NEW339H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Yogachara, Mahayana
LEC 2
The approach we are taking is innovative
•We try to distill the teachings out of the Buddha, out of the
cultural influences, any religious elements and look at these
teaching from a psychological perspective
Buddhism is not really as religious as we have come to think of
it; It is not a devotional practice, it doesn’t ask for blessings or
redemption or salvation through this faith/external being – Buddhism
is always about ways of internal, mental and psychological
transformation
•An attempt to elevate yourself; no one else can liberate you
from your state of suffering or enlighten you other than your
own self
Buddhism involves a very important element of psychological
transformation: the willingness to open oneself to changes; This is
only possible if we have a good understanding of our mind/psychology/
being, without this understanding you cannot talk about changes or
transformations
How is Buddhist psychology different from Western psychology?
•Buddhist psychology and Western psychology covers different
spectrums of our human psychology/intelligence
o Western psychology covers the kind of condition which
is mostly troubling, abnormal and pathological –
descriptions of heavy state of obsessions/addictions or
deep state of depression
Not understood in Buddhism psychology; You
wont really find studies of depress or bi-polar
symptoms
o Buddhist psychology covers the other spectrum which is
more spiritual; it goes beyond what we know is
considered a normal healthy state of mental being
Describes states that we haven’t experienced yet,
but if we follow the practice we can reach it
o The spectrums don’t really over lap but the principles
can be looked at as similar in a way that both can be
useful in each other (what you have in Western
psychology can be useful in Buddhist psychology)
Wasting is not normal but for the supermarket/McDonalds it is;
There are so many things that we are doing on a daily basis that is not
normal but we still do it because everyone around us is doing the
same thing
•We don’t find ourselves to have any problems because we got
normalized by our interactions with other who share the same
thinking and behaviors
•Buddhist psychology offers a way to realize the things around
us not just in our bubble
•The only way to reach this end of our human psychology/
hidden potential within us is by way of meditation
Meditation: Is not religious; It is not creating any portal or
mystical pathway to reach another realm to communicate with god
•It is an opportunity that we can allow ourselves to get in
touch with our own mind and in so doing we come to
understand what and how our mind is; it’s a personal
endeavor/a self effort, you have to work it out through your
own pathway by reorienting your attention from all
distractions outside of yourself towards your internal being
•You have to try and stay in touch with your mind
•This sounds simplistic the way the Prof describes it, are we
not in touch with our own mind? We are physically but not
mentally or spiritually; psychologically speaking, we only
really pay attention to things outside of ourselves and we are
carried away by our senses, rather is there a moment where
we look inside and try to communicate with our own mind –
so psychologically speaking we have lost that touch/connect
between our mind and body
•What we do/like, is 99% of the time external; We hardly have
the patience to be alone and not doing anything anymore and
this is sad
o Being alone (without a purpose, without a task to finish)
is a good experience because in those times you are left
in touch with your own being, we lack that moment
right now
o We have become to reliant/dependent on our senses
that keep us from being alone
o The connection between ourselves and the mind is
becoming harder and harder to establish that
connection
Document Summary
The approach we are taking is innovative: we try to distill the teachings out of the buddha, out of the cultural influences, any religious elements and look at these teaching from a psychological perspective. Wasting is not normal but for the supermarket/mcdonalds it is; Meditation: is not religious; it is not creating any portal or mystical pathway to reach another realm to communicate with god. Not an end and that is what yogacara is about (a form of unity) It is nirvana; it becomes the only thing you crave. Mahayana/yogacara approach is psychological, how you create delusions. Your mind can keep you away from seeing nirvana. 2 noble truths of the buddha (1) the truth of suffering, life is suffering, because (2) we generate sufferings for our selves cause we have endless forms of desires and cravings - you always want more/better.
