Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 38-minute session, Ven Thubten Dondrub teaches a foundational Mahāmudrā meditation that uses the mind itself as the object of focus—a practice he describes as extremely difficult but essential to learning. He begins by explaining why understanding mind matters: it is formless, indestructible, and the root of all experience and suffering. He then guides practitioners through two practical approaches. The first uses the body as an entry point: you observe the physical form, then shift attention from the object (the body) to the subject (the knowing of the body), training awareness to catch the formless, space-like quality of mind itself. The second, more traditional method focuses on the gap between thoughts—that mere clarity where mind is most visible. Throughout, he weaves in a complete meditation session structure: nine-round breathing, visualization of the Buddha, generating compassionate motivation for all beings, step-by-step meditation instructions, and a closing dedication. Practical and grounded, suitable for those with some meditation experience.
File metadata (for organising)
File: How to Meditate Retreat 151213_PART2.mp3
UUID: b913d770-ebd2-412a-90c9-a6215af09ed0
Teacher: Ven Thubten Dondrub
Collection: DB How to Meditate (Ven Thubten Dondrub)
Date: 2014 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 37.8 minutes
Words: ~2,347
So in this session we’ll do a little meditation on looking at the mind itself. So I didn’t talk about this in this particular course. Those people who’ve done the mind and its potential course might remember this. So this is a meditation in the category of concentration where we’re taking as the object the mind our own mind as the object and trying to look at the nature of the mind. So in fact this meditation to be honest is very difficult to do extremely difficult to do.
But it’s really and this is it. This meditation is in the category of meditation called Mahāmudrā meditation. There are two levels of Mahāmudrā conventional and the ultimate. Firstly you look at the conventional nature of the mind which is that it’s clear and knowing and then when one is able to do that one moves on rapidly to the more advanced Mahāmudrā which is looking at the empty nature of the mind. So this meditation is really very important to learn to do.
So we can just play around with it a little bit. But I I personally think I mean, as some of you know, and I I try not to bore you and talk a long time now. But what attracted me, what you know I sort of fell into Buddhism by mistake but why I connected with it is because I always believed in that I had a mind and not just a brain and then I met Buddhism which said you’ve got a mind and it gave all these implications which I’d never ever ever thought about. But anyway, it’s one thing to believe you’ve got a mind but it’s another thing to try and directly experience it because it’s not something you can see, it’s formless. We’re aware of our thoughts but anyway which are a product of the mind, well an aspect of the mind but in this meditation we’re trying to get a sense of the mind as this something that does exist even though it’s formless like space.
And what this space like formless mind is doing is it’s knowing. It’s knowing things. So this is what we’re going to try and do. Look at the mind as use the mind to look at itself in a sense. And there are different ways of doing that and of course ideally in one session one should only do one of them but time is short so we’re going to try a couple.
And one what I think is an easy one to try and do is which is what I’ve done before and some people may remember where you try for example you take the body as an example. So the body is something quite different than the mind. It’s something completely physical. It’s got a shape. It’s got a color.
It occupies a particular dimension and place in space. Right? It weighs something, maybe more than what we want sometimes, but anyway. But how do we know we’ve got a mind? What know that we’ve got a body is our mind.
So what we try and do is firstly get a sense of our body and but then you try and become aware of what is experiencing the body, which is the mind. Because mainly, you know, like, you look at a glass, here is a glass, here is a watch. The mind is focused on the glass, on the watch, on the table, on another person, but you try and change the focus from the object to the subject which is the mind. Is knowing? There’s the glass but there’s the knowing of the glass.
The experiencing of the glass, the knowing of the glass is not the glass. Right? So we’re trying to focus on the knowing of the object not the object. First we start with the object, in this case the body, and then we sort of try and draw back and focus on what is knowing the body. Because there is something.
So that’s one way to do it. And another way, which is the more traditional way, this one this one I just made up, so that one. But the more traditional way is trying to observe and focus on and stay in that space between thoughts. You know, we have this ongoing stream of consciousness of thoughts, but there’s breaks between them where there are no thoughts, there’s just mind. And that’s like a more accurate aspect of the mind than the thoughts.
There is just that mere yeah. State of mind between thoughts. That’s more tricky to do. That’s why starting with the body is easier. Anyway, in case I if it all gets too confusing just breathe.
Or focus on the breath. I hope you are breathing just focus on the breath. Okay so for this all to try to work we have to prepare. So again we can sit comfortably in the correct posture as much as possible. Paying particular attention to the positioning of our spine and our head.
So then doing the nine round breathing exercise to establish a calm neutral mind. So now try to recognize right now that in this very moment, but in every moment of my existence, it is my mind that is experiencing everything, knowing everything. It is my mind that right now or depending on my mind, I have a sense of self. Depending on this mind, I’m experiencing this body. Depending on the mind, I’m experiencing my mind in this world.
Without the mind, nothing could exist. And with every moment of mind, every moment of experience, there is the experience of happiness or suffering. Understanding this, it’s obvious that if I want less suffering, more happiness, now and in the future, I have to work with my mind. There’s no other possibility. And if one starts to understand because the mind is not physical and because the mind is in fact formless, it is indestructible.
It will never come to an end. So, in order to work within my mind, I need a perfect method. That can only come from a perfect source, and that is the pure enlightened mind of the Buddha. So that’s why we entrust ourselves to the Buddha, the Buddha’s teachings, the great practitioners of those teachings. So a way to help us generate that state of mind, we think of the Buddha appearing directly in front of us, seated on a lotus, sun and moon with a hollow body of golden light.
We think of the Buddha as the embodiment of the Three Jewels of refuge. The embodiment of all our teachers of the past, present and future. Think the Buddha is appearing to remind us of our Buddha nature, encouraging us to realize it. At the same time, we think of all sentient beings surrounding us, trying to have that awareness that I’m intimately connected to all of them through their kindness. I’ve depended on them each and every sentient being countless times for every aspect of my existence.
There’s no way to understand, encompass kindness, the help, the support I’ve received from sentient beings in beginningless saṃsāra. But at the same time have a sense that, like myself, all these beings are trapped in cyclic existence. But unlike myself, most of them are experiencing far greater suffering than myself right now and with far less ability to do anything about their suffering at the moment. So I think that if I can free my mind of confusion, awaken my Buddha potential, then I’m in a position to really help them, to repay their kindness, helping them become free of suffering, helping them to realize their Buddha potential. So this is what I’m going to do.
Best thing for me, best thing for all sentient beings. Achieving enlightenment is all about understanding the mind. And so for this reason I’ll do this meditation. I go for refuge until I’m enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma, the supreme assembly. By my practice of giving and other perfections, may I become a Buddha to benefit all sentient beings.
So think the Buddha is very pleased with your motivation, and because of this, the Buddha now comes to the crown of one’s head, turning to face the same direction as oneself. So then from one’s own side make a heartfelt request to the Buddha for one’s mind to be free of all obstacles or hindrances to meditation in general and all hindrances to being able to recognize the conventional nature of one’s own mind. So think the Buddha happily responds to this request by sending a powerful stream of blissful white light and nectar from his heart down into us. And this causes all those hindrances to leave one’s mind in the form of black liquid. And that black liquid pours out from the lower part of your body dissipating, becoming completely non existent.
And your whole being is flooded with this blissful white light energy. Then think that spontaneously from the Buddha’s heart blissful golden light and nectar pours down into oneself, blessing one’s mind to be able to meditate correctly, single pointedly, so that one will be able to actually be able to directly perceive one’s mind and concentrate on it. So now having prepared the mind in this way, make strong determination that I’m going to be really focused for the rest of the session. I’m going to be really mindful in order to detect the different kinds of hindrances. I’m not going to give in to them.
I’ll let go of them immediately. I’m gonna put that effort in because this time is so special, so rare, so precious, so meaningful. I can’t waste it. I’ve dedicated it to all beings. So having prepared the mind, now just focus on your body in a very simple way.
Just observing it as this very solid physical phenomena. It’s occupying a particular position in space. It has a particular shape, dimension, weight, solidity. Just focus on those things. You don’t have to analyze them.
Just concentrate on that simple sense of your body as this physical entity. Experiencing different sensations, hot and cold, and so on. So now as you experience the body as this solid entity, try to get some sense that there is this process of knowing your body. There is your body sitting here, but there is the knowing of your body, the experiencing of your body. So try and see if you can get a sense of the difference.
There is the body and the knowing of the body. So then, try and change the focus away from your body to that which is knowing your body. Try and focus more, well, less on your body and more on the process of knowing your body. Your mind is that formless, non physical, space like experience that arises moment by moment of knowing the body. Just try and focus on that.
If that gets confusing or you lose the focus, go back to focusing on your body strongly for a while, and then, again, try and catch that sense of that which is knowing the body. What is knowing your body isn’t something physical. It has no shape, no color, no dimension. It is like space, formless. There is this formless process of knowing.
Try and focus on that. So now just consciously we change our object to focus on. We can probably all hear the sound of the air conditioner. So just for a little while, for a short time, just consciously focus on that sound. So that sound is being made by an electric physical machine.
The sound itself is something physical. Separate from me. So there is that sound. And then there is my mind knowing that sound. Or we could say the knowing of the sound is my mind.
There’s the sound and the knowing, the experiencing of it. That knowing, that experiencing is my mind. Try and focus on that. Don’t focus so much on the sound, but the knowing the experiencing of the sound. Check how that knowing, the experiencing of the sound, exists.
But that existence has no shape. Check. It has no color. It has no dimension, no weight. As you’re trying to do this exercise thoughts might be arising, oh this is too difficult, it’s very confusing, I don’t understand’ or this is very interesting’ So as those thoughts arise, also try to be aware there is the thought and the knowing of the thought.
Try and focus on the knowing of the thought. Try and focus on that space between the thoughts, that mere clarity, which is the mind. So bring the meditation to a conclusion by trying to make a strong determination to be more and more mindful in daily life, that underlying all one’s experiences of this and that, good and bad, the experience of the body, underlying the experience of even the most fundamental sense of self I have, underlying all that is mind. Mind is giving rise to all of it. And that mind is like space.
It’s it it is not physical and therefore indestructible. It will never end. Experience will always arise. So I have to use this precious time to ensure that the experiences that arise will be more and more in the nature of happiness and less and less in the nature of suffering. So then recall the Buddha on one’s crown.
Imagine the Buddha very pleased with your efforts. And the Buddha shows this by dissolving into blissful golden light so that that light can pour down into you, blessing your mind to be able to actually, at some point, directly perceive the mind itself. Through the merits of these virtuous actions, may I quickly attain the state of a Guru Buddha and lead all living beings without exception into that enlightened state. May the precious bodhicitta not yet born arise and grow. May that born have no decline but increase forevermore.