74 Practicing Compassion by Taking Suffering onto the Path

Olaso.

So this morning we’ll return to the meditative cultivation of compassion, the aspiration that we may all be free of suffering and its causes. And again with the, aspiration to that, that wish being saturated by wisdom, by understanding. What looks very simple, actually turns out to be very deep and subtle. Having many layers and that is, may we be free of suffering, starting there, let alone the causes of suffering. Oh [softly], may we be free of suffering.

[00:37] In our modern society, I think generally most societies but especially ours, ah suffering is pretty much equated with what Buddhists call, blatant suffering, obvious suffering. You’re in pain, physical, physically, you’re in pain. Mentally, you’re miserable, happy, unhappy and so on. And then of course the materialists’ pipe dream is “Well don’t worry it will all be over anyway” and then that’ll be that.

[00:59] In a way I wish that could be true. In a way, only partly. But the problem is much worse. I mean honestly, infinitely worse than they imagine. And most of us imagine. That’s just blatant suffering and it certainly doesn’t terminate at death. I wish it would. I wish it were that simple. Unfortunately.

[01:19] So there’s that. And there’s this second mode that we don’t, that is very well known in Buddhism, all you good Lam Rim students know it very well. That we don’t even regard as suffering because it feels good and how could something that feels good be suffering? Well, it’s not suffering, not suffering as we define it in English. “Are you in pain?” “Are you miserable?” The answer’s “No, I feel great.” But the, the pleasure you’re experiencing is saturated by attachment. It’s mounted upon attachment. It’s sustained with attachment. So it’s basically like sitting on a… It’s like a person who steps on a landmine and hasn’t lifted his foot. How do you feel?

[02:07] “Great! I’m enjoying the meadow. [Laughs] The weather too, in fact, I’m eating a sandwich here that’s just yummy. And as soon as I’m finished with it I want to go off and buy another one and have a party with my friends.” And he’s really having a good time, enjoying his sandwich and the pleasant day and the birds singing and looking down at his foot where it just went click-click. And it’s very hard to rejoice because he’s thinking “Oh, this isn’t going to turn out well.”

[02:34] And that’s the way it is. That’s the way it, I mean this is universally true. Wherever our sense of well being, our sense of security, happiness, pleasure and so forth is, aroused by, attachment, clinging and attachment, craving and attachment and then is sustained by it. It always turns out the same way and we’re always surprised. Ever so often we’re always surprised. “Oh, how could that be? How could that be?” The woman who I guess thought her husband was immortal, or somehow, you know, he would, definitely live to the age of 90. He was already, you know, older, older man, but, but such a surprise. We get shocked so easily, you know, when tragedy strikes. When the unexpected happens. This is the grasping to impermanent phenomena being permanent.

[03:29] And so to understand that, to understand the gravity of it, the depth, the, monumental nature of just that, of the, just the coarse suffering, seeing that it doesn’t end. The bardo, it can be very very troublesome, to put it mildly, and what comes after that, and after that, and after that, and after that. Drupon Rinpoché when he was, when he commented that he can remember all of his past lives and he said the great majority of them were in the lower realms. You know, yeah. So, maybe he was just, maybe we’ve all been hanging out in the fortunate realms, but, not likely.

[04:03] So there’s the blatant suffering, there’s the suffering of change, and it’s not that change itself implies suffering or necessitates suffering. But insofar as our sense of well being, security and so forth is sustained by, attachment, then change is the enemy. If things are going well, your health is good, your relationships are good, your job is secure, financially you’re sound, you’re living in a pleasant environment, good neighbours, and so forth. All good. All hedonia. Oh, it’s very nice, it’s very good. But the only thing you can be certain of is it will change. And that’s what we won’t, that’s what we hope won’t happen, if we’re attached, you know, to our hedonic well being.

[04:50] So, it’s a time bomb waiting to happen, it’s the foot waiting to lift, and then suddenly we’re surprised, and very unhappy. So if you can see, you know, see the three times, the past, present and future, you know, if you look at that, then you can see, well, but this is already dukkha(Pali). You just don’t know it. You just, your foot, just stepped on a landmine and you’re not aware of that but I am, and, you’re already in the pool of suffering. It hasn’t dawned on you yet.

[05:14] It’s like when the Titanic just first scraped the big iceberg and it seemed like,it was just like a scratch. You know? Like, “Oh, we’ll get over that.” And the party went on. You’ve all seen the Titanic I’m sure. But the party went on and on and on and then only slowly, and they’re enjoying it, they’re enjoying it, you know, being on this super, super, you know, liner and so forth. But, it always turns out poorly.

[05:37] And then the deepest one, this existential, pervasive, existential suffering, ah, has to do, well, it’s just basically our, about our, basic vulnerability to suffering. It’s just that. Wherever we are, upper realms, lower realms, wherever we are. Even if we’re in the formless realm. Ah, that’s still, that’s still there, we’re not free. And that’s what Gautama somehow realised at the young age of 29, but of course he had enormous momentum coming into that life.

[06:08] So those three modes, well as we go into compassion, if the compassion is to be wise, ah, and if it’s to be effective, it’s actually going to, free anyone from suffering and it’s causes then we need to go deep. We can’t just, you know, pull the weed from the top and leave the root there. Just too superficial. You feel better? You feel better? You know. We’re very, very keen on feeling better in our society. People always have been but we’re just better at it than most. With all our technology, our drugs, our entertainments, our work and so forth and so on; our comforts.

[06:42] So, the compassion is may we be free of suffering, but it’s really may we be free of all suffering, otherwise we’re not free of suffering. When we read the media, and I do on a regular basis and we hear of one more tragedy, it may stir the heart and some compassion may be aroused, ah, and then, after some time, the problem is sorted out. One way or another it’s not as urgent, as intense as it was, and then we kind of settle back. “OK, well then, that’s, that’s over.”

[07:10] And so compassion generally, just I think it’s almost universally true, comes in spurts. We see somebody suffering, we read about it, we hear about it, and compassion comes up. And then that particular episode, like a wave on the ocean, it subsides and then we go back into, kind of neutral. So the, the compassion, like the suffering of suffering is episodic, it comes and it goes. Whereas a person who has a deeper insight into the suffering of change, and then looks around and sees all those who are really enjoying samsara. They, you know, they’re lucky, they’re having some good fortune, but it’s all saturated by attachment. Then, then the compassion is much more constant, it’s not simply episodic, you know, it’s always there. Because you see, as long as it’s attachment it never turns out well. It’s only a matter of time.

[08:07] And if the insight is even deeper, we’re talking about levels of wisdom and insight here. Then it’s just universal, because all sentient beings are subject to suffering and for very good cause, and they will suffer until the cause is eradicated. And so the aspiration, may we be free of suffering, well this is a nice short list, it’s easy to understand. But then to experience it, have real insight into each of these dimensions of suffering that takes some, some serious meditation to look inward, to identify that for oneself.

[08:34] But then it says may we be free of suffering and the causes of suffering. So, when the Buddha first taught the Four Noble Truths he said “Here’s the reality of suffering. Know it.” And this means, not just look at the, the pond scum. Don’t look at the just the surface. Know it all the way up and all the way down. Because if you’re to find liberation, you don’t want to just pull the, pull the weed out from the top and leave all the root system in place.

[08:57] So here’s reality of suffering and it would, I think, for the materialists it would give them, if it actually dawned on them, if one could actually show them, this is the cause of suffering. I think it would completely freak them out. Because they felt secure. I mean, better the devil you do know than the one you don’t and they feel, “OK this is a really austere, dehumanising, demeaning…kind of awful worldview but at least I understand it, and at least it doesn’t last too long.” You know, human existence. So even if, you know. “The universe is meaningless, biological evolution is meaningless and I’m chemical scum. Well, I can still have fun on occasion, and that’s good so let’s try to have as much fun as possible and then when it’s no longer fun, well I don’t have to wait too long I’ll be dead.” And then no problem, then the issue is solved. The problem’s over. And to hold that as your, as your navigation chart, to think this is how things really are, and navigate your life on that basis. Oh, they’re gonna come to some really nasty surprises. They’ll be so bummed out. You know, really, I mean we chuckle, and yet poooh, not chuckley stuff, not chuckley stuff at all, right.

[09:57] May we be free of suffering and the causes of suffering. Well again we can keep it simple, ah, it’s klesha and karma in the second noble truth. Here’s the reality of the source of suffering, irradicate it, the Buddha said. Karma and Klesha. Karma that is type of karma, that is rooted in, that is imbued with, delusion and very possibly other mental afflictions, ah, but the root of the Karma of course is the mental afflictions themselves and the root mental afflictions are the familiar, trio of hatred, attachment and delusion.

[10:35] And I think we all experience those, some more vividly than others, some more intensely than others. But if your experience of hatred, that whole genre of contempt, anger, resentment, hostility, aggression and so forth. If your experience is anything like mine, ah, or if it’s very close to mine, I think, I can say in complete honesty, I never enjoy it, I never enjoy it, I never enjoy being angry, irritated, upset, hostile, contemptuous, disgusted. Never enjoy it. Never enjoy it. It never feels good. I never, ever do. Some people say they do. I think those are the people who enjoy durian. It’s really disgusting and they enjoy it anyway, you know. Maybe. I mean, probably not. But some people say they enjoy it. But I have to say, it’s kind of a perverse pleasure.

[11:23] So I’m not speaking with any kind of virtuous perspective here but I just know anger and that whole family and they’re just not good neighbours, they never are, a little bit is a little bit uncomfortable, intense is really terrible, ah, as the Buddha himself said with respect to the five obscurations and the five, the five dhyana factors. If he meant five, matches five then when your mind is overcome by ill will you’re sick. You’re sick, your mind’s sick.

[12:07] You remember? For hedonic fixation OK you’re in debt. But when your mind is, is under the domination, or in the grip of ill will, malevolence, you’re sick. There’s just no way he can give you a clean bill of health mentally. You’re just not. Because this is not conducive to your well being or anybody else’s well being and it only creates further disturbance and only sows the seeds for further misery so that’s just kinda one hundred percent sick, all the way through.

[12:31] And so among the three poisons, in my experience, and my experience is quite superficial. But, I’m kinda confident of what I have experienced. Is that when I experience that, that poison, I’m experiencing blatant suffering. It just doesn’t feel comfortable, doesn’t feel comfortable at all.

[12:44] Then when I experience craving, attachment, that probably will do, those two, craving and attachment, ah, as we, as we know from the Shamatha teachings its, its essence, kind of its root, is bliss, right. That’s the root of anger, hostility is luminosity, sharpness, intensity. Ah, the root of attachment, craving is bliss. There’s something going on here that I like, because either I’ve got it or I think I will get it. And therefore there’s some pleasure in that.

[13:14] But the pleasure that comes with, or with which, craving and attachment is imbued; that kind of pleasure. The pleasure of I’ve gotten something and holding onto it for dear life. Of really having, craving something or someone or some place, what have you, the pleasure in that. That’s, like the pleasure of a really sweet poison. And when it’s in your mouth it tastes really good. “I want more, give me more.” You know, it’s only when it gets down to your, you know, into your gastrointestinal system then well, maybe that wasn’t a good idea.

[13:51] And so the pleasure that we experience when in the thralls of craving and attachment that’s the second truth, that’s the second type of suffering, suffering of change. It feels good. But you just don’t see it yet. This is not gonna turn out well, which means it’s already got the seeds of blatant suffering in it. They just haven’t germinated so you can see them yet. But if you could, I think if you’re very sensitive, if you really hone your attention, then you’ll see it right in the present. It’s not just in the future.

[14:23] See if this is true for you because this is all experience. It’s either a false report or a true report. But when you are experiencing some joy of craving, of attachment, ah, see, when you really inspect closely, your situation, is there, or is there not some element of anxiety? If there isn’t you’re just not paying attention. Because the anxiety should be there if you’re being at all realistic.

[14:48] Because if you’re craving something you don’t have yet, you haven’t gotten, there’s a real chance you won’t get it. I mean all kinds of chances you won’t get it. So if you’re, you’re betting your life on, if you’re banking on, investing in yourself this is what will make me happy, you might as well, you know, look close and see, you know, if you’re not anxious you’re just, you’re delusional. Because you may not get it which means you’re gonna be really unhappy when you don’t and so you may as well be anxious because that’s a realistic response to your situation.

[15:16] Then imagine you do get it. Whatever it is, the object of attachment. You acquire it. If you’re not feeling anxious you’re not paying attention. Because now it’s absolutely certain, it wasn’t certain whether you’d get it or not. But now that you’ve got it one thing is certain. You’re gonna lose it. That’s just, absolutely guaranteed, you know. As we, as Goenka used to say so frequently. “When we’re really attached to something, one of two things happens. That we’re grasping to that entity whatever it is with attachment and craving. Either it disappears, or we disappear.” No third option. And so, if you’re not anxious, then you’re just, you’re delusional. You’re kind of, you’re in a stupor, you’re just not aware of what’s going on. It’s unintelligent.

[16:01] So, there’s a correspondence there. It’s not to say that all blatant suffering stems from anger, it doesn’t. But when, but anger shows, it puts a card on the table, as soon as it comes up. “I’m making you miserable right now and there’s a lot more to come.” Take that! You know, that’s what anger’s like, it’s blatant suffering.

[16:19] And then attachment if we personify it, it’s a bit craftier, like “I’ve got something really, really good in store for you, really good in store for you.” And then it puts its cards on the table and you’re shattered, you know, because you lose. You always lose, right. But it was crafty, it had you going. It’s like thinking the person who’s betting very high on the, on the poker table is bluffing, and they keep on passing say oh boy! Bet more, bet more, bet more, and then you bring out your three kings and the person has a, you know, a royal flush. “Oh, that’s why you bet so high.” Oh, the lower lips are (gestures). So there’s some connection there I think.

[17:03] And then the third one, if we’re asked what is the cause of that dimension of suffering, this, a pervasive, existential suffering? And we can look at it in two ways, they’re very related but each one is very meaningful. If we just go right down to the Pali Canon it is that identification with our own body-mind, that clinging to the identification with the grasping. “This is really mine, my body, my mind, my feelings, my, my, my. And as soon as that’s there. That grasping onto I and mine, then, you’ll just be suffering.

[17:43] It’ll be a quiet murmur perhaps, but all ready to flare up like a sleeping volcano. It’s always there, it’s always hot. But it’s, it’s always there, and it is a fundamental existential kind of dissatisfaction. And when you’re more aware of it, it’s a sense of uneasiness, a restlessness, a discontent, knowing something’s off, and I need to do something about it but I’m not quite sure what. Probably I should buy a new car, or something, something. Because this doesn’t quite sit well something’s, it’s kinda like you’re seeing that sleeping volcano and a lot of smoke is coming out of the top and “I wonder what that means?”

[18:26] And so, that’s one level, Pali canon level, very important, very practical and then if we go to prajñaparamita level, and then we’ll be finished. Ah, reification, whenever we’re reifying anything. Not just your own body and mind. Reifying anything at all. Chariots, other people, the environment, your possessions, anything at all, reality as a whole. As long as there’s reification, this of course necessarily implies dualistic grasping. Where you’re reifying yourself, reifying other, not self, reifying the separation or bifurcation between the two and, that just never turns out well. In the short term it looks like it. We really get our hopes up and then whoops, it didn’t turn out well after all. And so that one’s kind of neutral it doesn’t really feel good or bad and if you’re just reifying stuff. You know, ah. That by itself doesn’t feel good or bad, it’s neither pleasant or unpleasant, it’s neutral. But it is the final ground state of all the other mental afflictions and it’s the root of all three types of suffering.

[19:21] So, this guy’s gonna get serious, and compassion, the deeper our insight, Gyatrul Rinpoche emphasised this so much, because he would really just, you know, for the seven years that I translated for him he would so often tell his students to do something they didn’t want to do and that is go back and reflect upon the four thoughts that turn the mind. Again and again, he said “This is why your practice hasn’t really gotten off the ground yet.” “This is why you’re still dissatisfied.” “This is why.” “This is why.” “Reflect upon the preciousness of human life, reflect upon impermanence, and mortality, reflect upon the nature of suffering, all the way up and all the way down, reflect upon the nature of karma and its consequences and then if you really get that you will have brought about four revolutions in your view of reality, and then you’ll be, then you’ll be hooked. Then you’ll see whether it really, it’ll just kind of like, seeing it perfectly clear. There is no way to be free of suffering and the causes of suffering apart from dharma.”

[20:24] It’s not, it’s not a sectarian statement like Buddha dharma or Nyingma school or Mahayana Buddhism. It’s not that, it’s just dharma. Dharma is the only way, to find happiness. And everything else, misleading, misleading. So final point and that is these sound really quite awful suffering with all of its three dimensions and then these three underlying mental afflictions, ah, Christians for example, for a very long time, ah, they haven’t really emphasised achieving freedom from suffering in this lifetime. Freedom in heaven, in salvation, ah, but when you look at Jesus, Jesus on the cross they’re not showing a person who’s having a really nice day, who’s enjoying bliss. At least as far as they know. But a man who took, willingly took on suffering in order to bring about greater benefit. The ultimate symbol of Tonglen from the Buddhist perspective.

[21:21] So not much of an emphasis there, but more of an emphasis on, ah, transforming suffering, learning from suffering, deepening one’s compassion and so forth from suffering. So the sermon on the mount for example is just a marvellous Lojong. I think it’s the best Christian Lojong that I’ve ever seen. Ah, but the notion of there, at least in this lifetime not really seeking to be free of suffering but accepting it and then incorporating that, bringing that into one’s spiritual practice, ah, and so forth. I won’t give a, a Christian sermon here, I’m not up to it.

[21:51] Ah, but Lojong of course is extremely central to all of Mahayana Buddhism, all schools of Tibetan Buddhism and there as we all know, it’s very much a matter of, and I’m gonna shift my earlier translations. It’s a matter of taking suffering onto the path, rather than simply trying to avoid it, or get over it, or ignore it, or anaesthetise it. It’s looking at suffering and saying “You know, I can use you.”

[22:16] “My primary motivation” and if this isn’t true then you’re kinda, you’re screwed. But if your primary motivation is not that I can have a happy day every life and avoid all kinds of adversity, ah, but my primary motivation is to let my mind become dharma, you know, to give up all attachment to this life and that I might become dharma. If that’s actually, not just lip service but the actual motivation then, from that perspective, the commitment to eudaimonia, from that perspective, and it’s indispensable from that perspective, then you can look at suffering, all three, all three levels and you could ask, you know, “Could I use that?, Could I use that?”

[22:57] It’s like if you’re out in the wilderness, ah, driving an old fashioned locomotive, a steam engine, and you’re maybe sometimes running out of, running out of fuel, and then you see a bunch big dead trees, maybe right on the tracks, big dead tree. And the first thought is “Oh no! I’m gonna have to stop, there’s gonna be a big delay.” But in the meantime, you know, you’re almost out of coal and then, then the thought “Oh, wait a minute. How cool! I can chop that up and I can get to the next leg of the journey. I can take that onto my path.” And so, that’s a shift, very deep and devout Christians they’re good at this, and very deep and devout Buddhists are good at this and I’m sure others are as well.

[23:42] But actually adopting the suffering, not shirking from the suffering, not, not timid in the face of the suffering. But looking at it rather boldly and saying “I can use, you know.” Don’t worry about, you know, it’s not right to use people as if they’re things but we don’t need to have any compassion for suffering that’s silly. Just try to look at it and say “I can use, you know. I can use you as fuel on my path. Hop aboard. I’m gonna torch you, and I’ll move along the path.”

[24:09] So, this is where it’s, without experiencing suffering, without having that and, of all, of all varieties, ah, well when we look out on the world of sentient being around us they’re experiencing all kinds of suffering. Every single one of them. Just in the human realm we get all of them. Let alone animals and so forth and so on. And so if one really is not, understood, deeply experienced, recognised the nature of suffering on all levels, it’s going to be very difficult to empathise. If you’re having experience like, you know, we paint with our own, we paint others with our own palette. How many people really feel compassion for, those living in the lap of luxury. Living in their, you know, incredibly opulent mansions in Beverley Hills or on their hundred foot sailing yachts and enjoying the good life and they look so good and smiling so much. Who really feels compassion for them, you know?

[25:10] Ah, who really feels compassion for the, those in ISIS or other terrorist groups? Or others who are really quite bent on bringing suffering to the world? The very notion of compassion for them seems like, you know, not needed. That’s because there’s no empathy. People of ISIS are so profoundly, absolutely different from me that I don’t need to have any empathy for them because they’re bad and ah, that kind of thing. But if one can identify within one’s mind stream not that virulent eruption that manifests in the behaviour of ISIS. But the underlying contempt, the arrogance, the resentment, the sense of hurt, the sense of lack of fulfilment, the idealism that the world could be better, but it might be brutal getting there. Have we never experienced that? You know.

[25:55] And so the empathy. Not that this, when we experience suffering, not just wishing it to be over but looking at it closely and saying “I can use this. This will be my basis for empathy.” Without empathy there’s no deep compassion. It’s just a routine, right?

[26:09] And then likewise a final point is, mental afflictions. If we didn’t experience mental afflictions. We just never had one, from the time you were born, you just kind of go through life with no craving, hostility or, or delusion. And then you see pretty much everybody around you erupting, you know? Like living in a Leper colony. Everybody around you erupting in this weird, delusional, nonsensical, crazy, crazy eruptions of craving and you see what they’re craving about, what? And then they get upset over, what? And then they’re grasping, I, me, mine. What? You’re just gonna be like being in an exotic zoo. Like, “Wow, these people are weird, how did they get that way? Gee I’m glad I’m not like them.” You know. If you’d never experienced any of it at all. I think the world would just be almost incomprehensibly weird. Other people’s behaviour. And you’d probably just want to escape. You know, afraid it might be contagious.

[27:13] Wow, that made an impression. (Laughter). So there it is. I’m finished. So let’s go to the practice then, let’s go to the practice. And see, we had a brief allusion to this in Panchen Rinpoche’s text of taking suffering onto the path and taking mental afflictions onto the path. Not simply seeing them as obstacles or obscurations. Please find a comfortable posture.

[27:36] (Bell) With the motivation of wishing to free yourself and all other beings from suffering and its causes, settle your mind, body, speech and mind in their natural states.

[30:25] Of course, for compassion to arise, authentically, there must be some sense, that what we aspire for is possible. Some clear sense, that freedom from suffering, all these levels of suffering and their underlying causes is actually possible. And the more that shifts away from simply an article of faith or optimism, or admiration of other beings who’ve, achieved high states of really, realisation. The more it comes from your own experience. Even on a relatively superficial level of settling into the substrate consciousness and experiencing bliss that is not stimulus driven. Serenity and quiet. The luminosity of your own awareness. Let alone the deeper senses of well being and joy that come from inside. The more you taste this then the more you see there really is hope. We’re not defiled all the way down to the ground. No one is, then there’s hope. So for a little while let’s just settle the mind in its natural state, resting awareness in its own nature. Illuminating the space of the mind and whatever arises within it.

[32:43] And in light of the reality, that when all is said and done suffering has no owner. Then attend to those, including yourself who are subject to the suffering of suffering, blatant suffering, physical and mental. Here and now. With a sense of equality of self and other. Realising what is obviously true, others experience suffering just as we do. Attend to the world of sentient beings. Generally or specifically. Specific individuals or groups may come to mind who are experiencing right now, blatant suffering. There are so many.

[34:04] And again visualising your Buddha nature as an orb of light at the heart as before. With each in breath, as you attend to the world of sentient beings. With each in breath arouse the aspiration. May we all be free of suffering.

[34:38] Breath by breath with each inhalation imagine the darkness of suffering in the world. This blatant suffering, being drawn into this orb of light at your heart and being extinguished there without trace.

[36:18] Turn your attention to the subtler dimension of suffering, the suffering of change. In your own personal history, in your own life and the lives of others. And practice as before.

[38:05] And see if you can identify this deepest dimension. It’s subtle, but you may indeed have experienced it. This underlying sense, this constant sense of being ill at ease.

[38:54] And know that everyone in samsara is in the same ocean, ocean of discontent. Never allowing us to rest. Never at ease.

[39:47] And arouse the aspiration, may we all be free.

[40:15] Then we turn to the causes of suffering. The most core, essential causes. So many things may or may not contribute to suffering. But these are the real culprits, the true source. And reflect upon times in your own life when you’ve been in the grip of the mental affliction of anger, hatred, contempt. The family. How you experienced it, and what were the consequences? When you expressed that into the world. How did it turn out?

[41:13] And then like for myself, so for everyone else. Everyone who experiences contempt, hatred, disdain, ill will and so on. And seeing the blatant misery that goes along with this mental affliction. And seeing the possibility that we could be free, that we could all be free. Arouse the aspiration that it may be so.

[42:58] Then review in your own life stream, periods, especially more intense periods when you’ve been in the grip of craving and attachment. With such hope that it will turn out well. Your inner conviction. And then see where it led.

[44:01] And then turn your attention now towards all those around you who are so intently focused on the pursuit of hedonic well being. Ever hopeful.

[44:38] And with each in breath arouse the aspiration may we all be free. Seeing that it is in fact possible. That there is another source of well being, and joy, that is not fraught with suffering.

[45:49] And with the eyes of wisdom turned to the, the root mental affliction of ignorance and delusion. And seeing that since it is not rooted in reality, it’s not intrinsic to our very identity, to our existence in the universe. There’s a possibility of freedom. By knowing reality as it is. And if each of us here has that capacity then so do all sentient beings. With every in breath arouse the aspiration, may it be so.

[47:33] Envision the freedom. See the hope. And breath by breath imagine yourself and all sentient beings free from each of these dimensions of suffering. From each of these root poisons of the mind. Imagine each one to be free.

[50:41] Rest in the nature of awareness. With no object.

[51:41] (Bell sounds).

[51:57] So, many years ago when I was living in the home of Dr. Yeshe Dhonden. I remember very vividly. One day we were just looking out over the farms right next to Mcleod Ganj and then the canyon and the mountains, he said. “Now look out there, and everything that’s there in this world of nature, everything there. I can make medicine out of it. Rocks, sand, leaves, bark, animal skins, bones. I can find a use for them and turn them into medicine.” Interesting huh. I think he was being very literal.

[52:28] And so as we go into our post-meditative state. There’s at least a possibility that between now and 4:30 when we reconvene a mental affliction might come up. (Laughs) Never can tell. And of course we’re troubled by them because, by definition, mental afflictions disturb the mind. Because if it doesn’t disturb the mind it’s not a mental affliction. Although the disturbance may be very subtle. It upsets the equilibrium of the mind. It distorts the mind. Mental afflictions do that. They do that generically. And so we just would wish they would go away. But they’re not going away any time soon.

[52:58] So then how can we take them onto the path like looking at some poison, some natural poison out in nature? And say “Yeah, that’s poison, but I know how to prepare that. I know how to transmute that so, you know, that it can be useful. I can transform that into medicine.” So how, practically speaking, especially in the light of our Vipashyana trajectory right now. When mental afflictions arise, and let’s just focus on the three. How could that possibly be helpful? And, I’ll tell you. They can be very helpful.

[53:35] It’s difficult isn’t it? When identifying exactly how do you apprehend an object. Are you apprehending the object as having merely nominal existence like “Yeah, that cell phone’s mine, yeah. Why do you ask?” You know, really light. So if it’s, it’s suddenly it’s gone, it’s taken away, it’s broken. You’d say “Oh, it happens.” You know, no suffering. Of course it was gonna happen. It just happened today instead of, you know, sometime later.

[53:57] Is it simply a nominal just recognising the nominal as nominal the conventional as conventional. Or, are we reifying? It’s not easy. It’s not easy. Ah, but then we have this, this trick. Or this insight, and that is, it’s an assertion, you can test it. Whenever a mental affliction arises that then therefore disturbs the mind it’s always rooted in reification. It’s always rooted in a misapprehension of reality. Every single time. Jealousy, arrogance, contempt, you name it. Always rooted in a misapprehension of reality, and specifically reification, grasping onto the inherent existence of whatever we’re attending to.

[54:36] And so, over the course of the day. Keep watching the flow of the mind. The mind is not always equally disturbed. Sometimes it’s relatively serene and undisturbed and other times it’s more disturbed, right. So on those occasions, those episodes, those episodes, when you see that you’re upset, not only because of anger or irritation but maybe upset by craving or jealousy or desire, attachment. Or upset by a sense of I am, pride, or arrogance what have you.

[55:13] Whenever you see that the equilibrium of your mind has been lost you note this introspectively. As soon as you note that, you kind of note it with a smile. “Oh boy, an opportunity!” You know. “Oh, a mental affliction, definitely a sign of mental affliction, and that’s definitely a sign of reification. My mind’s upset! Cool! What was the mental affliction? Oh there it is. Yeah, that wasn’t too hard. And then where’s the reification? Oh, that’s reification! I get it.”

[55:34] And that can help you, in this crucial aspect, of Vipashyana. If you can’t see these two different ways, if you can’t distinguish, between simply apprehending someone like now. “Oh,” there’s this person, there’s that person and so forth in their own light. Merely nominal, if you can’t distinguish that, between that and reification then you will either, as Roger Jackson translated. Either there willbe an over-pervasion or an under-pervasion . You’ll either be throwing out too much, like OK, nobody exists anymore. Or too little, you make just a little contrived objectification and flick that away. But the problem remains. So there you go.

[56:13] Keep on,this is prospective memory. It’s very useful for Dream Yoga. Prospective memory. When you see mental afflictions come up. When you see your mind is disturbed you trace it to mental afflictions, it’s there for sure. Identify it. With kind of glee. “Oh boy I found it.” You know. And then identify reification. “Cool. That’s what it is.” And then wake up. All good. Enjoy your day.

Transcribed by Jesse Ainsworth

Revised by Rafael Carlos Giusti

Final edition by Annette Dorfman

Discussion

Ask questions about this lecture on the Buddhism Stack Exchange or the Students of Alan Wallace Facebook Group. Please include this lecture’s URL when you post.