Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 44-minute talk, Ven Jampa Ignyen introduces three of the four foundations of mindfulness, starting with breath meditation as a tool for observing mental habits. He explores how feelings—positive, negative, neutral—arise and pass, and why neither clinging to good states nor resisting bad ones serves us. He then examines the nature of the mind itself, distinguishing sensory awareness from conception, and showing how sound reasoning lets us understand things beyond direct perception. Throughout, he emphasizes that our ignorance stems from misconceptions, and the path to wisdom involves recognizing mistaken views and generating doubt about them. He illustrates this with the Buddha’s parable of the handful of leaves, suggesting we need only specific understanding of the four truths for liberation, not encyclopedic knowledge. Aimed at those new to mindfulness practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 05 Mindful Life 1996 05 19.mp3
UUID: c2a43fb0-6bb9-4407-9ba5-bcb67b355e39
Teacher: Ven Jampa Ignyen
Collection: y Living the Mindful Life (Ven Jampa Ignyen)
Date: 1996-05-19
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 44.4 minutes
Words: ~4,043
We don’t even notice them. Often, they’re just an attitude that’s become second nature to us. It’s it’s simply there. But through meditating on the breath, this can help to lessen discursive thinking and actually bring to mind our mental habits that we take so much for granted. Sometimes it almost feels as if we’re in a prison, you know, of our own mental habits.
And this can be very tiring, very I think the sapping of energy. But, actually, this is, you know, just a mental habit that’s been there for a long time. So, actually, meditating on the breath, is a good way of just, we can lessen the activity in the mind, bring it down a bit. And the more we do this, the more we’re able to see the mind and the habits of the mind, way the mind habitually thinks and But often this level is more subtle and we’re not generally aware of it. We don’t generally use this in our everyday life.
So we’re not that aware of it. But it’s important because upon these basic mental habits, our worldview is formed, whole way we look at things, and so on. So this is important that we become aware of this level as well. It’s also here that many of our negative habits exist, which causes unhappiness and so on. So, again, in order to deal with that, negative emotions, this type of meditation is very beneficial as a way of focusing and a way of being able to observe, the function of the mind.
So, up to now, we’ve we’ve dealt with two objects of mindfulness. The first was the body, just how the body exists, the gross states of impermanence of the body. Then, secondly, we dealt with feeling. Just the three types of feeling, neutral, positive, negative. How they’re impermanent, how one changes to another and into another.
There’s another thing about meditating on the breath that it helps to see this to some degree, that we have a negative feeling of unhappiness, negative mental feeling. And our natural instinct is to wanna overcome it, to become happy again. But it changes of its own course. It’s just impermanent. Being unhappy about about it doesn’t help.
We can’t change it by, you know, necessarily doing anything, but of its own, it passes away. It it’s impermanent. So we shouldn’t be too repulsed by it. We have a negative mental state, an unhappy mental state. Then it will pass.
It’s impermanent. Also, they’re positive. When we’re happy also, we shouldn’t be too attached because we know also that they’re going to pass away as well. So we tend to go from one to the next to another. We get a bit depressed in the morning.
By the lunchtime, we’ve forgotten about it. So we shouldn’t be, in a sense, that much concerned about our feelings because they’re impermanent. Neither should we be too happy when we have a happy feeling and too unhappy when we have a negative feeling. Physical feelings, of course, we can we have a little bit of control over. If we’re too hot, we can move away from the heater.
If we’re cold, we can put something warm on. But in terms of mental feeling, there there’s not a great deal we can do. They’re really beyond our control. We can’t just think I wanna be happy. And we’re happy.
It’s beyond our control. You know, we can be in the in the middle of a a very happy situation, and then a doubt comes up or a thought comes up about something. We’re unhappy. Beyond our control. We didn’t have any intention for ourselves to be unhappy at that point, but it just occurred.
What we can control is how how we react. If we just see these states as being impermanent, then it’s a bit of a help to us. We don’t get too depressed by thinking, oh, I want this to change or I don’t want this to change. Sometimes we get happy and the first thought that comes is, oh, I don’t want this state to change. You know?
But we almost know from the very beginning that it is gonna change. So we shouldn’t be too fickle about this, but be aware that the feelings do change. Changes from happiness to neutrality, unhappiness, and so on. So part of this this process is just being aware of our feelings in the context that they’re impermanent. Then the third third objective mindfulness is the mind itself.
Now within the mind, there’s many different states that arise. We know many different types of consciousness, like we have sensory awareness. You know, it’s it’s there all the time. We hear things, we smell things, we taste things, we touch things, and we see things. As this vast we have a very extensive sensory experience.
All the time, a lot of data is coming in through the senses. This is all consciousness. And we have many different mental states as well. Here we have perception and conception. And, really, from the point of view of Buddhism, we can divide phenomena up into three different types, either obvious phenomena, obscure phenomena, or very obscure phenomena.
And the sensory awareness is aware of objects of the senses, obvious objects. Anything which is obvious is an object of the senses. What is more obscure are those things that we can’t access through the senses. For instance, we know that a table is made up of atoms, but we can’t see the atoms. We can only infer that they exist there.
Do we actually see the atoms? So how we know they’re there is through conception. We can prove their existence through conception. We know that the cells in the wood and so on are composed of molecules and they’re composed of atoms. Although we never see them, we can infer their existence, and this is a type of conception.
In the same way, we can we can prove the impermanence of something. The fact that the table is made up of atoms and the atoms are in a state of flux, so on, proves that the table itself is subtly impermanent. Each moment of a table changes completely from the previous moment. Although it appears to be quite solid, in fact, it’s mostly it’s space. There’s a few very small molecular particles, atomic particles moving about.
But, it’s basically empty space. And that also we know through conception. We can’t see it with the senses, but by using reasoning, correct reasoning, we can engender a correct awareness about something which is beyond the senses that we do through conception. Similarly, no one’s been to the center of the earth, but there’s a general idea of what exists there through reasoning, through inference, and conception. So there’s basically two types of awareness.
Conception also provides access to phenomena that are very remote in remote in space, such as the nature of the galaxy, the nature of the universe, and so on. So we have different types of consciousness that act at different times, many different levels of mental awareness. There’s, for instance, think I mentioned before, there’s eighty nine types of, consciousness that can exist fundamentally different types of consciousness that can exist. And then there’s many other mental factors that can exist with those eighty nine types of consciousness. So, in fact, the mind is very extensive in a very many different levels.
It’s not easy to be aware of them. So here, being aware of the mind, refers to being aware of, different states of mind as they as they come up. And that this is we can discern what’s a positive state of mind, what’s a negative state of mind, what is a valid state of awareness or an invalid state of awareness. Lots of our consciousness is invalid. For instance, This a lot of our reasoning is not very is not correct.
In fact, we base our view of the world around us much upon invalid reasoning. And in fact, this constitutes our ignorance of how things are. Our ignorance is really composed of misconceptions about how things are. These misconceptions arise because we accept something to be true which is not true. And this process is quite it comes quite naturally to us.
We may accept something that someone says just on the authority of that person without checking it to be true or not. Or we we may accept just a premise without any reason just because it suits us and so on. So all of this misconception constitutes our ignorance about how things are. There’s so many things we don’t know. We simply don’t know, we don’t even have an opinion about.
And there’s also other other things that we think we know that we really don’t know. So much about our own situation, why we’re here, the causes for our current existence, where we’ve come from, where we’re going, all these things we don’t know. And there’s other things that we have definite misconceptions about. Even people, we get angry and so forth and other people for the wrong reasons, but we can easily justify this. You know, we can have the conception, a negative conception about someone because, you know, we don’t like the way they talk or we don’t like the way they act or and so on.
We can generate all types of conceptions about things. Without any valid ground for it. If we can eliminate all those misconceptions, then we also eliminate our ignorance. And it’s really our ignorance that is the root cause of our existence. And the ignorance itself is a type of consciousness.
It’s just a state of not knowing. In fact, there are misconceptions really constitute wrong view. Unknowing is simply ignorance. So in in a sense, developing understanding, developing realization is a process of eliminating our ignorance of things, eliminating our mistaken views about things. And then understanding, of course, how they come about, how this ignorance comes about.
Because all of this ignorance has a cause. It’s something that is impermanent. It’s not not something permanent. If it were permanent, there would be no way we could do anything about it. It would be completely fixed.
There’d be no even the idea that you could get rid of it wouldn’t exist. It would be fixed absolutely. But we can see that we can eliminate ignorance about things and generate understanding about things. So these misconceptions that we have one can overcome through generating doubt about whether that’s true or not. Sometimes we have a view that things are are in a particular things exist in a particular way.
And unless we develop doubt about that being the case, then we can’t even begin the process of eliminating that ignorance. So there’s a process from having a wrong conception or a wrong idea about something to developing doubt, to developing correct belief, and to actually developing understanding about something. So there are many things that about which we have ignorance that are not really that important because they don’t have really any bearing on our development of of realization or our development of understanding and so on. And in fact, for this reason, once the Buddha was living in a particular forest of Simsampa trees, And one day he was addressing addressed the monks and he picked up a handful of leaves and he told the monks, what’s more, leaves in the forest are the leaves in my hand? And the monks said, well, of course, the leaves in the forest are more.
And the Buddha said, so too what I teach you here is like the leaves in my hand. It’s just sufficient for you to overcome suffering. What I teach is simply for overcoming suffering. What exists is like the leaves in the forest. What I teach is like the leaves are in my hand.
So for us too, what we have ignorance about is like the leaves in the forest. It’s universal. But what we need in order to develop as individuals, in order to overcome suffering, is not that great. It’s just to do with really the four truths. It’s really to do with the understanding of the nature of reality.
So that type of wisdom is the most important type of mind to develop. And that is developed by overcoming the misconceptions that prevent that type of wisdom developing. In order to develop that type of wisdom, one first has to overcome doubts about whether that type of understanding can exist or not. And in order to overcome those doubts about whether it can exist, one has to overcome the misconception that it doesn’t exist. So, generally, we have this view that, you know, to develop wisdom is very difficult.
Maybe impossible. No way that one can really overcome the prison of saṃsāra. But since it’s impermanent, it has a cause. If something has a cause, then once that cause is eliminated, then there is a possibility of attaining freedom from that state. Anyway, this is part of just being aware of the mind itself.
Just aware of the states of mind that we have, whether they be sensory awareness or mental awareness, conceptual or perceptual, correct or incorrect. This is also another thing we should be aware of, just to be mindful of. Because it’s difficult for us to be aware of our states of mind because they come and go so quickly. One instant, there’s one state of mind. Another instant, there’s another state of mind.
And the next one, there’s another state of mind. Then we’re distracted to something else. Then our stomach hurts, and then we get a cramp in the foot, and then we remember something. Oh, I forgot to do this. So our mind is very active.
All the time, the mind is changing. So the mind is so fluid, so energetic, never gets tired. The mind never stops. Even when we sleep, the mind is dreaming and the dreams are so expansive and imaginative. Here’s another indication that the mind is different from form.
Even when you talk to old people, they say their feelings are as strong as they were when they were really young. Feelings don’t diminish. The energy of the mind doesn’t diminish. And we’re always experiencing different states of mind. So just to be aware of the different states of mind is the mindfulness of the mind itself.
So here, really our main practice is to be aware of the body because that’s much simpler, much easier. And then feelings, we can take note of as well. To be aware of the mind is not so easy, but we should remember that the mind is something that we should be aware of. It’s like the mind is likened to an elephant that leads us from place to place, very powerful, has great potential. It’s really the the mark of our existence, the fact that we have a mind, that we can think, that we feel.
It’s not even formed. It’s not made of atoms. Simple process of knowing things, but it’s causally determined. It’s karmically determined. Meaning that it determines whether we’re happy or not.
And, it possesses many faults. And the process of mindfulness is to eliminate those faults, tame the mind so that the mind becomes a vehicle for our own happiness. And if it’s a vehicle for our own happiness, then we can begin to also help other people. So here, the process of mindfulness of the mind itself is very important. Now, I think tomorrow we’ll go on with the next the fourth object of mindfulness which in a sense is the most important.
And, we’ll do that in more detail. But, I think we’ve we’ve done well to finish three today. And not such an easy topic. So everyone’s been very patient and seeing it through so far. So tomorrow, we’ll do more in-depth on the fourth fourth topic.
And we might leave it there for today. It’s just on four thirty now. Now. Alright. And we’ll start again tomorrow morning, and just to thank everyone for coming today.
And we need to repay the kindness of other beings who have been kind to us in the past. By taking that view, it’s a more balanced view of our situation. More a view of enlightened self interest. Although, in fact, it often appears the opposite. If we take into account other people’s interest, we deny our own interest.
We have a very strong tendency to that, to think that, to look at things in that way. But in fact, that view really just closes off the possibility of our happiness. When we think about helping someone else, then we think, oh, well, what am I going to get out of it? And then we think, I’m not going get anything by helping that person. Then that’s really unenlightened self interest.
But also, in helping others, have to look at a situation and judge it practically as well. We may not be able to help people. Here, the main thing is the intention, to possess the intention to help, the intention to benefit, even though we realize we can’t help people, you know, necessarily in any one particular situation. The opportunity may not be there. But if we have the intention to help as a, like, preparation, as like a preparatory state, as like a state of readiness, then if the opportunity arises to help, then we already have the intention to help.
We may be able to help. If the intention is not there to help, even though the opportunity is there, then the opportunity is lost. So in a sense, this is enlightened self interest, seeing that happiness comes from taking into account the benefit of others and being aware of the opportunities to help others. So with that as our motivation, we should then just reflect on the breath. Meditating on the breath is the first of the four types of mindfulness, mindfulness of the body.
So we sit it comfortably. We just take into account the breath itself. Just watch the breath as we breathe in and out. Here, again, one of the the benefits is just to allow ourselves to relax a little mentally. Just to take note of the habitual ways we think and let that go.
So that our level of thinking subsides. And we just rest in the awareness of breath itself. Doing breath meditation is the thoughts that come up, this level of attitudes that exist within the mind, like a residue of the mind. And there’s so much a part of two things, hopes and fears, hopes for attaining certain things and fears that we’re not going to attain those things. And they really very much define our life in that context.
Of course, the question remains whether we can actually fulfill our hopes. Can we really establish what we want to achieve. It also means defining what we really hope to achieve. And along with that, we have fears that we’re not gonna achieve those those things. It’s like we live in between two poles trying to establish our hopes and avoid our fears.
Establish our hopes and avoid our fears. In a sense, Buddhism is trying to take the middle way between those two. And in a sense, enlightenment is finding the balance between those two, really going beyond those two. But, of course, enlightenment is the most difficult of all things to achieve. There’s nothing more difficult than becoming enlightened.
No no task that we can think of that is any more difficult than becoming enlightened because enlightenment means getting beyond these hopes and fears, actually attaining a state of pure happiness. It’s inconceivable. We have no idea what it Everything that we do, everything that we think about is, in a sense, contaminated by our hopes and fears. And it’s very hard for us to virtually impossible for us to get beyond that, to think of what something outside of that may be, something pure, not contaminated by this idea of the self, this idea of my hopes, my fears. And, of course, when we try to do breath meditation, this idea is very strong.
This idea of who we are, what we’re trying to achieve, my goals, my material goals, my spiritual goals, my who my friends are, all this. Our thoughts revolve around the sense of I, and our hopes and fears are just an expression of that, really, the I, I and the my. So enlightenment is going beyond this to a state that’s not contaminated by this all inclusive concept, all inclusive view of the self, view of the eye. But to attain enlightenment again is very difficult. If we’ve lived from beginning this time, and still we haven’t attained enlightenment, even though we’ve tried to attain happiness from the beginning, then this is an indication of how difficult it is.
Because enlightenment simply represents the state of uncontaminated happiness. And even though and even during our waking hours, even in our dreams, we pursue happiness, Still, we’ve not achieved it. We tried every method, but still up till today, you know, we’ve not achieved it. So we can can deduce that attaining enlightenment is very difficult. However, it’s it’s also possible.
As the Chinese say that the voyage or the journey of ten thousand miles begins with the first step. If we start, if we make a first step, then gradually, day by day, year by year, even lifetime by lifetime, we can get there. But often we think it’s virtually impossible. Such a long way. Like with the Chinese idea of ten thousand miles, you know, to get to somewhere ten thousand miles away, you know, the beginning of that journey is taking the first step, demonstrates the difficulty involved.
And also, in a sense, it’s a painful journey as well. We have to give up things. Remember when Geshe-la Loden Sherab Dagyab saying it was like, you know, undergoing an operation. If you got cancer, you need to remove the cancerous tissue in order to get better. Attaining enlightenment is similar to that.
We have to, sacrifice certain things in order to, progress, in order to attain that state. It involves a bit of pain. But then again, if it didn’t involve, you know, some sacrifice, some pain on our part, we probably wouldn’t appreciate it anyway, even if we came across it. If we really have to work for something, strive for something, then we appreciate it in the end when we achieve it. But if it’s just handed to us, probably wouldn’t appreciate it anyway.
So, really attaining enlightenment is firstly, it’s a possible goal. And in fact, it may seem impossible. Even to create a doubt that it may be possible is not easy. But then even to begin to move towards that goal also is not easy. Often, don’t know where enlightenment is.
What’s if it’s a journey, where do we start? Which direction do we go? In fact, where where do we begin? As I say, some say that it’s an inward journey. Then how does one begin an inward journey?
These things are not easy to discern. If you go to India, you see many, many people undergoing all sorts of practices in order to attain liberation. You know, people standing on beds of nails or lying on beds of nails is regarded as a practice that leads to purification. You suffer. You suffer.
You put yourself in a situation where you’re suffering, like standing on a bed of nails, it it starts to burn up your negative karma. More quickly, it burns up your negative potential. So you move closer to enlightenment in that way. Or you see people maybe sitting next to fires, cultivating fires, roasting themselves in front of fires almost. And this also has seemed to be a way of achieving purification, eliminating negative karma, negative potential.
And there’s many there’s many different ways that people