Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 30-minute teaching, Ven Kaye Miner explores the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, moving from awareness of body and breath through to the subtle investigation of phenomena and reality itself. She begins by guiding practitioners to examine their habitual thinking patterns — whether we believe our thoughts define us, or are simply tools for understanding — then progresses to noticing intention and motivation before action. The core of the talk addresses the fourth foundation, where through a calm, non-striving awareness the mind directly perceives the suffering inherent in conditioned existence without running away from it. Miner emphasises that mindfulness, especially when combined with bodhicitta (the altruistic intention to benefit all beings), becomes far more profound than secular mindfulness training suggests, ultimately opening practitioners to direct realisation of emptiness and the true nature of self and phenomena. The session closes with dedication of merit and addresses common misconceptions about mindfulness in the Mahāyāna path.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 08 2011 01 09 day2session4.mp3
UUID: dabc14e1-7f3e-4528-ae52-4461110a44c7
Teacher: Ven Kaye Miner
Collection: Mindfulness with a Heart (Ven Kaye Miner)
Date: 2011-01-09
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 29.9 minutes
Words: ~3,371
It’s quite understandable if we’re tired and I have a very bad habit of trying to give too much, tell too much, you know, I just want to say everything you know and maybe a little bit of it sink in or you know anyway. So we’ve looked at mindfulness of the mind and mindfulness of thinking and you know so some of the things that we can do with that is to just spend some time reflecting on the assumptions that we have, the attitudes we have, the beliefs that we have about our thoughts and you know question ourselves do we usually believe that our thoughts are correct or incorrect, true or wrong? Do we identify with our thoughts? Do we think that our thoughts are what define us as human beings? Do we believe that our thinking will solve our problems?
Or do we think that our thinking is a means only to understand something? Know and perhaps you can you can go through this process and then maybe you can ask somebody else who knows you, you know, what they think about you and your pattern of thinking. But you have to be very careful who that would be of course. Then also maybe do some exercise to see whether your thoughts are primarily about yourself or are they about others? Do your thoughts tend to be critical or judgmental?
How often do you have thoughts of I should or they should or I ought to do this or to do that? And are the thoughts mostly directed towards the future or towards the past or fantasy? Do you tend to have more optimistic thoughts than pessimistic thoughts? Do your thoughts tend to be, peaceful or unpeaceful, contented or dissatisfied? So it’s not an exercise in judging but with noticing, simply noticing because as I say most people live in their thoughts.
So then also the importance here is to pay particular attention to your intentions you know because before we do anything before we speak before we walk before we do anything there’s always some kind of impulse some kind of intention some kind of motivation so it’s good to to be to notice what kind of intention is going on there you know what kind of desires and aversions are fueling our intentions so you know to just slow down and notice that but of course the main thing you know with mindfulness of mind and mindfulness of thinking is to be aware of the bodhicitta motivation. That’s really, really important. So we’re up to like the fourth foundation of mindfulness which is establishing the mindfulness of phenomena or some they use the word Dharma, establishing mindfulness of the Dharma. And so basically again the Buddha’s message was simple, you know, see Dharma as Dharma, see phenomena as phenomena. And you could perhaps elaborate that to see the interrelatedness of everything in the world, to see the emptiness of inherent existence.
So of course this is far more subtle, this is far more profound and you know we’ve got to try and have some understanding of what is reality. So the first three levels of mindfulness already are an investigation into reality okay because previously we were going into this whole judging and all this kind of baggage with physical sensations, with the feelings and emotions, with the thinking in the mind. Tend to have some kind of baggage associated with all of these things in the beginning but mindfulness is helping us to not react, not to judge, not to kind of layer on all of this baggage and to actually just see them for the way they exist. You know, without all of the concepts going involved. So already these three exercises of mindfulness are an attempt or are the means to help us investigate reality but now at this fourth level it becomes much more detailed.
It becomes very subtle. It becomes very precise It’s really the mind, it’s the precision of a very stable mind that investigates reality. This is done by the mind itself as a non moving observer. So we sit in meditation and we let the agitated observer of the mind calm down and the mind doesn’t have to do anything okay we we almost let reality come towards us it’s not that we have to go searching for reality we let it come by itself and it’s in this way that understanding arises. So with a very light, very awake kind of intelligence we open up to the basic problems of our samsaric existence.
Our existence that is conditioned by karma and delusions. We kind of wake up to this and we see the reality of our existence. We don’t have to go looking for it. It comes to us. We’re aware of it.
We become aware of the reality of our existence. Reality? The correct way things exist. The correct way that things exist. Real way things exist.
Sorry? Self and phenomena. So we become aware, we don’t go looking, but just our mindfulness, our awareness opens up to the basic problems of our conditioned existence, conditioned by karma and delusion. And you know the problems of our conditioned conditioned existence are are long you know we have these five aggregates which make up the person which are in the nature of suffering. Our body suffers, our mind suffers you know.
So we open up to this. We see that the reality of this that this is the way that it is suffering. You know that’s the reality of it. We investigate the problems that give rise to suffering. We just sort of remain open to this and fresh and wakeful.
We’re not too tight, we’re not too loose. We just open up to the reality, to the way these things are and sometimes they say it’s like you’re in a room and in that room you have all the windows open and you look outside but you don’t run out. You stay. You look. You see.
And you share the freshness of the world because the windows have opened you know so there’s the freshness of the world but you don’t get caught up with that world. You don’t get entangled. So you look at what happens and you just remain free from clinging. So you look right into the present moment very precisely and this is very personal. This is a very intimate experience and it really gets right to the heart of our existence.
We can’t run away anymore from the reality of our existence which is what the Buddha explained in the Four Noble Truths. The facts about our existence that there is suffering, that that suffering has a cause, that it’s possible to become free from suffering and that there is a path that leads to it. So we open up to that. We see reality of our existence just like the Buddha had explained. We don’t run away anymore.
And so as I say, this is very intimate, a very personal experience. It’s very strong and so we become really aware really aware and we’re starting to get a complete picture of reality of the way things exist and we start to see the reality of our lives the reality of our mind and all of our neurotic games become completely obvious to us. We can’t run away anymore. We see the reality of our neurotic neurotic is there another word neurotic kind of games. They become so obvious how we screw ourselves up how we try to pretend to ourselves how we say it’s like this how we find ourselves so you know so important we can’t hide from that anymore we see the reality of that and at the same time that all of these kind of illusions become very obvious to us, we also discover a deeper kindness and simplicity that we really are.
Know we see the neurotic game that we play and that’s thanks to mindfulness but but we also discover new levels of you know an acceptance of ourselves, a simplicity you know. So the solutions appear at the same time that the problem becomes visible or just a little bit after that you know. Of course it’s not the same for everyone and you know and in all circumstances you know because of course in the beginning there can be an incredible shock to start seeing everything so clearly to see how you make your problems how the suffering and your neurotic patterns and things it can be bit of a shock but then the trained meditator is able to let these go and that already is a healing process. So you know of course sometimes you know we are overwhelmed with problems and sometimes we can be really overwhelmed and shocked to see the reality of ourselves rather than you know what we kind of pretend ourselves to be you know and that’s that’s what happens when you know we don’t have this sort of this mindfulness and the relaxation that comes from that but then we really have to put some effort into developing you know a more mental calm.
So we need to develop the basic mindfulness that enables us to find an inner balance after we’ve made some you know maybe some unpleasant discoveries about ourselves. Know we need to find an inner balance you know so we need to sort of because sometimes that can be such a shock so we need to be able to relax. Maybe we need to go for a walk you know maybe we need to talk to a good friend maybe we need to do some physical exercise you know maybe we just try and keep the meditation session short you know but because it can be when we open up to what’s really going on here can be a bit confronting. So then we need to be able to come back to a simplicity. Mindfulness is a phenomena you know.
It’s like you know it’s sort of bringing in you know all of the Buddhist teachings that help you to see the reality of existence. It’s about the impermanence, about the functioning of karma. It’s really to see the interdependence and the emptiness. So I think that’s all I’m going to say about this level of mindfulness at this stage but in conclusion four foundations of mindfulness, like in the beginning actually they’re really four non mindfulnesses because in the beginning we’re so distracted from the reality we’re still caught up in a very we’re not very mindful at all. But as I said it’s a technique to really develop the power and strength of the mind so that as we we go deeper and deeper with our mindfulness practice that eventually you know pure awareness unobstructed awareness unobstructed by our you know disturbing attitudes unobstructed by our preconceptions and our judgments unobstructed by our neurotic behavior patterns and fantasies you know we’re able to open up to the unobstructed pure awareness and then we start we’re able to see the reality the reality of how self and phenomena truly exist.
So it’s a way of letting go of our paranoid relationship with the world. We open up, we develop more confidence, we develop a compassionate reaction with our body and our mind. And so then you know some kind like the blessings, you know enter us. Often people that are practicing the Mahāyāna path look down on mindfulness. Think that mindfulness is just too simple a practice.
Oh I’m Mahāyāna, you know, I’m practicing the compassionate path, bodhicitta, oh mindfulness. That’s not something in the bodhicitta path, you know. I do other things but you can’t look down on mindfulness, you know. Especially when you can combine it with the bodhicitta, with that great motivation and it is incredibly profound and that’s what I said right at the beginning. The full richness of mindfulness is not taught in secular mindfulness courses.
The full richness leads you to understanding, not just to understanding, to directly realising the reality of self and phenomena, reality of our existence. That’s what the true richness of mindfulness practice can lead to. But if you think that mindfulness practice is only about being mindful of the breathing, I don’t know that you’ll get there. And if you think the mindfulness practice only about stopping the thoughts so that you feel good you’re not going to get there either. So this is just an introduction and I know that it’s a lot and as I say it’s one of the main techniques that’s taught in the Theravāda tradition and they would spend quite a long time to even get up to these third and the fourth mindfulnesses.
But I thought my motivation was really to try and say ‘Look there’s so much hype about mindfulness, so much hype these days, then guys try and understand that mindfulness is more than what the hype is about. Know and that as a Buddhist if you wish to be a Buddhist and somebody says oh Buddhist you know it’s mindfulness then to be aware that it goes more than just being aware of the breathing. That was my motivation. But, Kay, when you say bodhicitta was clear mind, is that what you said? bodhicitta means clear mind.
No. bodhicitta is the altruistic mind. My god. The the the the based on great compassion. How can you have that if you don’t practice mindfulness?
What was the question? How can you have bodhicitta, the altruistic mind, if you don’t practice mindfulness? Mindfulness practice. Mindfulness practice. I mean, you will find, for example, in Śāntideva, my mate.
I love Śāntideva. Śāntideva also talks about these aspects of mind like the mindfulness and the alertness and the conscientiousness. He talks about how you need to have these qualities of mind in order to be able to cultivate and to nurture and to carry on the attitude of bodhicitta. So mindfulness must be part of the Mahāyāna path but the whole emphasis on mindfulness meditation is not in the Mahāyāna so strongly. So a lot of people that and these are not real practitioners okay they’re people that say I’m a Mahāyāna’ does anyone say that actually?
I don’t know if anyone says that but they maybe think I’m following the Mahāyāna path, the bodhicitta path. Mindfulness meditation is something that’s done in the Theravāda tradition and so it’s not something that I would do. Okay? Maybe some people think like that. But mindfulness is very much within the Mahāyāna path but the emphasis is not there.
The emphasis like it is in the Theravāda tradition. However this bodhicitta mindfulness is very important because the mindfulness of the bodhicitta motivation all the time that is what actually helps you to make the bodhicitta motivation familiar and reality rather than just words. So I think it’s very very powerful technique. Yes. Metta is like loving kindness and compassion and there is a difference between that and bodhicitta.
We talk about compassion. Love and compassion are a cause of bodhicitta but there’s something that is between love, compassion and bodhicitta and that is what we call a superior intention and that’s where you have the intention or the aspiration, the motivation to do what you can to be of benefit to others and just like we were saying yesterday in order to really be able to help others then you need to have developed your qualities of wisdom, compassion and skill. So with the metta kind of meditations that you find in the Theravadan tradition, there is definitely love and compassion. You know, I’m not saying they don’t have love and compassion, but the difference, what makes the difference between the Theravāda tradition and the Mahāyāna tradition is this superior intention to fulfil your potential, develop all of those qualities and the skills to be really able and to take the responsibility to be of benefit to others. There’s a difference.
That’s the difference. That’s what the Dalai Lama talks about with universal responsibility. You know? And he’s made it sound okay, not preachily, just be responsible. We understand that in the West.
Take responsibility for yourself and therefore an extension of that. That’s what I was talking about Thursday night, wasn’t it? Self responsibility? I talk so much. It’s hard to remember what I say at what time.
I’ve got to be careful. Alright. So our time’s up and certainly a lot longer than what we thought it would be today. Originally we thought Lindy had two o’clock. Right.
I thought we were out. That was very kind. So all I can really do is sort of give an introduction at this point and I always think that it’s like dangling the carrot to say, you know, is always so much more. We think we know something but there’s so much more, so much more involved. And so just like I have said to other classes, other talks we’ve given, know that if there’s something that is of benefit for you that you’ve heard this weekend, then please take it, use it, put it into practice.
If there’s some things that actually just can’t get your head around at the moment or just don’t sort of fit you, then don’t worry about them. Leave them on the back burner. You’ve got enough things to worry about. So I thank you all very very very very much for coming and I think let’s just take a couple of moments to kind of think wow okay we’ve really done something this weekend by being here together and being so patient and listening and trying to understand and trying to integrate into our lives. So this has created a lot of positive energy or merit or positive karma.
So rather than waste all of that, rather than let it just sort of disappear, we can dedicate it and it’s probably best to dedicate it to the highest possible aspiration, which is that we fulfill our potential for full awakening, for the fulfillment of all of our positive qualities, the state from which we are able to be of benefit for all beings. We could dedicate that through this positive energy may it be that whatever positive bodhicitta, compassionate mind that we have may that never decline but increase more and more. And we can think that through this positive energy may it be that any being who sees who touches us, who thinks of us, who hears us, even hears about us, may they be immediately released from all of their problems and suffering and attain the highest long lasting state of perfect peace and happiness. And we could also dedicate for the long lives of the great masters such as His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Very important that there are beings in this world who are peaceful, who are compassionate, who are kind, who are wise.
Very, very rare it is. So essential that they remain and continue to to be of benefit to guide. Okay. So thank you very much, and please be good. Make a difference.
Good. Bye. Just very quickly, I’d like to thank first of all everyone for coming and making the weekend a success. And thank you very much to Kay for presenting such a wonderful teaching, which is so rare to find someone to put together a teaching that you presented to us this weekend. I think it’s been wonderful.
I’ve learnt an awful lot and I think everyone’s really enjoyed that you’ve been in your presence and hearing the teachings. Thank you so kindly, I’d like to show the appreciation to Kay. Thank you all very much, it’s been a pleasure. I hope it’s so easy for you to return at some time. I’ll be here on Tuesday.
That’s coming around quickly. Thank you all very much. It’s actually been a delight as I said earlier in the week for me to be able to just speak English and not have to worry about will they understand that word?