BSTC2006 Lecture 1 – Dhamma & Psychology

Intro
- How he define minds: Unwholesome state of mind, wholesome state of mind
- Buddha: Born in India, 16th century BC
- Dhamma teachings = how suffering arises and how suffering could be stopped.
- Mental defilements (褻瀆) -> Cling/Attach to thing -> Suffering
- Reflective writing:
- Better past experience. Only brief description of events, more about explanation,
analyze… focus on IMPROVEMENT
- incident in the past (reaction without knowing buddist concept) -> create problem ->
relate concept to incident -> reanalyze the situation -> react and response if happen
again -> improve future
- 5-10m quiz only

Dhamma & Psychology

- Dhamma = Buddha’s teaching
- Buddhism teaches how to live better and be happy
- Buddhism as therapy/medicine/cure/decision (how to overcome mental sufferings)
- Conditionality of suffering: Suffering causes by many mental factors
- Wise/unwise attention
- Scriptures: monastic behavior, philosophical analysis, 40 volumes of canonical text
- Correct way of thinking: reflect own mind (inside NOT OUTDSIDE), a lot of thinking
involved

- Faring On: Very complicated, subtle picture like Monalisa

- Mind diversifies: create differences (powerful)
- How different kinds of defilements combine together, more or less => identity/personality

- roots of unwholesome behavior = mental factors within the mind that diversifies the mind,
affect behavior (mind->behavior)
- complete destruction/extinction/extinguishment of fires (burn our mind) = set free from
that 3 -> happy, peaceful
- non-delusion: understand our own life (what Buddha teaches)

MIND is Primary
- Mind control Matter (develop mind -> control body)
- Because of body one is disturbed. Develop mind to Meditative states -> Control body ->
Things(matter) couldn’t affect the mind
- Mind-objects = mental images, cognitive process that organize external objects (eg. eyes
see sth -> grab an image -> reflect on that)
- Mind-made: Mind conceptualize the thing you perceive (can recognize what you see).
Mental images, concepts, ideas all made by mind
Citta = Mind/Consciousness
- Cannot talk about mind without an object (expect, depends on an object)
- Object = external object / internal mental image
- Mental image deposited in brain and appear in memories/dream
- Material phenomena = external object / internal senses (basic sensitivity like smell, taste…)
- Mental factors = processes behind mind = hatred, greed, delusion, lust… 52
- Mind: 89/121 (another counting; added multiplication to meditative states)
- Buddha’s teachings collected in 3 baskets (philosophic books)
- Abhidhamma: mental factors, cittas
- Vinaya: monastic procedures and discipline
- Sutta: philosophical analysis and discussions

- Mental factors constitute, support, behind mind

- Remove unnecessary mental factors -> improve mind -> supramundane level -> attain
nirvana (ultimate goal of Buddhism)

Eye-door process
- Cognitize sth through eye (know sth after seeing)
- Every mind-moment consists of many sub-moments
- Sub-moments for eye-door process (***)
- Not cognitizing: Stream of Bhavanga (mind in sleeping state)
- Break once sth comes to our eyes
- Five-door adverting: object comes to senses/perception -> direct to the proper door (eye,
ear, nose, tongue, mind)
- Eye-consciousness: seeing from the eye
- Javana x7: MIND (same mind, wholesome/unwholesome, regrading to that object)

(Mental) Suffering = Dukkha

Dhamma = Dharma
= Four Noble Truths: Suffering (Dukkha), Arising of Suffering (causes), Cessation of
Suffering, Way leading to cessation of Suffering
= Buddha’s teaching

dhamma (what Dhamma is about)

= Anything
= Enlightenment of all things
= Everything Staying & Ceasing

Right view
= Learn the Dhamma
= Learn nature of things (how things works)
- Wrong view (learn sth wrong) -> Wrong behavior -> Suffering
- Very difficult to get rid of wrong view (clinging on ‘own’ view, eg belief)

Urgency
- Reflect on shortness of life

Right view -> Cessation of Suffering

- Understanding/Seeing things as they truly are
- How mind works, suffering, mental factors… (Buddha’s teaching) -> understand more =
more right view

- (have) defiling mental surges = defilements

= X Mentally healthy

- Goal of Buddhist Psy: Body sick -> Mind still healthy!

In lecture notes, ‘>’ = ‘->’

- Nibbana = Extinguishment of greed, hatred, delusion

- A body of instructions = how we should xxxxxx

Cessation of suffering
- Discover your own path

- Suffering/Shaking mind -> Affect next life

- Maintain mind strong, unshakeable, strong
- Eight worldly conditions = challenges of life
- Maintain equilibrium (mental balance) = stable mind, X attach to things

Edifies = changes our life (improve)

- Collection of knowledge
- Harmonize (see the connection between knowledges)
- Make it our own (truth for you)
- Law of Identity: the law by which or in accordance with which value to proceed

- step by step (gradual) improvement

- think and ponder much -> become habit in mind (abiding in the thing)
BSTC2006 Lecture 2 – Dependent Co-Arising (PAṬICCA-
SAMUPPĀDA)

- Unique theory: distinguish Buddhism from other religion

- Causation theory: Cause-and-effect relationship is clear

- Seeing = understanding
- Dependently arisen (arise depending on many other conditions) = subject to change =
impermanent
- Understand BOTH arising and ceasing (understand how a thing arises and ceases)

- In order to end, need to know how it arise

- Theory of Conditionality = Dependent Co-arising
- within yourself you didn’t see it arise and cease (maybe only see it externally)

- Co-arising: Not one thing, talking about many things

- Reflect on effect -> can see concurrent conditions (things they truly are)
- ONLY perceiving the effect -> think is independent

- no remorse = no worries = joy

- necessary condition (A, B in basic formula)
- both are this, can observe both

11 links for Suffering

Ignorance: don’t know what they truly are
Subjective configurations: intention (seeing things as) ‘for me’, as ‘I am’, as ‘mine’
Consciousness (Not that pure; MY): Cognizing process, discrimination, differentiation,
conscious of things
Name-and-Matter: Name (feeling, perception); seeing things as matter
Six sense-bases: eye ear nose tongue body mind
Contact: Coming together to consciousness since object and conscious
Feeling: Pleasant/Unpleasant
Craving:
Clinging: you are Inexistence, you are ‘being’
Aging-and-death etc: Suffering