During an event hosted by the Buddhist Ministry Initiative at Harvard Divinity School, Khentrul Rinpoche, a Non-Sectarian Master of Tibetan Buddhism, spoke about how to harness the potential of mind to transform unwanted conditions into positive circumstances. When we stop our hate of suffering, we learn how to befriend adversity and find strength in the midst of all that we experience. Not only does this transform our own lives, but it gives us the capacity to better serve others. By cultivating greater compassion and reducing oversensitivity we can effectively help others with the challenges that they face.
The event took place April 20, 2023.
Full transcript:
NARRATOR 1: Harvard Divinity School.
NARRATOR 2: The Power of Mind, April 20, 2023.
CHRIS BERLIN: Forgive my lateness and still run over from the other building. We have the Buddhist ecology course doing final presentations for our class. So we'll be joined by them all the way through. My name is Chris Berlin, and I am a instructor in the history and Buddhism here at Harvard Divinity School. And it is just an utmost privilege to welcome Rinpoche, Paloma, and also dear friends being here this evening.
So they really reached out to out me to make this possible. So great honor to have you here. So I will introduce-- first, give you a little bit of background on Khentrul Rinpoche and also Paloma, the translator, and other than that, being a great supporter as well.
So here it goes. Welcome, by the way, to all of you for coming and for a great evening. So there are a lot of things to share about Rinpoche, about his qualities and activities. But just a few things, here is a brief summary. Khentrul Lodro T'hayé Rinpoche was born in Eastern Tibet. He began his formal training at the age of seven when he first took-- when he took the first stages of his religious precepts.
Rinpoche then spent over 20 years studying in some of the most prestigious schools of Buddhist philosophy and was fortunate to study the practices of Buddhism with some of the greatest masters of this century. During that time, he received three Khenpo degrees. Three Khenpo degrees is close to three PhDs in Buddhist philosophy. And he also spent several of those early years in meditation treatment.
Rinpoche is an abbot of a monastery in Tibet, where he supports children's education, with [INAUDIBLE] community in a long-term retreat center. He came to the US in 2002. And he's been traveling and teaching in the US and other countries ever since. He established Katog Choling, a nonprofit organization, and oversees approximately 20 meditation groups across the country, community outreach programs and as well as a retreat center in the Ozark National Forest.
So his book, which I believe he just released, The Power of Mind, just I would like to say a word or two about it. I just read it this week for the first time. And I was really struck by the deep and felt sense of dedication and love that Rinpoche has for all of us in his words, very profound, what is being transmitted through his writing.
So it really comes through his voice and his heart, reading through this book. So I highly encourage you to get a copy of the book and just let it feed to your heart and mind.
So right next to-- on his right, Rinpoche's right, Paloma Landry, welcome. She is Rinpoche's interpreter and has studied the Tibetan language in Nepal and India and has been translating for Rinpoche since 2002 from the day he arrived here in the US.
So for more information about Khentrul Rinpoche and his book, teaching schedule, website, and [INAUDIBLE] please, you can pick up one of the books-- bookmarks at the book center table. And that has a QR code on the back of it that will take you to these great resources.
I'd also want to acknowledge all of us gathering here as a result of a very auspicious relationship with Ibby Caputo. And when I was a Buddhist chaplain at the Dana-Faber Cancer Institute, where Ibby had just entered into her treatment process with acute leukemia. And we almost learned-- we have been together, about how Buddhism applies to all this and really when times are at the most critical.
And so it gives me just a huge, huge joy and a tear of joy, that feeling of joy and love, just seeing them being out here with us. And ever since having met Rinpoche and also Damian, her husband, who is a great friend as well, I'm just so glad that we are here as we are now. And that through you, Rinpoche is now also joining all of us. So thank you all. Thank you, Rinpoche. Turning it over to Paloma.
PALOMA LANDRY: Thank you.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: Thank you.
[SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: So first, Rinpoche said, I'd just like to welcome all of you here with a traditional Tibetan greeting, "Tashi Delek." And also, I'd like to extend my gratitude to Chris Berlin and to Harvard Divinity School for hosting me here. It is a great honor to be here and to have this opportunity to speak with all of you this evening.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: And I also have a special thanks also to Ibby Caputo.
[CHUCKLES]
She actually organized for me to speak in Oxford University this year in England and here in Harvard. And on top of that, she is the editor of my new book, The Power of Mind. And so thank you, Ibby.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: And then, of course, I know that it always takes a village to put something together. And I want to say thank you to everybody else who helped to organize and your efforts in putting up players and getting out the word and so forth. I greatly appreciate all of that.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: So, well, how I'd like to speak this evening is to introduce the book that I have recently written by speaking about the title of the book, which in and of itself conveys an enormous amount of meaning and import to all of us. And although we won't be able to get into the topic in great detail, we have a book for more extensive teachings. And so the title of this book is The Power of Mind.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: So what is the mind? And likewise, then, what is the power of our mind? The entire topic of this book is based on our mind and its potential because it is the principal determining factor in our experience. And so one of the most important things that we should be able to define and understand is what is our own mind.
And then we can begin to see the potential of our mind and then how we can access that. And so of all things in the universe, all knowable phenomena, objects, and so forth, then we need to also understand our mind. And so our mind has certain defining characteristics that make it what it is, then nothing else out.
Everything in the universe has a definition. It's defined by characteristics that no other object has that make it what it is, no matter what we look at, whether it's an object, whether it's another living being, another human or otherwise, whether it's a tree or a rock or a flower. Each and every single knowable object has defining characteristics that make it uniquely what it is, different from other things.
And our mind also has defining characteristics that make it what it is that no other thing in the universe has. And we should know what our mind is and what defines it as a starting point.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
Yeah. [CHUCKLES]
PALOMA LANDRY: Understanding the mind is crucial to our experience. And in the West, as it's been studied with science and so forth, there have been many explorations as to what is the mind and connecting it to our brain and somehow hypothesize that it's brainwaves or electrical, nervous system effects connected with the brain, and so forth.
But there still isn't a clear definition of the mind itself because mind is not a material object. And so it isn't seen directly by instruments and so forth, in which it can be directly perceived. And so we can connect it to different factors in our body, such as our brain, and so forth. But mind in and of itself has yet to be clearly and universally defined in which we pinpoint, this is the mind.
And many then are not sure of life as being something separate from the brain as being its own thing. So in the Buddhist tradition, the mind is the basis of Buddhist studies now for thousands of years and has been defined, then, very specifically as its own thing, as separate from all other functioning things.
And so we-- all of us have mind. All living beings have mind. Each and every one of you has a mind. So what is your mind? And what does it do, because it is different from any other object in the universe. We all have it. And yet, most of us don't know what it is. And so that is the question, what is this mind that we all have, that we all possess?
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: Is something wrong there?
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: So the way that we define the mind is by two qualities, two defining characteristics, which is that it is conscious and aware, aware in the sense of knowing. So its essence is consciousness. And this conscious, this clear quality of consciousness is a kind of conscious clarity or clarity that is not a material object. It's not like the clarity of that illuminated from the sun nor light particles and so forth. It's a nonmaterial consciousness.
And so our mind is, its essence is that it is conscious. And that has a clarity to it-- that has an impeded factor because it's not a physical or material matter. And it's something that all of us directly experience that our mind is conscious. And then its function, the function of consciousness is that it is knowing that it is able to know any knowable objects.
And so our mind is able to know any knowable object, which means if we study something, we can understand it, which is the purpose of a university, such as this one, Harvard University, a renowned place of knowledge. And what that means is we come here to know or to study knowable objects, to know what can be known.
And the reason why we can know that is because we are conscious because our mind is able to know all objects. That's its function. It's capable of understanding and of knowing and of colonizing. And so that's then our mind is able to know all objects.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: And not just--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: --noble objects.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: It also knows itself.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: So our mind is able to know our own-- to know itself, to know what it's experiencing, to know I'm experiencing pleasure or happiness, to know that this is pleasant or suffering and so forth. It has-- it knows its own happiness and suffering.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: So think about this--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: Is there any other object in mind that is conscious and knowing, knowing in that it's able to know all other objects and self-knowing, to know itself. There is no other object in the universe that we can find, which has these two defining characteristics.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: Me, I'm not talking about fictions. We can see directly our mind, our experience. Our mind is like this.
[SPEAKING TIBETAN]
Not any dirt deep shall be more that is a matter shall in the need, which is our denial is
PALOMA LANDRY: So inert material matter doesn't-- isn't its essence isn't conscious? And its function is not to be aware or knowing.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
She talked about it constantly, talked about it.
PALOMA LANDRY: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: No, not you, it's somebody.
PALOMA LANDRY: So because our mind is conscious and knowing, then it is the-- it is an experiencer, which means it experiences. And once we have a conscious knowing, once we are experiencing things, then we experience what we call happiness. So happiness is like the catchall phrase for everything that's pleasure, joy, well-being. All of those terms are wrapped up in this word happiness. We don't get caught on that term.
It means everything that we enjoy or like, we can call that happiness. And so it is an experiencer of happiness. And it is an experiencer of suffering, which is everything that we don't like that's unpleasant or painful and so forth. And it also experiences neutrality, where it's neither pleasant nor painful.
And so our mind is constantly experiencing pleasure, pain, and neutrality. And because we experience pleasure and pain, a.k.a. happiness and suffering, then we want pleasure. We want to feel good. And we don't want pain or suffering. And so we're all in the pursuit of happiness and trying to find freedom from suffering.
And this is what compels us to act. This is why we do anything that we do while we engage in things and why we try to get rid of or get away from things. And this is not only for human beings. This is everyone who has mind, who was conscious and aware, which includes animals and so forth. Sentient being meaning having mind in Tibetan.
And so we all have this conscious and aware experience, which means all living beings, as infinite and numerous as they are, are all ultimately in the pursuit of the same thing. We're pursuing happiness, pleasure, and well-being. And we're trying to get away from suffering. There isn't anyone who wants anything other than that, ultimately.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: So when we look at this pursuit of happiness, in this yearning to be free from suffering, then when it began was when sentient beings began. As soon as they're sentients, as soon as there is mind, then there's this pursuit of well-being and this wish to be free from suffering.
And so this has always been underlying all of our pursuits throughout time and throughout history, throughout numerous generations and millions of years. All living beings, one after another, since time immemorial, we've been in the pursuit of well-being. And in a shorter term, in terms of ourselves, personally, from the moment we were born and until the moment that we die, we will be in this pursuit of trying to rid ourselves of anything uncomfortable or painful or suffering, of trying to cultivate well-being, happiness, and pleasure.
And so when we consider the history of sentient beings, then all of our actions have been for this purpose. And so we have had numerous actions for this, both human and otherwise. Our history of all of our personal lives and everything that we have done and all innovations and development have ultimately-- been ultimately for that pursuit of well-being, to find more ease and comfort, happiness, and to reduce suffering.
And yet, despite such a long history of actions aimed toward this purpose and despite that everything we ourselves have done for this purpose, we still aren't finding what we're looking for. And so this begs the question as to why.
If everything that we do is for that, and if we consider all of the time and sentient beings, the length of time that our actions have been in the pursuit of that, if we consider the number of beings in the pursuit of that, all of us as humans and also other living beings, numberless beings, and if we consider the kind-- all of the actions that have ever taken place in the pursuit of well-being and to rid ourselves of suffering, there's no stone left unturned. We've tried so many things.
And despite so much effort and striving and exploration, development and innovation, we still haven't found that world being at peace or happiness which we seek. And so the big question is why. And that lies in where are our pursuits focused. Our pursuits are focused on external things, everything that is not our mind, everything that is other than our mind.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
Continue this.
PALOMA LANDRY: So when we look at our pursuits of higher or greater well-being of happiness external to ourselves, we can see that there's nothing we haven't tried, nothing that we won't try, our entire human history is an exploration and trying to improve on our lives. And look where science has gotten us. There have been so many discoveries. We've really reached this kind of pinnacle of science and technology and continuous development and progress and so forth.
But still, despite all of these advancements and improvements, we still aren't finding that happiness and well-being, which we seek. And so we should be asking ourselves why. This is because the external objects that we focus on, our external circumstances alone cannot give us what we're looking for as is evidenced by overachieving on that up to now.
It's because the outer universe and the objects within it can't give us the happiness that we need. The external circumstances are very limited in what they can give us. They can only give us a small degree of happiness. In this case, we would call it pleasure, mostly physical well-being. So what they amount to is physical comforts. And anything beyond that basic physical comfort, it can't give us any more than that.
It doesn't necessitate that our mind will be happier by the more that we get. In fact, what we can see is that beyond our basic physical well-being, which the external circumstances can give us, that in the reliance on the outer universe and things, we have very disturbed minds. That we have lots of mental afflictions, fear, anxiety, worry, anger, jealousy.
All we have to do is look around the world right now, this developed world that we live in that has so many physical comforts. And yet, if everyone just have in a state of happiness and well-being, we have plenty of people who lost their money, plenty of people with lots of power, plenty of people with great fame, but then these-- do we-- when we look at getting those things, does it bring you mental well-being and peace and happiness? We can see that it doesn't. It's obvious.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: And so the reason-- the question is, why? Because those external things, there is-- they have a certain amount of what they can give us. And so this is because the way things are, is that they don't actually have the ability to give us the happiness that we're looking for. And that's why we're not getting it, even though we get the things.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: We think that-- we hope that somehow by making the external circumstances the specific way and getting or acquiring that, then we force happiness upon ourselves. Like our mind is going to get happiness from those things, extracted from those things, and then it will get better.
But if those things don't have happiness to give us in the beginning, then it's not going to matter if we get them. That they don't have what we actually need. And that's why we're getting what we need.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: Why are we begging all the time? They call begging just as [INAUDIBLE].
PALOMA LANDRY: We were trying to extract happiness from a place that doesn't come from. We're begging for it from something-- somewhat from a place that it doesn't exist.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: We've already got that from external objects.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: Like what we get from food and clothes and physical comfort and so forth, that's all that it can give us. We already got it. So you have it already. That's what it can give you.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: So that's it.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: When we talk about mental happiness, mental happiness comes from the mind. So mind creates its own happiness. It doesn't come from, nor is it dependent upon the external objects. So this is the question that we should be asking ourselves.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: So if we wonder, well, why our mind can give to itself happiness, if the internal objects cannot?
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: Another reason for that.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: [INAUDIBLE]
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: I think it is.
PALOMA LANDRY: So when we look at it minds, the reason why it has the potential to give us what we are looking for that other external objects don't has to do with the mind's own characteristics. So we could say that there's the temporary conditional characteristics associated with our mind. And then there's the characteristics associated with the nature of our mind.
And so the nature of our mind is such that our minds innate nature is not a state of suffering. It is not a state of affliction or negativity. Our mind's natural state is peaceful, is a state of well-being, is possesses innately within it all the potential for positive qualities.
You could say the positive qualities then are like seed potentials that are innate to and present within our mind, a potential that is always there that we can access. And it has an enormous amount of positive potential.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: For example, if you have muddy water--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: The water's nature is clear.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: The water's nature is not muddy. It's not the mud.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: The water has an innate clarity or translucency. That's its nature.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: Then where you have a crystal, and you put it in mud--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: Its nature isn't muddy, isn't obscure.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: But due to the temporary conditions, then its translucency and clarity, just like water, it's temporarily obscured.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: Oh, did it.
PALOMA LANDRY: And so then those factors can be removed. They're temporary. They're conditional. And so, too, with our minds, our minds' nature is not original negativity. It's not our originally negative. It isn't originally a state of suffering. It's originally pure and positive and peaceful. And that nature is what-- because it is the nature of our mind, we're never separate from it. That potential is always present within us.
If our minds' nature were to be suffering or to suffer, then it would be something that we could never be free from. If it's nature or fundamentally flawed, we could never free ourselves from the flaws. We could never overcome our negativities and so forth. But because those are temporary, they're conditional, and they can be changed. We can find freedom from them.
And so all of the negative thoughts and emotions and so forth that we have fear, anxiety, selfishness, self-cherishing, and loneliness, depression, and so forth, all of these thoughts and emotions that we have are conditioned, are temporary. And that is because we are not in our natural state of our mind. So we can change them. Then mind's actual nature cannot be changed because it's its nature.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: And so that's our-- that's who we actually are. Our minds' pure, positive nature is who each of us are. That's who we actually are. That's our true self.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: And so what we want is to make what's innately true to ourself. Evidently, we want to uncover and discover the positive qualities that we all possess within ourselves, within our mind.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
They want to cure up your mind.
[SPEAKING TIBETAN]
What date it is?
[SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: What do you want.
PALOMA LANDRY: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
So then when we look at that, the negative aspects of our mind as being temporary and conditional, that's something that then we can work with. And that who works with that? Our mind works with that. Our mind can eliminate and transform those negative thoughts and emotions while simultaneously making evident our own innate positive qualities--
[COUGHS]
Pardon me, that result in greater well-being and peace. And the way that we do so, making evident and accessing our minds own natural resources is by using methods, methods that correspond with how things work with the way things are, so not just random, made-up methods that aren't based on logic and reasonings that can't be established according to the way things operate.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: So for example, everything then that operates, however it-- we can logically establish its operating system that this covers that. For example, if you're going to create electricity, normal causes and condition have to come together just right, and then you have electricity. So you have to have the right causes and conditions, the right methods, or you won't get the result that you wanted.
So if you want electricity, you need to have the right set of causes and conditions. If you want medicine that cures a specific illness, you need the right causes and conditions. If you're going to plant a flower, then you have to figure out, like in a garden, logically what produce-- what seeds produce what result with what conditions it needs. And it's not random.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: And if we're specific, so it's the same with our mind. Our mind has an operating system, how it functions. And we can learn how it functions with logic and reasoning. And then we can work with that operating system to change its experience.
And so those methods working with our mind needs to be ones that are not just random it may happen, but actually based on the way things are, which is where the purpose of Harvard University to figure out the way things are, how do they operate, what causes and conditions produce what, what is its operating system and how can we discover-- what can we discover about that.
And so there's a truth, one that works. And then there's ones that don't work. They aren't true. It's the same exact thing when you're working with your mind.
You need an authentic method that's based on logical reasoning that corresponds to the way things are so that when you put it in place, those causes and conditions produce the results that is of working with your mind, reducing mental afflictions, increasing positive qualities. So it actually works.
And so then we need methods that correspond with how a natural state of the operating system of our mind in order to make evident the positive qualities that reside within us in order to access the potential of our mind.
And so who works on the mind? The mind works on the mind. The mind deems itself using methods that are based on logic and reasoning and authentic that aren't fallible that truly produce results that we're looking at.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: And so you can't give the instruction and expect that to tame your mind. Working on something external, building something else is not going to tame the mind. Only the mind can tame mind.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: Our mind is very stubborn. I don't think so they listen to anybody. Our mind, OK, then somebody come, your mind, right now, I'm going to changing this way, that way, doesn't work. But mind work mind. That's it.
[SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: So mind has to work on itself. It tames itself. And it uses-- and then we need methods, we need wisdom, the knowledge about what will work on the mind. And then the mind has to implement that. And so when we use authentic methods, then the mind is able to produce negative emotions and afflictions and experiences that are temporary.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: There's a quote in Buddhist tradition.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: It says having independence, meaning, like, mastery over oneself, is happiness. Being controlled by other factors is suffering.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: So what that means when we look at our mind, looking through a canvas. Your mind is constantly being controlled by the external conditions. It's under the power of other factors.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: So if you think about your cellphone, you can barely handle being next to it without looking at it, constantly checking, checking, checking it.
[LAUGHTER]
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: Because the mind is being controlled by that device. It's under its influence. It's being affected by it.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: It's an independent format, same with food, clothes, a computer, the devices in our houses. And so with all those things are controlling our minds. Basically, our mind is being controlled by the conditions, under the power of external objects.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: And that's why we have so much scope and fear about the external objects and services.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: Hope and fear.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: Hope and fear. [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: Constantly.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: And if we're constantly being influenced by or affected--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: --dependent upon things or objects, so we don't have the respite, the relief of the mind under its own control, being independent from those external factors. It's constantly dependent on those external factors. It doesn't stay still. It isn't present with itself. It's just constantly dispersed by all the other things and objects and distractions.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: And then our mind becomes disturbed. We have so many concepts and so many emotions.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: And so then we need lots of psychologists and therapists. That's why it's such a good career these days.
[LAUGHTER]
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: It's so big, everybody has their therapists.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: And it's all over the world.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: Then we can understand a little bit about what's going in our mind with just like how many therapists and psychologists there are these days.
[LAUGHTER]
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: Yes.
PALOMA LANDRY: And so our mind--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: It's really unbelievable when sometimes I'm thinking like this, wow.
[SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: We really don't have an independence. Our mind is so dependent on all the conditions that can't-- it lacks stability and stable resource of itself.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: If there is a people when we talk, and we have questions, answers, question, answer, we all the time do that. But there is no people, and then you question and answer yourself.
[LAUGHTER]
That's amazing, our mind, when you look very closely.
PALOMA LANDRY: So when our mind is working with itself, we're using methods that correspond to its operating system, authentic methods based on logic, based on--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
Even not too careful doing it.
PALOMA LANDRY: So even we're making food--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: So really, there's just one object in front of us, food. And we're carefully preparing it.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: During that time, our mind is thinking about a million other things, not just what's in front of it, not just what's present in that moment that's being cooked.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: Maybe we are writing, maybe we're even studying, and still, our mind is distracted--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: --or in school studying.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: If the mind could be clear, and present, and fully focused on what it was doing, it really could have really great success in studies.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: But you're listening to a lecture, where you're writing something down, our mind is thinking a million other things.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: Maybe I'm going to do this, or maybe I'm going to go there. Maybe this will happen, or maybe that person will do this, or maybe someone will have this or that. Our mind is just constantly busy and in a state of disarray.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: [LAUGHS] Even in the time that we go to the bathroom and come out, where we are alone in this single space--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: We're talking, question, answer, question, answer the question all the time. You see--
[SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: That's what I mean when I say our mind is not independent. It's dependent. It's being influenced or controlled by all the other objects.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: So we need to gain mastery or independence of our mind in which it's not dependent upon other factors.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: And when we do, then we begin to access the power of our mind, which is then, if we use our mind, we can reduce the temporary thoughts and flaws and afflictions while simultaneously making evident our innate positive--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: Wait up, same used in the [INAUDIBLE], right?
PALOMA LANDRY: I like two words.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: Oh, I didn't know. You can finish it.
PALOMA LANDRY: Let me finish the sentence.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: Yeah, you can finish your sentence.
PALOMA LANDRY: So when we work with our mind, when our mind uses methods, it's directly reducing the suffering by eliminating its own flaws and afflictions. And then while it's accessing its own innate positive qualities, increasing peace and well-being.
So who has the power to give us peace and well-being? Our mind has the power to give us peace and well-being. And that is what we say when we say the power of our mind. Nothing else has the power to give that to us. No external circumstances, person, place, or thing has that capacity. Awesome.
[LAUGHTER]
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: [INAUDIBLE]
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: Mm-hmm.
PALOMA LANDRY: So just to recap, when we look-- first, we've defined the mind as being conscious and aware. And we all have minds. Then once we have mind, it means we have sensations of pleasure and pain. And since we have sensations of pleasure and pain, then we're in the pursuit of happiness and trying to be free from suffering, which then means we engage in actions.
And all of our actions in the external world are for that single pursuit. Yet, despite all of these actions based on external objects and circumstances, we have yet to find happiness. And this is because those objects do not have the power to give us complete happiness nor to free us from suffering.
What has the power to do that? Our mind has the power to do that. That is the power of our mind. It has the power, the potential, and capacity to give us happiness and peace and well-being. So if we're going to access that power, then we need to engage in methods that work correctly within the operating system of our mind, the way things work, authentic methods.
And if we engage in those methods, we can begin to eliminate and to reduce our suffering while cultivating our positive qualities and experiences. And so this book, The Power of Mind, is a system of methods for working with the mind called mind training or lojong, minds with training.
And so there are traditionally 17 points of mind training. But these can be subsumed into two main key points, [INAUDIBLE].
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: So the two primary methods that summarize all of the 17 points in the many techniques for working with our mind, our profound wisdom and great compassion. So profound wisdom, meaning a profound insight into the way things are. We could say authentic knowledge or wisdom and great compassion.
And through these two, not only can we accomplish benefit for ourselves, but then we can also accomplish benefit for others. So wisdom means knowledge that sees the way things are, how they operate, what's true about them.
And so, for example, when we look at working with our mind, we need the wisdom that understands what our mind is, how it operates, the methods we're working with it, how it functions, and what to do or to engage in. If we lack that knowledge, we don't have that wisdom, then we don't know what to do.
And so, first, we have to have a wisdom. We have to understand something and what it is, such as the methods for working with our mind, and then we can implement it into our experience. We can take actions. And so wisdom is like the eyes that see where we want to go.
First, we have to see where we're going to go. And then we can walk in that direction. So first, we have to have the knowledge of how to work with our mind and such. And then we have to-- once we understand that, then we have to engage in it. We have to actually do it.
But when we look at wisdom, then there is wisdom or knowledge that can have a positive outcome and also a negative outcome. And so in the world, we can see all kinds of knowledge that can be cultivated. When it comes to mind training, that wisdom is always, by definition, positive.
[COUGHS]
There's so much pollen in the air these days.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: Yeah, lots of air here.
PALOMA LANDRY: So we need wisdom that is, by definition, in essence, one that is positive because of course, we can cultivate a knowledge or wisdom about things and how they operate that cause harm to others, cause harm to ourselves or to the environment, and so forth. And so, then, we're looking at a wisdom here that is specifically one that is positive and has a positive outcome for ourselves and others.
And so the primary companion to wisdom is great compassion. And so it's not enough to have knowledge. It needs to be accompanied by compassion because knowledge without compassion is dangerous. When we look at the knowledge that we have cultivated in the world, we have enough to destroy our planet and to destroy ourselves, as we know our present day and age and in our direct experiences.
And so the companion that must always be present with knowledge is compassion. And that is how-- that is what ensures that wisdom is used in ways that both benefits ourselves and benefits others. And so great compassion is the companion that must always be present with profound wisdom.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: So for example, when we look at a positive wisdom, knowledge about how things operate, take for instance, if we become angry, there are remedial factors, ways of working with our minds that remedy anger that can reduce and eliminate our anger. But not knowing what they are, we lack that wisdom, the same when we have fear, anxiety.
Even physical pain and suffering, if we look at suffering or pain, all of those are sensations. They are sensations of the mind or the way the mind feels. And if we don't have the knowledge of how to work with that to change that, and we're just stuck in that place of suffering, we don't know what to do. We're unable to reduce how much we suffer over things.
So the wisdom is well, it learns then how to work with our minds, specifically, how to-- what remedies, what will reduce how much we suffer over things and pain and suffering and so forth through the remedial factors. And through the implementation of those methods that we learn of that knowledge, then we can reduce and eliminate and free ourselves from those sufferings.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: But often, if we understand it well, then we can change our mind very easily in any circumstance, we can change it in a single day or a week, in a month when we have then methods that are based on authentic knowledge, wisdom that accurately understands the way things are and understands the methods we're working with them.
And then when we do, we can be very successful with working with our mind. But there are so many ways in which we lack that knowledge about our operating system, the way things are that we often don't know what to do with our mind. And so we're in a state of confusion.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: So then we usually determine when we're suffering over something that the action that must be taken as we have to change it to something outside of ourselves. We have to do something external to ourself. We have to do this, and we have to do that. And so then we go outside of ourselves, and we try to change things in order to not be upset.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: But also, that means that isn't the remedy to being upset in the first place. It's not the remedy to our anger in the first place.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: So maybe phone calls.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: Maybe I'm going to watch movie tonight, and I'm going to have some coffee. Maybe I have good coffee. And then you want to see and you maybe open your refrigerator and what can you eat there, maybe that'll feel better, make coffee a little bit better. All these kind of things that we're looking all the times outside things, all the time.
A little bit, sometimes you get some--
[SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: You get a little bit of something, like a little relief from all of those things. But it's not the actual remedy to the mental problem in the first place, to having that emotional reaction in the first place. So we might get a little relief with the distraction of other things. So wisdom knows that. And it knows what we need.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: And so this wisdom alone is not enough. It needs to be accompanied by great compassion. Compassion is much more than just empathy. Many people mistake, in the English language, compassion for being empathy, where we can understand someone else's suffering or we're aware of it. But this compassion is much bigger quality than that it encompasses that as an aspect of it, but just as one component.
Great compassion is the genuine care for others in which we wish that they were free from suffering. And we wish that they could be free from the causes of suffering, essentially that we think, I wish, I wholeheartedly want others to be free from suffering and its causes. And whenever everyone is so moved by that quality, that we also want to help them to seek a way of what something that we can do to help them be free from suffering.
And this is a very profound quality to our mind being a state of genuine compassion. We often speak about compassion in most languages, another term for compassion. But it is much more profound than just thinking, oh, poor things, or oh, yes, others are suffering. And wouldn't it be nice if there was no suffering? It's a profoundly deep quality.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: When we talk about wisdom--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: --and compassion--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: Remember, I said the nature of our mind is a source of all of our positive qualities. The potential for these resides within ourselves already. It's inherent to us.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: But then if we're going to train-- tame our mind to train and refine and change our mind--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: Then we need the conditions to awaken to our innate positive qualities.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: I love using flowers as an example.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: So like this flower here--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: There was a seed for this flower had the potential to become this flower. So we see potential was guided or was inherent to the seed--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: --to have this color red--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: --and the shape and this scent--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: --and these petal sensation.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: So all the potential for this fully-blossomed flower are inherent to the seed.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: If it weren't, this couldn't come. So that potential wasn't there when it happened.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: So my example for analogy is that the nature of our mind--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: --is only positive. All positive qualities and potential for their expansion and realization of them is within us.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: But then, if we're going to have a flower to grow in the garden, we need the Earth's soil and nutrients. We need moisture. We need the conditions to awaken to that potential, to awaken it.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: So if we want to awaken to the positive qualities within ourselves, our mind and its true nature, we need convictions.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: And that's the mind training tools, which are being summarized here in wisdom and compassion are. These are the tools when accessing our natural and innate potential.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: I am often astonished by the way things are. That you can have a seed, if you look at that seed--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: --how could that seed have its potential? It's really extraordinary. You almost think in looking at a seed, it's impossible that it could become this flower.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: If we have never seen a flower before making this connection, with a seed and a flower, and someone showed you a seed, and they said, this seed could become a flower--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: You can be astonished. You think that's not possible. How could that seed, that little round dot become this beautiful flowers with sent and color and tactile sensation. And so--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: You would think it's not true. It's fiction. But then when we-- but because we have direct experience--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: --we explore how it works. Then we believe it. And I'm saying, our mind also has that pure and positive potential. Each and every one of us equally got this.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: And there is no difference between our ethnicity, the color of our skin, and our background. We all-- all of us have all backgrounds, all ethnicities and race have the same potential of mind. Our minds' nature is the same.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: And no matter what religious or church or act we follow, we all have this nature of mind, this potential within ourselves. We equally have this.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: If we engage in lots of negative and harmful actions--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN] So against our true nature.
PALOMA LANDRY: It's actually going like going against our true nature--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: --because that's not our actual nature. That's not our actual potential.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: It's just a temporary, conditional circumstance.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
What thing it is? Oh, ya-ya.
PALOMA LANDRY: And so then the methods for accessing our innate qualities, reducing our mental afflictions and suffering, increasing our well-being can be summed up in wisdom and compassion. But in particular, these mind training teachings speak to our current day and age and what's taking place in the world today, where we find ourselves facing so much adversity and unfavorable circumstances.
We are in a bit of a degenerate age. And there is so much going on and so much affliction, and disharmony and engaging between nations and people, and so much hating of one another, just like a diversion, and so many natural disasters and the intensity on Earth, and within ourselves, so many disturbing and afflicted emotions.
So these techniques specifically focus on transforming adversity, otherwise known as carrying adversity onto the path. So on the one hand, when we have an unfavorable condition, something that we dislike, typically, we only focus on how come we dislike it. We focus on what's wrong with it, how it's not OK, how it's negative, how it's harmful, and everything that's bad about it.
And then we become afflicted and respond and react and so forth. And then it really is unfavorable. It's just a bad experience.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: But the majority of how we experience something is our mind's way of thinking. It's how we think about it. It's how we relate to it. And so if we focus only on what we dislike and what's not OK, then that's going to be our entire experience.
But there are other ways of looking at that--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: Many ways you can do.
PALOMA LANDRY: --and thinking about it--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: Different ways.
PALOMA LANDRY: --and relating to it that would give us a different way of experiencing and responding to it. And so no matter the adverse circumstance that we encounter, there is always something positive that we can cultivate in response to it. There's always a positive potential in it, positive qualities that we can cultivate as we relate to it, if we know how to access those.
But if we only focus on what's wrong with it, and we see it as our adversary, as categorically bad and intolerable, then there will be no end to our adversaries. They will just endlessly continue to arise. And we are not OK with this, and then we're not OK with that and so forth, and so on. It's an endless cycle.
Whereas if we begin to learn how to relate to unfavorable, unwanted conditions by cultivating our positive potentials, by working with our mind, then those conditions aren't what are determining our experience and whether we are harmed by them or not. And our mind is. And we can actually derive a benefit in the face of adversity if we know how to access the positive potentials and positive qualities within our mind. We can transform something that's negative into something that's positive.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: Why, because their mind is the most powerful factor in our experience. The mind is the most powerful factor in the world. There is nothing more powerful than our mind.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: And so however our mind think is going to be how we experience.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: So it's a little bit late--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: And don't hate [SPEAKING TIBETAN].
PALOMA LANDRY: But I usually like to give this advice. Then in--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: --these talks, then the advice is don't hate suffering. Don't hate. And for dislike, whether you think I don't like it, I don't like it. Don't constantly dislike it because what we're doing is we're building a habit that's like-- and the more that we habituate ourselves to disliking things--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: --the more that we suffer over things.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: And we disempower our mind. It becomes weaker and weaker. For example, things that we dislike are endless. There's nowhere to escape. There's nowhere you can go wherein you find a place where there's nothing you dislike.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: When you think you're going to run on the sky, and maybe there better, no. When you get there, you have a problem because you are mad. And mind will follow you. You cannot separate with your mind. When you get there, I think you travel, and you're lonely. You really missing us.
[LAUGHTER]
You will missing us. Then you call us. And then I say, OK, come back, come back here. And human beings here, so come here.
[SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: The dislike where we see something and we think, I don't like it. And we do that kinds of thing all day long, I don't like it--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: I'm not OK with this. I'm not OK with that, whether it's an action, a friend, a food, or clothes, news--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: As much as we dislike is as much as we suffer.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: So that's what we always want to remember. Every time I dislike, I suffer.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: So then what do you need?
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: The opposite.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: The mind gets-- recognizes--
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: --that dislike, doesn't benefit us. See, it doesn't benefit me. It only harms me. And so I'm not going to live thin-skinned, like easily upset and sensitive over things.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: And so when you build a habit for tolerance, for the mind that thinks, I can be OK. So from now on, I'm going to work on being OK, not being disturbed by things. And you set that commitment every day, I'm going to be OK today. I'll be OK with whatever happens.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: Of course, there are circumstances where there are, for example, humans or organizations that surely cause harm and people are always wonder, well, how can I not hate, and how can I not dislike that? They're obviously causing harm.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: Yes, in hate, you control your mind.
PALOMA LANDRY: But remember, as much as you dislike does not benefit the situation. And in fact, it causes you to suffer over it.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: Rather than that, if we can protect our own minds so that we have a healthy, undisturbed mind, then we can take action to protect. Then we can take actions that are effective and beneficial, whether whatever that means. If it means protesting, if it means organizing, then we can then take action in the world to stop harm for one another.
But we don't have to do it from a place of hate and anger, disturbed mind that's constantly focusing on what we dislike because that only disempowers us and causes us to suffer more.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: Yes.
PALOMA LANDRY: So this advice can be highly impactful. I had people say, we're just focusing on not disliking constantly and acknowledging that we can be OK have really changed their lives, has really changed their mind's way of thinking. Even without any other practice, without any other techniques, just cultivating that factor has been transformative.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: We need tolerance, which means not being easily disturbed by things. And what that does is it empowers our mind. It makes our minds strong.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: And then we are harmed-- less things can harm us. Less things disturb or upset us.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: Thank you. [SPEAKING TIBETAN]
PALOMA LANDRY: That's my time, our parting piece of advice. There's no--
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
PALOMA LANDRY: We have to stop somewhere.
KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: Thank you. Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
NARRATOR 1: Copyright 2023, president and fellows of Harvard College.