation and meditative cultivation in, say, this life. See there be four types of wisdom: inborn wisdom or wisdom derived from birth, wisdom arising from hearing, wisdom from contemplation, wisdom from meditation.
They’re the four basic types. So our work in this life is really the wisdom of hearing and contemplation. Wisdom of hearing is really the wisdom of study which means getting the words straight. Reading a lot. Trying to get to the meaning through the words but just thinking about these words a lot until finally we can understand the meaning that is supported by those words.
This is the wisdom of hearing, the wisdom of study. Just getting the words straight so that we can get at the meaning underlying it. Wisdom from contemplation is having grasped the meaning then reflecting on it so that it begins to penetrate the mind. So it doesn’t just remain on a superficial level but it actually starts to make a difference to the mind itself. This takes a long time because generally these words of wisdom are like water off a duck’s back.
Oh yeah, that’s true. It doesn’t really affect us. It doesn’t enter the mind, so it affects us. Yes. Yep.
So this is really at the level of wisdom of hearing. Just hearing them again and again. There’s some they soften the mind a little bit. So then gradually as we eliminate doubt about the meaning and what is wisdom doing? It’s the wisdom that’s eliminating the doubt.
When we eliminate a doubt about the meaning we develop wisdom of hearing. And once we get the meaning then we focus on that so that it starts to penetrate. Okay so that’s what this is what is being spoken of here four types of wisdom. The focus of one’s learning with the wisdom that arises from studying is the conqueror scriptures along with their commentaries. So really what we’re contemplating is the words of an enlightened being.
The teacher scriptures have twelve divisions. Okay. The discourses or the sūtra themselves, hymns and praises, predictions of Buddhahood. The Buddha made various predictions when beings will attain Buddhahood. So these come up in the Once a being once we reach a certain level which is really the path of for a sharp faculty being it’s on the path of preparation an enlightened being will be able to tell once we get to that level our enlightenment becomes definite and an enlightened being can say: Oh well in two countless eons you will attain enlightenment.
Your name will be such and such. You will abide in that particular place. We haven’t got to that stage yet. That’s on the path of preparation, of sharp faculty. We haven’t ended the path of accumulation yet.
All they can say about us is: Keep practicing. Practice hard. Practice virtue. Practice the three roots of virtue. And we have to We have a lot of work to do.
Predictions. So here the predictions of Buddhahood are given to those that are worthy of being predicted because they have a vast accumulation of merit and virtue. These beings understand emptiness. They’re not ārya beings yet but you know they’re wonderfully advanced. And then we also have the verses so teachings that are put into verse.
Aphorisms. Sayings of the Buddha like the Dhammapada. You know the collected sayings of the Buddha. You know like just as the cart follows the hoofs of the ox so too our actions follow the mind. Right, so these sorts of sayings are very useful.
They summarize a lot in a few words and bringing them to mind can help to soften the hard unyielding mind that we tend to have and you know doesn’t yield to virtue very easily. So sayings is very good if we can read the sayings or the aphorisms. Pragmatic narratives or the Itivrittaka. These often are to do with precedents. You find this a lot in the ethical treatises that talks about actions committed by beings and the Buddha has adjudicated: Oh they should not do that.
A person shouldn’t speak in that way. They shouldn’t act in this way. So on. Biographical narratives. So the Buddha often talked about the lives of other beings.
This often occurs in the context of something happening and someone asking the Buddha why did that happen? And the Buddha will say, well, in a previous life this person was a king or he was a minister or he was this he was a farmer and this happened and because of that action in a past life now this has happened. And so on. There’s an example. Narratives of former births, expansive discourses, the Vaipulya also like the Prajñāpāramitā texts, the miracle narratives talking about miraculous events, profound doctrines, and so on.
So there’s twelve altogether. If I were to carefully explain which each of these teachings are most important and identify each one of them, this essay would become too long. I will not write about these divisions here. Why no? Why shouldn’t predictions do?
Just well prediction prediction that a being is going to attain enlightenment. The predictions of enlightenment. Yeah, for other yeah of students that the Buddha has. You know that oh this person sorry? Lotus Sūtra.
Yes. Yes. The law. Oh, Kāśyapa. Yeah.
Yep. Well, students of the Buddha when they will attain Buddhahood, when they will become enlightened. Maitreya is already already enlightened but he will appear in this yeah, Maitreya could be used as an example there. Anyway The twelve scriptures divisions of scripture can be condensed into nine divisions according to Acharya Candrakīrti. He condenses them into nine through construing the four types of narrative into one.
The nine divisions can again be condensed into three. The sūtra, Vinaya, Sūtra collection or the discourse collection, Vinaya or ethics, and Abhidharma or metaphysics collection. Those three, the three baskets. The primary subject matter of these three collections is the three trainings. So the three collections refer or teach the three trainings that is the training in ethics, concentration and wisdom.
To be specific the primary subject matter of the Vinaya collection is the training in morality, the primary subject matter of the Sūtra collection is the training in meditative stabilization or concentration and the primary subject matter of the Abhidharma collection is the training in wisdom. Again the Abhidharma Samuccaya teaches that three trainings are equally taught in the Sūtra collection. The training in morality and training in meditative concentration are taught in the Vinaya collection and the training in the wisdom is taught in the Abhidhamma collection. So there’s different ways that they can be divided up. In fact, yes, you often find a great overlap in the different divisions.
There’s no hard and fast rule that if it occurs in one division it’s not going to be talking about topics that occur in another division or even be suitable to be included in another division. And that’s evident in the Abhidharma Samuccaya. The intention here is that if one observes the prescriptions and proscriptions of the Vinaya and what should be done and what shouldn’t be done, in dependence on mindfulness and alertness, then that preservation of morality itself by being able to completely stop laxity and excitation will become the supreme means of generating concentration. Nowadays it is extremely rare that these kinds of stages of the path even come to mind. Okay.
We talked about that earlier in developing concentration. We have to overcome these two things laxity and excitation. And that can only be done with a conceptual mind. But what the author is saying here is instruction on how to do that exists but these days people are very attached to sense objects so they’re not, you know, engaging in meditation. Don’t tend to engage in meditation.
Thus to seek study thorough thus seek to study thoroughly the three collections along with their commentaries which are the object of one’s study and through repeated analysis of the four types of reasoning become certain of the meaning of what one has studied. The great charioteers or the great path breakers maintain that on every path one should practice by means analytical meditation and concentration on the very meaning about which one has gained the certainty that arises from contemplating what one has studied. In other words we contemplate and through that contemplation the wisdom arises. Those who are intelligent engage in such practice of the path that pleases the conquerors or the Buddhas. But some cast away the holy Dharma of discriminating wisdom, namely through casting away study.
Then like sheep, they follow foolish, idiotic imbeciles. Without thinking of anything, they abide in a relaxed and expansive state of mind, and they haughtily pretend that doing so is having a good mind, practicing Dharma, engaging in practice and so on. So Jangtsun Sherab Gyatso has a few things to say here. No we haven’t, we haven’t, we haven’t done it. This comes up in the logic texts.
No need for us to go into that here. If one behaves in this fashion like as a foolish idiotic imbecile One wastes good embodiment means one wastes this human precious human body this body that we have at present that we had the great fortune to stumble across at conception. One wastes the current physical basis one has with its opportunities and devastate others who share one’s situation. It even becomes a strong condition for the decline of the teachings. Therefore those who wish to do good should wholeheartedly develop the will to practice analytical wisdom as described above.
In other words don’t waste our current life. We’d be stupid if with the opportunity to develop insight into these issues we just didn’t really bother to do that and with little understanding of these issues we just left it at that. So we wouldn’t really be putting to use the current opportunities we have. Thus the Ratnagunasamcayagatha states: How will millions upon millions of blind men who are without a guide ever enter this city of enlightenment without knowing even the road to it. Without wisdom, the other five perfections are blind, guideless.
They cannot reach enlightenment. When wisdom takes hold of one, one gains sight and one will obtain the name of this perfection of wisdom. In other words, he was talking about the six perfections. That is the perfection of generosity, ethics, patience, effort, concentration and wisdom that occur on the great vehicle path are blind unless one has wisdom. One needs wisdom to practice the perfections in other words.
Similarly for us for us to lead a productive life means we have to be guided by wisdom. Otherwise we waste our opportunities. So the of all our gettings the first thing we should get is wisdom. I think as it says in one of the books of the Bible. Otherwise we’re blind.
If we don’t have wisdom that sees life after life where we are due to our past actions and so forth then it’s hard for us to practice. And the honorable Maitreya, the future Buddha also states: Conceptuality concerning the three spheres is considered to be the obscuration to knowledge. Concepts that are avarice and so forth are considered to constitute the afflictive obscuration. Except for wisdom, there is no other cause that eliminates these obscurations. Therefore wisdom is best, its basis is learning, and therefore learning is supreme.
So conception here’s talking about conception of the three things: the agent, the action and the object itself. So this talking about impermanent entities things that act are generated from causes. Causes are like the agents. The action is what’s generated by the cause and they act upon a particular object producing a result and so forth. Misunderstanding this process Also this refers to the process of karma.
So misunderstanding this, misconceiving this is an obscuration to knowledge. We need to overcome that. We need to overcome that sort of misconception and develop wisdom. And to develop wisdom we need learning. So learning is supreme.
Yeah. Here it’s bringing up knowledge obscurations and afflictive obscurations. So there are two types of obscuration that we need to overcome. Acharya Ārya Shura also says: Those blinded by lack of learning do not know how to meditate. Lacking it, what do they contemplate?
Therefore, one should strive to learn. With that as a cause one contemplates and then meditates. Thereby vast wisdom will arise. So the ability to do anything comes from learning how to do it. So we have to learn.
Otherwise, what are we doing? We’re just sort of out there trying to experience happiness and being dissatisfied. And not really doing anything to overcome our situation or that situation. So therefore we need to learn. We should strive to learn what is the basis of our existence.
What’s the basis of our experience, our feelings? Where are these coming from? How do we purify? How do we develop the uncontaminated state? The profound scholar Vasubandhu also said: One who has properly studied and contemplated, apply yourself to meditation.
As one who is properly. Okay. Such statements are made repeatedly in the scriptures along with their commentaries. So this is made in relation to overcoming ignorance, generating wisdom, and practicing the three roots of virtue which are non attachment, non hatred, and non delusion. Right.
The seventh is diligence or effort. Vīrya in Sanskrit. Vīrya in Sanskrit is where the word it’s related to the English word virility virile. So it means he is guarding our loins to practice virtue. This is in language actually it’s interesting Sanskrit because it’s an Indo European language has common roots with English.
So you know we can think on that. Sometimes that’s helpful for us. Sanskrit is a neighbor one of English. The English language is neighbors, related relatives, distant relatives. What is diligence?
It is a mind that energetically enthused about being armored, applying oneself, not being discouraged, not stopping and not being satisfied. It has the function of completely and fully accomplishing the virtuous. In other words, it’s the mental factor that takes delight in virtue, that likes virtue. The mental factor that wants to draw near to virtue, come close to virtue, be with virtue takes joy in virtue. All of this sort of thing.
The effort diligence effort it’s a wonderful mental factor because it what we like doing doesn’t take much effort. But when we develop a liking for the practice of virtue that is what the essence of effort is. It’s just that liking practicing virtue. Liking practicing virtue means takes effort to generate. A little bit grit our teeth and fake it and Virtue.
I should probably practice virtue. Can’t really see it completely clearly at present but probably I should. In the beginning it’s a bit hard. I don’t want to. I’m lazy.
I want to put my feet up. I want to watch a movie on TV. I want to go and play golf. Want to go and have a coffee somewhere and so on. I don’t want to practice virtue.
Actually the practice of virtue is an internal practice isn’t it? What is the practice of effort here? It’s really bringing to mind one of the eleven virtuous mental factors and mixing the mind with it. So having effort to do that. It’s not easy in the beginning Because the mind is set in its sort of habits.
It’s not so productive habits. What is diligence? It is the antidote for laziness and it is a mind that energetically enthused about virtue. Vasubandhu says. And also the Bodhicaryāvatāra.
What is diligence or effort? It is energetic enthusiasm for virtue. Presently in the world there are those who call every effort diligence or every diligence effort. But the above scriptural teachings show that effort for the purpose of only this life such as farm work and so on are not effort. They’re not diligence.
Diligence is said to be energetic enthusiasm for virtue. Efforts made about the plans and activities of just this life are the opposite of effort. And such effort is called attachment to bad actions. So we’re mainly engaged in that sort of effort. No, but they’re not singled out here because there’s anything specifically bad about the farmers of course.
We’re all like farmers. We’re all you know whatever we do on a daily basis we put effort into that. But that’s not real effort. What’s it saying? There’s only really one sort sort of effort and that’s effort in virtue.
Everything else is sort of attachment. Is that true? Yeah. So is that attachment to bad actions? Bad Or it’s it’s not even a spiritual practice.
If it’s only for this life all that effort that goes into the job and so forth. We need to know this though. Don’t we? Which type of stuff? Oh if it’s directed towards their future happiness not just this life then yeah then it really becomes a virtuous activity.
Even just directed to this life can be virtuous but it’s not a spiritual activity. In a sense we need to know the demarcation of what is spiritual and what is merely virtuous. Helping people in this life with just the thought that oh you know made you know this life they’d be happy or whatever is not really a spiritual activity. Because it’s just limited to this this one life. And then it tends to be just another facet or another type of attachment to this life.
This we have to examine. It’s up to us to be able to decide this issue. If that’s the case if it is just attachment to this life and attachment to this life is non virtuous then not much use to us. This is really important. This is not just to be this is not being said to be just pessimistic.
In a way this is being stated as a core topic of investigation. Is this the actual case? Because if it is we have to be careful. Okay. The Lam Rim Chenmo classifies diligence as three types.
Armor, diligence, diligence for collecting virtuous qualities, and diligence for accomplishing the sake of beings. The Abhidharma Samuccaya says that there are five types: armored effort, applied diligence, undiscouraged diligence, unstoppable diligence, insatiable diligence. The first means that for engaging in virtuous one straps on the great armor that consists of the intention whose prerequisite is the mind’s energetic enthusiasm for virtue. So that armored effort is really putting on the armor of that strong delight one takes in virtue as a type of protection. Regarding this Paramitasamasa states: Suppose that a day as long as Samsāra beginning to end suppose that a day is as long as Samsāra from beginning to end and that a year is made up of those days.
Consider then an extremely long eon made up of those years and a span of such eons equal in number to the drops of water in the ocean. Okay, so we’ve got a long time there. If having generated but one awakening mind, I would need to practice even for that long so as to collect each of the other collections, then in this manner, due to my compassion, I would not be weary. I would achieve holy enlightenment without being discouraged. Think not of one’s own suffering when cycling in saṃsāra and produce the immeasurable strong armor for the compassionate one who has taken the hearer’s vows.
Practice. Really talking about for such a long period taking on the armor of effort for the sake of other beings. This is one needs that sort of armor to endure over such a long period to collect virtue for the sake of others. So yeah a lot of okay look I’m just gonna skip ahead a little bit here here because although this is important I wanted to finish the positive mental factors so if you get a chance just read through these and we’ll discuss any further issues in relation to effort next week. But then on page forty we have pliancy.
So that effort is virtuous. So any of that liking for virtue is virtuous in other words. So extremely important. Then pliancy. What is pliancy?
Since it stops physical and mental deficiency or dysfunction. Mental and physical dysfunction. It is physical and mental fitness. pliancy’s function is to clear away all obscurations. It is awareness that places a trait virtuous focal object for as long as one wishes, and it is an awareness that stops physical and mental deficiency or physical and mental dysfunction.
There are two types of pliancy: physical pliancy and mental pliancy. Physical pliancy means that by the power of concentration the deficiency and incapacity of the body is purified. The body feels like soft cotton and it is fit to be directed as one wishes towards virtuous activity. Mental pliancy means that by the power of concentration the mind is free of deficiency, the mind has the firmness to engage without obstruction on a focal object.
Along these lines, the Lord Lama Tsongkhapa Concentration is the king that rules the mind. When you place it, it is immovable like the king of mountains. When you employ it, it engages all virtuous objects of observation, focal objects, and it induces the great pleasure of physical and mental fitness or pliancy. Right. So this is an important one.
Pliancy really refers to the blissful pliant flexibility of the body and mind that arises in relation to the body and the mind. So it’s really the capacity of the mind to engage in virtuous activity without becoming, as I say in Tibetan, lungta chair. Like tired or worn out. Because in that previous example we saw how long we may have to engage in effort and so forth. The mind has to be very pliant, the body has to be very pliant in order for us to be able to work for long periods on generating virtue.
It’s not. Technically we should be able to practice virtue instantly without any effort. True? Why shouldn’t we? What’s the problem?
Practice love. Should be able to just you know. Love is something that we should be able to engage in automatically, effortlessly. True? What stops us?
Ignorance for one thing. Burnout. Okay that burnout is a bit like lack of pliancy. Physical burnout, mental burnout is this lack of pliancy. pliancy here is the mind being in the optimum, flexible, smooth, comfortable, spacious state that allows us to engage in love and compassion without end, without limitation, without the slightest discomfort.
So this we need. We need pliancy. Pliancy comes about through developing Samādhi concentration. When one develops concentration one has mental and physical pliancy which means one has acres and oceans of mental bliss that makes the mind utterly pliant and workable and flexible. Now it’s hard for us to really conceive of such a state because our current mind is so rigid and set and working on the mind takes a lot of effort.
Even move it a little bit. As one Geshe used to say: The old worn out dried up sure the mind is softened by applying a butter of compassion. Yeah mine is a bit like an old worn out boot that’s been left out in the weather for a hundred years. It’s sort of know sort of frizzled up a little bit, know bent this way. You can’t wear it.
It’s so bad. Our mind is like that. We try and generate a little bit of love which means moving the mind a little bit towards you know, engaging in the object in a positive way. It takes so much effort. Our mind is not pliant.
True? Well, we should know we have to live with our mind. Morning, noon, and night. Okay. So we need pliancy.
That sort of pliancy is of the very essence of virtue. That we need. We got a lot of work to do. We got a lot of virtue to accumulate. At present we’ve got to fake it.
We don’t have pliancy. So we we put a bit of effort in and then have a break. Put our feet up. Try to generate love for one minute. Oh, that was hard.
Give myself a ten minute break on this. And when we sort of have a bit more energy then: Okay one minute I’m gonna generate compassion and then we’d have a break. So we have to really this is I’m not joking this is how we have to practice. It is like that. That’s how we are.
Then the next one nine we got diligence. What is or conscientiousness. Sorry conscientiousness based on a diligent non attachment non hatred based non hatred and non delusion what it is what develops all virtuous qualities and protects the mind from contaminated qualities. So bag yod. Yeah, conscientiousness.
So it keeps us focused on what is virtue. Being diligent in virtue. Diligent in practicing non attachment, non hatred. What is non hatred? That’s love.
Right there. Non attachment, detachment and non delusion. What keeps us practicing those? It’s the diligence. I’ve got to practice that.
I need to practice that. It’s a good thing if I do. It’s good for me in the short term, the medium term, in the long term. It’s good at work, it’s good at home. It’s good at sport, it’s good when I’m relaxing, it’s good when I’m awake, it’s good when I’m asleep.
So on and so forth. Diligence is what we need. So it is a state of mind that based on which on the diligence which avoids the influence of negative mental states or mental factors, accomplishes virtue and protects the mind from contamination. In this regard the Bodhisattvabhūmi mentions five types: conscientiousness with regard to the past, conscientiousness with regards to the future, that with regard to the present, that with regard to previous action and conscientiousness that occurs while engaged in activity. Tsongkhapa explains in order they are as follows: To correct accord with the Dharma faults done in the past, to earnestly determine that one will behave in that fashion in accordance with the Dharma in the future.
To behave in that fashion even now without forgetting to do so. To be very disciplined thinking surely I should behave in such a fashion that no faults occur just as I’m behaving now. And in dependence on that to behave consistently in that fashion continuously. So there’s five types of diligence in the practice of virtue. There’s probably many more if we really wanted to distinguish more but five is enough for us at present.
Or it is being diligent about the practice of virtue. Yeah. Actually or yeah. I haven’t Oh well, it’s being conscientious. It is.
Yes. It’s being conscientious in the practice of virtue along with effort which is or diligence which is liking virtue. So it’s a yep. Alright look we will Okay we’ll just quickly look we’re just a fraction of it. I wonder if it wouldn’t matter.
Do you want to stop there or should we just quickly finish the last two? Yeah. We’ll quickly finish the last two. Okay. We got conscientiousness there.
Over the page we’ve got equanimity. What is equanimity? Based on diligent non attachment, non hatred, and non delusion, it is a state contrary to afflictive mental states. It is mental evenness, so and effortless mental abiding. Its function consists in not providing an occasion for afflictions to occur, so being even minded.
Dependable methods for one pointed internal placement of the mind on a focal object, one gradually practices nine mental stages. When one achieves the ninth stage, the mind abides effortlessly without any need to make effort of applying the antidote, for laxity, and excitation. This effortless effortless abiding on the mind is equanimity. Right. So this is a special type of equanimity that one attains in the practice of developing single pointed concentration where one is able to abide in a sense between laxity and excitation.
Just the mind is able to rest evenly on the object through the application of equanimity is said to be a virtuous mental factor. It’s not something that we have at present. We don’t have the subtlety of mind to really be able to understand it, but it itself is a very it’s a purely virtuous state of mind. Okay.
We’ll go to the last one. Non harm or non violence. Ahimsa. Does anyone recognize that term? Gandhi.
This is Gandhi’s slogan. Gandhi would walk around India on the salt marshes on salt marches or whenever and he would often say ahimsa non-violence meaning compassion. Really it has the what is non harm here? It is a compassionate mental state that is in part a form of non hatred or yep. It’s really the mind of compassion.
Its function is not to hurt others, not to harm others. So really compassion. Compassionate forbearance that without any harmful intention focuses on suffering beings and thinks if they could only be freed from that suffering. This abandoning of harm to sentient beings or non harm is the essential meaning of the conquerors scriptures. So they’re very if you distill down all the meaning of the Buddha’s teachings, it is just that nonviolence, compassion.
Even the Dalai Lama when he first came to India, he regarded he would talk about Gandhi as that great being. So great being in a Tibetan context means bodhisattva. There was a great he would talk about Mahatma Gandhi in that way. A great being. A bodhisattva.
And the bodhisattva is a being that generates compassion. So their inner practices non violence meaning compassion. Okay. So we should think about these eleven. These eleven of their very nature, very essence, very substance, very energy is virtuous.
It’s virtue in and of itself. If we have to point to virtue, it’s that state of mind. That’s mental factor or the combination. Have as many as possible arising together is good. Okay.
You’ve been very patient. Okay. We should are there any further questions about the material? Patience is virtuous because it’s associated with the eleven or more of the eleven virtuous mental factors. No.
There’s different types. No it isn’t. There’s three types of equanimity. This is one of them. This is the positive the virtuous mental factor of equanimity.
There’s the feeling of equanimity. Equanimity feeling. So that’s feeling. That’s not this mental factor. Yep anyway there’s another as well.
Right. So we’ll just do a quick dedication. The reason why we’re doing the dedication is to protect any virtue we’ve generated from anger. So due to the merits of these virtuous actions, may I quickly attain the state of a 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.