Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 92-minute session closing the Jamyang Mind Healing course, Ven Jamyang facilitates open discussion where interpersonal group dynamics become the primary teaching. Starting with logistics—timing, meditation placement, and whether students can join mid-course—the conversation deepens around a specific challenge: one member’s frequent interruptions triggering frustration. Rather than address the behavior directly, Ven Jamyang reframes it as an opportunity to observe aversion and reactivity, calling such challenging personalities precious teachers. She proposes a “Buddha buddy” system to help integrate newcomers and sketches Buddha House’s ongoing programs: mindfulness meditation, deity visualizations, Lamrim study, and Discovering Buddhism modules. She recommends Buddhism for Dummies and closes with an extended white light healing meditation in which practitioners visualize purifying light dissolving disease, negative patterns, and obstacles. Suited for practitioners exploring how group practice and personal meditation develop together.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 2007 12 11 jamyang – session 2 111207.mp3
UUID: 2ce008fa-e0ad-428a-8ca3-d6d203aaa263
Teacher: Ven Jamyang
Collection: Jamyang Mind Healing (Ven Jamyang)
Date: 2007-12-11
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 92.4 minutes
Words: ~11,197
Yeah. You. Thank you. Okay. Take care.
Bye. Nick. Two four five. There were two ladies this morning. They said, can we do start from the beginning, and then if you can’t come in, you have to wait?
Yeah. Or is there a point that you feel like, well, first four or five times, it doesn’t matter too much. People can come in. But then after that, you really have to I think I’m gonna I’m gonna do another course of twelve weeks Yes. Which will cover similar things as to what we have done now because it can’t change.
Will it come from? But because it’s a different group, other things will be more emphasized depending on the group. Yeah. Right. So it can be that even if you have done the course now that you feel like, I wanna hear that again.
Yeah. Oh, I wanna do it. You know? That’s fine. I You will.
I think repetition of repetition of Buddhism I don’t know. I’ve been in class for many years, and I still hear the same over and over again. It’s almost like people should be the best way to go. You just wanna be a monster, so to say. It’s too much in week out, but each time you come pick up, oh, another point.
Oh, problem. And I don’t think it’s you will think, oh, I’ve heard that already. I know that already. Although we have that tendency in the mind that we think I know that already. With Buddhism, it’s like, did I hear that already?
You know? I know I heard that before, but I hear something different. Or I hear it’s like you touch a different level in your own mind, in your own consciousness. And you hear it differently and you can integrate it on a different level. Just being part of this group for me has been very, very significant.
It will be a different group. Yes. So different people and maybe maybe you feel will feel different than now in the group. So you have to Oh, yes. I I realise that.
Yeah. Good. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah.
And then you repeat it. Yeah. Just having it reaffirmed. You can yeah. But you can also go deeper.
You know? It’s like it’s like somehow you feel because Buddhism is like an attack to yourself in a way. So in a way, there is this but then you feel and you feel it and it’s actually it’s a re yourself. So then the next time you can you the your attitude just changes how you listen to the things. Yeah.
Thank you. You think about that. The next course starts I don’t want you to make the decision now. Give her some time to think about it. The sixth of February.
Right? The first Tuesday of February. And I might do it on a Thursday afternoon too, but then a few weeks later, six weeks later or something. I’ll I’ll I’ll I’ll I’ll I’ll put my finger out. Saint Thomas or Paul, what do you want?
Because it is hard when people even new people coming into Buddha House and think, oh, I’d like to do that course, then they can’t really do it for six months. Three months. Mhmm. I mean, no. If the class the course has already started.
Yeah. Then they have to wait three months till the end of the course. Twelve weeks. Yeah. Twelve weeks.
Yeah. You you meant I meant, say, if somebody came along in March and you said, no. No one’s not starting till, what, September. No. Wouldn’t be September if I repeat this every three months.
Oh, okay. Oh, you’re gonna continue? No. I’ll just repeat this. I maybe have a little break in between, but Okay.
Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. But it’s true. I think even three months can be long.
You’re someone like me who’s only here for two months, that’s three months is no good. But then I will always ask permission from the group. So we can go a few directions, and we’re almost the time feels so limited, isn’t it? Mhmm. We’re we’re getting time.
Do we need to make it longer, or is it done too much? If I would say from nine thirty till twelve thirty. Yeah. But sometimes you Then you feel like, no. But, actually, we’re taking all that time.
Yeah. Nine thirty is twelve thirty. Right. So you would say ten is a good starting time Yeah. Because we did do that for people who come from far or have trouble traveling.
Mhmm. Till one. But what about one? What? Ten thirty would be better.
Okay. And then till when? It’s the same acoustic warming. Till one? It’s funny, though, because some days you you think, okay.
Next. Then she’s sort of devouring it. Then other days you just want to dwell on the one point for the whole whatever time period it is. Yeah. It’s strange.
It sort of vacillates. But if I would say this is from ten till twelve till one o’clock. I don’t know. When I would see that, I would say, oh, man. That’s long.
But then when you start talking about it, you actually don’t have time enough. So I don’t know. Yeah. So it’s hard to So so maybe I don’t say anything, and if it’s needed, then we just go over time. Is that Yeah.
Yeah. Good way to go? Okay. But then you have the feeling that you don’t get what you actually are entitled to get. When I say twelve thirty and then go over it, you think, oh, wow.
We got a lot. I pay till one o’clock. Yeah. Yeah. Need to go away Yeah.
Quickly. You have somewhere the feeling that I could have done it faster? No. No. No.
I didn’t feel that, you know, but maybe you thought, why is she not moving on? We didn’t want to go we don’t want to come back for for the the mortgage after if they could use it. But sometimes you yeah. Anyway. What else can I improve?
What can I improve? What would you like to have better? No chanting. No chanting. Chanting.
One time. You did. She was so sick. I wasn’t here. Alright.
Twice. Twice? Which which other ones did we do? Oh, OM MANI PADME HUM and Yeah. And and the other one.
Oh, that was not really chanting. That’s like repetition. Yeah. So I think Anyway, if you like that, what we did then, on the Wednesday night at six o’clock, we’re gonna do that forty five minutes, so an hour. Next Wednesday, we do Tārā.
We do Tārā. Last Wednesday, we had ten women coming. We’re doing Tārā praises. Fantastic. And next year, we start again the beginning of February, and then we’ll do every week another deity.
So we will one time, we do Chenrezig with, again, with the with the chanting and with the meditation, with the visualization. One time, we do medicine Buddha. One time, we do either Śākyamūni Buddha or so you don’t have to come. Śākyamūni Buddha or Vajrasattva, but you all have the opportunity to do it. And then we have Tārā.
And then we start again. So we’ll just have, say, the the last week of the month is always Tārā. The first week of the month is always Chenrezig, and then and then we’ll fit in between that Medicine Buddha and Śākyamūni Buddha, and if there’s an extra week for Vajrasattva or however it comes. So there is a a place where we do that practice specifically. So every Wednesday night, tomorrow night?
Tomorrow night is Tārā. Yeah. Six o’clock. I’ve never done Tārā. Never never done Tārā.
Only done medicine Buddha, really. Oh, Right. When Robina did a retreat, we did that meditation in the morning. Normally we do the practice here one time a month and after the retreat five women came. Or two.
No, I think five. And then I said, What if we do this every week? Yeah! What if we do like a Yeah! So, I sent out an email to all the people who did the retreat.
The next time, ten people came. So, then you have really a nice group to make it really powerful what you’re doing. You can also come if you feel like it. But it’s just the majority of people is women here, but don’t think you might, is it? Can you recommend a book?
What? A book of it, sort of like an overview of the whole thing? Because I feel like, you know, that’s Buddhism, and we’re sort of working on these two cogs in here Yeah. Every way. They they just seem I mean, those list of Buddhists you just rattled off that Oh, about a Buddhist that exists.
Well, just just a sort of an overview, a plan, a a sort of basic Buddhism book or or something that you can recommend. Yeah. There probably isn’t one. Oh, you want me to recommend some but you you hear it already, isn’t it? Buddhism is this big.
And even if you try to put it what I what I just talked about in this morning, that is Buddhism and then you make it you try to condense it. But then you have to look at different topics and then you can make this big again and that is how Buddhism constantly goes. You try to bring it down but then if you really want look into it, it becomes just as big again. That’s how you learn. You learn in the beginning and you think, oh my god, what an information.
You just focus on a little bit. Then you learn about one deity, Tārā or Tārā as a female deity. Maybe that’s the only thing that you take with you. Next time you hear there is a green Tārā, there’s a white Tārā, oh, what’s the difference? And slowly, slowly Slowly learn.
Yeah. Because you can’t. Even if you have the book, you just can’t remember. You’re not you’re also not interested, really. I wanna know who’s White Tārā was.
Yeah. You know? And the information is all there, but you have to find it. So there are many books about introduction to Buddhism. I think Buddhism for Dummies is a really nice book.
I maybe should write down a list for next time that which are good books to start with or something. Buddhism for Dummies. But they actually don’t like Buddhism. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And there are many questions, and people love that book because it’s so clear and compact and compact.
It’s simple. Simple. But a lot of information in it, isn’t it? That is really helpful Oh, I’ll look for that. To get a yeah.
Maybe we have it here. Sometimes we have it. Yeah. I have seen it in there. Okay.
For instance, one part of Buddhism is mindfulness meditation, where you just observe the mind. If you look at how many books are written about mindfulness meditation, that’s unbelievable. Because that’s pretty much the only practice I’m doing at home. I mean, I sort of look at some of the notes and things, and I’ve done the white heeled one. But the the majority of my daily meditation is just to focus on breathing, and I sort of count myself up to about a hundred of really slow breathing.
Uh-huh. And then just keep on going and, you know, get a sort of warm, fuzzy feeling and then sort of bring myself back into the room. And I think it’s taken ten minutes, and I look at the clock, and it’s forty minutes I’ve done it. Really? Yeah.
Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah. So that’s really good even with Ted coughing and belching and farting around the house. I’m like, concentrate.
Around the house. I’m like, concentrate. You feel the benefits? Yeah. Definitely.
But definitely, there’s a sort of equilibrium. Well, not equilibrium. That’s a bit grand. What’s the word? Balance.
Yeah. I guess. Yeah. The ups and downs are not affecting you that much anymore? Well, you just see them as ups and downs.
Yeah. You know? And you’re not not it anymore. Good things. They’re just things.
Yeah. Take the adjective away. Yeah. You know? Yeah.
So, yeah, no, it’s helping quite a bit. So you’re not running it after that anymore? That’s great. But it blew me away the first couple of times I did it because I thought, oh, god. It almost felt like a chore.
Uh-huh. You know? And I thought, okay. It’s twenty past three. Stop at half past.
Then I’d open my eyes, and it’s four o’clock. You know? That’s great. Wow. But that’s all I’m doing.
I’m not actually visualizing or meditating on anything per se. I’m just If you feel fifteen minutes. You feel this is what I need, that is what you need. You know? That’s what on the up, down.
Yeah. And that’s it. Yeah. Yeah. That’s good.
That’s great. Well, the Buddhism for dummies, that’s that’s great. I’ve got diabetes for dummies. So I’ll find it. That’s great.
Angus and Roberts and places like that would have it, wouldn’t they? Yeah. Yeah. I normally Buddhism I don’t know. My experience is that and I trust that there is, I don’t know, a guidance from from your teachers or that you start some you just pop in you you drop in it somewhere.
You know? This is oh, you come here. And you think, oh, what’s that? And then you start looking around and you feel, oh, this is then you actually follow that attachment, you know, because somehow you recognize it from There’s a pool. Previous lights, you know.
Oh, you know, that is what you know. Look into it and and make yourself familiar again with it. That’s what I would say. Then from there, it will show itself. Will start opening up.
That is a very natural process. It’s not that you have to keep on looking in order to make that happen. It’s like your own inner wisdom almost just pulls you to directions. You just follow that. And it will bring you somewhere, you know, and it might bring you to a completely different center with different teachers with where you actually feel even more at home.
Follow that because that’s that’s where we have to go. We have to go back to our own home, to our own wisdom. And it doesn’t matter if that’s here or somewhere else or with me or with another teacher or with a really if you feel this is my way, you know, that’s what you have to follow. Okay. And it will open up itself.
And you’re really stuck and you say, I really can’t find anything, then you talk to somebody. Yeah. You know? And then they they will help you. Because I think I I saying goodbye to Sandy in the beginning of what we were chatting about.
But, yeah, there’s a certain sense of for me. Yeah. You said that. Yeah. Sort of where where to go next.
I mean, some of it Wednesday or Thursday night things could be good. I just I just wanna keep it in my life. Yeah. I’ll I’ll tell you I’ll I’ll tell you what you can do. Right?
So when you go to the Monday night and Tuesday night, there is mindfulness meditation. Plain mindfulness meditation without anything about real Buddhism but it’s like what is happening in the mind. Monday night is like a month course, like four or five weeks. There is a lot of talking about what is mindfulness meditation and what is mindfulness meditation not. So you get a lot of intellectual understanding about that.
The Tuesday night, I’m doing that and I just meditate two times half an hour on the body, on the breath, on the mind, on emotions whatever pops in my mind, basically. Sit with a group and I feel whatever I that I have to go to, I do that but I never know what I’m going to do. But it is a full hour mindfulness meditation. Some people use it to learn to meditate and then do it at home. Some people do it just to get a taste.
Some people only come when they’re really stressed. Some people just find it very nice to be in a group and to meditate. Some people want to have a fixed point where they can come back and say, this is what I’m doing in order to give myself a discipline. Whatever reason you have, you know, it all doesn’t matter. But that is what do there.
Then on a Wednesday night, we’re gonna do that meditation with the different deities. So if you feel like, oh, the chanting really does something to me or the visualizations really help me, then that can be a way that is more suitable for you. And the first step, these are the three main teachings. And on Sunday morning, there is a meditation at nine thirty which might become nine o’clock, which is the first half hour of mindfulness meditation, breathing meditation, and then the last half hour guided meditation. And in the guided meditation, you’re going to think about all this, the theory of Buddhism.
For instance, how to cherish others. You get tools. They guide you through the tools how to do it. You think on it and reflect on it. Tools about karma, about death and impermanence, all the topics that we talked about, you meditate on that for half an hour.
That’s a different kind of meditation again. So that’s the main teachings that we have. Then if you look into the teachings, there are basically three people who teach, sometimes more, but there is Geshe-la, who is a Tibetan, who teaches in Tibetan with a translator with it, and who teaches in a traditional way, which means Did he come here? You didn’t know that. Well, I came to the other camps.
Yeah. He comes here three times a week. He teaches Tuesday night, Thursday night and Sunday morning. So, what happens there is they teach from the text. So they read the text.
But what they have done is they have done a lot of themselves on the text. And if somebody really has meditated on the text, when they say it, you can actually meditate with them. So I feel when Geshe la is teaching, I feel although I could think, well, can read the text at home, I don’t have to come to Geshe-la’s classes. If I sit down in Geshe-la’s teachings and I just meditate on whatever he says, actually, I can get the stuff quite deep into my mind. You know?
But it’s a different kind of listening. For us Westerners, we are always hurried. We always wanna have more. We’re always eager to get information, knowledge, and power. You know?
Geshe la’s teachings feels, you really have that mind, like, oh, what am I doing here? And it doesn’t go fast enough and it’s not you know, I can read it myself and it’s taking so much time and it’s repeating everything. And if you have that mind, it’s maybe not so nice to be there. But if you say, I’ll drop whatever I have in my mind and I just sit down and listen and I meditate, then it actually it always connects me really with my heart, you know, to be there. But it’s a different it’s a different style than that we are used to.
So, you know, you have to see So on a Tuesday night, he is teaching on the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, which is a classic work which talks about how to develop the six perfections, how to develop generosity, morality, is now doing joyful effort. After that comes concentration and wisdom. He goes very slow. But the subtitle, the way of life is giving up your self-cherishing and how to think about others and giving the contemplations that go with that. Think the first four chapters is about giving up that self.
Concentration wisdom is about how do I develop wisdom and concentration? Which are the goals? Which help us to realize the nature of reality. That’s Tuesday night. Thursday night, we gonna start Basic Program again.
Basic program is a program from FPMT, which is actually a five year program where the Geshe discusses the teachings that are normally given in monasteries which sometimes are a little bit difficult but in general actually not that difficult. What we’re going to start next year is the Lamrim. Lamrim is all the stages of the path to enlightenment. Lamrim talks about precious human rebirth, talks about ethics, talks about. Precious human rebirth talks about death and impermanence, talks about human precious human rebirth, talks about finding a teacher, talks about karma, about how the will of life operates, how to develop the good heart, how to develop wisdom from where we are now till we are enlightened.
That’s the path to enlightenment. That’s Lam Rim. Before he has finished a text, it will probably take a year, you know, but you could say, well, I’ll start and see how I go. I’ll do ten times and see if I like it or not. That’s Thursday night.
Then Sunday morning, there might be a change so I’m not sure about that. So you have to check that in the program. So that’s one course of the FPMT Basic Program. Then there is another course which is called Discovering Buddhism. You have done Discovering Buddhism, haven’t you?
Yes. I I did. I’ve done it two years. Oh, you did the whole two years. Yeah.
Yeah. So that it talks about goes in-depth into mind and its potential, what is Samsāra, what is nirvana, doing your daily practice, what is bodhicitta, how to develop the good heart. All the different topics that you have not all the topics but they are discussed in an easy going way. It’s really a western style class. You can follow them per module, like the Six Seven Nights to cover one module.
Mindless Potential is a very different module from karma. You don’t have to follow the first one to understand the second one. So you can do that as a two year course but you can also say, oh, I like that module. Can I commit myself to that? I’m going to do that module.
That’s on a Wednesday night. And I have a meditation day at the end of each month. Yeah. They still they still do it. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. But I have the feeling meditation day that does something weird to people here. They feel like, oh, I don’t have to do that, and they don’t come. So or not?
I kinda need to come apart from it, but that’s that’s okay. Yeah. Yeah. I would maybe label it different because it’s not just meditation that you’re doing, isn’t it? It’s just also discussion and it’s So you just follow, and you also got the module to take home and speak.
Oh, okay. So there’s a lot of reading information and book lists, isn’t it? A list with books? Yeah. Yeah.
So you have that module with one at the end of the module, a meditation day. Then once a month, jump at this day of mindfulness where you only do mindfulness meditation the whole day. Sometimes walking, sometimes breathing meditation, isn’t it? Stretches and things. I think it’s this Saturday too.
It is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Geshe la’s teachings, discovering Buddhism is taught by different people.
Next module, I’m gonna do. I might propose to do them all. I’m not sure. Lay people do it, sometimes Jampa does it. Depends.
You have Jampa as a teacher and Jampa does the Monday night teaching which was called Three Principal Aspects: opening your heart, seeing reality. What he’s teaching is basically the Lamrim, basically similar as that Geshe la is doing on a Thursday night, he is a Western teacher. So he will make it he goes very, very slow, much slower than Geshe la, but very, very in-depth and very applicable to daily life. Have you been there? No.
But my husband, Peter, goes on a Thursday morning. Yeah. I believe he repeats it. Yeah. He repeats it on Thursday morning.
Yeah. And that is a very that’s like a teaching, and then you do a meditation and a discussion. And I think it goes on till quite late from seven fifteen till nine thirty or something. Monday, Tuesday. Tuesday, I was going going to the house in St.
Mary’s. TBI. Oh, TBI. Yeah. That’s a different different Yeah.
Yeah. He’s there a few times. That’s what he’s been there. So you have Khensur Rinpoche. Tuesday night?
No. He’s teaching here. Yeah. That’s why I said to you, is it here? Because Yeah.
He is here. He’s he’s also there. No. He’s there on Wednesday night, maybe. Yeah.
He’s doing Oh, maybe it’s Wednesday night. Yeah. It’s Wednesday night. Wednesday night. Yeah.
So this Khensur Rinpoche who was there, that’s that teacher over there at the right side. Yeah. And he was teacher here for a long period of time. Mhmm. Then he went to India.
So Lama Zopa asked him to teach here. Then he went to India. He stayed there five years. And then the Lama said it will be good if all the teachers who have students in the West open a center in the West so that people have a place where they meet each other. Then Khensur Rinpoche came back.
When he left, he asked his main student which is Geshe Phuntsok Tenzin to come here and teach. Right? So he agreed with that. He was here. He went to India.
He came back and he opened another center. Many students from Buddha House five years ago were students from him. So they felt like ‘hey, there’s my teacher and I’m in Buddha House. What am I doing?’ So that was a long time people were not really clear so where do I go? I think now people are more clear and whoever is Khensur Rinpoche’s teacher, they go there and whoever feels more connected to Buddha house comes here or more connected to the teachings.
There’s a different programme. If you feel you have a strong connection to him, you have to make sure you’re in his classes because that’s great. He is a beautiful man. He is a he he looks at you and he loves you so much. If I am in his class, I think, tell me whatever you want me to do.
He has this huge love coming from his heart, isn’t it? Yeah. He’s very old. Yeah. He’s very old.
He’s eighty three or something. But it’s like if somebody loves you so much, you’re just prepared, you know, to give and to give and to that’s a nice experience in itself. He is a very, very high realized lama. We are so unbelievably lucky that we have people like that in Adelaide. If you have the opportunity, normally there are not many people in India that high as him, that high realized.
So just to have him in Adelaide is very, very precious. If you have the opportunity, go and see him and feel him and talk to him. It’s so nourishing for your mind. It’s so healing to be around people like them. What’s his name?
Khensur Rinpoche. And he’s the he’s the guy underneath that What else do we have? We have sometimes community days, a picnic, sometimes I think once in a month they try to organize it once in two months to organize something that people can meet more on a different level. In March we have Wesak where Buddha House does a Buddha’s Bowl where everybody of the community and apparently many people pop up there that you never ever see Buddha House but when it’s Wesak they all come. Buddha House makes curries, lassi and chai and they sell that and that’s the biggest fundraising that we have.
That makes it possible that we offer the teachings that cheap. So if you feel like I would like to be part of that, we always need volunteers. In the next year we’re going to organise more different things. We’re going to do maybe a conference on death and dying. We what else we’re to do?
Next year I want to teach more weekends and more Saturday workshops. You know, so the first weekend in in February, there was a weekend on transforming problems into happiness that I will teach, which is part of teaching, part of discussion, part of meditation, but where we really dig out that problem, transforming problems. Why is it a problem for us? In Easter, we have a little retreat. Arbury.
Arbury? Arbury. Is that Arbury. Yes. Oh, that’s not too far from here.
A little bit in the hills near the freeway. Oh, okay. Between Christmas and New Year, we have a little day retreat in here. So, it’s just nice days where you come and do medicine teachings and where you do some discussions. I’m not sure how the day is going look like.
Nice days where you come together and where you share the Dharma and lunch and your time. Think sometimes for people who come in new in Buddha House, it’s quite difficult to really become part of Buddha House. You feel that? You have been here a long a stay. You feel that?
Not difficult, but just sort of it’ll be daunting. You don’t sort of quite know which way to go. No. Yeah. It’s quite overwhelming when all comes to us because the answer will be, you know, it’s the only answer.
So you want somebody who takes you by the hand and says, come here. I always want a Yeah. A Buddha buddy. You do. You do.
That’s Oh, maybe that’s a good idea. Buddha buddies. Yeah. That’s a nice ride. That would be a good idea.
Would be a good idea. That’s a good idea. Because I think when I see people new people coming in the community, then you have these people who know what is going on, who feel, you know, could have quite a space. And you’re new and everything is shaking. You know, your knowledge, you don’t know where to go.
You don’t know who is who. You don’t know where where to find your information, where to start. There is such difference between Everyone’s got a hard name. Everyone. Most of them have got a name.
Yeah. It may maybe name names text. But sometimes I think it’s hard for new people to come into community. You know? And you see that people try and try.
And I I’ve heard stories from people that really have to hang in there before they feel accepted. I hope we can change that in the next year. But at the same time, I lived at Chenrezig Institute five years and there were constantly new volunteers coming in doing there was a restaurant. So every time when you had lunch, you there was a new person. And they would all say, what’s your name?
So after five years, there was still that person who said, what’s your name? I thought, there’s still a newbie here after five years? But for you, you’re home. You know? For people, this becomes a part of home.
And then constantly new people come in. When you’re home, you are home. You’re not interested in a new person coming in. Can you understand that? Yeah.
It’s very difficult if you feel home and familiar and something new comes in to give that the attention. The tendency that we have is I feel home, I feel comfortable, why would I put any effort in it? And that person only can disturb my comfort zone. So I think that is a little bit that happens when you are in community. So the only thing that I want to say, don’t give up.
If you find it hard to get into the community but you want to, keep on trying or I’ll be your buddy or I’ll find different buddies. But a Buddha buddy, that could be a very good one. Yeah. Course. Yeah.
Good. And that everybody takes one person. That’s a very good idea. And there you go. Yes.
Immortalized. Yes. I’ll do something with that. Thank you. And I wanna thank I I will do a meditation, white light meditation.
That’s a really nice meditation. For what do we you know, this is what we have. You have to go and shop a little bit. Where do I go from here? You have to shop a little bit.
Shop a little The book that you suggest for this course is good. Which is that? Oh, Yeah. Yeah. That’s fantastic, I think.
Yeah. So glad on that. Yeah. Yeah. But if you read Lama Zopa, anything you know, Lama Zopa, it’s like the I I don’t know.
I have a strong connection with them. So anything that I pick up, it’s like, wow. Every time. After ten years, I think, wow. You know?
It’s like it it is so clear and true and cut through all your own crap that I I can still feel that after ten years when I pick up the book, even if I’ve read it a few times. Every time again, there is this experience. Wow. I didn’t know that. You know?
But maybe you you meet another book that does that with you or another teacher that does that with you. You know? Look for that that you that you feel that somebody’s really showing you the way, you know, because it’s difficult to get through your own delusions. Very difficult. It wasn’t for busy people.
It good. That’s sort of started me off. Yeah. And it was written by a guy who used to work in advertising, high pressure jobs. So I had that I related to that quite a bit.
Yeah. And I’ve got Dalai Lama’s art art for hap the art of happiness, which I’m I’m yet to read. But, yeah, Buddhism for dummies, I think, will be great. Ah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Dharma one zero one. Actually, FPMT has it. What is that one zero one?
Introductory level of, you know Oh, is that right? Sort of classes. Yeah. In FMT, they made a course meditation one zero one. So and I thought, what’s that one zero one?
One zero one means, you know, ground floor level, introductory Yeah. Beginning beginning. Yeah. Jamyang, can you just explain to me why couldn’t TBI and Buddha House how can they, like, more funds? And what why is it separate?
I don’t understand. The Dalai Lama asked felt that the Dalai Lama asked him to start his own center. You know, it’s not about division. It’s not about doing something different. It’s about it’s just he’s fulfilling the wishes of his teacher.
And then you don’t question why does he ask that? Why is that not one center? And many students have felt and still feel torn apart, you know, because but Robina was here and she says, what’s the problem? How many churches do you have in Adelaide? Is that the problem?
Why do you make a problem about two Buddhist centers? Come on. She says, it’s only two. You could have done easily. Yeah.
Sure. You know? And I If you really look at Rinpoche, there are people who feel that is my teacher and Lama Zopa is not my teacher. They feel that very strong. It’s like it’s it’s your lineage.
It’s your heart. It’s your way home. It’s your and they’re telling the same things at the same time. Intellectually, they’re telling exactly the same stories. Geshe la goes to these teachings.
Many people come here, go to there. When Khensur Rinpoche did a retreat, I went to the retreat. It’s like Yeah. It’s good to be able to go to those places if you feel Yeah. You have to feel where you feel you get the teachings that you need, you know, and it really doesn’t matter.
Mhmm. One center, two centers, maybe we can do much more when we have two centers. And that is, I think, the future, that is what you have to see that probably will have will happen. You can do much more. With Khensur Rinpoche, you can organize these ten day retreats on a very high level.
You know? With Buddha House, in general, it’s not that it’s more basic level that we are doing. These very specific teachings, we just can’t do that because people wouldn’t get it. You know? But it’s good to have that other side too.
More questions? Do you wanna know anything more from me now? I just think that in the in the course that there should always be some time for some meditation even if it’s just ten minutes because that’s really what it’s Yeah. All about going home and, you know Doing the meditation. And everything.
So even if you even I think that even if you did an the advertising, put to a one o’clock, because I’ve always finished after twelve thirty. You could always make sure there is time for meditation. Okay. Yeah. And sometimes that didn’t happen.
And I do feel that it’s less satisfactory when you go away without meditation, isn’t it? For me too. And sometimes even perhaps even just for five or ten minutes before we start. Starting with a meditation. Settle us all down Yep.
A bit. Yep. Good idea. To get here or Yep. Just all settle down and clear the mind before you start for five minutes.
Yep. Okay. I’ll take that with me. The class was a little bit heavy going. Yeah.
And that the meditation on that class was really good at the time. And it but then the days that we didn’t have a meditation You go home with a heavy feeling? No. No. I just go home with what we’ve done and be able to go through it and, you know, and do my own meditation later in the day.
But the days that we had meditation, it was, like, it’s finished. And I get to about four o’clock, and I had this stomping headache. And I get really really quite ill for the rest of the day. After we did the meditation in class? It was like I had finished it, and I just had to get on with the day now.
But when we didn’t do the meditation, it it kept going until I had time to sit, like, I’m gonna gonna It did. Yeah. It was difficult. It’s like I needed the rest of the data to process it. Yeah.
And But after you did the meditation, you stopped processing it? No. Not not so much stopped processing it. I did it go deeper to a deeper level. Yeah.
I just got perhaps time to go over it again before I did the meditation. You know, maybe work a few things out for myself or Mhmm. Simplify it or Like, give you some space Yeah. For your own thoughts. When we did the meditation right at the end.
It’s like, for me, that was the end of it. Yeah. And I get a chance to So would it help if we do the teachings the way they have? And then at the end you just have ten minutes wrapping up meditation which is not really focused on the topic but it’s more focused on Or maybe start the day with ten minutes meditation, then a little introduction, then you do meditation. Then you do talking, wrapping it up with a short meditation, then finished.
That’s a long day. That’s a long That’s That’s a day. That’s I do agree there should be more meditation just to give you some space. You know? But for you, you say, but if you do that straight after, I don’t have space for my own thoughts.
So if the meditation is have a mood, the group’s feeling at the end of it, and then at the end of the teaching, and then I like I like the the classes that I’ve been to over the last year where they start off with with the meditation because it is tends to Yeah. So that’s You settle in. Teach mind To listen. Yeah. Where is it be just as.
Yeah. Sometimes I do have the feeling that Buddhism can shake you so much up that you have to let go of that stuff. You know? You you sit a little bit like that, but then it’s gone. But I’ll do you too?
Danced a couple of times and said, what did you learn today? I’m like, I have no idea. Absolutely no idea. I know stuff’s gone in, and it sort of percolates up a few days later. But at the time, I couldn’t possibly tell him exactly what we went over.
It’s just like, oh, just the universe. You know? It’s like, don’t you don’t you that sometimes? Other times, I’m quite yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I’m quite sort of systematic about it. Almost like I’ve taken lecture notes, but other days, I’m and it’s not that it’s dumbfounded.
I I’ve I’ve sort of kept up, definitely. But it just feels really big. Yeah. It is. It is.
And sometimes it’s so different from the normal way of thinking that you can’t even grasp at it later. You know? It’s like And then I think I’ve simplified it for myself, and I no. That’s too simple. It’s too easy.
You know? I figure you know? But sometimes I have, like I said earlier, good things, bad things just take away the adjective. They’re just things. Yeah.
I I tend to sort of be a lot more Yeah. It’s great. Didactic like that, I suppose. But then I think, like I said, I’ve over oversimplified it. It’s too easy.
Maybe not. Maybe not. Because because if you really realize that it’s really easy. Know? But due to our own our mental constructions, it’s so difficult to unravel that.
Feeling versus intellect. So Yeah. Yeah. So some feelings we have is very good. Some feelings we have is not in accord with reality.
So you have to apply your wisdom constantly on the feelings and check it out, isn’t it? Yeah. It’s that stepping back. Yeah. Being objective.
Okay. What was good? What could we have done better? Sort of medicine teachings. I’ll I’ll sit with that and do a little bit more about that.
Other suggestions that you have that it this could be more perfect. This could be better. I guess the only thing that ever sort of got me, and it was it was never from a teaching perspective. It was just sometimes some of us in the group, we’d get to a certain point, and it’ll be and then all of a sudden, it was segue away. I think we almost need to sort of be a bit more disciplined as a as a body of students and sort of shut up.
Do you know what I mean? I think so. Which is probably hard You feel that when well, some people say that. Charge the lesson ourselves, and you just think, oh, not now. You know?
Ask questions at the very end. Yeah. Did you all feel that sometimes you just get to the crux of a matter, and then it’ll Rinpoche off into something? A complete non sequitur. You know?
It was really quite frustrating some days. Was it? Oh, because you how do we go? And you know that it would be a good twenty minutes if in fact you could get back there. Yeah.
And you learn good stuff on those sort of tangents, but there were tangents at times. They So you feel it would be good? Alive just just before you hit the main point. You know? So you feel it is good that that that if I go over the teaching, that I keep on going, and then maybe questions at the end?
Yeah. You might need a cane or something. Yep. So that there was just a you feel that too? I felt like that at the beginning, but not the last few weeks because, well, I felt that Anne sometimes had her own issues, and she was dragged away too often, but I didn’t feel like the later few weeks.
Right. That’s true. Better, definitely. Yeah. Yes.
But a couple of times, it’s like, oh, so close. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Yeah.
And you can hear I think that also has to do with that. It’s so difficult to hear the truth. Yes. You know? Because I know that sometimes I would almost hit it, and and she would go into another way.
And that’s that’s a resistance. And I do feel that in a way I do have to take care of that. If I would cut it off, she would go mad and yeah. But in a way It’s a very difficult situation. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. And I’ve spoken to all of you before you came. Tried to be compassionate rather, but you’d really just wanna say Shut up. Yeah.
So why didn’t you do that? Yeah. Anna was the only person that I didn’t see before the class or didn’t hear about before the she just came in and said, I have to be here. She rang, actually, this week and said, I’m coming next week. I’m so sorry I didn’t come, but she didn’t come.
But we can’t stop the discussion coming in all the time because a lot of times No. But maybe I should have addressed that earlier with her and take her aside. Point about what you’re talking about But then you stay with the topic. Yes, you clarify the topic. I don’t think that’s a problem.
I think saying I don’t agree with this because that is something different. It’s also not about agreeing. Just presenting something that is there and that you can think about and then you can make your own decision if you agree or not. It’s not about Oh, let’s make the real truth because to Buddhism it doesn’t exist anyway. I maybe should have tackled that earlier.
I didn’t know I had a feeling that I was the only person that was suffering from that. It just seemed to sabotage this sort of self sabotaging all the time. Yeah. For god’s sake, it’s not about you. Yeah.
That’s right. Even though it is, but I actually paid to listen to John. Yeah. It’s not you. Yeah.
Because, obviously, none none of us ever spoke about it. None. No. We didn’t want it. So we all have to learn that time too, maybe.
Yeah. And it wasn’t yeah. Because I had a feeling that actually you were thing. I don’t wanna get into a beach session. I hated it.
But, you know, it’s like just little things were very distracting. You know? Was always a production sitting down, and it was always these it was like, for god’s sake, woman. You know? That’s right.
It it became really, really a point about the. But, yeah, it got quite frustrating a couple of times. You know? Yeah. She she suddenly comment on somebody’s jewelry or you know?
It was like, you know, shut it. So that prostrations Yeah. Is your prostrations. I know. I think that’s really worked.
So that prostrations This is good because it’s surfacing when you can work on that. It’s good. And yet I genuinely warmed to her. That’s what was so frustrating. I liked the majority of things she said.
Yeah. I liked her to take on the world. I liked the fact that she was a bit kooky. But at the same token, I hated slash my time being hijacked all the time. Yeah.
So this is the mind. I like, I don’t like. Isn’t it? And then reaction. And then I can’t just tell her, shut up.
That’s your reaction, Yeah. Isn’t it? So people like her, in a way, are extremely helpful in helping us to connect with her own mind. And if you think, what is she talking about? I like, I don’t like.
People like her are constantly bringing it in her face. Right? Yeah. They’re very precious treasures in that sense because they show us constantly. In every group, there’s always somebody who constantly agitates.
You know? Buddhism, they say, these are the perfect teachers. Welcome the men. And and I deliberately didn’t react. I didn’t I mean, if I was in Sydney in that situation, I would’ve just verbally decimated her.
You know? It would’ve taken a nanosecond due to bled and collapsed. You know? I would’ve just gone into town on it. Yeah.
I would absolutely and the class would go on. But I was like, you know, mm-mm. Moments go to space as well. You know, I was quite fine about it, but it was a challenge. But you could also say, Jamyang, I find it quite difficult or my mind gets really agitated if it’s Yeah.
If if these things happen, you know, then you keep it for yourself. My mind gets agitated. Yeah. True. And I can say, what can you do with your mind?
You know? And if I hear that everybody gets agitated and I think, oh, actually, we do wanna move forward with the teachings I did sort of do that, and I just told myself to just laugh about it. But it it’s kind of funny, you know, which I did. So it didn’t really become that much of an issue. But it just I mean, I had to I had to work too.
You can choose every time, isn’t it? Yeah. Do I go in the agitation Yeah. And hit her? Or do I step back and think, okay.
You know, what is this? You know? Welcome it in. If I would react from I don’t want you to talk. I don’t like what you’re saying, it’s all rubbish, it’s it’s gonna be harmful.
Yeah. Of course. If I can allow her to do that, but then bring it in a way so that it’s helpful for the group, then it’s beneficial for I cannot react from I don’t like what she’s doing. Even sometimes I might have been in that space. A couple of times.
Oh my god. But I have to make sure I stay in that mindset. Because that is what a teaching is about. If agitation comes in my mind, it’s my agitation. I have to deal with their straight on the point, not blame her for my agitation.
Then the second thing is if I have addressed my agitation, then how can I be diplomatic so that she shut up in the sense of doesn’t hijack the group which means that I have to be more mindful about to bring the group back to where we were, you know, which is hard work, but that’s my job? You you move from reacting to responding. You have to change your mind from reacting to responding. Yeah. And your wisdom with that, your clarity.
You know? If I respond from my own agitation, it’s delusion that I project onto her, which is always gonna lead to a fight or unhappiness from whatever sign. Or just something combative. Yeah. Something un And it gets better, bigger.
Mhmm. You know? And she feels hurt. And, you know, if you don’t hit her, then then you feel hurt. And you it’s like it’s not good for anybody.
But But like you said, instead of reacting, I responded to her with a giggle. I actually started to laugh. Yeah. She’s mad. This is so funny.
You know? But yeah. But even letting go, mad. Even letting go, she’s mad. Yeah.
I know. She’s wonderful. Oh, she’s She’s just wonderful. I mean, I feel I still feel bad for even saying it all, but I genuinely liked her for it despite myself. So in a way, I learned something.
But still, it was just You see? It’s perfect to work with your mind, isn’t it? It is. It’s just perfect. And that is what I loved about her, you know, because she challenged that all the time.
And, yes, in a way, maybe the information was hijacked. But I think maybe on another level, we could learn actually a lot from her. Indeed. Yeah. And I think that’s wonderful.
And I wanna thank her for that, you know, because she had a special contribution to the whole group. Oh, she’s smart. How boring would it have been without her? Thanks. Thanks a No.
That’s just a joke. But these people, they bring in some taste, you know, which is I don’t know. Everybody is special, and everybody is they have their own things, and everybody But just said she stayed away at some stage. Yeah. I wonder what happened.
Yeah. Yeah. But she was pissed off with it a little bit that night, that day. It was competition. But there was something happening, and I missed that completely.
I heard it later. Go up in the years we’ve had a go up. In the past? Yeah. After class, I also heard that something happened.
Like, were saying you wanted to turn around and tell her to shut up. Yeah. It was a bit like that just in her conversation, cleverly pulled. And then afterwards, she said something. So wasn’t aware of that.
Yes. Something happened. Yeah. I was also not aware. Yeah.
Wanting to not talk with each other. Oh, do you want to do me? Yeah. I wanna thank before I do the meditation, I wanna thank you all for coming and for your own specific unique contribution. Thank you for having.
I enjoy all your presence and input and sharing and trying and listening and thinking. It’s not easy to really to do this. But if people start doing it, it’s so unbelievable, beautiful, and so much can come out of it. And don’t know. The more people really engage in that process, the more the beauty you can see.
I love that you have been doing that and I wanna thank you for that. So late. Well, yes, ma’am. You have terrible troubles. And and here’s my projection of of what something that came up for me is just the breaks, just being kinda wishy-washy long.
I mean, when you’re considering a time frame as you are, and we’re talking about time. And, again, it’s my projection because I’m one of those people who want the knowledge, so it’s not as important for me even though I like making connections. If if you said to us, there’s a ten minute break, you know, I’m I’m fine with that. Or we could bring our tea and you eat out there and then bring the tea in here so that it’s just more full or just being more mindful of that the time. Time is such a I actually the break, I planned that half an hour on purpose because I feel, you know, if you come for healing, it’s like if you are sick in whatever way or if you feel that you need healing in whatever way, there is drive of more, more, more, more.
If you need healing you actually feel like I just want to let it go or somehow you need a space where you can let go and because of that I wanted to have a nourishing tea tea break, you know, just that that you feel To me, it’s always a bit like a bit of a debriefing as well. Yeah. Yeah. Sort of cover stuff in here and yeah. The back here to reenergize the Mhmm.
Injection more. But I I also agree with you with the time constraint as well. I would do I would do it in a no. No. Like, I would do a weekend course, I will be much more precise and say, hey.
Twenty minutes is you know, make sure that everybody has a tea, then it’s finished because you come here to learn something in a certain way. If people are really sick or, you know, the body doesn’t function so well or other things don’t function so well, I wanna try what we always do with this whole society, once we don’t listen to that place that is sick we are always stepping over it because we have to do fast, have to do more, we are not good enough because we have that, you know, there’s all these things that we put on top of that so that was the intention behind that maybe place where we can uncover that and where we feel we are safe in being sick and we can we can be like that without anybody pushing us in a way that where we don’t wanna go. So that was part of the group, part of the course. Anyway but thank you. In the weekends, that will be definitely different.
Yeah. Yeah. It’s more speedy. We’re gonna do a meditation? We do a meditation.
We’re gonna do a white light meditation where we completely dissolve. Before we start doing the meditation, try to generate a positive motivation. And although I’m sure you all feel I do have a positive motivation, you know, our habits, our ways of thinking are so habitual and so deep that it’s good to again and again reset your motivation. Why am I doing this? Even asking what is the purpose of my life?
And I think that the purpose of my life is not just to solve my own problems and to find happiness only for myself. But the purpose of my life is to free everyone who is suffering from all problems and to bring them happiness, especially ultimate happiness, everlasting happiness. Try to think this is the purpose of my life. This is the meaning of me being alive. It is my responsibility to free everyone from all problems and their causes and to bring them temporary and especially ultimate happiness.
The purpose of my life is as vast as space. In order to be able to offer this extensive service to others, I need to develop wisdom and I need to develop compassion. Compassion that includes all beings. In order to be able to develop that, I need a healthy and long life. It is for this reason that I’m going to do the white healing meditation.
So now when you sit, make sure that you’re comfortable, that your back is straight. Make sure that you don’t suffer from your body in the sense that you make it as much as possible at ease because it’s your mind that is meditating, not your body. And then focus on your breathing. Try to slow down your breathing. Breathe in slowly.
Breathe out slowly. And make your mind clear. Empty and clear. Calm and clear. There’s nothing to think about.
This is just a time that you can be where you don’t have to do anything. And you can imagine that every time when you breathe out, you visualize that all your present and future disease and all the causes of your problems, your negative actions and thoughts and the imprints on your mind, they all come out through your nostrils in the form of black smoke, just like from a factory chimney. And if you want, you can make that breathing out more forcefully, powerful if it helps you to really eliminate all the negative actions, all your disease. Visualize it as smoke is leaving your body, dissolving into space. And with that, disease, all the spirit harm, all your negative thoughts and actions, they all leave your body.
They all leave your mind. And whatever leaves your body and your mind, it dissolves into space. It disappears far beyond this earth. Nothing will remain. The more black smoke you breathe out, the more healthy you feel your body and mind becomes.
Dispel all the darkness from your mind, projections, everything that you feel is not good, especially the thought that judges that things are not good. Breathe it all out. Recognize that they are not part of your innate nature. And if you doubt, then check and think if the Buddha has this part, then it’s part of Buddha nature. If the Buddha doesn’t have that part, it’s not part of your Buddha nature.
Breathe it out. Something that you have adopted and something that makes you sick. And then if you feel that you have become healthy, visualize above your head a sphere of white light. It is somewhat smaller than the size of your hand. Its nature is pure, transparent, and formless.
That white light symbolizes the pure holy mind of a Buddha, or you could say the omniscient mind of a fully enlightened being. It represents universal goodness, love, and wisdom. It represents the fulfillment of your own highest potential. So just concentrate on the presence of that light. Don’t worry if it doesn’t appear very sharply.
Just try to feel that it’s there and connect with it. And then every time when you breathe in, visualize that strong white light comes in like sunbeams from that sphere of light, and it goes straight into your heart. And from there, it begins to expand, slowly spreading to fill your entire body until it your heart, your heart, your shoulders, your arms, your hands, your fingers, your back, your chest, your stomach, your legs, your feet, your toes, everything, every part, every cell filled with white light. The light is so strong, as soon as it enters the cell, it completely takes over. And all the solid parts of the self, they just dissolve, and it spreads through your whole body.
All the solid parts dissolve and become light. Feel how slowly all your organs, your bones, your blood, your muscles, they all dissolve and become in the nature of light. Make that light more intense, more white, more strong, more penetrating, more beaming. You feel blissful. You feel light.
No obstruction. No solidity. It’s like a complete freedom of any obstruction. And think that all your diseases, all the spirit harms, all your negative thoughts and actions, they’re completely gone, completely purified. Feel that in this state, there is no disease.
You feel whole. You feel complete. There’s no suffering. It just feels serene and joyful. And I think every time when you do this meditation, your lifespan has been prolonged.
And your positive energy, your happiness, has increased. Wisdom, compassion, and your understanding and realizations of the whole path to enlightenment are developed anew. Any thought or distraction that arises in your mind, you just let it dissolve into the white light. And if you feel that some places don’t lighten up enough, then just visualize when you breathe out that, again, black smoke leaves that part of your body or mind. And if you feel that all the black smoke, all the negativities have left, focus again on the white light entering your body every time when you breathe in.
And if you think that every moment of consciousness is the cause for the next moment of consciousness. You feel the state of bliss and happiness, of freedom, from disease, from harm. And you can imagine that the more you cultivate this state of consciousness, the more of this kind of states you will experience in the future. This consciousness leads to a similar kind of consciousness, to kind of similar kind of consciousness. So every time when you go into this space, you create a causes for your own happiness in the future, for your own freedom from disease, for connection with your own inner potential, your Buddha nature.
Then dedicate the positive energy that you have collected by doing this energy meditation. And dedication is part of the meditation. It makes it even more powerful. Think that due to the positive actions and imprints that I have created now, those that I have created in the past, and also those that I will create in the future. May I develop the ultimate good heart of bodhicitta and achieve the peerless happiness of full enlightenment.
And may I then lead every living being to the complete peace of mind of full enlightenment. Think that due to all the merit created by generating a positive motivation and by doing this positive action of meditation, may any living being just by seeing, hearing, touching, remember, or talking about me, immediately be freed from all obstacles to happiness, immediately be free from all disease, spirit harm, negative actions, and obscurations and quickly achieve the highest happiness of full enlightenment. And then if you feel ready, slowly connect again with your own body. Bring your mind back in the room. Open your eyes.
Let’s go to the website. Your driver had to wait a long time. You can log in. You become a member. Right?
They call that a member or a register. So so you log in one time, and then the the person who takes care of that website sends you says you can you can log in. When you log in, you have access to more pages than when you’re not logged in. And when you’re logged in, you can communicate with me. You can you can send me emails.
You can you know? So that’s not problem. Yeah. She has the own open chat line. Open chat line?
Mhmm. She has something to to your house. You don’t sleep. You don’t eat. You know?
An hour a day or something in an open chat line. Is that right? You can use that. You can always ring the office. Yeah.
You even have my phone number, I think. Yeah. Yeah. So it’s just, you know, you you you I want you to feel that you’re not gonna be out there completely lost in the world, overwhelmed by things, but that there was always I wanna be that rock that you can always open That was tricky. I’m not sure why everybody moves to the What does that mean?