All language subtitles for Discovering Buddhism Module 01 - Mind and its Potentia

Hello. We live in a fortunate age.

Maybe you think I mean the modern age.

Actually, I mean Buddhism
has taken root in the West.

Until recently, qualified
teachers of Mahayana Buddhism

outside of Asia have
been few and far between.

We've had to travel to the
Far East to find deep teachings

in the subjects of compassion,
emptiness, karma and Enlightenment.

Today it's an amazing gift

that we can learn about the
ancient teachings of the Buddha

through this 13 part video series.

You will receive teachings from
some of the greatest teachers,

Tibetan and Western, men and
women, living in the world today.

You'll hear personal interviews
with Buddhist practitioners

who share their experiences of
putting the teachings into practice.

You will have the opportunity to
gain some understanding of Buddhism

and learn skills that you can use
to make your life most meaningful.

Despite our achievements
with science and technology,

we still don't know much about
the mind and its potential.

Yet in fact, 2500 years
ago Shakyamuni Buddha

realized the full potential of the mind.

He understood that the
mind is not just the brain,

the mind is beginingless and
it creates our experiences of the world.

Because what we perceive as
reality, is a function of the mind.

Not only do we have the power

to completely eliminate
disturbing emotions like anger,

but we can consciously progress

to the highest
evolutionary state possible:

Buddhahood.

Every living being has
the potential to reach

this limitless state of
wisdom and compassion.

Buddhism teaches us that
as we begin to understand

the true nature of our
own mind we become happier,

more peaceful, and better
able to deal with problems.

Which makes us better
able to help others.

In this 13 part series of
Discovering Buddhism videos,

you are about to embark on
the study of Mahayana Buddhism.

Now in the practice
of Mahayana Buddhism,

the concept of motivation
is extremely important.

For example, if someone
were to give you a gift

with an ulterior motive, say
to receive something in return,

then that would not feel
like such a positive action.

But if someone were to give you a gift

just for the sheer pleasure
of seeing the happiness

on your face when you receive it,

that feels like a very
positive thing to do.

In the same way, in
our spiritual practice,

motivation,
the reason that we do an action,

is just as important as
the action that we do.

Therefore at the beginning of each
of these teachings in this series

we are going to generate
a positive motivation.

A Mahayana motivation
that focuses not so much

on our own a well-being, but
instead emphasizes generating

the wish to be able to
benefit other living beings

and bring them happiness
as much as possible.

In Mind and Its Potential,
the first in this series,

we're going to explore the
limitless potential of our own minds

to bring happiness both to ourselves

as well as to other living beings.

And so, for this reason
again, our motivation

as we listen to these
teachings is very important.

So, let's just take a
moment right now to generate

in our minds a strong thought.

The thought wishing to be
able to use these teachings

in order to be able to not only
bring happiness to ourselves,

but also to be able to bring happiness

and well-being to the others around us.

So ok, mind. Generally speaking
in Buddhism, you can say,

synonymous with the word
consciousness. Number one.

Number two. This mind of ours, in
Buddhist terms, there's not one atom

of physicality about it,
it's not physical.

It's interesting, in the Christian view,
we talk about this sort of this part of you

called the soul, that
isn't physical, isn't it?

Then we have the materialist view,
which is, there is simply the brain,

simply the DNA, the genes and that's it.

So there's two views.
Well Buddhism is neither of these.

Buddhism has the view, that all of
the mind, and what that word refers to

is the entire spectrum
of our inner experiences:

intellect, thoughts, concepts,
feelings, emotions, unconscious,

subconscious, spirit, whatever
you want to call you know.

Instinct, intuition, you name it.

All of this is encompassed
by the term mind in Buddhism.

All consciousness, ok.

The other point, about this mind of ours,
or about part of our mind

which is where it again radically
differs from all other religious views

is there's not one atom of our being
that's created by a superior being.

God, Buddha, whatever you like.

Nothing. Not possible.

Buddha says it's just not on, it's
just his view, from his own experience,

has discovered this to be the truth.

And the other interesting point which
is where it differs radically again

from all the Western psychological views
is there's not one atom of our mind,

our personality, our thoughts
our feelings our emotions,

that's created by Mom and Dad.

I mean, big surprise, we
have to stop blaming them. Ok?

There's no part of our mind that
comes from our mother and father,

clearly the body does. Thank you mother and
father, they provide us with egg and sperm,

which is the basis of this
body, how fortunate we are.

So you know in Buddhist terms,
your mind isn't physical,

doesn't come from Mom and Dad,

doesn't come from God or Buddha
or any other superior being,

clearly it can't come from nothing.

We all know that anything you point
to in this universe has a continuity.

You know, this thing here,
comes from metal and plastic

and goes back and back,
this cup, the same, the flowers,

everything has a continuity.

Suddenly there's one moment nothing
and then one moment a flower,

we all know that's absurd.

So clearly with the mind
it's not possible, same thing.

So mind or consciousness, not physical,

comes from previous moments of itself.

It's like a river of mental moments.
Mental continuum, they call it, you know.

This whole idea of
mind being beginingless.

Cause if you follow
this concept through now,

intellectually, conceptually, you
can't find any conclusion other

than the fact that the
mind has to be beginingless.

Because this process of cause
and effect, chicken and egg.

How can you have a first chicken?

Christians and Muslims and all most
religions point to God as the source.

Where do I come from? From God.
Buddha says no.

You come from previous moments
of your own consciousness

so if you trace it back
and you think well

maybe it began thirty two years ago,
maybe it began, fifty two lives ago.

Any given moment, you
say, maybe it began then.

You have to say there was
a moment of mind existing,

so if it existed then,it has to have
come from a previous moment, doesn't it?

Conclusion,
your consciousness is beginingless.

This is the Buddhist idea.

The other point that's so crucial
is this idea of Buddha nature.

What does this mean?
Cause the big question,

we all have these questions,
we say, who am I?

What is my purpose?
Why am I here?

Buddha says, the answer to those
questions is, to be a Buddha.

What's Buddha?
Buddha’s Sanskrit, it means fully awake.

And actually, all it's referring to
is the fully developped consciousness,

mind, beyond which it
can't be developped further.

What 'Buddha' means, a mind,
a being, a consciousness,

that's fully developed
in all, simply speaking, in all,

what we call, the positive qualities.

And absolutely free of
the negative ones.

So simple.
There's a simple way of saying it.

And what Buddha is saying is,
that is who we really are.

We all possess, the term they use is,
we all possess Buddha nature.

Well the simple way of saying this,
it's like lets use the analogy of an acorn.

Mommy what's that?
Darling, that's an acorn.

'What's an acorn mommy?' Well,
then she points to the oak tree.

'Well that, will become that.'
Oh, how interesting.

So then you might say,
what's the nature of an acorn

or you might just say, what is it?

When you see an acorn,

what you're really seeing is
a potential oak tree. Isn't it?

It's a cute little brown thing, sure,
you could use it for this and that,

you could use it for jewelry, you
could use it as a weapon if you like.

But kind of, how dumb. What it really is,
you see, what it's true nature is,

what it really is, is
a potential oak tree.

So how foolish not to
develop into an oak tree.

Well that 's what Buddha’s saying.

Mind, consciousness, which is
indestructible, which is not created,

it's true nature, what it really is,
is a potential Buddha. A fully developped mind.

It's not as if we have a choice
about it. You have an option.

It's not as if some people like
mother Theresa are born to be Buddha’s.

Kind of like potluck,
not like that, no by definition,

an acorn is something that if you
give it all the appropriate conditions,

will become an oak tree.

It's not as if you can
turn it into an apple tree

if you want to, how stupid.

So this is the attitude we have
to slowly develop about ourself.

What's kind of interesting now, cause

we don't really know who we really are,

Buddha says, we identify with this
little kind of brown, undeveloped thing.

Oh, I'm this, I'm that,
I'm lazy, I'm fat, I'm human,

I'm female, I'm no good,
I'm special, I'm delicious,

I'm ugly, I'm beautiful. You name it.

We're kind of defining ourself
by this little brown thing.

How boring, how stupid,
how short, tunnel vision.

A Buddha which is your true nature,
which is what your oak tree is,

when you're fully developed,
you'll have the fully developed two wings.

Infinite empathy with all living beings.

It's totally developed, but
you can't develop it further,

and this empathy would be
such, as if they were all you.

There's no separation.

Huge wish, spontaneous wish,
to benefit, each one, perfectly.

Second, you'd have fully
developed wisdom wing,

which literally, in Buddhist
terms, is called omniscience.

My mother thought this was very arrogant.

'Only God is omniscient.'
But Buddha says, every living being,

if you possess mind, your mind has
the potential to know everything.

So this is just something
totally natural, Buddha says.

That our mind has the capacity
to literally know everything.

And when we have fully removed
all the pollution from the mind,

all the delusions, then our mind will
be in sync with reality, quite literally.

Buddha says we're way out
of sync with reality right now

because of all the
pollution in the mind.

So when we fully develop
we'll be omniscient.

Omniscient, infinite compassion,
and there's a third quality,

not a wing, that's called,
literally, if you like, omnipotence.

The effortless power to do
whatever needs to be done,

to benefit each one of these countless
living beings in the entire universe.

To benefit them perfectly
based on the wisdom

that sees their minds
perfectly and knows precisely

what to do and how to benefit them.

And that would include, in fact, the
capacity, to manifest your own mind,

your Buddha mind, in millions of
forms, through out millions of universes

for millions of eons, as long as
suffering sentient beings exist.

That's a Buddha, that's enlightenment.

Enlightenment isn't just
some kind of nice feeling,

it's a little bit more than that.
This is enlightenment.

And Buddha says, that's you're true
nature, that's who you can become.

That simply is naturally
who you really are.

You're not it yet, but, this whole idea,
of once you really appreciate

what an acorn really is,
you would treasure it with such respect.

And this is the attitude we
have to develop about ourselves.

It's hugely inspiring actually.

Which is why it's so important
to hear this very first.

So anyway, whatever our reason,
we meet the Buddha Dharma,

and in meeting the Buddha Dharma,
we start to discover more and more,

that the source of our
suffering comes from our mind.

There are external
conditions for our suffering.

Definitely there are many,
many external conditions

for our suffering to arise, but
the root cause of our suffering,

the Buddha taught, lies
within our own mind,

and in fact, even meeting
the external conditions

is something to do with our mind.

So the more we understand
that our own mind

is the source of our
suffering, and also fortunately,

our own mind is the source of our happiness,

then we begin to understand
that the only way to be free

of suffering is to change our mind,
and to change it radically.

If we change it a little bit,
we will overcome

a little bit of suffering.

But if we radically change our mind,

bring about a real revolution in our mind,

and eliminate the disturbing
thoughts from our mind,

and develop all the positive
qualities of our mind,

then we can be completely
free of suffering,

and develop real happiness.

Because again, the
happiness that we're seeking

is not something temporary, superficial.

We may never have thought about

what happiness we are seeking,
but if we check up,

we want a happiness that
is perfect and lasting.

Buddhism says that there is this
amazing phenomena called mind,

which is not the brain,
it is not something physical,

it is something formless,

not having any qualities
of physical matter,

the mind is something which is clear,
formless, and has the ability to know,

in fact mind is the only thing
that knows, experiences and feels.

Mind's job is to know, in
every way, the word know,

we can analyze this word and discover
there are many ways to know.

Right now we ourselves
know in quite indirect

and superficial ways,
mostly through concepts,

mostly through reading,
being told things by others.

So right now, we are knowing
in a very limited way.

This is because our mind
is being prevented

from knowing perfectly, completely,

by the disturbing thoughts
that all of us have.

So we can imagine, what it would be like,

without these disturbing thoughts.

None of them, whatsoever.

There was nothing disturbing
the innate ability of our mind

to know and experience and feel.

I think this would be an amazing experience,

something truly amazing.

Without these distractions,
all this confusion in the mind,

then the mind could just know.

But is it possible to get rid
of these disturbing thoughts?

So this is also a very big question,

this is what the whole
Buddha Dharma is about.

But also, maybe we can get some
feeling that it is possible,

because also, when we meditate,

or try to meditate,

if, by placing our mind on
an object, such as the breath,

although we're not able to keep our mind

on the breath for a long time, perfectly,

totally experience one hundred percent,

the breath, become union
oneness with the breath,

still, by putting some effort
in doing that, what happens?

We all experience, if we
try and do it for some time,

that our disturbing thoughts,
the agitation in our mind,

does reduce.

Yes? Hopefully we've
all had that experience,

at least one time.

And for, at least for a short time,
that the disturbing thoughts,

they don't go away completely,
but at least they decline.

This shows, this is actually an indication

that these disturbing thoughts
have no power

from their own side to control the mind.

And that, maybe I can do
my great demonstration.

Normally, center directors
don't like this demonstration

because I've destroyed...
but normally, our mind is like that.

Completely shaken, disturbed.

But if we stop, if I stop shaking this water,

which should make the director very happy,

then what happens?
The water returns to its natural state.

It isn't natural for water to be agitated,
something else is doing that.

And when you stop the agitation,
the water, just naturally,

without any other factors involved,
goes back to its natural state.

It returns to being level, still,
and then, it also has the ability,

when it's calm and clear, it has
the ability to reflect things.

When it's completely agitated,
the surface of the water

has no ability to reflect things accurately.

We can also notice,

that when we do even the littlest
simple breathing meditation,

our mind starts to become
calmer and clearer, more still.

Because that's its natural state.

We've never experienced
this natural state,

but that is its natural state.

And it always has the
tendency to return to it.

Think about it.

Understanding the true nature of the mind

has helped me gradually,
over a period of about three years,

of just sort of letting that filter down.

It doesn't happen suddenly.
It happened very gradually

but say I'd wake up
recently and think wow,

I'm a different person.
I have more self-confidence.

Because you start to realize

that you're not this limited, hopeless,

helpless being who's under the influence

of all these things outside
and all these things inside

that cause so much suffering.

When people come to me
and ask me about being a Buddhist nun

and about Buddhism, many,
many people have this,

they've already decided
that Buddhism is this dark,

gloomy, pessimistic, nihilistic religion

that talks about suffering and death.

And we do talk about
suffering and death a lot,

but we talk about it in a way
where we're looking at

the situation that we're in
and this is really the situation we are in,

we are suffering and we have to die.

But there is a solution to it,
everybody seems to forget that part.

There's a solution and the solution is that
we have this pure potential of our mind

and that's unbelievable
that we can become

these incredible beings, these Buddha’s.

What they call Buddha’s,
you can call it whatever you want

but it's this potential to become

whatever your imagination
can come up with.

A powerful all-knowing blissful being
who can help everyone.

I always wanted to help people
ever since I was a little girl.

I recognized that people were suffering.

My parents were suffering, my grandparents,
everyone. I recognized their suffering.

I recognize my own suffering
but as I grew up

and became an adult my own
suffering overwhelmed me

so much that I didn't feel
I could help other people.

I couldn't even help myself

and gradually through this understanding,

and some little bit of taste, experience,

that I do have this incredible nature.

More and more I seem to be
helping more and more people

and thinking less and less
about my own suffering.