Notes from Unlimited Mind by Andrew Olendzky
From Unlimiting Mind: The Radically Experiential
Psychology of Buddhism by Andrew Olendzki, Wisdom
Publications, 2010
What is Buddhist Psychology?
A Path to Radical Psychological Transformation
The Three Core Insights of the Buddhist Tradition
 Impermanence: All Phenomena Change.
 Suffering: All Experience is Structurally Incapable of
Yielding Lasting Satisfaction.
 Non-self: We are Not Quite What We Take Ourselves to
be.
Additional Insights
 Interdependent Origination: all phenomena arise and
pass away in complex patterns of open causality or
interrelationship. Body and mind, perception and feeling,
intention and action co-arise, co-create and co-define one
another.
 Awakening: the attainment of nirvana—the
extinguishment of the fires of greed, hatred and delusion.
 Integrity: the necessary ground from which
insight/clarity is possible through meditation,
mindfulness and concentration. Without ill-will,
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Notes from Unlimited Mind by Andrew Olendzky
attachment or desire for gratification, integrity is
possible.
The Bigger Picture
 The Dharma (teachings of the Buddha) is learned by the
practice of meditation and mindfulness (as well as with
study of the writings.)
 Humans construct experience and meaning according to
their own patterns of invention and instinct.
 Happiness (the equilibrium between inner and outer
states) is more accessible by changing the internal state
of the organism to adapt to the outer state/environment.
Happiness is uncovered and discovered, rather than
pursued and attained. Changing the outer
state/environment is dependent upon the degree of
wisdom we bring to the task.
 Humans have the potential to shape what unfolds in
wholesome and altruistic ways.
Caring for the World
 The Four Noble Truths:
1. Identify the symptoms of what is ailing.
2. Understand their causes.
3. Use this knowledge to counteract and remove the
causes.
4. Follow a detailed regimen for effecting the cure.
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Notes from Unlimited Mind by Andrew Olendzky
 It is only by having no enemies that we are ultimately
safe and free from fear. Turning enemies into friends is a
surer way of protecting ourselves than returning violence.
 “Whatever a person thinks and ponders upon, that will
become the inclination of his mind,” said the Buddha.
 Individual and social conscience supports all wholesome
acts. Greed, hatred and delusion temporarily blind these
guardians, resulting in unwholesome acts. Honest,
intense attention leads us away from harm.
 Greed, hatred, and delusion are the origins of individual
and collective suffering.
Constructing Reality
 The mind is the subjective side of experience, while the
brain is the objective matter—interrelated neurons and
electrochemical processes.
 The mind arises from the neuronal activity of the brain,
but guides us toward an experience of transcendent
meaningfulness.
 Consciousness manifests as the knowing of an object by
a sense. What we take to be “the world” is a virtual
construction of the human mind and body, woven of
moments of consciousness.
 The project of understanding the dynamics and qualities
of this constructed world, is key to the transformation of
suffering.
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Notes from Unlimited Mind by Andrew Olendzky
 With meditation, we learn to use consciousness as a tool
to transform unconsciousness. As the mind fills with
direct sensory experience, it empties of desire for things
to be other than they are, proportionately reducing
suffering, along with the construction and influence of
self.
 With wisdom it can be discerned that all experience is
shaped within a milieu of cause and effect.
 With insight, desire is replaced by equanimity and
freedom.
 We become what we think. Every moment of
consciousness is a moment of practice. We can
transform unwholesome mind states:
1. Notice: “A person with unwholesome qualities
is displeasing to me.”
2. Infer: “If I were to have unwholesome qualities,
I would be displeasing and disagreeable to
others.”
3. A person who knows this should arouse the
mind thus: “I shall not have unwholesome
qualities.”
4. When the person does self-review, if the person
knows: “I have unwholesome qualities,” then
the person should make an effort to abandon
unwholesome states.
5. When the person does self-review, if the person
knows “I have no unwholesome qualities,” then
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Notes from Unlimited Mind by Andrew Olendzky
the person can abide happy and glad, training
day and night in wholesome states.
 Calm in the face of anger is motivated as much by
concern for the other person as for oneself. Helping
others to let go of their anger by not responding to it in
kind, contributes to their healing.
Understanding the Teachings
 The doctrine of interdependent origination—multiple
factors co-arise in each moment, while mutually
conditioning one another—informs the Buddha’s
understanding of mind and body, the self, suffering and
liberation.
o The phenomena of mind and body is a complex
interdependent arising of material form, feeling,
perception, formations/responses, and
consciousness. All psychological and physical
factors arise and cease interdependently.
o The self is a complex interdependent arising of
formations (responses involving intentions);
activities of body, speech and mind; and bundles
of dispositions (outcomes) that are laid down
over time. As decisions are made, intentions
manifest in action, and dispositions ensue.
Change the intention and the disposition will
change. The self is a malleable construct.
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Notes from Unlimited Mind by Andrew Olendzky
o Suffering is a complex interdependent arising
involving ignorance, craving, grasping and the
view of oneself as a self who suffers. “When
there is ignorance, there is desire; when there is
desire, there is grasping; when there is grasping,
there is becoming a self; when there is becoming
a self, there is suffering.”
o There is an interdependent relationship between
the psychophysical organism and suffering (or
liberation.) When ignorance, craving, and
grasping do not arise, there is no regarding of
the phenomena as “mine” and the self, who
suffers from attachment to phenomena, is not
constructed. Suffering does not arise.
 As the mind assembles experience, it moves farther to the
realm of macro-construction. Meditation works to
reverse this process allowing us to see things more as
they are, and less as we construe them to be.
Self and Non-self
 “One abides, ardent and mindful, and clearly conscious,
observing body as body, feeling as feeling, mind as mind,
and mental objects as mental objects.”
 All action/karma is based on intentions, affecting not
only the world out there, but one’s own disposition and
character.
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Notes from Unlimited Mind by Andrew Olendzky
 Self is a process, a verb, transient, constructed as “the
one who” likes or dislikes.
 One can be fully aware of objects without the
corresponding creation of a subject.
 The way leading to the creation of self is to say “This is
mine, this is me, this is my self.”
 The way leading to the cessation of self is to regard “This
is not mine, this is not me, this is not my self.”
 Nothing belongs to anybody; nobody has any self to
protect; we co-arise with one another. In the face of
harm, from the perspective of non-self, one can discern
the causal relationship between action and suffering, put
a stop to the activity, hold the perpetrator legally and
morally responsible, and put into place various
safeguards to prevent it from happening again, but the
response is guided by wisdom and compassion and a
larger view rather than by protecting what is mine.
 Human nature is the product of interdependently arising
factors—some wholesome and some unwholesome—
which manifest moment after moment in lawful and
knowable patterns. With mindfulness, patterns are
revealed; with wisdom they can be understood; with
practice, they can be transformed.
 At the heart of transformation is not what we do, so much
as how we do things, say things, or think about things.
 Karma is primarily concerned with how we act and are
shaped by our actions. We shape our actions and our
actions shape us.
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Notes from Unlimited Mind by Andrew Olendzky
 With meditation, we learn how to be with whatever arises
without greed, hatred or delusion in the moment,
becoming free of their effects in the next moment.
 We are living for the benefit of all beings.
 Humans have the capacity for sustained awareness of
what we are doing and the impact we have on others, in
other words—we are evolving in our capacity for the
development of wisdom.
The Development of Mindfulness in the Abhiddama
In meditation we:
1. Make contact with the sensation that is happening
in the present moment
2. Notice the feeling tone of the sensation, bringing
with it a sense of embodiment
3. Notice perception that occurs with each moment of
consciousness
4. With intention, choose to be aware of whatever
arises
5. Attention is directed toward a particular object
6. Focus brings concentration to a single point
7. Initial application: consciously and deliberately
place the mind on a chosen object
8. Sustained application: hold the mind on something
long enough to fully understand it and its
implications
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Notes from Unlimited Mind by Andrew Olendzky
9. Meditation may be further supported by putting
energy into to it with determination, joy and a selfless inclination for the well-being of all living
creatures
Definition of mindfulness in Abhiddama literature: (a
state of heightened awareness)
1. It is characterized by a steady mind, not wobbling
or floating away from its object
2. Its function is the absence of confusion, that is of
non-forgetfulness
3. Its manifestation is the state of facing or engaging
with an objective phenomenal field
4. Its cause is strong perception
Mindfulness will arise only under special circumstances
1. In the precise moment of initiating action, only one
intention will dominate. Mindfulness will arise
only if no unwholesome factors present.
2. Mindfulness always co-arises with 18 other
wholesome mental factors:
o Equanimity
o Generosity
o Loving kindness
o Self-respect
o Respect for others
o Faith/trust/confidence
o Tranquility/peacefulness
o Lightness/buoyancy
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Notes from Unlimited Mind by Andrew Olendzky
o Malleability/flexibility
o Wieldiness/effectiveness
o Proficiency/capability
o Rectitude /upright
The cultivation of mindfulness—coming to know when
we see it and learning how to develop it
o In mindfulness meditation, we create the conditions
favorable to the arising of mindfulness
o Mindfulness is embedded in the notion of
wholesomeness/not harming
o Mindfulness does not necessarily lead to
wisdom/seeing things as they really are
o Wisdom comes from uprooting the reflex of
projecting ownership upon experience, and seeing
it as impermanent, impersonal, interdependent
arising of phenomena
o Wisdom cannot be forced by will or engineered by
the technology of meditation, but rather, cultivated,
until it unfolds of its own accord like the lotus.
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