July 27, 2024 • 17 mins
Join Buddhist Scholar Geshe Tenzin Namdak as he delves into developing mental clarity through mindfulness meditation. In this discussion, Geshe Namdak explains how mental factors such as mindfulness and alertness play a crucial role in achieving concentration and clarity. He elaborates on Buddhist meditation techniques and the importance of mental factors in our daily practice.
Learn how to train your mind to stay focused and present, and discover the benefits of mental clarity for solving problems and achieving peace of mind. This video offers valuable insights for anyone interested in mindfulness and meditation.
Learn more about Geshe Tenzin Namdak
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Science and wisdomlive, where scientists and
(00:03):
meditators meet.
Mindfulness is thrown most ofthe translations kept us
mindfulness, meta awareness.
Sometimes it's been translatedas introspection, or sometimes
being translated as alertness.
(00:28):
So there's two very essentialmental factors in order to
develop a form of concentration.
Yeah, what we do inconcentration is redirecting our
mind. Yeah, we, when our mindgets distracted, we want to
redirect it, not towards thedistraction, but towards the
focus we have to focus upon.
(00:48):
Right. So if you train inconcentration meditation
initially, then when you trainin concentration, meditation,
you use these kinds of factorsof the mind or properties of the
mind or, or mental factors as wedefinitely call them. So we have
six types of consciousness, aswe just talked about, right? So
five sensory perception and onemental consciousness. But
(01:11):
there's all a very dynamicaspect of various mental
factors. So I won't go into thedetail in the numbers here. But,
you know, certain traditions,they classify 51 or 52, or 746.
Yeah, there's variousclassifications in the different
Buddhist traditions in the Palitradition, as well as in the
Sanskrit and Alana tradition,there's various kind of mental
(01:34):
factors being described bydefinition, function, nature,
very detailed kind of aspects,but let us just focus upon two
of them. Yeah. So that meansthat the six types of
consciousness, they cannotreally operate all by
themselves. It's like a king anda queen and the and the
ministers or prime minister andthe members of parliament, for
(01:57):
example, right? The PrimeMinister cannot completely
functional by themself, right.
So by his or herself, it needsto kind of community, so to say,
so here also, you see thedependents being very important.
And then with with these mentalfactors, they actually like the
the members of parliament, youcould say, they've been more
interesting then that maybeMembers of Parliament, I don't
(02:20):
know, but they actually help ourmind to function. So and then,
those two mental factors, wejust talked about mindfulness
and meta awareness, or sometimestranslated as alertness or
introspection, yeah, they arevery essential. Initially,
they're essential in developingconcentration. And then once
concentration is developed, thenthe very essential indirect in
(02:43):
the mind, because what you do inconcentration, basically, you
redirect the mind, every momentthat gets distracted, every
moment thinks about the past orthe future, you bring it back to
the present, you bring it backto what you're supposed to be
doing. And that's the object ofconcentration. In this case, for
example, the counting of thebreath. And that what happens
(03:05):
there is you try to concentrateon one particular object, let's
say the counting of the breath,you count, I remember this one,
I'll bet us two, then inregistry, and they account for
one to 10. And you do thatpractice for, let's say, a few
minutes, then you dress and thenyou will see that the mind is
(03:26):
just wandering off you if youdon't have these two mental
factors before, you know,probably 10 minutes passed, and
you thought what was I supposedto be doing? Again, what I'm
doing, you're completely lost indetox, right? So you need those
mental factors to actuallydirect your mind. Yeah, and if
you develop concentration inthat way, by being alert, that's
(03:47):
this mental fact, alertness ormeta awareness, sometimes been
translated, that as soon as themind drifts up, off to the past,
or future or to toe pattern,you'll be alerted down yet you
you recognise it, so to say. Andthen with mindfulness, you bring
your mind back to what you'resupposed to be doing, which is
(04:08):
in this case, the counting ofthe breath. Right. So alertness
is kind of this policeman orpolicewoman on the side of your
mind checking, if you're doingthe right things or if you are
not getting distracted or notthinking about past in the
future, if you are not, if youare getting away from from the
(04:28):
present moment, so to say. Sothen with this alertness, you,
you, you recognise that there isa distraction. Yeah, so that you
train in concentrationmeditation in that particular
mental factor. Then as soon asyou recognise there's a
distraction, then withmindfulness, you bring your mind
back to the object you'resupposed to be focusing upon,
(04:50):
right? So that means mindfulnessis a kind of free translation
could be also is kind ofRemember, it's to remember, an
object and then the particularobject you're familiar with.
That's kind of how we normallydefine it in the in the Pali
tradition, as well as inSanskrit tradition, that
mindfulness is kind of aremembrance of something you
(05:13):
familiar with. So we havemindfulness all the time of
objects of desire, for example,when, or objects of anger, for
example, when we think aboutthis person, you annoys you so
much, there is single pointedconcentration present. So to
say, with regards to thethought, don't do not get
distracted at a time, you're inthis completely rage of anger,
(05:37):
there's no distraction at all,because you just only focus upon
this, this person being bad, orthe situation being bad, right?
So that's one way we have, wehave those those many factors
like concentration, we havethem, but we don't use them
properly, we should use them inmore constructive way. Yeah, so
(05:57):
that's kind of a sign thatconcentration is present,
especially because if I askedyou to meditate on patience,
then I think you struggling tokeep your mind focused upon
contemplating being calm and,and contemplating the aspects of
having a calm mind and beingpatient, right. But if you
(06:24):
did, they have to put quite someeffort. But if you if I trigger
your mind, by looking about yourhair dress, or the way you
dress, or the way you have yourhair, or the way you wear your
glasses, or sometimes peoplehave all kinds of headphones
these days, on the Zoomconversations, so you can make a
joke about it, or you canactually cause a person to get
(06:46):
really annoyed, right? So thenthat's very easy. You know, so
our habituation patterns tothese kind of destructive
emotions quite strong. That's,that's kind of a sign. But it
there's a possibility toactually rewire that, or
whatever you like to call it toactually restructure your mind
in that way. So that if youengage in, in, in, initially
(07:07):
concentration meditation, andyou develop these two mental
factors, as we call alertnessand mindfulness, right, so you'd
be alert, as soon as the mindgets distracted, and you bring
it back, then you get peace ofmind, you get concentration,
then you get clarity of themind. Right? So that's a very
constructive state of mind inorder to solve problems, and to
(07:29):
acquire some happiness,basically, why do people engage
in extreme sports? is a veryinteresting question. You know,
because in extreme sports, youyou live in the moment, so to
say, and it gives a kick thatgives a bliss of the mind, if
you don't have to think aboutthe future or the past, it gives
peace of mind, that's, that'swhat we know with with staying
(07:51):
in the present moment gives apeace of mind. Because if you go
down freeskiing somewhere inOPS, and you get just take a
track, in free skiing, if yourmind is not in the moment, the
trees will will cause you to, tohave a very destructive kind of
future, right? So you have to bein the moment, you know, so
that's kind of, and people willgo in these kinds of sports,
(08:14):
they get a kick. And it's, it's,there's a reason for that,
because you are in the moment,right. So it living in the
moment itself, is a kind ofgives you a kind of quietness of
peace of mind, you know, sothere's kind of a basis to walk
upon. If you have this basis ofpeace of mind, then you can
think much clearer. Same withwhen they go, we're told about
(08:34):
people sometimes are in theirstrains have negative thoughts,
we often have to take a distanceof those strains in order to
work with it. So we go for aholiday, or we go for a break
and come back with more clarityand then look at it and can
solve it much better. So with amind we should do something
similar, when you go to a placethat is kind of gives you a
(08:55):
relaxation gives you peace ofmind. And that after that peace
of mind, it gives you insight.
And not only gives you insightby by having trained in these
two mental factors in thisconcentration meditation that
gives you peace of mind, right?
Then you take those two mentalfactors into daily life. Because
then you look at things from adistance. If you look at things
(09:17):
from a distance, there's muchmore acceptance of difficult
issues in life. If you havedistance, there's more clarity.
Yeah. And then if there's moreclarity, there's more control.
Yeah, there's more control ofthe mind to shift the mind in
the way you want to shift it.
And there again, the way toshift it, as soon as there's a
negative thought that passes byor comes up. There's various
(09:39):
methodologies to use to redirectyour mind or to not pay
attention or to break down thosethoughts, right. But it mainly
depends on these two mentalfactors that if you are aware of
the thoughts coming up in aninitial moment, then with
mindfulness you can redirectyour thoughts and app declared,
If you have trained your mindwith some, some concentration,
(10:01):
and you have some peace of mind.
So from that basis of peace thatwe know in a lake in the ops,
when it's no wind, and whenthere's a clear summer morning,
you know, you're looking thelake. And an editing reflects
the sky, the blue sky and a fewwild clouds and the snow
(10:22):
mountains and the trees,everything is crystal clear. But
then when the winds of thedestructive emotions come, then
the clarity goes, right. So inour mind is very similar that we
need initially, we need clarity,which we can accomplish with
with this kind of concentration,meditation, and then we take
that clarity throughout the day,and then try to focus on that
(10:42):
clarity, let's say, every houror so, throughout the day, to
make sure we get a little bittouchdown, on this quiet aspect
of the mind. And then inbetween, because the the main
challenge, or the main practiceis in between meditation
sessions, right? Oh, meditationsessions are very short. But the
(11:03):
main practice come to how do wepractice when we're not sitting
on a cushion? Yeah. So then ifyou sit on the cushion, and you
train in these two mentalfactors, then you take them out
into daily life. And then assoon as your negative thought
comes by, then alertnessrecognises that. And then with
mindfulness, you can redirect orthink about your good intention,
(11:23):
you put in the morning, forexample, you remember that good
intention, and then you redirectyour mind, so to say, and then
you have opportunity, basically,to change so that this this
mental factors of alertness andmindfulness or meta awareness
and mindfulness are veryessential to be trained in, in
(11:45):
this kind of meditationtechniques, right, or simple
concentration meditationtechniques. And then with that,
you can actually be more aware.
So you'd be more aware of thedifferent emotions in your life,
and then not only more aware ofemotions, but then also you
start to see more, you start tosee that these destructive
emotions, so to say, are not inconcert reality. And because you
see, they're not in quantumreality, you can tackle them
(12:08):
much better, you know, you'renot, you're not kind of you
don't go in this emotionalhijack, as you did before. Yeah,
if you have more peace of mind,you have more distance, there's
more clarity. And then those twomental factors are stronger,
when a particular torque comesup, you can redirect us,
according to these two kinds ofpotentials of the mind, so to
(12:30):
say, and then that goes all theway up to the redirecting,
eventually, destructive emotionsfrom the root. If you then
eventually understand ultimatereality, and see that everything
is a nature of dependence, then,you see there is nothing
existing from its own side, assuch, and then you see also the
(12:50):
destructive emotions and ourproblems. They're not as solid
as they appear. And then overtime, we can work on that as
well. And actually deal muchbetter with with the
difficulties in life. So to say,yeah, so maybe, I think, yeah,
that's more or less the timethat it was being given. And
maybe that's a nice way to stop,too. Yeah. With this
(13:13):
presentation. Okay. Thank youvery much.
Thank you, Castle, I alwaysappreciate the precision with
which you speak. And todaytalking about delusions, the
delusions that make us suffer,and some of the ways that we can
escape them was wonderful. Well,it's time for questions. People
(13:34):
are welcome to ask questions inthe chat room, we already have
received a lot of them. So Ithink I'll start with one of
them and pose it first to Geshe.
La, this was geared this wasdirected to Geshe LA, but I
think it'd be nice to get Dr.
Dan Covas response as well. Sohere's the question, what does
Buddhism have to say aboutwillpower? I find that it plays
(13:58):
a crucial role in our convictionthat there is an essential ego,
which is in control of our lifeexperiences and reactions. I
wonder why the subject is notusually addressed in Buddhist
teachings. So I think and Ithink it'd be nice to get the
scientific view on willpower aswell afterwards. So yes, hello.
Do you want to address that?
(14:19):
Oh, willpower is I don't knowwhat kind of Yeah, willpower is
very strong in Buddhismactually. Because if you follow
for example, the BodhisattvaJana parks, and you want to
become a Buddha yourself, thenthe willpower is complete beyond
imagination of ordinarywillpower. We haven't day to
day, day to day life, becausewillpower is one aspect is our
(14:41):
on a more secular aspect. Wecould say willpower is based
upon a kind of seeing yourpotential and believing your
potential, right? That we knowwe can change and we know how we
can change. So that is just amatter of putting some effort in
that direction. And there we go.
So it's a kind of a I thinkwillpower is a very essential
and very important aspect of theBuddhist doctrine, that because
(15:04):
of the potential we have, thenbecause of the ability, that the
mind is changeable, and themethodology that is available,
then is just a matter of fact ofputting some effort in and
direction and off, you go withwillpower, you know, so in one
way, that's really true, butthen if you ask the question
that might be related with,with, we don't consider
(15:26):
performance own side existingself, so to say we don't
consider things as existing inan independent way. Right. So
that's also an aspect ofBuddhism, because everything is
nature of dependence, andbecause everything is in nature
of dependence, there is no innerand self, as we say. But
exactly, because there's noinner and self, there is a
(15:47):
conventional self that has thepotential to develop, right? So
in that context, I think, yeah,willpower is actually very
strong in Buddhism, because theBuddha said, Look, they're
suffering. Look, there's a causeof suffering. Look, there's a
possibility to solve it. Yeah,the Truth of cessation, and then
the methodology, how to do it.
(16:10):
So that creates an incrediblekind of signs of the mind of
understanding the issues andunderstanding the possibility to
solve the issues and then alsounderstand the methodology
behind it with this veryconstrained, constructive kind
of aspect of I'm going to dothis and I can do it. Yeah. So
and in that way, I think we'llcall is, is quite, it's quite
(16:32):
present in Buddhism. Yeah. It'sonly related with the self that
that exists in a conventionalway. Doesn't exist inherently.
Yeah. Then of course, we talkthere's no inner and self right.
But on the conventional level,the development and the
potential to develop isdefinitely there. And that
produces this kind of courageousattitude. I could say
Welcome to Science and wisdomlive, where scientists and
(00:03):
meditators meet.
Mindfulness is thrown most ofthe translations kept us
mindfulness, meta awareness.
Sometimes it's been translatedas introspection, or sometimes
being translated as alertness.
(00:28):
So there's two very essentialmental factors in order to
develop a form of concentration.
Yeah, what we do inconcentration is redirecting our
mind. Yeah, we, when our mindgets distracted, we want to
redirect it, not towards thedistraction, but towards the
focus we have to focus upon.
(00:48):
Right. So if you train inconcentration meditation
initially, then when you trainin concentration, meditation,
you use these kinds of factorsof the mind or properties of the
mind or, or mental factors as wedefinitely call them. So we have
six types of consciousness, aswe just talked about, right? So
five sensory perception and onemental consciousness. But
(01:11):
there's all a very dynamicaspect of various mental
factors. So I won't go into thedetail in the numbers here. But,
you know, certain traditions,they classify 51 or 52, or 746.
Yeah, there's variousclassifications in the different
Buddhist traditions in the Palitradition, as well as in the
Sanskrit and Alana tradition,there's various kind of mental
(01:34):
factors being described bydefinition, function, nature,
very detailed kind of aspects,but let us just focus upon two
of them. Yeah. So that meansthat the six types of
consciousness, they cannotreally operate all by
themselves. It's like a king anda queen and the and the
ministers or prime minister andthe members of parliament, for
(01:57):
example, right? The PrimeMinister cannot completely
functional by themself, right.
So by his or herself, it needsto kind of community, so to say,
so here also, you see thedependents being very important.
And then with with these mentalfactors, they actually like the
the members of parliament, youcould say, they've been more
interesting then that maybeMembers of Parliament, I don't
(02:20):
know, but they actually help ourmind to function. So and then,
those two mental factors, wejust talked about mindfulness
and meta awareness, or sometimestranslated as alertness or
introspection, yeah, they arevery essential. Initially,
they're essential in developingconcentration. And then once
concentration is developed, thenthe very essential indirect in
(02:43):
the mind, because what you do inconcentration, basically, you
redirect the mind, every momentthat gets distracted, every
moment thinks about the past orthe future, you bring it back to
the present, you bring it backto what you're supposed to be
doing. And that's the object ofconcentration. In this case, for
example, the counting of thebreath. And that what happens
(03:05):
there is you try to concentrateon one particular object, let's
say the counting of the breath,you count, I remember this one,
I'll bet us two, then inregistry, and they account for
one to 10. And you do thatpractice for, let's say, a few
minutes, then you dress and thenyou will see that the mind is
(03:26):
just wandering off you if youdon't have these two mental
factors before, you know,probably 10 minutes passed, and
you thought what was I supposedto be doing? Again, what I'm
doing, you're completely lost indetox, right? So you need those
mental factors to actuallydirect your mind. Yeah, and if
you develop concentration inthat way, by being alert, that's
(03:47):
this mental fact, alertness ormeta awareness, sometimes been
translated, that as soon as themind drifts up, off to the past,
or future or to toe pattern,you'll be alerted down yet you
you recognise it, so to say. Andthen with mindfulness, you bring
your mind back to what you'resupposed to be doing, which is
(04:08):
in this case, the counting ofthe breath. Right. So alertness
is kind of this policeman orpolicewoman on the side of your
mind checking, if you're doingthe right things or if you are
not getting distracted or notthinking about past in the
future, if you are not, if youare getting away from from the
(04:28):
present moment, so to say. Sothen with this alertness, you,
you, you recognise that there isa distraction. Yeah, so that you
train in concentrationmeditation in that particular
mental factor. Then as soon asyou recognise there's a
distraction, then withmindfulness, you bring your mind
back to the object you'resupposed to be focusing upon,
(04:50):
right? So that means mindfulnessis a kind of free translation
could be also is kind ofRemember, it's to remember, an
object and then the particularobject you're familiar with.
That's kind of how we normallydefine it in the in the Pali
tradition, as well as inSanskrit tradition, that
mindfulness is kind of aremembrance of something you
(05:13):
familiar with. So we havemindfulness all the time of
objects of desire, for example,when, or objects of anger, for
example, when we think aboutthis person, you annoys you so
much, there is single pointedconcentration present. So to
say, with regards to thethought, don't do not get
distracted at a time, you're inthis completely rage of anger,
(05:37):
there's no distraction at all,because you just only focus upon
this, this person being bad, orthe situation being bad, right?
So that's one way we have, wehave those those many factors
like concentration, we havethem, but we don't use them
properly, we should use them inmore constructive way. Yeah, so
(05:57):
that's kind of a sign thatconcentration is present,
especially because if I askedyou to meditate on patience,
then I think you struggling tokeep your mind focused upon
contemplating being calm and,and contemplating the aspects of
having a calm mind and beingpatient, right. But if you
(06:24):
did, they have to put quite someeffort. But if you if I trigger
your mind, by looking about yourhair dress, or the way you
dress, or the way you have yourhair, or the way you wear your
glasses, or sometimes peoplehave all kinds of headphones
these days, on the Zoomconversations, so you can make a
joke about it, or you canactually cause a person to get
(06:46):
really annoyed, right? So thenthat's very easy. You know, so
our habituation patterns tothese kind of destructive
emotions quite strong. That's,that's kind of a sign. But it
there's a possibility toactually rewire that, or
whatever you like to call it toactually restructure your mind
in that way. So that if youengage in, in, in, initially
(07:07):
concentration meditation, andyou develop these two mental
factors, as we call alertnessand mindfulness, right, so you'd
be alert, as soon as the mindgets distracted, and you bring
it back, then you get peace ofmind, you get concentration,
then you get clarity of themind. Right? So that's a very
constructive state of mind inorder to solve problems, and to
(07:29):
acquire some happiness,basically, why do people engage
in extreme sports? is a veryinteresting question. You know,
because in extreme sports, youyou live in the moment, so to
say, and it gives a kick thatgives a bliss of the mind, if
you don't have to think aboutthe future or the past, it gives
peace of mind, that's, that'swhat we know with with staying
(07:51):
in the present moment gives apeace of mind. Because if you go
down freeskiing somewhere inOPS, and you get just take a
track, in free skiing, if yourmind is not in the moment, the
trees will will cause you to, tohave a very destructive kind of
future, right? So you have to bein the moment, you know, so
that's kind of, and people willgo in these kinds of sports,
(08:14):
they get a kick. And it's, it's,there's a reason for that,
because you are in the moment,right. So it living in the
moment itself, is a kind ofgives you a kind of quietness of
peace of mind, you know, sothere's kind of a basis to walk
upon. If you have this basis ofpeace of mind, then you can
think much clearer. Same withwhen they go, we're told about
(08:34):
people sometimes are in theirstrains have negative thoughts,
we often have to take a distanceof those strains in order to
work with it. So we go for aholiday, or we go for a break
and come back with more clarityand then look at it and can
solve it much better. So with amind we should do something
similar, when you go to a placethat is kind of gives you a
(08:55):
relaxation gives you peace ofmind. And that after that peace
of mind, it gives you insight.
And not only gives you insightby by having trained in these
two mental factors in thisconcentration meditation that
gives you peace of mind, right?
Then you take those two mentalfactors into daily life. Because
then you look at things from adistance. If you look at things
(09:17):
from a distance, there's muchmore acceptance of difficult
issues in life. If you havedistance, there's more clarity.
Yeah. And then if there's moreclarity, there's more control.
Yeah, there's more control ofthe mind to shift the mind in
the way you want to shift it.
And there again, the way toshift it, as soon as there's a
negative thought that passes byor comes up. There's various
(09:39):
methodologies to use to redirectyour mind or to not pay
attention or to break down thosethoughts, right. But it mainly
depends on these two mentalfactors that if you are aware of
the thoughts coming up in aninitial moment, then with
mindfulness you can redirectyour thoughts and app declared,
If you have trained your mindwith some, some concentration,
(10:01):
and you have some peace of mind.
So from that basis of peace thatwe know in a lake in the ops,
when it's no wind, and whenthere's a clear summer morning,
you know, you're looking thelake. And an editing reflects
the sky, the blue sky and a fewwild clouds and the snow
(10:22):
mountains and the trees,everything is crystal clear. But
then when the winds of thedestructive emotions come, then
the clarity goes, right. So inour mind is very similar that we
need initially, we need clarity,which we can accomplish with
with this kind of concentration,meditation, and then we take
that clarity throughout the day,and then try to focus on that
(10:42):
clarity, let's say, every houror so, throughout the day, to
make sure we get a little bittouchdown, on this quiet aspect
of the mind. And then inbetween, because the the main
challenge, or the main practiceis in between meditation
sessions, right? Oh, meditationsessions are very short. But the
(11:03):
main practice come to how do wepractice when we're not sitting
on a cushion? Yeah. So then ifyou sit on the cushion, and you
train in these two mentalfactors, then you take them out
into daily life. And then assoon as your negative thought
comes by, then alertnessrecognises that. And then with
mindfulness, you can redirect orthink about your good intention,
(11:23):
you put in the morning, forexample, you remember that good
intention, and then you redirectyour mind, so to say, and then
you have opportunity, basically,to change so that this this
mental factors of alertness andmindfulness or meta awareness
and mindfulness are veryessential to be trained in, in
(11:45):
this kind of meditationtechniques, right, or simple
concentration meditationtechniques. And then with that,
you can actually be more aware.
So you'd be more aware of thedifferent emotions in your life,
and then not only more aware ofemotions, but then also you
start to see more, you start tosee that these destructive
emotions, so to say, are not inconcert reality. And because you
see, they're not in quantumreality, you can tackle them
(12:08):
much better, you know, you'renot, you're not kind of you
don't go in this emotionalhijack, as you did before. Yeah,
if you have more peace of mind,you have more distance, there's
more clarity. And then those twomental factors are stronger,
when a particular torque comesup, you can redirect us,
according to these two kinds ofpotentials of the mind, so to
(12:30):
say, and then that goes all theway up to the redirecting,
eventually, destructive emotionsfrom the root. If you then
eventually understand ultimatereality, and see that everything
is a nature of dependence, then,you see there is nothing
existing from its own side, assuch, and then you see also the
(12:50):
destructive emotions and ourproblems. They're not as solid
as they appear. And then overtime, we can work on that as
well. And actually deal muchbetter with with the
difficulties in life. So to say,yeah, so maybe, I think, yeah,
that's more or less the timethat it was being given. And
maybe that's a nice way to stop,too. Yeah. With this
(13:13):
presentation. Okay. Thank youvery much.
Thank you, Castle, I alwaysappreciate the precision with
which you speak. And todaytalking about delusions, the
delusions that make us suffer,and some of the ways that we can
escape them was wonderful. Well,it's time for questions. People
(13:34):
are welcome to ask questions inthe chat room, we already have
received a lot of them. So Ithink I'll start with one of
them and pose it first to Geshe.
La, this was geared this wasdirected to Geshe LA, but I
think it'd be nice to get Dr.
Dan Covas response as well. Sohere's the question, what does
Buddhism have to say aboutwillpower? I find that it plays
(13:58):
a crucial role in our convictionthat there is an essential ego,
which is in control of our lifeexperiences and reactions. I
wonder why the subject is notusually addressed in Buddhist
teachings. So I think and Ithink it'd be nice to get the
scientific view on willpower aswell afterwards. So yes, hello.
Do you want to address that?
(14:19):
Oh, willpower is I don't knowwhat kind of Yeah, willpower is
very strong in Buddhismactually. Because if you follow
for example, the BodhisattvaJana parks, and you want to
become a Buddha yourself, thenthe willpower is complete beyond
imagination of ordinarywillpower. We haven't day to
day, day to day life, becausewillpower is one aspect is our
(14:41):
on a more secular aspect. Wecould say willpower is based
upon a kind of seeing yourpotential and believing your
potential, right? That we knowwe can change and we know how we
can change. So that is just amatter of putting some effort in
that direction. And there we go.
So it's a kind of a I thinkwillpower is a very essential
and very important aspect of theBuddhist doctrine, that because
(15:04):
of the potential we have, thenbecause of the ability, that the
mind is changeable, and themethodology that is available,
then is just a matter of fact ofputting some effort in and
direction and off, you go withwillpower, you know, so in one
way, that's really true, butthen if you ask the question
that might be related with,with, we don't consider
(15:26):
performance own side existingself, so to say we don't
consider things as existing inan independent way. Right. So
that's also an aspect ofBuddhism, because everything is
nature of dependence, andbecause everything is in nature
of dependence, there is no innerand self, as we say. But
exactly, because there's noinner and self, there is a
(15:47):
conventional self that has thepotential to develop, right? So
in that context, I think, yeah,willpower is actually very
strong in Buddhism, because theBuddha said, Look, they're
suffering. Look, there's a causeof suffering. Look, there's a
possibility to solve it. Yeah,the Truth of cessation, and then
the methodology, how to do it.
(16:10):
So that creates an incrediblekind of signs of the mind of
understanding the issues andunderstanding the possibility to
solve the issues and then alsounderstand the methodology
behind it with this veryconstrained, constructive kind
of aspect of I'm going to dothis and I can do it. Yeah. So
and in that way, I think we'llcall is, is quite, it's quite
(16:32):
present in Buddhism. Yeah. It'sonly related with the self that
that exists in a conventionalway. Doesn't exist inherently.
Yeah. Then of course, we talkthere's no inner and self right.
But on the conventional level,the development and the
potential to develop isdefinitely there. And that
produces this kind of courageousattitude. I could say
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