Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 98-minute afternoon retreat session, Venerable Thubten Dondrub guides practitioners through three guided meditations on the mind’s capacity for happiness and its potential for awakening. The first meditation examines the inner sources of suffering—particularly afflicted desire, anger, and other disturbing thoughts—showing how these mental states distort reality and destroy peace regardless of external conditions. The second shifts focus to the actual sources of happiness, exploring how positive qualities like generosity, loving-kindness, compassion, and concentration naturally arise when we stop reinforcing a false sense of self and look inward rather than chasing external satisfactions. The final meditation contemplates the rarity and preciousness of human birth: the eight freedoms from extreme obstacles and the ten conditions that make Dharma practice possible, concluding with determination to use this rebirth meaningfully. Throughout, the teacher emphasises practical mindfulness techniques for detecting mental hindrances during practice and invoking the Buddha’s blessing to clear them. Suited to both newcomers and established practitioners.
File metadata (for organising)
File: Mind and its potential Retreat PM.mp3
UUID: 2e00d20a-8a3b-46ab-b3a4-ec28b2499c9b
Teacher: Ven Thubten Dondrub
Collection: DB Mind and its Potential 2017-18 (Ven Thubten Dondrub)
Date: 2017 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 98.4 minutes
Words: ~4,337
Right. So now we’re gonna meditate on so we’ll just have a half hour session. Yes. Then we’ll take a short break. So we’ll do a little meditation on the mind’s potential for happiness.
So again we can begin by sitting comfortably in the correct posture as much as possible. Paying particular attention to the positioning of our spine and upper body and the placing of our head so it’s not tilted down too much or lifted too high. Just spend a little time checking your posture. Just posture. And then just calm the mind by doing the nine round breathing exercise just for a short time.
And it could be helpful to combine it with each in breath breathing in with this very calming, peaceful white light. And with each out breath breathing out all one’s negativities, agitation and so on in the form of very thick black smoke. It completely disappears. So then if one feels comfortable to do so, then we visualise in front of us the Buddha seated on the lion throne or the lotus, sun and moon, as our source of refuge, inspiration and guidance. Think of all sentient beings surrounding oneself.
And as one thinks of all these beings surrounding yourself, being aware that all of these beings are not only kind but only suffering. So generates a thought that no matter what I must use this and all my future lives to work to benefit sentient beings. So that means getting rid of all my disturbing thoughts, cultivating all my positive qualities until enlightenment is achieved. So to do this I really need to understand my mind, recognise all the sources of suffering within it in order to be able to overcome them so that one is free to fully awaken one’s Buddha nature, one’s Buddha potential. So for that reason I’ll do this practice.
I go for refuge until I’m enlightened to the Buddha, Dharma, and the Supreme Assembly. By my merit of giving and other perfections, may I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings. So think that the Buddha is very pleased with your motivation and shows this by now coming to the crown of one’s head. And when directly above our crown the Buddha turns facing the same direction as ourself and remains above our crown for the rest of our session, continuously blessing our mind. So then make a strong determination to be really mindful for the rest of the session in order to detect any hindrance to being able to do the practice.
So such as the mind becoming dull or sleepy or on the other hand becoming agitated and distracted. So as soon as you detect any of those hindrances, be determined to let go of them in whatever way one can. And one way to do this is to remember the Buddha on one’s crown and think the Buddha is sending this very blissful powerful white light to eliminate whatever hindrance is occurring. And after that one then brings the mind back to focusing on the topic. So we can begin by reflecting that what we as ordinary beings normally think of as the causes of our suffering are in fact the conditions for suffering.
So many outer factors act as conditions for suffering. But what we need to reflect on now, just to consider for some time, is that if there didn’t exist within our mind the potential for suffering, then none of these outer conditions would affect us. So then we can look into what are the inner sources of suffering within our mind? What are the factors within our own mind that bring about suffering, that cause suffering? So consider that one of the factors, one of the most important factors is our own tendency to, for afflicted desire, for craving after things.
So the very nature of afflicted desire is that it disturbs the peace of the mind. Every time it arises, it disturbs the mind. There is suffering and confusion. So let’s look a little bit into the nature of afflicted desire. So what distinguishes it from ordinary desire that is not, that doesn’t bring, that doesn’t disturb the mind, that doesn’t bring suffering, is that the object of afflicted desire is always a contaminated phenomena.
That is just an ordinary object that is existing in the world. And the nature of afflicted desire is that it exaggerates the conventionally pleasant aspect of some ordinary object, a person, an object, an idea. There’s some ordinary thing existing, conventionally it may be pleasant in some way, but afflicted desire completely exaggerates that pleasant aspect. And on top of that, afflicted desire creates the illusion that this object, whatever it is, is somehow unchanging and permanent, will always be like that. That will always produce pleasure or happiness.
So afflicted desire craves this. Whatever relative satisfaction, peace that was existing in the mind prior to the arising of afflicted desire is destroyed. And now, when there is desire, there is dissatisfaction. There is craving for something. Whatever contentment is now discontentment.
And reflect how one’s own afflicted desire gets compounded by the disturbing thought of attachment, where one finds it incredibly painful to separate from the object of desire. And there’s the fear of losing the object of desire, the fear of not obtaining it. And there’s the subtle suffering of becoming dependent on something that one did not depend on before. So then consider how not only is the affliction of desire and attachment suffering in the moment, it creates an imprint to experience that same desire over and over again. And in addition, under the control of desire attachment, we can engage in all sorts of negative actions that bring more suffering in this life, generate negative karmic imprints that can only ripen as more suffering in the future.
And also consider how the more we follow a desire and attachment, this compounds our suffering because desire is always telling us that happiness exists external to ourselves, in other people and possessions and so on. So the more desire and attachment we have, the less able we’re able to look inwards to discover the real source of happiness. And because because we don’t look inwards for happiness, we remain suffering. And because we’re suffering, we get caught up in more desire believing that will lead us to happiness. So then consider how because of afflicted desire and attachment, we also have anger.
And the nature of anger is it exaggerates the unpleasant qualities of things. The more desire we have for something, the more we’re attached to something, the more we have the potential to experience the suffering of anger. And that anger also makes the mistake of believing, creating the illusion that this unpleasant thing will always or personal situation will always be like that. It will never change. So it becomes unbearable.
So the mind can’t bear that, can’t stand it. And the anger erupts, completely disturbs whatever peace of mind exists. Just consider that we get angry as a way to protect ourselves, to preserve our peace, our happiness, and the things around us which we believe are necessary for our peace and happiness. But the moment anger arises, whatever peace or happiness exists in the mind is destroyed. We blame the outer enemy or the outer bad condition for our loss of peace and happiness.
But actually, it’s our own anger that destroyed it. So consider how all our other disturbing thoughts such as pride and jealousy act in similar ways. As soon as they arise, they disturb the mind, destroy our peace, our happiness. And all our disturbing thoughts prevent us seeing things clearly. We have a distorted view of reality through the eyes of these different disturbing thoughts.
And because of not seeing things clearly, we react in false ways and create more suffering. Bring the meditation to a conclusion by making a strong determination to be more and more mindful in daily life. Not to put the blame on the outer conditions, but on the inner cause, our own mind. And to be more and more mindful that if we want less suffering, less confusion in our life, more peace and happiness, then I really have to take care of my mind. So then recall the Buddha in one’s crown, imagining the Buddha very pleased.
Because of that, the Buddha dissolves into blissful golden light that pours down into you, blessing your mind. But especially blessing the mind to be able to subdue the disturbing thoughts. And then we can dedicate the merit. 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 mind. May the precious bodhicitta not yet born, arise and grow.
May that born have no decline but increase forevermore. May the precious bodhicitta not yet born arise and grow. May that born have no decline but increase forevermore. So we’ll start again a quarter past two. So again, we can begin by sitting comfortably in the correct posture as much as possible.
Just briefly checking our posture. And then thinking of Śākyamūni Buddha appearing directly in front of oneself as one source of inspiration, guidance and refuge. At the same time imagining all kind suffering mother sentient beings surrounding oneself, starting with one’s parents on either side. And then just briefly do the nine round breathing exercise, just to allow the mind to become a little bit calmer, more clear, more concentrated. So then as much as possible generating a strong motivation for doing the practice, recognising how important it is to work with one’s mind, not only for one’s own sake but especially so that one reaches a point where one no longer causes harm to sentient beings but can be a vast benefit to them.
So generating the mind, wanting to do that, wanting to repay the kindness of mother sentient beings. Shog. I go for refuge until I’m enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma, and supreme assembly. By my merit of giving and other perfections, may I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings. Think the Buddha’s pleased with your motivation to benefit others and shows this by now coming to the crown of one’s head, and when directly above our crown the Buddha turns to face the same direction as our self and remains there for the rest of the session, continuously blessing our mind.
So we can begin by reflecting that although there are many outer conditions for happiness, again, if they did not exist within our mind the potential for happiness, none of these outer conditions could produce happiness within us. And also consider that when the outer conditions for happiness arise, at the moment, for the obscured mind. Happiness arises within our mind when the outer conditions for happiness are present. But when they’re not present, that happiness fades away. So the outer conditions for so called happiness produce only a very temporary happiness, not genuine lasting experienced happiness, not dependent on any external factor.
And we can develop some faith in the truth of this by considering that when we train the mind in concentration, then the mind becomes calmer and clearer, more peaceful, more joyful. And this is not because we’ve added something to the mind, but in fact we’ve allowed all this unnecessary confusion, agitation to decline, to fade away. So we begin to experience the true nature of the mind, the natural bliss of the mind that can go on and on forever, not depending on anything external. So just as our, all our suffering comes from our disturbing thoughts which are false ways of knowing and experiencing, coming from the fundamental confusion of ignorance. So all our happiness comes from when the positive mental factors are operating in our mind.
Because all these virtuous or positive mental factors are all reflections of the true nature of our mind, that true blissful clear nature of mind. So consider that what the Buddha is teaching us is that the real source of happiness doesn’t come from trying to accumulate stuff, possessions and money and so on, but for example, in generating the mind of generosity, where the mind, the heart is opening to others. That mind wanting others to be happy is the key to our own happiness. Just consider how the mind always wanting stuff for ourselves is that mind craving for things is a dissatisfied mind, a mind that feels that I don’t have enough. Whereas the mind of generosity feels there is an abundance that can be given away.
So it’s in cultivating a mind of generosity that is the basis of happiness. When we get caught up in our own desperate need to be happy, somehow our heart becomes very cold and hard. We create a very small world that we’re the center of. But when we cultivate loving kindness, then our heart opens and we can feel connected to more and more beings. Rather than being alienated, we feel connected.
And again, rather than that sense of me needing something with developing loving kindness, there is a sense that one has something to give. And there is that satisfaction, that contentment that comes from that. Due to our own self-cherishing, when we experience suffering we find it unbearable and we sort of lash out and get angry and so on. But if we cultivate compassion, this enables us to be able to bear suffering. It gives us courage and hope.
Because of all our disturbing thoughts, the confused mind is not able to stay on any object very long, is not able to really experience it correctly. But when we cultivate the mind of concentration, the ability to concentrate, our mind becomes very calm, very clear. We’re able to fully appreciate whatever we’re experiencing, fully engage with it. And the Buddha discovered that the very source of all our suffering, the root source of all our suffering is our ignorance, creating this false sense of ‘I’, this strong ego sense. Whereas all the positive qualities that we cultivate weaken that sense of ‘I’, undermine it.
Practicing generosity, loving kindness, compassion, patience, concentration, they all put the focus away from reinforcing this wrong view of self. So naturally, when those positive minds arise, there is more peace, more contentment, more satisfaction. So we bring this meditation to a conclusion by making that strong determination to be more and more mindful in daily life, that the real source of happiness lies within our own mind, not in external factors. So we need to be more mindful to put more effort into cultivating those positive potentials rather than chasing after external sources of happiness. So if people would just like to take a very short break, a couple of minutes, if you’d like to stand up, stretch or something on mind and its potential is that technically this meditation has got nothing to do with the mind in one sense.
But the reason it’s put here I suppose is because when we recognise that we have a precious human rebirth, we can recognize that we have the optimum chance to work with our mind. We have this wonderful mind which has Buddha nature, but most people don’t even know they’ve got a mind. Yeah, they don’t they think they’ve just got a brain but not a mind. And even if they think they’ve got a mind, most people are unaware that that mind is the source of all happiness and suffering and that that mind has Buddha potential. So and it’s with a precious human rebirth that not only can we discover our mind but we have the freedom to work with our mind because in most situations there’s either too much suffering or too much distraction and so on.
So it’s really important to try to recognise that we have the precious human rebirth and the great meaning of it and how incredibly rare it is. So we’ll just do a quick meditation on that to conclude today. So we can begin by sitting comfortably in the correct posture as much as possible. And just briefly checking our posture. Then doing the nine round breathing exercise.
So then as we visualize the Buddha in front of us and all sentient beings surrounding us, we can generate as much as possible the bodhicitta motivation, wanting to be of vast benefit to sentient beings, wanting to repay their incredible kindness that we’ve received life after life. So we visualize the Buddha in front, all sentient beings surrounding us. I go for refuge until I am enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma, the Supreme Assembly. By my merit of giving and other perfections, may I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings. So think the Buddha now comes to the crown of one’s head, turning to face the same direction and remaining there for the rest of the session, constantly blessing one’s mind.
And make strong determination to be mindful throughout the session in order to detect any hindrances to meditating such as the mind becoming dull, or distracted. So as soon as one detects those hindrances, letting go of them in whatever way one can, such as remembering the Buddha on one’s crown, sending blissful white light to eliminate the hindrance. So now we can begin by firstly recognising that we have the eight freedoms that is part of determining that we have a precious human rebirth, a perfect optimum human rebirth. That in our immediate past life when we died we could have been born in any one of the lower realms as an animal in the hungry ghost realm, in the hell realms, where there’s such immense suffering. Or we could have been born in the God realms where there is a lot of pleasure, but the mind is distracted by that pleasure.
There’s no sense that one needs to take care of the mind. So just try to recognise strongly how fortunate it is that I wasn’t reborn in any of those non human realms. And because I wasn’t born in them, I’m free of these such major obstacles obstacles to working with the mind, becoming free of suffering. And try to recognize that that freedom that what I have now, free of those great obstacles, is not going to last. This life is very short.
So I can’t waste that freedom, that precious freedom, doing meaningless or negative things. I have to take care of my mind while I’ve got the chance. And also consider that even though I’ve been born in the human realm, I could have been born as a human in the really barbaric places where there’s so much brutality, violence, war, crime, where religion of any kind hardly exists or has been repressed, suppressed or is kind of completely looked down upon. I could have been born with very serious physical difficulties, mental problems. Could have been born holding on to extremely wrong views, not having a mind open to the possibility of any kind of future existence beyond this life.
I could have been born in the dark periods where the Buddhas haven’t appeared at all. In all those situations, even if I had strong imprints of the Dharma from past lives, no conditions existing to awaken those imprints. I would have been born in places where situations would have been so difficult. But that didn’t happen. So I’m free of those incredible obstacles.
So try and get a sense of how incredibly fortunate that is, how lucky I am. How can I waste that precious freedom? Because if I waste it, won’t be able to I will not be creating the cause to experience that freedom in the future. So then consider that not only am I incredibly fortunate in having escaped the greatest obstacles to working with my mind practicing the Dharma. I need to recognize that I’ve been born in a situation with all the encouraging factors that make it as easy as possible to work with my mind.
So I’ve been born a human being with a human intelligence, the ability to understand the dharma, the ability to recognize the actual causes of suffering, the real causes of happiness. And I’ve been born in a place where it’s been possible to meet the Dharma. And I’ve been born with a basically healthy body and mind so that I can actually practice. And in this life, I haven’t created any really extreme negative actions that really obscure the mind really heavily. And most important of all, not only have I come in contact with the Dharma, but hopefully I’ve developed faith in it.
And in addition, I’ve been born in a at a time when the Buddhas have appeared and taught the Dharma. And I’ve been born at a time when the teachings still exist, as a living tradition and that there are still great masters of these teachings whom I can meet, be guided by. And the Sangha community exists, preserving the teachings, teachings. And I’ve come in contact with like minded people interested in the spiritual life, in the Dharma, who can help me in all sorts of ways. So I need to recognise how incredibly fortunate it is to have such a rebirth where all these factors have come together.
I take it for granted, but actually it’s something extremely rare to occur. And then try to recognize what incredibly meaningful things I can do with this precious human rebirth. When I’ve got the eight freedoms and all the ten encouraging factors. Any short term temporary spiritual goal I wish to achieve, I can do it with this precious human rebirth. I can develop if I want to be more kind, compassionate, generous, I accomplish these things because I’m free of the greatest obstacles, have all the encouraging factors, particularly having met the dharma with all the methods.
Whatever aspect of the dharma I’m interested in, I can study it. There’s nothing stopping me. Only my failure to recognize what I can do and my own spiritual laziness. And especially with this precious human rebirth, I can definitely create the causes for a good rebirth so I can continue to follow the path to enlightenment. But I have to recognise this and take advantage of it.
But even more importantly, with this precious human rebirth, I can create the causes to become totally free of suffering, to completely escape forever from cyclic existence. And even more than that, with this precious human rebirth, I can achieve enlightenment. And because of all the freedom I have and all the encouraging factors, it means that I can make every moment of my life meaningful. I can use my body, speech and mind in so many ways to make my life meaningful, to make my life beneficial for myself and others. But I have to realize this, I have to recognize this and take advantage of it.
Because at this freedom, this opportunity is not going to last. And what will motivate us to use this precious human rebirth in the right way even more is recognising how incredibly rare it is to have a precious human rebirth. Because the causes are so incredibly difficult to create. It has taken us many, many lifetimes to create the cause for this life. Because one needs to practice pure morality and pure generosity and make very strong sincere prayers to achieve a precious human rebirth.
Just honestly check-in this life where we have such good conditions, how often do we practice pure morality, pure generosity? How often do we make heartfelt prayers, dedications to achieve a precious human rebirth again. For every human or every ordinary human being on this planet, there are millions of sentient beings trapped in the animal realm. As insects or as birds or fish or other kinds of animals. Is it because it’s so easy to create the negative cause to be born an animal?
So difficult to create the virtuous causes to be born a human being, any human being. So then among human beings, so few human beings have all the eight freedoms and ten endowments. So it’s like a miracle that I have the precious human rebirth. So how can I waste it? Doing meaningless things or engaging in negative actions.
So bring the meditation to a conclusion by making strong determination to be more and more mindful every day, especially from the moment one wakes, that I have a precious human rebirth, which is so amazingly rare and so incredibly meaningful. So I have to take the essence of this precious human rebirth, make it as meaningful as possible for myself and others by taking care of the mind. Purifying the mind, cultivating the mind. So think recall the Buddha on one’s crown, thinking the Buddha is very pleased with one’s practice for the whole day. Because of that the Buddha dissolves into blissful golden light that pours down into us, blessing our mind to be able to realize that we have this precious human rebirth, to realize we have Buddha nature, blessing our mind to realize that with this precious human rebirth, we can awaken that Buddha nature.
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. May the precious right view not yet born arise and grow. May that born have no decline, but increase forevermore.
Right. Okay. So this is the graduation certificate ceremony. Margaret, Roni, this is the amazing certificate. By the way, it’s a certificate of participation.