Automated transcript, not yet checked by a person; report an error.
Words the recogniser was unsure of are underlined with dots. Use “Report an error” beside any passage to tell us what the teacher actually says.
Key passages
The teacher's own words, quoted from the transcript below and chosen automatically as representative.
- 6:11
So much of our lives is spent in a longing and a search for what we do not know. So many of our ostensible goals, so many of the things we think we want, turn out to be the masks behind which our real desires hide. They are symbols for the actual values and qualities for which we hunger. They are not reducible to a physical or material thing. Not even to a physical person. There are psychological qualities. Love, truth, honesty, loyalty, purpose. Something we can feel is noble, precious and worthy of our devotion.
- 6:53
We try to reduce all this to something physical. A house, a car, a better job or a human being, but it doesn't work. Without realizing it, we are searching for the sacred. And the sacred is not reducible to anything else.
- 8:13
This is part of an overall series of talks which was called the Seven Point Mind Training. It's typically an area of Buddhist practice. But I don't think we're not trying to be particularly Buddhist.
- 55:12
Train in the three difficult points. Train in three difficult points. I think you could almost call them train in three challenges. So the author of this text, the seven-point mind training where these daily advices are coming from, is Geshe Chakao. Geshe Chakao is pointing out that there are three particular challenges in working with afflicted emotions. So when he's talking about train in three difficult points, he's saying that there are three particular challenges in working with afflictive emotions.
- 1:02:30
On Monday night we recite these four immeasurables. Immeasurable love, immeasurable compassion, immeasurable empathetic joy and immeasurable equanimity. May all sentient beings be happy and have the causes of happiness and so forth. So these are four really significant positive states of mind, really valuable qualities to cultivate.
Transcript
0:03 Thank you. And then we'll begin to look at some of these. Report an error in the passage at 0:03
0:09 basis for daily life. Okay, my advice is to... Report an error in the passage at 0:09
0:20 that okay? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 0:20
0:27 I think some of it not too loud. Report an error in the passage at 0:27
0:39 afraid to hear my own voice. Report an error in the passage at 0:39
0:48 And some of you have heard this. was thinking about this quote on the way over here, driving over, and just to, of you have heard it before, but I thought just like to read it again. Report an error in the passage at 0:48
1:03 think it has, I find it meaningful for myself. It's a quote by... American union analyst by the name of Robert Johnson. Report an error in the passage at 1:03
1:23 I think it helps us to reorientate ourselves. In our daily life, we can get out of touch. We can begin to place too much emphasis maybe on areas which aren't able to bring us what we're really looking for. I think to a large extent, most of the people, most of the time, they don't quite know what they're looking for, but they're willing to go through hell to get there. Report an error in the passage at 1:23
1:56 you know. And quite often, I think, you know, it's said that there are two tragedies, two basic tragedies in life. One of them is not getting what you want and the other is getting what you want. And, you know, what this has to say to me is that quite often when we get exactly what we have been struggling for, it turns out to be not what we're really looking for after all. Report an error in the passage at 1:56
2:30 Sometimes we get caught up in a momentum where we have our conceptions about the good life kind of, we're indoctrinated by what's going on about us and the standards of our particular peer group, wherever we find ourselves or situation we're in, and we adopt their goals and their values. and think well that's Report an error in the passage at 2:30
3:00 That's what I want to get. I remember, you know, this is before your time. You were just probably not even born yet, but when I was young. Report an error in the passage at 3:00
3:12 And this is back in the 60s. Maybe in the 50s. You know, there was this talk about, you know, the war was over. And there was a talk about better health through pharmacies, through drugs. And they thought we're going to cure everything. Report an error in the passage at 3:12
3:35 life and you just have the right number of kids you know you have two kids one and a half dogs you know three quarters of a you know one and three quarters of a car yeah if you do the right things you go to the right university get the right job marry the right you're going to that's there's a formula i think then i think many people Report an error in the passage at 3:35
4:03 maybe not so much, I'm not sure, I'm no longer young, they kind of buy into that. kind of a formula for successful life. And so they go through all that. Report an error in the passage at 4:03
4:16 They fulfill all the criteria. They find the right partner and to the right university and get the right job and buy the right house in the right suburb and the right car, all to get it all right. then one day they look at themselves, or maybe they wake up and they don't want to get out of bed. Report an error in the passage at 4:16
4:42 got it all right, but something is wrong about the way they're living their life. It just doesn't work. So, I think this can be a very confrontative, to say the least. Report an error in the passage at 4:42
5:02 It doesn't mean we have to kind of... I don't know. I don't know if... So, you know, what is, Robert Johnson here calls it, the sacred. Report an error in the passage at 5:02
5:36 don't know. Report an error in the passage at 5:36
5:40 The new budget by the Liberal government takes that into account. What's the driving force behind our society and what kind of society we want to live in, but also as individuals how we want to live our lives. Report an error in the passage at 5:40
6:00 It's not all to do with economics and so forth. So anyway, getting into politics. I'd like to read this paragraph by Robert Johnson. Report an error in the passage at 6:00
6:11 So much of our lives is spent in a longing and a search for what we do not know. So many of our ostensible goals, so many of the things we think we want, turn out to be the masks behind which our real desires hide. They are symbols for the actual values and qualities for which we hunger. They are not reducible to a physical or material thing. Report an error in the passage at 6:11
6:40 Not even to a physical person. There are psychological qualities. Love, truth, honesty, loyalty, purpose. Something we can feel is noble, precious and worthy of our devotion. We try to reduce all this to something physical. A house, a car, a better job or a human being, but it doesn't work. Without realizing it, we are searching for the sacred. Report an error in the passage at 6:40
7:06 And the sacred is not reducible to anything else. Sacredness is, in a sense, a feeling, but a feeling that goes to the very heart of life. It is the feeling of recognition toward what is great and high enough to give our small lives meaning, to put our personal journeys in a greater perspective. Report an error in the passage at 7:06
7:30 It is the feeling of reverence. What we call sacred is ultimately a universe of meaning against which we can measure our personal efforts, our personal lives. To see whether they too have meaning. So I think in talking about these advices for daily lives, I think essentially that is what the message they're trying to get across to ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 7:30
8:00 They're not trying to help us perhaps to get a better job or what suburb to live in and so forth. But the importance in how to go about developing these inner qualities of our own minds. This is part of an overall series of talks which was called the Seven Point Mind Training. It's typically an area of Buddhist practice. But I don't think we're not trying to be particularly Buddhist. Report an error in the passage at 8:00
8:37 The Buddha wasn't a Buddhist. But we are trying to lead a good life. Whether we, you know, kind of. Report an error in the passage at 8:37
8:51 conceive of that. And that good life, I think it has many components. takes a lot of elements to a good life. some of those have to do with our external environment and much to do with our having relationships. Report an error in the passage at 8:51
9:10 significant others in our life and the that we do. Report an error in the passage at 9:10
9:17 a certain degree of possibility. Prosperity, affluence and so forth. Maybe a nice car, stylish clothes, entertainment. Lots of lesser and greater ingredients go into creating a good life. But whether we're Buddhists or whatever, I think the point we have to come around to is how much are they worth to ourselves, all of these things about us, if we don't have... Report an error in the passage at 9:17
9:49 The proper attitude, our perspective, how we relate with them, these inner qualities of love, truth, honesty, loyalty, purpose, are going to determine very much the quality of our mind. They're kind of the foundation, the root of all the rest. Hi, welcome. So in all of this, I Report an error in the passage at 9:49
10:24 think in talking about these subjects, just kind of... bringing them to mind. Report an error in the passage at 10:24
10:38 ourselves to these ideas, or reflecting upon We begin to create the Report an error in the passage at 10:38
10:58 orientation where we see the importance and therefore we create the space for the development of these inner qualities, the importance of these inner qualities. Report an error in the passage at 10:58
11:18 allows the space for the development and perhaps involving ourselves in the means to actually cultivate that. I guess all I'm saying is that I think it's really worthwhile just to talk about these issues. They're not talked about so much. I don't know where we could talk about them, where maybe you have a different set of friends and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 11:18
11:41 I don't know. come in here together. Is it possible we create the social matrix or the condition which fosters this kind of way of thinking, a different possibility of way of looking at things, than the force of the propaganda Report an error in the passage at 11:41
12:11 or what we normally are being indoctrinated into every day, bigger, better, more, as a way of life? So I think just coming here and discussing some of these issues and I hope you'll join in our discussions I think is quite valuable and I don't think we have to join in or sign up for the program or become a Buddhist or whatever but I think we do have to confront and begin to Report an error in the passage at 12:11
12:58 Perhaps if we're not living the quality of life we might want of ourselves, really take care of ourselves by asking ourselves, what is it that I truly do want? It Report an error in the passage at 12:58
13:13 resonates at a deep level of my being, what feels good in my heart. And just sitting with that kind of question, maybe in silence, I think is tremendously worthwhile in itself. And perhaps we will, as if... Report an error in the passage at 13:13
13:40 Unconsciously begin to live our way into the answers. These answers become the quality of our own minds. Love, truth, honesty, loyalty, purpose. Report an error in the passage at 13:40
13:58 Terribly important, I think. I was listening to a radio program. There was an author, I don't know what his name is. He wrote the book, The Fruit Drops Far From the Tree. Yeah, he was, and it was quite... Report an error in the passage at 13:58
14:19 It was quite a moving talk he was giving. And I think part of his message was to begin to confront and to begin to find out what you're all about. Report an error in the passage at 14:19
14:34 So it's a very courageous attitude toward life, I think. And it takes a lot of support. So that's what a saṅgha is about, this kind of fellowship of like-minded individuals who assist. who assist. Report an error in the passage at 14:34
14:53 creating that kind of environment that fosters the development of new ideas and ways of being and so forth. Anyway, I'm just. Report an error in the passage at 14:53
15:05 was on my mind on the way over. Report an error in the passage at 15:05
15:10 going to meditate together. So you're welcome to Report an error in the passage at 15:10
15:29 sit on a chair, on a cushion or both if you can do that. Report an error in the passage at 15:29
15:36 You're welcome to lie down. Report an error in the passage at 15:36
16:01 I guess part of what I was trying to, the message or the idea I was trying to get across is that we have a lot of resources in our own minds. Report an error in the passage at 16:01
16:14 If we bring them to bear to the fundamental problems of our life, if we ask the right questions, maybe we can begin to find answers with inside of ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 16:14
16:34 So taking a comfortable, firm posture. So Report an error in the passage at 16:34
16:46 we're going to begin by getting in touch with our bodies, relaxing our bodies. Report an error in the passage at 16:46
16:56 So don't struggle in your meditation. Don't try to get it right. You don't have to be a perfect meditator. The Report an error in the passage at 16:56
17:05 chance to simply return to being is not a process of doing a lot. Report an error in the passage at 17:05
17:15 So we can begin this process by bringing awareness to our crown of our head, our scalp. I Report an error in the passage at 17:15
17:28 invite you to imagine or simply feel or actually feel the wrinkles in your brow and your forehead beginning to smooth out. Report an error in the passage at 17:28
17:45 And Report an error in the passage at 17:45
17:53 bringing Report an error in the passage at 17:53
18:16 your Report an error in the passage at 18:16
18:24 awareness to Report an error in the passage at 18:24
18:44 your upper back and shoulders and perhaps pressure in and around your eyes diminishing. Report an error in the passage at 18:44
· · · silence, 1 minute
18:48 Drawing your shoulders up toward your ears and circling them to the back and down and to the front, just rotating your shoulders a few times and Report an error in the passage at 18:48
19:11 eventually returning your shoulders back up toward your ears and then just allowing them to drop comfortably to the sides. And with that, the feeling of some kind of burden or weight that you may have unknowingly been carrying around on your... Your back over the course of the day, moving down and through your body into the ground, a feeling of relief, a burden's been lifted from your shoulder. Report an error in the passage at 19:11
19:43 And Report an error in the passage at 19:43
19:55 bringing your awareness all the way down to your hands, your hands are soft and loose, relaxing Report an error in the passage at 19:55
20:10 your lower arm and Report an error in the passage at 20:10
20:18 your upper arms. Your Report an error in the passage at 20:18
20:28 chest is at ease and Report an error in the passage at 20:28
20:39 relaxing throughout the central space of the chest, the heart area, the middle Report an error in the passage at 20:39
20:54 portion of your back. Report an error in the passage at 20:54
21:12 Lama Report an error in the passage at 21:12
· · · silence, 1 minute
21:53 Tsongkhapa tension that we often hold in our stomach muscles, just allowing the belly to go solid. Report an error in the passage at 21:53
21:27 the abdominal cavity. Report an error in the passage at 21:27
21:36 keeping your trunk erect. Report an error in the passage at 21:36
21:39 Relaxing your lower back muscles. Report an error in the passage at 21:39
· · · silence, 1 minute
22:36 feet soft and loose. Report an error in the passage at 22:36
22:51 through our body once again from the crown, downward through the central area of the body. as you move down through the body, pay particular attention to any tightnesses or... Tension, which might remain in the body, areas of discomfort. Report an error in the passage at 22:51
23:10 And when you come across an area, maybe for example, tightness, back of the neck or shoulders, upper back, wherever it might be, breathing in and following that breath with your awareness to wherever the tightness, tension is being held in the body, suffusing that area with the breath of awareness, Report an error in the passage at 23:10
23:34 as if breathing out from that area, with that out-breath. Report an error in the passage at 23:34
23:41 I invite Report an error in the passage at 23:41
· · · silence, 1 minute
24:43 you Report an error in the passage at 24:43
· · · silence, 2 minutes
27:22 to become aware of the fact that breathing into all those various areas where we feel tightness and tension, breathing out from those areas. Report an error in the passage at 27:22
· · · silence, 3 minutes
27:30 was it that your mind went to? Report an error in the passage at 27:30
27:35 indicated to you that you're breathing in and out? What physical sensation? Where was it located? Report an error in the passage at 27:35
27:44 Now we're going to shift. Report an error in the passage at 27:44
27:51 focus your awareness on that sensation. it's helpful, you can count the breaths. In out one, in out two, and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 27:51
· · · silence, 6 minutes
34:00 we're going to shift. Our attention to a sensation of the body other than the sensation of the breath. Perhaps it's the pressure of your buttocks on the cushion, on the chair, hands in your lap, whatever is predominant. Report an error in the passage at 34:00
34:20 Focusing your awareness on the sensation of the body other than the breath. Report an error in the passage at 34:20
· · · silence, 1 minute
35:21 We'll shift our attention this time to the sounds around us. So it's very quiet. We'll have to listen very closely. Listening to sound. Report an error in the passage at 35:21
35:37 What sounds can you hear? Now Report an error in the passage at 35:37
· · · silence, 1 minute
36:59 we're going to turn our attention inward to the mind and Report an error in the passage at 36:59
· · · silence, 1 minute
38:16 then we're just going to allow the mind to become involved and then Report an error in the passage at 38:16
· · · silence, 1 minute
39:13 we'll bring the mind back to the breath, easy, gentle, in and out flow of the natural breath. You're Report an error in the passage at 39:13
· · · silence, 2 minutes
41:31 welcome to stand up and stretch if you like. Report an error in the passage at 41:31
· · · silence, 1 minute
42:13 So this series of a Saturday afternoon is called Advices for Daily Life. And it's coming, these advices, a set of... What we call commitments and guidelines are coming from a particular tradition called the Kadam tradition. Part of a, as I mentioned previously, a text called Seven Point Mind Training. Report an error in the passage at 42:13
42:44 And the Kadampas were very earthy kinds of people, very practical. It's not to say that they weren't great philosophers. Tradition. Report an error in the passage at 42:44
43:01 and so forth, but somehow their practice was always orientated what worked in their daily life. And that was very grounded in the actual experience and not kind of abstracted. Report an error in the passage at 43:01
43:21 that's, yeah. these commitments and guidelines were kind of a way we could take some of the Report an error in the passage at 43:21
43:35 lofty ideas of... Buddhist practice and put them in some kind of practical application in our day life to make changes for the better. Report an error in the passage at 43:35
43:50 So this is the fourth in a series of five presenting these. So they're set off into two groups, 22 commitments and 18 commitments and 22 what are called guidelines. Report an error in the passage at 43:50
44:10 Maybe it's not so much particularly important what we call them, but little pithy sayings or what we call slogans. The idea was that people would memorize these slogans and commit them to memory and then the daily events in their life, they would reflect upon them and try to come to grips with the meaning, the message that they're trying to give to us. Report an error in the passage at 44:10
44:40 How does that work for you? You know, out of the busyness of our everyday life when we have a chance to really get some perspective, get in touch with what maybe our deeper, more deeply held values and what we might like for ourselves if our wisdom and caring were more operative in our daily life. So that kind of perspective. And then having reflected, the happenings of our everyday life can oftentimes trigger. Report an error in the passage at 44:40
45:10 One of these slogans come up in our mind, revealing a whole world of meaning that we've invested in. We can perhaps respond, even if only slightly, in other ways than we normally do, in the busyness and the pressures of our everyday life. Report an error in the passage at 45:10
45:35 Maybe more in keeping with the type of person that... in the ways that we would like to relate. Report an error in the passage at 45:35
45:49 opposed to simply. Report an error in the passage at 45:49
45:53 the default pattern of our habitual reactions. they were kind of a trigger mechanism. Report an error in the passage at 45:53
46:02 we keep to the beginning where we left off. Report an error in the passage at 46:02
46:09 Where did we leave off? Guard the two at the cost of your life. There are copies of this and sometimes I've changed the translation which has been photocopied but it's not so important. As I've been working with these, perhaps trying to find more meaningful alternate translations, some of the language is quite archaic and therefore is open to other possible interpretations. Report an error in the passage at 46:09
46:43 And most of these slogans, There are multiple interpretations which are presented. We're talking about something that was written back in about the 10th century. So over that time there is great teachers have commented on these slogans in various ways, interpret them in different ways. Report an error in the passage at 46:43
47:13 Guard the two at the cost of your lives. So here the two refers to what we would call presented over the, I think, you know. Report an error in the passage at 47:13
47:21 it Report an error in the passage at 47:21
47:24 Precepts, instructions, guidelines, both in terms of our general Dharma practice, but also in that of the second is that of mind training in particular, the types of ways we're working with our mind in this particular context. So the two are the general precepts. And precepts specifically applying to mind training here. Probably one of the most general of all instructions. Report an error in the passage at 47:24
48:02 The Buddha taught for 45 years. He probably taught every day. I'm supposing they didn't have unions in those days or whatever. He probably maybe, I don't know, six, eight hours a day. Instructions. Report an error in the passage at 48:02
48:22 Anyway, the point is, I'm just speculating, but over 45 years, that's quite a lot of teaching, voluminous, there's volumes of teachings. Report an error in the passage at 48:22
48:32 And if we were to say, well, what's the most general? What does it all come down to? There's one particular verse. It's from a collection of the Buddha's sayings, of the Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha's sayings. It's called the Dhammapada. And he says, Report an error in the passage at 48:32
48:53 It's only four lines. Refrain from any wrong. Cultivate what is skillful. Cleanse your mind. This is the teaching of the Buddha. Refrain from any wrong. Cultivate what is skillful. Cleanse your mind. This is the teaching of the Buddha. If we were really sharp, that would be all we would really need. Put those into practice. Report an error in the passage at 48:53
49:22 could really solve our problems at a fundamental level. So all of the various commentaries and-commentaries and all the explanations are simply trying to unpack very terse lines, these very general teachings. How do we actually begin to adapt those to our everyday life? Report an error in the passage at 49:22
49:57 What's the application? As a means, many practitioners begin to undertake refraining from what is called the Ten Unskillful Actions. Report an error in the passage at 49:57
50:16 We talked about those on Monday night. We'll talk about them a little bit more later. Unskillful Actions, these are just a way of abbreviating, All the various types of actions which come readily for ourselves but which have significant outcomes, significant consequences. They don't include all types of actions. Report an error in the passage at 50:16
50:40 Three of body, killing, stealing, sexual misconduct. Four of speech, lying, divisive speech, harsh speech, senseless speech. And then three of mind, covetousness, maliciousness or malicious state of mind and wrong view. Report an error in the passage at 50:40
51:00 trying work with So that would be a way we could begin to adapt this, refrain from any wrong, cultivate what is skillful. So we try to, rather than killing, we try to save life. Rather than stealing, we become generous. So we have some way of actually taking what is maybe something of an abstract principle and how can we begin to adopt it in our everyday life. Report an error in the passage at 51:00
51:28 But also, some people go on to take what are called the three levels of vows. Especially within Tibetan Buddhism, there are three levels of vows. Vows is the vow of individual liberation. So it's just a matter of ways of conduct which emphasize restraint, non-aggression, kind of a simple, straightforward way of life, which doesn't hurt. Report an error in the passage at 51:28
51:58 It doesn't, anyway. Not to harm, that kind of intention in our everyday life and how we're going to translate that into our everyday life. The vow of the Bodhisattva. So this has, the emphasis is on compassion and the awakened heart and where we can help translating that aspiration into our daily life. Report an error in the passage at 51:58
52:27 And then finally there's what's called the vow of tantra, another area, especially of Tibetan Buddhism, where the emphasis is placed upon Report an error in the passage at 52:27
52:37 Identifying directly with the awakened state. Sometimes tantra is termed... Report an error in the passage at 52:37
52:51 the power of imagination, Report an error in the passage at 52:51
52:55 assume the that we're trying to achieve, we begin to identify with that a way of fostering those very same qualities within ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 52:55
53:10 In particular, so those are in general, but more in particular with regard to what we call my training, it refers to, I think very much it refers to the awakened heart. So essentially the awakened heart is development of love and compassion. But also all of these commitments and arguments that we're working through, these pithy sayings and slogans. Report an error in the passage at 53:10
53:40 Which help us to take an abstract principle and translate them into some practical application in our everyday life. Report an error in the passage at 53:40
53:51 So this verse says, at the cost of your life. I don't know. I don't know. Let's go. Report an error in the passage at 53:51
54:08 Hyperbole, I think is what it's called, at the cost of life. Anyway, I think if we maybe make it more meaningful for ourselves, it can be taken to mean that these two, these general precepts and these precepts of mind training are to be taken as an extremely important part of your life. That we are to guard them means that we observe them as some kind of priority in our life. You know, we all have our priorities, don't we? Where are you going to... Report an error in the passage at 54:08
54:37 Expand your time, energy, efforts and so forth. Where your treasure lies, so there too will be your heart. And that's where we're applying most of our time and energy, the significance. We're investing our life's energies in this. And to make these kinds of practices an important part of our life. Report an error in the passage at 54:37
55:04 And the next guideline says to acquire... Train in the three difficult points. Train in three difficult points. I think you could almost call them train in three challenges. So the author of this text, the seven-point mind training where these daily advices are coming from, is Geshe Chakao. Geshe Chakao is pointing out that there are three particular challenges in working with afflicted emotions. Report an error in the passage at 55:04
55:42 So when he's talking about train in three difficult points, he's saying that there are three particular challenges in working with afflictive emotions. I'll say more about that, what I mean by afflictive emotions. But just to mention what are these three challenges, in the beginning to identify them, in the middle to begin to moderate them, and in the end to eliminate them altogether, to cut their continuity. Report an error in the passage at 55:42
56:11 Okay, with regard to the afflictive emotions. So, all of us have various types of afflictive emotions, or we can say negative emotions. Report an error in the passage at 56:11
56:28 For example, desirous attachment, or anger, or jealousy, or pride, or ignorance. But these various afflictive emotions are not distributed evenly amongst ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 56:28
56:46 Some people are more prone to desire. Other people are more prone to anger. It's more dominant in the overall repertoire, the emotions and so forth. And moreover, so we're different in that regard. But even within ourselves as individuals, each of these afflictions arises, manifests in different forms. Report an error in the passage at 56:46
57:14 We have a tendency, oh, there's love, there's anger, there's faith, there's jealousy. But they arise in a constellation in association with many other mental factors, many other qualities and characteristics and emotions. So they're flavored, they all have nuance, they all have a certain tone to them. Report an error in the passage at 57:14
57:38 So there isn't just one thing called love. There's a spectrum of states which we identify just as a way of categorization of love or as anger or desire. So there's various shades of love, various shades of desire, various shades of anger and so forth, nuances. And they take different forms according to different circumstances. Report an error in the passage at 57:38
58:02 And they arise in different degrees even within the same individual. What makes it even more challenging, so we're talking about how identifying these emotions can become very challenging. They don't come with a label, a tag on them. But what is even more challenging with regard, or what is additional challenge with regard to the afflictive emotions is, over and above becoming aware of them, is identifying them. Report an error in the passage at 58:02
58:38 The afflictive emotion is by its very nature difficult to identify. Why is that? The reason that we use this term, afflictive emotion, and I've mentioned this previously, in the Tibetan, the word that we're translating as afflictive emotion is nyonmong, n-y-o-n-m-o-n-g. Report an error in the passage at 58:38
59:05 It's a compound word. It's made of two syllables. Each of them has meaning. Nyun means to agitate. Mong means to obscure. So what we're calling a negative emotion such as attachment and so forth are factors of mind which both disturb or afflict but also obscure. Report an error in the passage at 59:05
59:34 So the afflicted emotion is not only to disturb the mind. But they cloud the mind as well. The mind is confused when we're undergoing desire as attachment, when we're undergoing anger, when we're undergoing jealousy. I don't know if you've ever noticed that. Our mind doesn't have the same clarity. So in a state, it's not only difficult to see the object of the emotion clearly, which is one of the main characteristics of the afflictive emotions, is that we are The object of afflictive emotion does not exist the way it appears, whether it's an exaggeration in terms of attachment or a depreciation in terms of anger and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 59:34
1:00:22 But moreover, we're obscured from, it's difficult to see the state in itself clearly. It's like the mind is like rolling water. It's boiling water or muddied water. We can't even see the state of the mind itself. For example, when people become very angry, in general, it's easier to see anger than it is desire, in general, all things being equal. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:22
1:01:01 But nonetheless, even with regard to in the midst of our anger, as long as we are identifying with anger, we become the anger. It's not as if we are standing apart from the anger. We are caught up in the anger. And within that state, it becomes difficult to even become aware that we're angry. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:01
1:01:21 We are the anger. We do not have anger. We are the anger. So in order to become aware of, the first challenge is to identify it. And as long as you, to identify I am angry, and as long as you are the anger, It's difficult to identify that anger has arisen in our mind. We're obscured from that very fact. We're swept up in our anger, as it were. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:21
1:01:56 Why is it so difficult? There are actually times when it's difficult to actually identify. We can misidentify an afflicted state of mind. Here I'm getting a bit more subtle. But I think it's useful information to talk about, to keep in mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:56
1:02:18 For example, some of you might be aware of what are called the four Brahma Biharas or more in the Tibetan tradition they're referred to as the four immeasurables. On Monday night we recite these four immeasurables. Immeasurable love, immeasurable compassion, immeasurable empathetic joy and immeasurable equanimity. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:18
1:02:44 May all sentient beings be happy and have the causes of happiness and so forth. So these are four really significant positive states of mind, really valuable qualities to cultivate. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:44
1:03:03 But each of these positive states of mind, love, compassion, empathetic joy and equanimity has an enemy, has a counterforce. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:03
1:03:24 And what's interesting or what's useful to know is that there is what is referred to as a far enemy and a near enemy. Let's take an example of love. Love is one of the four immeasurables, immeasurable love. There is a far enemy of love and a near enemy of love. The far enemy is that counterforce, that opposite emotion which is most obvious. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:24
1:03:56 Love is most simply characterized by the wish for someone to be happy. That's normally what we mean by happiness, by love, whether ourselves or another person, that kind of loving attitude. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:56
1:04:15 The far enemy or the opposite of the immeasurable love is a sense of cruelty, a sense of animosity. Wishing not to love, not to be happy, but that you suffer. So I think that's more or less obvious to ourselves. That's why it's called obvious. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:15
1:04:47 But there is not only a far enemy of love, but there is a near enemy of love. And it's called near because it's indirect or it's much more subtle in the sense that Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:47
1:05:01 that it... It's hard to detect. It may actually disguise itself, or that is to say, it might have some of the same characteristics in common with, in this case, immeasurable love. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:01
1:05:19 For example, when we say, we make statements like, I love ice cream. Why? Because ice cream brings us pleasure. When we focus upon the lovableness of an object, the pleasurable aspects of, for example, someone, that person can easily become not the object of our loving kindness, but of our desire as attachment. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:19
1:05:58 Our affection can easily turn into desire. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:58
1:06:09 know, most of... So most of our loving attitudes, many of our states of those occasions when we feel loving, there's probably some mixture of attachment in there. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:09
1:06:28 See, attachment, both attachment and love are concerned with happiness. But it becomes a matter of whose happiness. So we can begin to distinguish between these two emotions, though they're each concerned with happiness. Love asks the question, how can I make you happy? Attachment asks the question, how can you make me happy? So they're both concerned with love and pleasurable quality. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:28
1:06:59 But we can easily mistake a state of attachment and desire for our own happiness as love for another individual because we're holding on to that individual. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:59
1:07:16 We see as potentially bringing us happiness and that attachment can be seen as love. We're mixed in with love. It's hard to kind of divide the two out from one another. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:16
1:07:33 The other, you know, so the others as well, these four immeasurables. For example, the second is that of compassion. So the far enemy or the obvious enemy of compassion is cruelty, a harmful attitude that wishes they suffer. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:33
1:07:51 So essentially compassion is the wish that another be free from suffering. Cruelty is the wish that they be joined with suffering. So it's quite obvious. It's going in the completely opposite direction. But what happens, the near enemy of compassion is grief, being emotionally overwhelmed by suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:51
1:08:23 When compassion goes awry, When it succumbs to grief, it may look like compassion, but in fact what has happened is that grief has disabled us. Grief is primarily focused upon suffering. How do we make a distinction between grief and compassion? They both are dealing with suffering. Grief is focused upon suffering. Compassion is focused upon... Report an error in the passage at 1:08:23
1:08:56 The end of suffering. It's a very subtle but significant difference, isn't it? In compassion, it's focused upon someone else's suffering or even one's own. But the emphasis is on ending that suffering. Grief is simply overwhelmed by suffering, either one's own or another. And we might mistake. Someone's overcome by grief at a death. Or something's gone wrong. Somebody's had... Report an error in the passage at 1:08:56
1:09:31 a terrible in your life. We might take for ourselves, even our own experience, or we might see the other in their grief as being terribly compassionate, but maybe they're simply being lost in a grief which is not compassion. So it's hard to identify, isn't it? We can mistakenly conceive. One state for another, one productive, useful, positive state for something which is of no use of value to anyone, to be overwhelmed by grief, to be disabled by one's own grief. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:31
1:10:17 The same is true for the others. For example, the third immeasurable is empathetic joy, rejoicing in the happiness of another person. Isn't that one's self? Being able to identify. Empathy has the notion of being able to imagine a parallel experience in one's self, for example, of what that person must be going through. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:17
1:10:47 And in this case, it's a sense of when they're experiencing pleasure. So the near enemy is to empathetic joy is first the far enemy. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:47
1:11:14 Happiness is overrated or kind of a despair. It's not going to last. Don't worry about it. Or aversion or some kind of boredom. I could care less about your happiness. It doesn't make any difference to me. That's the fire in me. The near enemy, which is more subtle and more difficult to identify, of empathetic joy, is kind of a frivolity or a sense of becoming overly excited. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:14
1:11:53 That's the most wonderful thing that's ever happened in this whole universe, in the history of humankind, that kind of over-the-top state of mind. It's a very disturbed state of mind. It's not to say it's all that negative. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:53
1:12:12 But it doesn't have the depth and the benefit of empathetic joy. And again, just by way of example, finishing off with these four immeasurables. We have love, compassion, empathetic joy, and finally equanimity. And I think this is an important one to be able to nuance, to make a distinction, to be able to identify. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:12
1:12:41 I can identify with this myself. So the far enemy. The most obvious enemy of equanimity is falling either to attachment or aversion. We talked about this last month. The word equanimity in Sanskrit is upeksha. Upa means above. Eksha means to look. It's like climbing a mountain. And you're able to see both sides of the situation in a balanced, even-minded kind of way. You're not bound by one side or the other, whereas if attachment and aversion, you fall into some kind of imbalanced state one way or another. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:41
1:13:42 So it's an even-mindedness. But what happens is indifference... You might be watching the evening news and focusing upon what's happening in Syria or the famine, the refugee problems. And there's a sense that... We simply don't care. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:42
1:14:27 So this kind of indifference rests on a kind of a quiet, solemn, withdrawn, an unwillingness to feel, to engage. I think this happens a lot to people. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:27
1:14:46 An inability to actually emotionally engage in the object, to numb out, to be desensitized. can easily be mistaken for a sense of even-mindedness. It has nothing to do with even-mindedness. It has nothing to do with equanimity. There's an inability to engage, not a balanced engagement. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:46
1:15:10 We don't want to get involved emotionally or we're not able to get involved emotionally. So what I'm doing by this, the point I'm going through where Jagesha Chikawa said, there are... Report an error in the passage at 1:15:10
1:15:28 Train in the three difficult points. The first difficulty in terms of the afflictive emotion is actually being able to identify with ourselves in particular, in the various shades and state, the various nuances of that state, and being able to notice where we may be misidentified. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:28
1:15:53 I think that happens a lot, that people fall into an indifference. Towards what's happening. And they take that as kind of a, they're above it all. That notion of equanimity where you actually feel you actually are above. You're seeing the overall perspective. You're not falling out of balance in your mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:53
1:16:26 In such a state, you're really there, you're able to avail yourself of your own resources and be there for the other person. In a very clear-sided way, where you haven't fallen into either aversion or attachment, with indifference, you can't be there for the other person, not in a real authentic way. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:26
1:17:00 There's a withdrawal, not wanting to become involved. So it's a subtle but significant difference. So this first point in working with these... These three is identifying the negative emotion. Does that make sense? Report an error in the passage at 1:17:00
1:17:21 This alone is, I'll finish off this slogan, then we'll take a break. This in itself is not sufficient in working with the afflictive emotion, identifying that afflictive emotion has arisen. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:21
1:17:47 Once we recognize it, the next point is to moderate it, to work with it in some way. So here what's being emphasized is that when we become aware that an afflictive emotion has arisen, then we do not knowingly indulge in it or give it free hand. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:47
1:18:10 So there's a certain energy, there's a certain appeal for many people like anger. You feel alive. You feel strong. You feel strong. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:10
1:18:30 You're going to get what you want or attachment. It's pleasurable. It can be associated with a very pleasurable feeling. So even when we know when our minds are afflicted, they say, well, we will often simply indulge in it. We will give it free hand. So we have to have done some degree of homework with regard to these emotions. We have to see no matter how it might feel in the immediate context. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:30
1:19:00 It's going to have negative consequences. We have to see the advantages and disadvantages of these particular states of mind. And there are advantages. But we also have to become aware of the fact and see the significance that there are disadvantages to these particular states of mind. Otherwise, we're going to do just that. We're going to indulge in them. We're going to give them free play. We might even promote them. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:00
1:19:31 Anger protects you. It can be a first line of defense against what you see as a threat to your well-being. But does it work? We have to begin to see that. Does it actually bring about the kind of results that we would want for ourselves in the longer run? We need some kind of perspective. So we have to be willing to work with these states, even though they might have some immediate... Report an error in the passage at 1:19:31
1:20:00 So this is the second difficult point, the challenges of countering the afflictive emotion, moderating them in some way. So this requires That we can't rationalize. We have to overcome our tendency to justify. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:00
1:20:44 You are a real bastard and you deserve all the terrible things that I wish for you, more or less. If I took what happened to the world court, they would agree with me. They would say he deserves pain, suffering, humiliation, whatever it is. You're right. Go ahead. That kind of rationalization or justification that we have, self-righteousness about a lot of our negative emotions. So we have to acknowledge in a way which is meaningful for ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:44
1:21:22 And by meaningful for ourselves, I mean it can't be simply because it says in the text that you're naughty if you become angry or you shouldn't become attached. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:22
1:21:34 That's not quite good enough. That might give us some direction to look at, but we have to see within our own experience and see what kinds of emotions, what states of mind actually promote our well-being in the longer term in which we, in our own experience and using our ability to reason, aren't working in our own best interest. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:34
1:22:02 You know, it's kind of at that kind of level that we will make changes. It has to be brought down from simply an abstraction to some kind of practical measure. Pleasure and pain are more than not take priority over logic for most of us, the way we lead our lives. What actually works and doesn't work in promoting my welfare? And here we're trying to see our welfare in terms of maybe a greater perspective than we normally operate on. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:02
1:22:36 Acknowledge it in a meaningful way. Something that really means something for you. That this is a negative, unskillful state of mind. It can't just be that you were told it was. That probably isn't sufficient. Because we have to be willing to drop the storyline that is driving this particular emotion. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:36
1:23:03 I've been treated unjustly. They did this. They didn't do that. We're buying into a particular story. You have to be able to disidentify with that story and be willing to drop it and then work with an antidote to counter that state of mind. I mean, these stories we buy into are quite juicy. They're quite inviting. It's a real drama for ourselves in some way. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:03
1:23:33 It gives our mind some kind of directionality, some purpose. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:33
1:23:42 So we discussed some of the... In the past we've discussed some of the general and specific antidotes for the various afflictive emotions. There are general antidotes which are applicable to all the various afflictive emotions and each of the afflictive emotions has an individual what we call antidote or counteracting measure of some sort or one sort or another. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:42
1:24:09 So, you know, and it begins with... In terms of general antidotes, it begins with, and I think it's terribly important, I think these are really useful areas to look at. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:09
1:24:23 In bringing about any kind of change, we have to see that it's in our own best interest. Otherwise the change will at best be superficial. It will simply be a suppression. And suppression, what we are at avoidance. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:23
1:24:46 What we avoid and suppress persists. It will seep out in other ways and perhaps unrecognized ways. We really haven't dealt with the problem. It's like suppressing symptoms and the disease still is rampant in our system. So working with any kind of change, I think one of the first lines... What are the advantages and the disadvantages? And there will be. You will be able to recognize advantages to anger. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:46
1:25:31 If there weren't, you would never get angry anymore. But maybe those advantages have outlived their use-by date, or maybe they really aren't advantages after all, but you still hang on to that notion that they are, that assumption. You really haven't really... We examine them, or examine them at all, as compared to what are some of the disadvantages in our own lived experience? Report an error in the passage at 1:25:31
1:25:59 Where does anger take me? What happens in terms of my relationships? What's kind of repercussions of anger, both now and into the future? So looking at it... So this would apply to all the various afflictions or any type of change that you want to make at all. Smoking, if you want to give up smoking, you've got to look at the advantages of smoking, the disadvantages of smoking. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:59
1:26:32 That can set the groundwork. Otherwise, at one level you're holding on to the advantages of smoking and you're trying to, without having dealt with that. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:32
1:26:51 Trying to force yourself to quit. But still at some level you're holding on. There's something to be gotten out of smoking. And you're just creating more inner turmoil. And probably after some time you'll give up. You know, like the person who says, it's easy to quit smoking. I've done it hundreds of times. It can only last so long. Where was I? Report an error in the passage at 1:26:51
1:27:22 Okay, some of the general. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:22
1:27:29 We can look at the emotion directly. The emotions are like somebody's at the door. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:29
1:27:40 The Report an error in the passage at 1:27:40
1:27:46 emotions aren't solid as they sometimes appear, like drawings on water. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:46
1:27:57 If we don't keep reconstituting them, they will cease themselves. We don't keep feeding them with the storyline that we're keeping up. Or we can attend to a different aspect. We can reframe. The external factors can remain relatively the same, but we give them different meaning. Or we pay attention to something, a different aspect of this person. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:57
1:28:32 We remember a time when they were kind to us. Whatever the situation might be. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:32
1:28:42 But over and above that, each of the negative emotions has a specific, you know, like the antidote to anger is cultivating loving kindness. The antidote to desire is attachment is cultivating contentment with what it is we have. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:42
1:29:11 Jealousy is rejoicing. Pride is humility. Ignorance is wisdom. So each of them has a specific counteract. So the second difficult point is in the middle moderating the afflicted emotion, being willing to work with that emotion, identifying and beginning to work with some means of working with it, controlling it in some way. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:11
1:29:44 But this isn't sufficient to actually eliminate it, to cut its continuity. So then at the end, we might... The third difficult point is to actually cut the continuity of the afflictive emotion. In order to do that, ultimately, it's necessary, such that the afflictive emotion will not arise again, it's necessary to gain insight into the nature of the emotion and the mind itself. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:44
1:30:17 We have to understand selflessness, we have to understand emptiness and develop that kind of wisdom. We have to remove ignorance. They found the source of all the afflictive emotions. This is one of the optimistic aspects of Buddhism, I think. We don't have to weed out each problem individually, though I think we have to work at some remedial level. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:17
1:30:43 But ultimately, if we remove the linchpin, which is ignorance, then all of these various afflictive emotions will cease to themselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:43
1:30:54 That is, they're all arising in dependence upon misconception, the basic misconception as to the nature of the I, the self, by developing a wisdom which understands the actual nature of the self. Then these secondary afflictions, hatred, you know, hatred pushing away from the self, desire bringing toward the self, they're all built around. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:54
1:31:28 Dependent upon a false notion of the self, they will see so themselves. So the third difficult point by which we mean is necessary to develop ignorance in order to cut the continuity of the negative emotions, the afflictive emotions. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:28
1:31:54 Okay? Report an error in the passage at 1:31:54
1:31:58 Let's take a break. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:58
Related talks
Talk by Jampa Jaffe. Original at Vajrayana Institute via Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/AdviceForDailyLife. Licensed CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. Transcript generated automatically and may contain errors; the audio is the authoritative version.
Recorded at Vajrayana Institute, Sydney, and archived by the institute on Internet Archive. More from Vajrayana Institute