Session Five: Stop Acting with Unawareness

The tendency is an imputation on the continuum in which we have all these different instances of acting in a similar type of way. We can therefore say that there is a tendency to repeat that type of behavior based on previous instances. There is the possibility that there will be future instances of similar type of behavior. That’s the only way that we can posit that there is a tendency: past instances and the possibility for future instances. 

If there is no way to activate the karmic potential, is there a possibility of a future repetition of that type of behavior? Is there? No, and if there is no possibility for a future recurrence, can we say that there is still a potential for future occurrence? No. This is the way we get rid of the karmic potentials and tendencies by achieving a true stopping of anything that would cause them to become activated. All we can say is that there were previous tendencies but there is no longer a presently happening tendency that can generate not-yet-happening occurrences of that type of behavior.

We have examined that when we go very deeply in our analysis, that it is the misconception of the self that is behind throwing out this net of “me” and “mine” on our feelings, experiences, and so on. This causes the thirsting for it in terms of the level of happiness or unhappiness that we experience and for the object that we experience this with. This is the basic explanation of how we not only stop creating more karmic aftermath, but also get rid of the previously built up karmic aftermath from beginningless time as an imputation on the continuum of consciousness, as it’s called in the twelve links.

Renunciation: Determination to be Free

Let’s digest that for a moment. That’s basically how we are going to stop the recurrence of the twelve links that describe uncontrollably recurring rebirth. That’s how we gain liberation. Of course we need a motivation for why we are doing this. That’s renunciation, defined more literally as a determination to be free. That’s actually what the word in Sanskrit and Tibetan means. We need to become certain that definitely we want to get out. Enough already; this is really boring. Unless we really want to attain liberation, obviously, we’re not going to work sincerely for it. When the determination to be free is transferred to others and we are really determined that they too must get free, that is called compassion.

That is dependent on becoming convinced that it is possible to attain liberation in order for this method to work. This isn’t just a nice wish. We can only become convinced of that when we learn the method and have certainty that the method, if applied properly, will bring about a true stopping of rebirth, the third noble truth. That means that it is very helpful to learn about these twelve links and see how they operate. There are many different aspects of the teachings coming together in this discussion about them.

Working with all the Multi-Dimensional Pieces of the Dharma

Is this state of unawareness, of not knowing, an intrinsic part of our mental activity or is this something that can be eliminated permanently so it never recurs? We don’t want to just suppress it. There are many aspects to work with and become convinced of in order to attain liberation or go further to attain enlightenment. The twelve links are very basic and have a very practical application in terms of how we deal with our feelings of happiness and unhappiness, misery and joy, boredom and apathy. It gives us a clue as to how to handle that in a manner that doesn’t activate the karmic potentials, which cause us to do stupid things in response to our feelings. 

Again, this doesn’t mean that we don’t enjoy being happy or feel sad when it’s appropriate or healthy to feel sad. However, we don’t exaggerate. This exaggeration happens when we fit what we are experiencing into a category of happiness or unhappiness. It has a word, and with that we can communicate that we are happy or unhappy. That’s needed for communication and that’s okay, but when we fit the category into a box and we think that it really fits into the box and add all sorts of additional qualities, like something is the most terrible or most wonderful, this is the problem. From this we think that we don’t want to be parted from it or lose it, and so on and we get into trouble. 

All the things that we have been discussing can be fit together. It’s a multi-dimensional puzzle in which the pieces fit together in many different ways. That really is the entire journey in following the Dharmic path. We learn more and more of these pieces and through thinking, analyzing, working with it and applying it in our lives we can see how it all fits together in different situations. In any difficult situation, due to repetition and familiarity in daily meditation, we are able to access these tools at our fingertip and put the appropriate pieces together. If one piece doesn’t work, there are other pieces that we can put together and apply. Then, we have really integrated the Dharma. Eventually we can get to the point where we don’t even need to think about it. Automatically we will be able to deal with situations without activating more compulsive behavior and disturbing emotions. We will approach life with a calm mind, clarity and compassion – compassion for ourselves, called renunciation, the determination to be free from problems, and compassion for others. 

Compassion for Others

We have compassion for others with the understanding that we’re all equal. Everybody wants to be happy and nobody wants to be unhappy. Everybody experiences happiness and unhappiness by the same mechanism as we do. Others are perpetuating it through their not knowing, just as we do. They also don’t know how we actually exist and how their fantasies and projections don’t correspond to reality. When we regard others as just being confused, like ourselves, it becomes much more fitting to feel compassion rather than thinking others are ignorant and looking down on them as if we are so much better.

Attentiveness with Gross Detection and Subtle Discernment

We need to be attentive to how we are acting, speaking and thinking. We made a distinction between the mental factors that are involved with shamatha and vipashyana. Shamatha is a stilled and settled state of mind and vipashyana is an exceptionally perceptive state of mind. In addition to perfect concentration, what is involved is gross detection and subtle discernment. The example of gross detection, we might be sitting and watching a ballet, viewing the whole thing with a general impression. With subtle discernment we are able to focus on each individual dancer and what they are actually doing simultaneously. When it is really in sharp focus, that is the state of mind of vipashyana. 

We are focusing, trying to develop concentration on an object or state of mind or the mind itself or whatever. There are so many different possibilities. It is not just with concentration, but with understanding without the object of focus. In daily life, what we want to do is be attentive to how we are acting, speaking and thinking. That’s what we want to be attentive of. As Atisha said, “When with others, observe your speech, and when by yourself, observe your thoughts.” 

With gross detection we can observe when we are nervous, or when our energy is disturbed. It doesn’t require that much sensitivity to notice when we feel nervous and uneasy. That is an indication of some disturbing emotion or attitude being present. Part of the definition of disturbed is that we lose peace of mind and self control. On a deeper level, the energy is going wild in the body. With gross detection we notice that we feel uneasy. For example, we are posting something on social media and feeling a bit nervous. Why?

With subtle discernment we notice the actual details. Perhaps we are really hoping that we will get a lot of “likes” because we want people to like “me.” Of course, it doesn’t matter how many we get, we always want more. It’s never enough and doesn’t really make us feel better; otherwise, we would never need to post anything again. 

Gross detection and subtle discernment are mental factors that we need to employ to be aware of what is going on in our speech and behavior. Are we acting compulsively? Is that compulsive behavior being driven by a disturbing emotion or attitude? Then, focus a bit more to discover what is behind it. In the Seven Point Mind Training tradition it always advices to place all the blame on one thing: self-cherishing. With the misconception about how we exist, imagining that we exist as this findable entity on the grossest level as something that doesn’t change, isn’t affected by anything, doesn’t have any parts and can exist and be known by itself, we think we have some findable characteristic that makes me “me.” When we imagine that this is how we exist, this is the false self, as it’s called, or the self that is to be refuted. That is what we have self-cherishing about.

Self-cherishing means that we only want everything for “me,” as if getting everything for “me” would make us more secure. There is nothing to be made secure. We change moment to moment to moment. This is the secret. Always remember not to over-refute. If we over-refute, thinking we don’t exist at all, the consequence of that is that we think it doesn’t matter what we do because there isn’t any cause and effect. Therefore we can do anything; we can be cruel and inconsiderate because you don’t exist and I don’t exist. That clearly is not the Buddhist teaching.

Remember, voidness and dependent arising come together. Because things don’t exist in an impossible way, they function. Cause and effect function not just in terms of kicking a ball, but in terms of our behavior and what we experience. Again, all of this comes from studying the twelve links and approaching it from many different angles.

Let’s spend a bit of time reflecting on this. A helpful point is not to focus on “me,” but rather our behavior and the consequences of it.

Voidness and the Four Noble Truths

To make progress on the path, one of the main focuses as we go deeper will be the four noble truths. What we work with is not just the general voidness of the four noble truths, but the voidness of the person and the mind experiencing the four noble truths. Who is it that is experiencing suffering? Who is it that is experiencing the true causes of suffering? Who is it that is experiencing the absence and the true stopping of the causes of suffering? Who is it that is experiencing the true path, the true understanding that will bring that about? That’s what we apply this to. 

The first two noble truths are the twelve links basically in a further elaboration of suffering and its causes. Getting rid of the twelve links with correct understanding is the last two noble truths, a true path, and as a result of that – attainment of a true stopping and cessation of all this garbage. All of that is taking place in our mental activity, the mind. Again, all of these things fit together. It’s good to understand the true nature of the mind, but what is the application of that? The application is in regard to the mind experiencing the four noble truths, Buddha’s most fundamental teaching. That’s the context and the elaboration of the four truths is the twelve links. Okay?

What further questions do you have?

You mentioned the fruition of karma and by changing habits and behavior we can stop creating further karma. I have heard other explanations on ripening of karma. In one explanation there is foundation consciousness and karmic seeds are stored there. Can the seeds be burned, as I have heard? How can I remain strong so the seeds don’t ripen?

How we prevent the aftermath, these karmic potentials, tendencies and habits from ripening is exactly what we have been discussing. Whether we believe that these imputations have as their basis for imputation the alayavijnana or mental consciousness or clear light mind or the self is not so relevant. There are many different explanations depending on many factors to make it easiest and accessible for each individual person to work with. So, that’s fine. That’s not so important. What is important is that whatever the basis for imputation, we don’t want to activate it. As I said, we activate it with the eighth and ninth links, the thirsting or clinging that we experience from the ripening of previous karma. Previous karmic aftermath ripens into the feeling of happy or unhappy. Now, while we are experiencing that, there are other karmic potentials and tendencies that we don’t want to activate. We activate them in terms of how we are feeling toward the object of our focus, how we are experiencing it and then the “me” who is experiencing that. We need to understand that we project all sorts of nonsense onto the conventional “me,” and how we make it into this solid thing that never changes and sits inside our heads talking, the author of the voice in our heads, some little person sitting inside there talking and pressing the buttons of how we act. We need to realize that this is a cartoon, this is silly.

If we understand this, we don’t throw the net of “me” and “mine” onto what we are feeling and think “poor me,” or attitudes like, “I don’t deserve this,” as if what we are feeling now is never going to change and comes from nowhere. We don’t make a big deal out of what we are feeling or the object for which we have these feelings. In that way, we don’t activate the karma, regardless of how we conceive of the basis for the imputation.

For example, if I don’t feel like helping someone or doing something, but have the sense that I should do it, as you say, I do it anyway. For example, I really don’t want to help the woman with the wolf attacking her, but I should. Wondering if this is related to building positive force or just good character strength. When faced with various temptations, what is this factor that makes you do the right thing? If it’s weak, emotions can overpower. Sometimes you can be affected so strongly that you don’t even try to do anything else. Sometimes you know what you are doing is wrong according to your own standard and there is this “so what?” that makes you do what is right anyway. Is this a potential for strength?

When we learn about the mental factors according to the Abhidharma teachings, there are two mental factors that are always present with constructive behavior. One is a sense of self-dignity that we have so much respect for ourselves that we wouldn’t act in this disturbed way. We experience that as it just doesn’t feel right. You explained it as a character trait, but it’s a sense of self worth. This is actually very important to have, to think enough of ourselves to feel, “How could I act like this?” Often that’s helped in our practice by imagining that our teacher is always with us. How could we act like a jerk in front of our teacher? Would we pick our nose? No, we just wouldn’t do that.

The second factor is a sense of a larger identification. If we act in a destructive manner, how does it reflect on our family, our teacher, our country or our religion? For example, are we giving a bad name to all of Buddhism? We are supposed to be Buddhist, and get drunk and into a big fight. How does this reflect not just on us but on the others that we represent and respect? That also causes us to act in a constructive way and refrain from being destructive. These are the two aspects of constructive behavior.

Analysis of How We Make Decisions

You mentioned the word “should.” This implies judgment. We think that we should do this or that in order to be a good girl or boy, and if we don’t, we are bad. We don’t want to give any encouragement or importance to this because it implies that there is a judge. This isn’t about the concept of good and bad or reward and punishment. As in your example of someone who needs help, someone being attacked, we need to analyze to make a decision. In an emergency, we don’t have time to analyze, but in general this is how we make decisions. We examine what we feel like doing, want to do and what we need to do.

Let’s give an example to make clear the difference in these factors. We are on a diet, and someone offers a delicious pastry. We feel like having it, but we want to stick to our diet and we need to stick to the diet because of health issues. We can examine the reasons for each of these. Why do we feel like having the pastry? It’s because of greed to have the pastry and even a second one. That’s not a valid reason. We want to stay on the diet because we care about our health. What we need to do can be motivated by wanting to have a better figure to look attractive to others, or is it because of health reasons. Examine what the reason is. Then evaluate the reasons for each of these. 

Regarding your example of helping someone under attack, we may feel like not getting involved, but we want to help because this person is suffering. We need to evaluate these things and determine the most valid reason for each of these factors. That’s how we make a decision. Of course, in an emergency, we don’t have time to sit and evaluate. Again, if we have practice with gross detection and subtle discernment of internal aspects, it helps us to be clearer. It is difficult to know what to do; to know the consequences of anything that we do, we need to be a Buddha. We never know. There could be two people speaking very loudly and yelling at each other. I have neighbors like that. It may sound as if they are screaming at each other, but actually they aren’t arguing at all. In fact, they are old and a bit hard of hearing and that’s the way that they speak. They shout at each other. Be aware of misconceptions. There are other cultures that may sound very aggressive to outsiders but it’s not. That’s just the way they speak.

Using the example of a woman being attacked by a wolf, there was a study of people reacting in dire emergencies in ways one wouldn’t expect. There was an example in Holland of a twelve-year-old boy saving an elderly woman stuck in the train tracks as a train was approaching. Is there some basic goodness in us?

As His Holiness the Dalai Lama always points out, according to the latest scientific investigations, the nature of people is kindness and compassion. It is sort of biologically wired in terms of the survival of the species and mother’s caring for babies etc. that is part of it, but, again, one has to look in terms of karmic habits and tendencies. We might be so kind instinctively in regard to saving another person, but, also, without thinking we can smack the mosquito. Which is stronger? It’s not universal. The same person could do both of those actions, as there are many different karmic potentials. 

Beginningless Mind

That’s one of the aspects of karma that isn’t so easy to deal with. This comes from beginningless mind. That means that we have built up the karmic potentials for literally everything. What gets activated? We have talked about what does the activation, but which specific karmic tendencies or seeds get activated is dependent on millions of conditions and not just one condition at a time. This includes all the external things going on, the company we are with, actions and events earlier in the day, and so many things are going to affect which karmic tendency will be activated in any moment. This dependent arising on causes and conditions and all the different parts of this is enormously complex. In one situation with people, we have the karmic tendency to help others and it’s so strong that instinctively we just help that person in the most extreme circumstances, like the example on the train racks. However, there is also another karmic tendency to kill anything that annoys us like the mosquito.

This almost seems that our practice or path won’t have any effect in reducing our negative karma.

It will be effective, but it will have to be sustained for a very long time. If we look at the sutra teachings, it requires three countless eons of building up positive force. That’s a long time. The point is that given beginningless time and beginningless build-up of negative potential, it’s going to take a tremendous amount of counteracting force to overcome it. That’s the point. Don’t expect it to be simple or easy. Some people take these large numbers that we find in the Mahayana sutras literally, and this is okay. But also, these large numbers help us to develop a Mahayana mind when we think of these huge numbers of beings. For example, Buddha teaches and there are twenty-five million asuras and thirty-seven billion devas. These are huge numbers that help to open the mind to all sentient beings. The actual number isn’t as crucial. Three countless eons makes us realize that okay, it’s going to take a long time. It won’t be easy and it will always go up and down. That’s the nature of samsara. High falls to low, low goes to high is how it is traditionally said, but it just means that things go up and down. 

We can see that with our moods; there’s nothing special about that. It’s just the way it is. It requires long sustained effort. However, we know the weak points in these twelve links, how we conceive of ourselves and others, or from the Mahayana perspective, also how we mistakenly conceive of everything. This is the troublemaker and we have built up the habit of not only projecting this but believing in it with no beginning. Because of our limited bodies and limited minds it’s confusing. Think about that. There’s a voice going on in our heads, so there must be somebody inside there talking. It just seems like that. If we close our eyes, it seems as if nothing else exists, but we still exist. It’s confusing. In addition, we have the limited body and we can only see out of the two holes in the front of our heads. We can’t see what is behind us. We have, in this way, periscope vision like the submarine with the little pipe that goes up. That’s how we view the world. We see what is in front of us and have no idea about anything else. It seems as if the person in front of us arrived out of nowhere and nothing with no family or background or home or preceding events. No, it’s just pop, and there the person is, as if self-established. It is as if it is established all by itself independent of anything that came before.

The best example is the website. We put in tens of thousands of hours of work, with hundreds of people involved starting more than twenty years ago in preparation. You have your phone, computer, tablet or whatever you are working with, and a page comes up as if out of nowhere, self-established. There is no appearance whatsoever of all the work that went into it. It appears it just pops up and there it is. That is how things appear to us and that is the false appearance. Our limited minds and bodies make it appear like that because it’s all that we can see. We have limited hardware. These bodies and minds are limited hardware. 

What we want to stop with the twelve links is getting more limited hardware while our karma is the software playing in this hardware. It’s an interesting way to look at it. That appearance of things being self-established, not dependently arisen on causes, conditions, parts, and so on, is our ignorance. We believe that corresponds to reality, and it doesn’t. It is deceptive because it appears like that and we believe it. The first thing that we need to get rid of is that belief. Therefore, it’s like an illusion, a bubble, and so on. It appears to be solid, but it’s not. Then, gradually, the more engrained our disbelief in this nonsense becomes, the mind will eventually stop projecting it. 

Why? It is because we will have broken the continuity and momentum by focusing on voidness and “no such thing.” We focus on the absence of something that corresponds to this nonsense without making a thing out of this absence. When we do this, it breaks the inertia and continuity of the mind projecting all of it. The more instances and time that we focus on that voidness, the more we cultivate another way of experiencing things. That’s how we get the mind to eventually stop projecting the false appearances and nonsense. If we look at teachings on three countless eons, the first eon is just to get to the stage on non-conceptual cognition of voidness. There are two more countless eons to follow of working on that before we get the mind to stop projecting this garbage. 

When we understand how it’s done, we can become confident that it will work. If we don’t understand how it works, then it’s just faith. Some people can be sustained by faith, but after a while many people begin to doubt and question what they are doing. If we look at the definition of valid cognition and apprehension, what we need is both accurate and decisive understanding. Then it is firm. For example, it is accurate that it is possible to attain enlightenment and we can have some idea of what that is. We can recite the term “purity of the mind” forever, but if we don’t understand it and if we aren’t confident and decisive, then it’s shaky and not stable. We are always aiming for stable understanding, stable attainment and stable realization – accurate and decisive understanding without the indecisive wavering of “is it this or is it that?”

On my way here today, in the fast lane the cars passing were a Ferrari, a Porsche and a Lamborghini. I found myself getting quite annoyed and judging this display of wealth and spending money that way. Do you have any suggestions about how to work with this in a constructive way?

We are in Norway and there are wealthy people here. In this case, you are fitting all these people into the category of “people who drive expensive cars,” and all these instances fit into that category. You are viewing them conceptually through that category and you have ascribed certain characteristics to that category. For example, “These are terrible people and they are just showing off and arrogant,” and so on. You have defined not just the category but the characteristics as well. That doesn’t necessarily correspond to each of these people. Let me give you a lovely example from when I first went to India in 1969, a little bit before the hippy invasion of India, but there were already a few people. I was living with a Tibetan monk, and there were some Westerners who dressed in Tibetan clothes, silk and brocade robes and all of that. I thought that this was ridiculous that they were dressing like this. I asked my Tibetan monk friend what Tibetans thought of that. His reply was that these people like Tibetan clothes. There was no judgment whatsoever. In that way, these people who drive these expensive cars… like “okay,” there is no value judgment there.

There are also beautiful sunsets and I used to go outside and watch the sunset. My monk friend couldn’t comprehend why I wanted to watch the sunset and found it beautiful. It’s just a sunset, quite normal.

I couldn’t resist saying this. I stopped to fuel the car in the mountain and there were three pumps. There was one of these beautiful cars, a beautiful blue, and the man with the car was blocking all three pumps. I asked if he could please move his car a little bit, and he refused.

People can be inconsiderate, that is true. Thich Nhat Hanh gave very good advice for when someone is doing something very annoying and difficult. He suggested that we approach the person and say, “I have a problem. My problem is that I need to fill my car so that I can make my appointment on time. Can you help me?” Rather than scolding the person, as in “You pig for occupying all three pumps,” we give them the opportunity to be generous and giving. That changes the whole atmosphere. This is something that can be applied in many situations and actually is very wise advice. Give someone the opportunity to be generous and to help.

Yesterday you spoke about subtle consciousness, energy, karmic tendencies and mental factors. Can this correspond to each of the three kayas?

When we talk about mind, mental activity, whether it is the mental activity of a samsaric being or liberated being, an arhat, or an enlightened being, a Buddha, there are always certain mental factors present. For instance, this can be concentration, discriminating awareness, some feeling of happy or unhappy. With a Buddha they aren’t limited. A Buddha doesn’t feel the type of deluded feelings that we do with ordinary happiness. A Buddha has great bliss, and also five aggregates; however, they aren’t samsaric aggregates. As for what functions as consciousness, a Buddha has the clear light level of consciousness. It does what consciousness does but without confusion and making appearances of truly or self-established existence. A Buddha can distinguish one disciple from another and knows what to teach each one individually. There is great bliss and other mental factors like concentration and compassion. It doesn’t have the deluded mental factors, but certainly the constructive ones. 

That’s the case, regardless of which kaya we are talking about, Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya or Nirmanakaya. The Dharmakaya fulfills the Buddha’s aim to attain an omniscient mind and know the cause and effect of everything to be able to help others attain a true stopping etc. The Rupakaya, the form bodies, the Nirmanakaya and Sambhogakaya, are fulfilling the aims of others. The Sambhogakaya is for arya bodhisattvas, and the Nirmanakaya is for those who are not yet arya bodhisattvas, but have the karmic connection to actually meet with the Buddha. However, there is concentration present with all of them. That subtlest level of mind, the clear light mind, no longer has an imputation of a “me,” but there is a “me” conventionally. For example, Shakyamuni Buddha is not Maitreya Buddha and people have different karmic connections to meet with Shakyamuni or Maitreya. That indicates that they are individuals. They aren’t the same. Their attainment is the same, but they are not as individuals.

There is also the subtlest energy that will be, in a sense, to use a gross word, the substance for the appearance of the Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya. That’s there. One needs to look a bit more deeply. There isn’t a one to one correspondence with the three kayas, but we can see how all these aspects are there without the deluded and destructive mental factors or the gross levels of consciousness and limited hardware of rebirth in samsara. That is part of rebirth, to have these limited types of consciousness. Buddha has only clear light consciousness able to perceive all objects and not just visual consciousness that can only see sights. A Buddha isn’t limited.

I hope what can be taken home from all of this is an understanding that we are perpetuating our own samsaric existence by over-reacting to our moods, feelings and so on, and by our ignorance and misconception about how we all exist. We need to see through this misconception and not believe the deceptive ways that our minds make things appear. We need to see beyond feeling that “I am the only ones that matter, I always have to get my way, and that everyone has to like me.” Not everyone liked the Buddha, why should everyone like “me”? This is very helpful to remember. They crucified Jesus, that’s another thought to help remember and he was a pretty nice guy, so what should we expect?

Also, work on it. Remember there are three difficult things from the Seven Point Mind Training: be mindful of the opponents, be mindful to apply them, and be mindful to sustain this. That’s what we have to work on.

We think whatever positive force, whatever understanding has come from this, may it go deeper and deeper and act as a cause for all beings to attain the enlightened state of a Buddha for the benefit of all.