Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 40-minute teaching, Ven Margaret McAndrew opens with a striking analogy: how medical investigators approached the HIV crisis follows the exact logical sequence Buddha prescribed for investigating suffering, its causes, its cessation, and the path to freedom. She contextualizes the Hīnayāna foundations—identifying suffering, understanding its roots in ignorance and karma, working toward liberation—within the Mahāyāna goal of enlightenment and bodhicitta. She explains why Bodhisattvas must continually take rebirth to help others, unlike Arhats who achieve liberation but can remain in meditative peace indefinitely. The teaching then moves into technical mental training: how primary consciousness works with mental factors, the three poisons, and the eleven virtuous mental factors that must be cultivated to displace harmful ones. Pitched at practitioners with foundational dharma study.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 03 4NT 1999 07 08.mp3
UUID: da327bd2-800e-411f-8a16-f58faab9dda7
Teacher: Ven Margaret McAndrew
Collection: The Four Noble Truths (Ven Margaret McAndrew)
Date: 1999-07-08
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 39.9 minutes
Words: ~4,286
Yes. Well, it’s only a small point anyway, but I suppose it’s significant that we basically learn the four noble truths in the sequence that you investigate them. So first of all, as you say, you become aware of Dukkha or suffering and you identify the problem and then you start to look for a solution. And this is what Buddha himself did. As you all know the story, he was I told it last week anyway.
So you might remember it from last week. I think I told it last week, I certainly told it recently somewhere, that he was living in the palace and he became aware of the sufferings of old age sickness and death when he went out on his excursions from the palace. And these brought home to him the fact of suffering which he’d been protected from before by his father being very, very careful to shield him from all these distressing sights because his father didn’t want him to leave the palace. And of course that was what happened. But having become aware that these things had to afflict everybody, then he immediately, well not immediately, but before very long thought of leaving the palace.
Fortunately he did and so we had his teachings. He attained enlightenment. So essentially it was through becoming aware of suffering not just his own suffering but the suffering suffering of all others. And of course Buddha had been aware of that in previous lifetimes and so it was just reawakening an old concern of his when he did encounter these sights. We can say that other people encounter a lot of sites of suffering and it doesn’t necessarily trigger up any terribly deep thoughts in their minds unfortunately because we see things that happen like in Kosovo where people do terrible things to one another and seeing the suffering of other people doesn’t necessarily incite compassion.
But in other people it does and that’s because the sort of compassion has already been practiced. So in the case of Buddha, had been practiced for many lives and he went off to seek the solution and he tried different means and eventually attained enlightenment through meditating under the Bodhi tree. During this meditation he had insight and he essentially saw completely into all four of the noble truths. So, particularly the cause of suffering, the source of suffering. He understood while he was meditating and he saw also the cessation and he actually attained the cessation and he taught others how to attain cessation by following the path, so he also laid out the path.
And so that’s why you have it in this sort of reversed sequence in terms of what really happens. Because first of all, of course we have the cause of suffering and then suffering is produced, but that’s an ongoing process so we’re always experiencing suffering and we’re always creating cause. So in a sense it’s just continually happening. Also, Buddha explained the cessation of suffering before he explained the path, because we need to understand the fact of the cessation, the possibility of cessation of suffering before we are going to take an interest in the past. So it’s just the same as scientific research into something like HIV.
The medical scientists never thought of looking for the HIV virus until they began to be aware that there was this new disease around this thing that eventually came to be called AIDS. At first they didn’t realise that there was a new disease. There were a number of people who had isolated instances of diseases that couldn’t be identified, different kinds of cancers and so on that seemed unusual. At this stage the scientists weren’t aware of the problem. Eventually, because of observing a number of these cases, the awareness was created that they were looking at a new infectious disease.
Once they began to suspect that, then they began to investigate and became more assured that they were actually dealing with a new disease. Once they were convinced that they had a new disease then they’d identified the problem and their next step was to look for what was causing it. Through investigating the cause they have identified the HIV virus. Now what they are looking at is whether it’s possible to cure it, so they are still working on the third stage. If they do find a cure, already they have found some treatments that help, so when they come across a treatment, the next step that they have to do is work out how this has to be applied to the people who are going to take it, how this treatment is going to be taken.
So they work out a course of treatment, which is the fourth step. This is equivalent to what we’re doing here. So we have these four steps that we have to take and which Buddha himself took. So last week we were looking at suffering and we looked at meditating on different ways on suffering and the point was that this isn’t just to make ourselves feel miserable, but it’s to realize the situation that we’re in. We’re like a sick person.
If we have some sort of serious illness, that if we’re in denial about it, if we don’t recognize that we’re sick, if we try not to face the fact, then we won’t look for treatment. So we have to first of all look at our problem. And because we have the possibility of overcoming the problem and because the treatment or the path of practice is already laid out, then we need to It’s very beneficial for us to actually understand the situation that we’re in thoroughly. And this is particularly involved with renouncing cyclic existence. So at first we might be just concerned with avoiding the worst kinds of suffering in cyclic existence but we eventually have to get down to understanding that while we’re in cyclic existence our whole existence is still caught up with suffering.
We were talking about these things last week. So then the next step is understanding the situation. We have to look at what’s causing it. And we can see that we’re in this ongoing situation where we go from life to life. During these continual life to life experiences, we’re cycling.
We’re just going from birth to death and to another birth. During the course of all of these lives we’re encountering all these different problems. But they all add up to the one problem which is that we’re in Samsāra. And so what this term Samsāra or cyclic existence is a sort of shorthand way of referring to bondage to suffering existence. So that doesn’t mean that we’re always suffering in the ordinary sense of course.
Sometimes we’re happy but when we look at it from a higher viewpoint, from the point of view of the transformed consciousness that is possible, then we can see that even our ordinary happiness amounts to suffering. So what we have to do then is to really look at putting an end to this. So the next step is to investigate the causes. If we’re going to put an end to it, have to understand what’s bringing it about. All this definitely has causes.
Does anybody know how many causes there are? Don’t hesitate to give the others a tad’s hills. She’s holding up her fingers to let me know she knows how many there are. No, know you’re just counting. Okay, then I better let Hills tell us.
Yeah. Right. You can’t beat these school teachers, can you? Yes. Yeah.
Sure. That’s right. But the ignorance doesn’t create suffering by itself, but it creates suffering by by delusion and karma. It’s the delusion and karma that For instance, that Yes. Well, there’s different kinds of ignorance, but there are some beings who haven’t totally got rid of ignorance, they’ve stopped creating delusion and karma, so they don’t have unhappiness.
And in fact there are some beings who have more or less stopped creating bad karma, so for the time being they’re just experiencing good karma so Anyway, we can see how these things work so Anyway, when we talk about Meditating on suffering we first of all had to look at the suffering of the lower realms to inspire us to engage in virtuous practice to inspire ourselves to that sort of practice. But we also had to look at the sufferings of the general sufferings of saṃsāra including the suffering of the upper realms, the fortunate rebirth states, And also look at the fact that even while we’re in the fortunate upper rebirth states we’re not safe from falling back again. So we have to look at these different meditations that tell us that while we’re in Samsāra we’re not safe from suffering and in fact we’re always experiencing some kind of suffering even when we think we’re enjoying ourselves. So this is to inspire us to work not just for fortunate rebirth but for liberation. And this means developing renunciation of all of cyclic existence.
This is where the sort of renunciation comes in. Not being interested just in the good things of Samsāra, but understanding that real happiness is having done with Samsāra. So it doesn’t mean having to give up all the good things, but it means that we have to develop a really deep conviction that these things are not what gives us happiness. They can’t bring real happiness certainly they can’t bring us lasting happiness. We can see that easily enough.
We can see that happiness and pleasures are always uncertain and don’t last. They last for a while and then something comes along to disturb them. This is just common experience. We can see this. And if we check a little bit more deeply, we can also see that even when we’re happy, even when everything seems to be wonderful, that somehow it’s not perfect happiness.
There’s a lack of contentment there. We always feel some sort of dissatisfaction that still things are not quite perfect. We always feel some sort of nervousness because we know that it won’t last. We’re just expecting it to When everything is really good, that’s when we start to feel really uneasy because we know that it’s going to come to an end again. So, This is part of our situation.
So we have to set our sights on liberation. So We’re following the Mahāyāna tradition here so we have to actually set our sights on enlightenment, not just on liberation. Does anybody understand the distinction? Does anybody want to explain the distinction between liberation and enlightenment? Diana?
Uh-huh. Mhmm. Liberation is fine, terrific. Yes. But anyway, we’re following the Mahāyāna teachers here.
They tell us to go for enlightenment. Now why is it in Buddhahood? Yes? Okay, right. Do you have any idea what is particularly special about it? Can’t I have three others?
Why? Okay. Well, what does liberation mean? What are we liberated from? Okay, an Arhat is somebody who is liberated, who is out of Samsāra.
An arahat is not in saṃsāra. So can an arahat liberate others? But the arhat has gone all the way to achieving all these different stages of the path of liberation. Surely they can teach somebody else how to do that. Why do I have So they haven’t generated a bodhicitta that’s right.
So but they’ve gone all the way to liberation. They’ve got out of KunTara and they must have gained the knowledge by doing that to show others the way. They have a great understanding of emptiness, the two truths, the realisation. What’s the difference between Arhats and Bodhisattvas? Oh, that’s sort of a backwards answer.
Yes. So what does when he generates bodhicitta, he or she, what what are they what does that mean? Good, yeah, brilliant. So the point is that the arhat is in a position where they can’t help people. But that doesn’t mean they can’t help anybody.
They can help some people but it’s limited. Because they die, you know, I mean, an Arhat who has achieved Arhatship is in a position of being able to teach others, but sometimes they don’t even bother to teach others, sometimes they just sort of go off into a cave and meditate and might stay there for eons and eons before they eventually sort of pass out of their body. Sometimes when they do pass out of their body they just then they really can’t help others. Because they are in the blissful peace of nirvana and because they hadn’t cultivated bodhicitta, there’s nothing to bring them back. So we’re brought back by force of disturbing mental states, I’ll say disturbing mental states not delusions, by the force of disturbing mental states and karma, we’re brought back again and again to rebirth by grasping at rebirth.
Now, the The Arhat has given up this grasping and has overcome the deluded mental states, the deluded mental states. And the Arhat is not under the power of karma. So the Arhat doesn’t have to take birth. And so there’s nothing to compel the Arhat to come back into all this suffering. Why would they?
To them, it’s just something horrible that they’ve left behind and they remain in this blissful peace of meditation. There’s just no way that they would want to get reborn again. For the Bodhisattva This gets very complicated because there are Bodhisattvas and Bodhisattvas. A Bodhisattva has developed this tremendous compassion and at the beginning when they first developed that tremendous It’s not only just love and compassion, but it’s also the thought of working for full enlightenment. So the Buddha has gone further than the arhat because the Buddha has actually attained omniscience, has attained all these special qualities, has reached a much higher state.
And the Bodhisattva intends to work for that. So that means having to continue to work for life after life, not just remaining in nirvana. So, a Bodhisattva who first of all develops bodhicitta would still not have the capacity to enter nirvana. But they keep on working and eventually they gain these higher realizations. But when they do get to the point where they have that capacity, at that point we call them a higher Bodhisattva.
These higher Bodhisattvas still keep on coming back and taking rebirth again and again to help others. Particularly because they want to attain full enlightenment. And in order to do that they have to keep on coming back again and again. If they were to stay stuck in nirvana, then they wouldn’t be getting rid of these subtle obscurations.
It’s only by coming back again and again that they can get rid of these subtle obscurations that interfere with complete Buddhahood. Like, well, when they get to this point that they’re free from karma. karma is what causes Samsāra. So once you get out of Samsāra, you’re not under the power of karma. Whatever karma they might have created in the past, it’s all finished with.
They have had what’s called virtuous action, which is not not just ordinary virtuous karma, but it’s a special kind of karma which isn’t really karma. So anyway, is this clear? Yes. So they have so they’ve got rid of all these gross disturbances which prevent liberation, but there’s still some subtle things to be overcome which the arhats don’t bother to deal with because they’re only concerned with liberation. It’s only the bodhisattva who needs to obtain the omniscient mind and these great powers so on that the Buddhas have who keeps on working on these things.
Anyway, this is a bit off the track, but we have to try to attain this state of this sort of bodhicitta, this motivation of bodhicitta. We have to generate bodhicitta by practicing the different meditations on that. And so we can practice these understandings of the four noble truths with this Mahāyāna thought. But essentially these four noble truths belong to the Hīnayāna aspect of the teachings. So we’re going through these teachings on the Four Noble Truths, won’t be talking about enlightenment as such.
We’ll be talking about liberation because they belong to that part of the path which in terms of the three scopes is particularly concerned with the intermediate scope. We’re looking at the origin of the true origin or the true cause of suffering and It has four aspects as we went through suffering last week suffering had four aspects. So the cause of suffering also has four aspects So those are cause of suffering, source of suffering, circumstances of suffering and strong development of suffering. But as Hilary has told us, there are two causes which are karma and the disturbing mental states. And these two go together.
They work together. It’s like a piece of machinery. So When we look at the At our consciousness, these things work through our consciousness. When we’re talking about our consciousness, we can look at it from the aspect of how the different aspects of the mind work and it’s divided into primary minds and mental factors.
So, when we’re looking at these things, it’s helpful to understand these technical aspects of the mind a little bit and The primary minds can be divided into correct and incorrect understandings, but each of these primary minds has to do with a particular perception or cognition cognition and these cognitions can either be correct or incorrect. So the primary mind holds a perception as a whole and the mental factors have to do with different aspects of that perception. So you have a primary mind or a primary consciousness and that goes along with a number of different mental factors. So there are some I think there’s fifty one factors altogether and they’re divided into different categories and I’m not going to go through all of them tonight, so don’t worry. But there are some mental factors for instance that are present with every primary mind or every primary consciousness.
And there’s five of these. You’ll always find these five every time. And there are others which are only present with certain primary minds. And some of these are and then some of these primary some of these mental factors are virtuous and some are non virtuous. So the the primary minds by themselves would be neutral.
So there there are six different kinds of primary consciousness. Does anybody remember what they are by any chance? Has anybody studied this? That’s right. Yes.
So all the primary consciousness fall into one of those six categories and five of them are concerned with the physical sense perceptions. I mean this is just one way of looking at consciousness. There’s other ways you could look at consciousness, but this is one way that’s been found to be very helpful is to analyze this way. And We have conscious consciousnesses which are either sense perceptions or mental perceptions mental cognitions These are all associated with these various mental factors which have a lot of influence on the primary consciousness and in particular the virtuous and non virtuous mental factors determine whether our so they they actually color the whole primary consciousness so that they add their quality to the the primary consciousness. So it’s these mental factors that we’re concerned with.
They actually coexist together with the primary consciousness and they’re actually like an aspect or a part of that primary consciousness. We can only have one or the other at the same time. We can’t have both together in the same primary consciousness. They’re contradicted to each other. They’re antagonistic.
And this is an important point because if we want to get rid of the non virtuous ones, then we have to cultivate the virtuous ones. And the non virtuous ones are the cause of our sufferings, so they’re the ones that we have to get rid of. And if we cultivate the virtuous ones then it doesn’t leave any space for the non virtuous ones. It’s not enough to just try to not have the non virtuous ones and be somehow neutral. Need to somehow squeeze them out by having virtuous mental factors.
So for example, some of the non virtuous factors that might be associated with a primary cognition could be such things as anger or pride. These are all mental factors. So in general, say that there are three harmful states of mind, the three poisons. Does anybody remember what they are? How about somebody who doesn’t usually answer all the questions?
You’d probably remember these. Yes? Right. Yes. Okay, right.
Yeah. So there’s attachment. Right. Is this anger or hatred? Well, yes.
I suppose it’s neutral in terms of attachment and aversion, but it’s still harmful. Yes, so these three anyway are the three poisons and but we’re looking at in more detail here. So there are We can say that there are six major non virtuous mental factors and twenty secondary. So here when we talk about the major ones, we’re not talking about primary minds. They’re mental factors, but they’re just divided into the six major categories and then there’s the twenty secondary categories.
Even these, I mean, there’s actually eighty four thousand. But you can count them as not all of them. So we’re looking at these and there’s also eleven virtuous mental factors. So we’ll actually go through the eleven virtuous mental factors first. So first of all, we need to know that these things are really important.
It’s really good to know what the positive ones are so we can develop them. We don’t want to be always just looking at the non virtuous ones and then we just end up thinking that we haven’t got any hope. So we need to know that we’ve actually got — if you just look at the major ones, we’ve actually got more virtuous ones than the major non-virtues, but then when you start to look at all the minor non virtues, they start to outnumber them pretty considerably. So the first one is faith and this is faith in such things as the Three Jewels. And so we need to have three there are three kinds of faith that we need to have. The first one is admiring faith and this is in things like the Three Jewels and the teachings on karma and on emptiness and so on, particularly on cause and effect on karma because that’s the one that we’re concerned with, the one that does us the most harm if we don’t understand it.
So we need to have this admiring faith in the Three Jewels by seeing their good qualities. And we might just start off with having this admiring faith. This is how we begin to have faith. The second one is believing faith. As we understand more deeply then we gain more conviction.
So our conviction has to be based on understanding. Admiring faith isn’t based on so much understanding. And so it’s not as strong. But as we develop more and more understanding through our practice and our studies and meditation. We develop this conviction through experience, through having cultivated the path ourselves.
And the third one is aspiring faith. And This is the faith that we can attain this virtuous goal For instance true cessation is what we’re concerned with here So these are the three kinds of faith and Faith is very important in Buddhism But we have to understand that when we’re talking about faith, we’re not talking about blind faith — we’re talking about understanding faith and we need this faith to grow stronger and stronger through through our examination and analysis. We’re not expected to take anything as they say, on faith without understanding in Buddhism. We have to understand and we have to, through our own examination, bring about a conviction of the correctness of this teaching, of this assertion so It’s considered that faith that just accepts something without examining, without questioning is pretty shaky. The moment you do experience some sort of question, then you’re going to have doubts.
So we have to overcome all our doubts and faith is what overcomes doubts. So the second one is does anybody want to ask any questions? The second one you’re getting a bit squawky, ain’t I? The second one is moral shame and this is an attitude that avoids non virtue through self restraint So it’s an inward looking attitude that Basically doesn’t want to do unworthy actions so it avoids non virtue through one’s own wish to maintain your own self respect The third one is Consideration or sometimes it’s called embarrassment. I think consideration is better And this is similar to shame except that it’s concerned with the opinion of others.
So it’s the mental factor, the virtuous mental factor that causes us to avoid non virtuous actions through consideration of the opinion of others. So of course this would have to be people who have a good attitude, who understand the difference between virtue and non virtue If we consider everybody’s opinion then we can get led into wrong action through listening to people who will try to lead us into doing actions that are not good. So this is particularly concerned with virtue. Any questions? The fourth one is non attachment and this is non attachment to samsaric existence or to the pleasures and good things of samsaric existence by seeing their faults.
Can we be attached to Dharma practice? Why? Why? Yes. Why no.