Alan Wallace Fall 2012 Retreat Podcast: Vipashyana, Four Applications of Mindfulness

Teaching: Alan shares the conclusion of phase 1 of the Dudjom Lingpa’s Sharp Vajra of Conscious Awareness Tantra. Phase 1 covers taking the impure mind as the path aka settling the mind. You identify the impure mind that is dissolved into substrate consciousness. How never to be separated from the experience of the practical instructions when distant from sublime spiritual friends. A sublime spiritual friend reveals the path. It is important to distinguish between path and not path. We need to practice diligently in this phase, as shamatha is indispensable when we venture into practice. We know the taste of luminosity and cognizance of awareness. We know substrate and substrate consciousness. But shamatha is just a preliminary to the path. If we just stay put, we don’t actually get on the freeway to liberation. Whether or not we’ve recognized rigpa, if our mind still gets distracted or dull, we need to mount conceptual mind like a cripple onto the blind stallion of the breath. Tethering the mind with attention, uncontrived, primordially present consciousness will manifest, and it will be easy for the guru’s introduction to pristine awareness to strike home. Alan concludes with some suggestions for further reading/study/practice. Q1. In awareness of awareness, I don’t understand the instruction to forcefully withdraw attention. Is it correct to contract back towards me when inverting?
Q2 What does o laso mean? 
Q3. Can we still have emotions in a lucid dream?
Q4. When I practice emptiness of awareness, there’s an open feeling that’s not there when I practice awareness of awareness.

Teaching: Awareness of awareness is also known as shamatha without a sign. Sign refers to a target, so there’s no vector of attention. During the meditation, when you do the warm-up exercise of directing awareness in the 4 directions, don’t meditate or visualize the 4 directions. Just send out your antenna, or expand the space of awareness. Meditation: Awareness of awareness. With your eyes open, evenly rest your gaze in the space before you. Simply be present in the present moment. Accentuate your awareness of being aware. A) Do the following oscillation at your own pace (coupling with the breath if helpful). Withdrawing from all appearances and really focusing with effort, invert your awareness on being aware. Utterly relaxing, release your awareness into space with no object. Invert on your sense of being the meditator, the agent doing the inversion. Invert on your sense of being the observer or subject experiencing your own awareness, and observe closely. If there’s an appearance of self, what’s aware of that appearance? B) Direct your attention straight up into space as far as you can. Let it come to rest in its own place. Direct your attention to your right as far as you can. Let your awareness come back to the center. Direct your attention to your left as far as you can. Let your awareness come back to the center. Direct your attention straight down into the space below you as far as you can. Let your awareness come back to the center. With closed eyes, rest your awareness at the heart chakra. With open eyes, release awareness into boundless space. Rest your awareness in the sheer luminosity and sheer cognizance of awareness. Q1. In awareness of awareness, what’s the distinction between awareness in space and awareness holding its own ground?
Q2 In awareness of awareness, I’ve heard 2 terms used. When I hear awareness of awareness, I think of awareness of awareness of awareness, etc… You’ve also mentioned sheer awareness. 
Q3. In awareness of awareness, is this supposed to be like a Zen koan because of the conceptual impossibility of knowing that I’m aware?
Q4. In awareness of awareness, if awareness is still, how can I move it?
Q5. What’s the distinction between letting your awareness descend into the body and letting your awareness illuminate the space of the body? Meditation starts at 06:15

Teaching: Alan presents the conclusion from Karma Chagme’s Union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen. Emanation of Padmasambhava’s speech, Atisha addressed how to combine all the teachings of the 3 yanas into one practice. The fivefold practices are: 1) bodhicitta as motivation, 2) meditation on one’s own body as the deity, 3) meditation on one’s spiritual mentor as the deity, 4) view of non-conceptuality (insight into emptiness and rigpa), 5) dedication. Alan also introduces the 4 reliances: Rely not on the person but on the dharma. Rely not on words but on the meaning. Rely not on the provisional meaning but on the definitive meaning. Rely not on conditioned consciousness but on primordial consciousness. Both coarse mind and subtle mind (substrate consciousness) are conditioned consciousness. Meditation. Fivefold practice with shamatha, vipasyana, and vajrayana. Attend closely to sentient beings who all wish to be free from suffering. Arouse bodhicitta to be achieve awakening for the sake of sentient beings. Practice mindfulness of breathing to clean the space of awareness. Let your awareness illuminate the space of the body and tactile sensations therein. Monitor the space of the mind. Include the flow of knowing already present: awareness of being aware. Probe into the nature/referent of awareness, and know emptiness. Imagine personification of primordial consciousness Samantabhadra before you. Take refuge in the ultimate source of refuge. Samantabhadra comes to your crown, dissolves into light, flows down your central channel, and reforms at the heart. With every in breath, light of all the buddhas flow in from all directions. With every out breath, light flows out serving the needs of sentient beings, guiding each one to freedom. Dedicate the practice with your most meaningful aspiration. Q1. How can we keep motivation for practice fresh and unwavering?
Q2. What advice for people who want to do retreat? 
Q3. In mindfulness of breathing, sometimes I’m very aware that mind is right there. If I go into mind, it slows rumination. I’m not sure this is OK. Please explain the image of the air mattress. 
Q4. In settling the mind, sometimes everything is very vivid like I’m in right in the thick of things. Does this mean grasping? Meditation starts at: 35:30

Meditation: Settling the mind preceded by settling body, speech, and mind. 
1) settling body, speech, and mind. Let your awareness come to rest in its own place. There may be knowing of knowing. Let your unmoving awareness illuminate the space of the body and the objective/subjective experiences. Observe them like an out-of-body experience.
2) settling the mind. Let your eyes be open, gaze vacant. Direct mindfulness single-pointedly to the space of the mind and its contents. Begin with mental images and discursive thoughts. Awareness in stillness illuminates the movements of the mind without distraction, without grasping. Monitor with introspection. If distracted, relax, release, and return. If spaced out, refresh, refocus, and retain. Let mindfulness include subjective impulses like feelings and desires. Take special note of the intervals between thoughts. Can the space of the mind be ascertained? The space where appearances of the mind arise from, remain, and dissolve into. With the mentally perceived, let there be just the mentally perceived. Teaching: Alan speaks about how to make the teachings on emptiness practical. These teachings are designed to cut the root of mental afflictions by critiquing our views of reality. According to the Prasangika Madhyamaka, all the phenomena we experience arise in dependence on conceptual designations. We can see this process happening in our experience. Mindfulness of breathing cleans the lab. In settling the mind, awareness stops being jerked around, and with discernment, comes to view mental events as mere empty appearances in both meditation and post-meditation. You come to non-conceptual certainty that nothing in your mind can harm you, whether or not thoughts have ceased. Upon achieving shamatha, the power of samadhi flows right into sleep. The dream yoga practice of emanation and transformation strengthens the conviction that there is nothing here from its own side, just a world of possibility waiting to be designated. Sentient beings reify everything they experience. In practicing the 4 applications, ask yourself, “Do I reify anything?” When you experience craving or hostility (arising from delusion rooted in reification), identify the referent and probe its existence. Meditation starts at: 1:00

Teaching: Alan completes his commentary on the section on mindfulness of phenomena in Ch. 13 of Shantideva’s Compendium of Practices. Composite phenomena are impermanent and unstable, rising quickly and passing away. This points to impermanence and relative reality. Although this is just the way things are, people may react with depression to the hedonic present, anxiety to the hedonic future, and PTSD to the hedonic past. Composite phenomena are also unmoving and empty, like an optical illusion. This points to their absolute nature, empty of inherent existence. Composite phenomena arise in dependence of causes and conditions. They are neither always there nor passing into non-existence. As for objects, so too for consciousness. All speech is like an echo, momentary and without essence. Its coming and going is unobservable. The essential nature of phenomena is like space. Conditions are empty and nameless. Neither the names nor their referents have any inherent existence. Names illuminate phenomena, but as soon as we reify them, they obscure their nature. Meditation. Mindfulness of phenomena preceded by mindfulness of the mind.
1) mindfulness of the mind. Let your eyes be open, resting your gaze evenly. Rest awareness in the present moment, mindful presence without distraction, without grasping. You are aware, and you know it. What is the referent of awareness? What has its qualities of luminosity and cognizance? What are its boundaries? 
2) mindfulness of phenomena. Turn your attention outwards towards appearances arising in the relative dharmadhatu. Whatever comes to mind, examine its nature. Does anything exist from its own side? All composite phenomena are empty and unmoving. They appear, and yet are empty, mere configurations of empty space. With awareness still and clear, attend to emptiness and luminosity of all appearances. Q1. Is it possible to experience timelessness in shamatha or only in the union of shamatha and vipasyana?
Q2. In a guided meditation, I applied vipasyana to an unpleasant feeling and made it go away. I still get stuck on visual appearances, like the square panel on the ceiling. I haven’t conceptually designated it, so how is it empty? Meditation starts at 37:50

Teaching: All the teachings are included in settling body, speech, and mind in their natural state. According to Asanga, sensations of the breath become increasingly subtle until prana dissolves into space. Conceptualizations diminish further and further until mind slips into non-conceptuality. Keep it simple. It’s the nature of the practice. Meditation: Mindfulness of breathing preceded by settling body, speech, and mind. 
1) settling body, speech, and mind. Let your awareness illuminate the non-conceptual space of the body. Settle the body in ease and comfort. Settle the speech in silence. Let the breath flow in its natural rhythm. With every out breath, relax more and more deeply without losing clarity, utterly release the breath and let go of rumination, so your are especially silent and present at the end of each out breath. The in breath comes of its own accord. Release all thoughts of the past and future, and settle awareness in stillness in the present.
2) mindfulness of breathing. When the in breath is long, know that it is long. When the out breath is long, know that it is long. When the in breath is short, know that it is short. When the out breath is short, know that it is short. Let your awareness illuminate the space of the body and whatever tactile sensations arise therein, without distraction, without grasping. Awareness is not fused with the space of the body and its contents. Mindfully breath in and out, attending to the whole body. Q1. In equanimity, does it mean we should react with satisfaction and contentment with things as they are? 
Q2. In formal and semi-formal shamatha retreat, should we hold the view between sessions by visualizing oneself as the deity and the environment as a pure land? If so, should we recite the mantra as well? 
Q3. As for the dying process, how can we help? How can non-buddhists prepare? 
Q4. How is remote viewing possible without dependence on the visual cortex? 
Q5. Returning to a socially engaged way of life, the qualities of relaxation, stability, and vividness will decline. Should we do intermittent short/long retreats for upkeep? 
Q6. According to the Madhyamaka, rigpa and buddhanature are also empty, suggesting nihilism. Rigpa and ultimate reality are in some sense real, but if we say they are real, that may be construed as eternalism. Nihilism is more prevalent in the modern world, and of the two, eternalism appears less dangerous.
Q7. How should we plan practice at home? Should we maintain a weekly structure as we have here, or do whatever we feel like? Practice shouldn’t be just limited to shamatha. Meditation starts at 5: 35

Teaching pt1. Alan completes the 2nd cycle on the 4 greats with great equanimity. Literally, it refers to freedom from attachment to the near and aversion to the far. There is nothing closer than our own awareness. Thogyal—direct crossing over or leaping over—means traversing the bhumis in leaps and bounds to complete enlightenment. Meditation. Great equanimity preceded by mindfulness of the mind. 
1) mindfulness of the mind. Let your mind release all thoughts about that which has already happened and not yet happened, and let your awareness dwell in the fleeting present moment. Awareness is still, naturally clear, and rest in the flow of knowing of being aware. Can you identify from where it emerges? If it doesn’t arise from anything, it is unborn. Can you identify where it is to be found? If it cannot be found, it is non-existent. Does awareness cease? If it does not cease, it is ceaseless. Rest in awareness that is unborn non-existent, and ceaseless.
2) great equanimity. From that perspective, inquire 1) why couldn’t all sentient beings dwell in great equanimity free from attachment to the near and aversion to the far? 2) May we all dwell in great equanimity. 3) I shall bring all beings to great equanimity. 4) May I receive blessings from all the enlightened ones and the guru to do so. With every in breath, blessings in the form of light come in from all directions. With every out breath, light of purification flows out in all directions, dispelling all obscurations. Teaching pt2. Despite India’s unparalleled history in exploring the mind, modern scientific materialism has become the dominant paradigm in its leading institutions. Modern science lacks testable theories of the origin of the universe, the origin of life, and the origin of consciousness. The practices of shamatha, vipasyana, trekchö, and thogyal lead to direct experience of primordial consciousness and its energy, putting the following theories to the test. Does primordial consciousness give rise to substrate consciousness which in turn gives rise to individuated consciousness? Does the energy of primordial consciousness—non-dual from primordial consciousness—give rise to life? Does the dharmadhatu—also non-dual from primordial consciousness—give rise to the environment? Meditation starts at 7:30

Teaching pt1: Alan gives his commentary on the section on mindfulness of phenomena in Ch. 13 of Shantideva’s Compendium of Practices. This section challenges our view that we’re leaving the Mind Center and returning to the mundane world. Contemplating phenomena as phenomena can be understood in terms of the 3 turnings of the wheel of dharma. In the 1st turning, we closely apply mindfulness to phenomena. Because phenomena deceive, the 2nd turning instructs viewing them as empty, illusion-like. Meditation: Mindfulness of phenomena preceded by mindfulness of the mind. In the 3rd turning, buddha mind is omnipresent, there is no difference between your mind and dharmakaya, and all sentient beings have the potential for perfect awakening. The lattermost points to pure perception where there is nothing where the qualities of the buddhas cannot be found. Phenomena are devoid of klesas, for when we probe into their nature, the 3 poisons arise from the 3 qualities of the substrate consciousness or more deeply, the 5 poisons are in fact the 5 wisdoms of primordial consciousness. There is nothing that brings about phenomena points to the ultimate truth. There is nothing that arises without a cause points to the conventional truth. In this context, mindfulness means to bear in mind this way of viewing reality. Meditation. Mindfulness of phenomena preceded by mindfulness of the mind.
1) mindfulness of the mind. Let you awareness walk the tightrope of the immediacy of the present moment. What is the nature of awareness? Can you find it? Can you observe it arising and passing? What’s the border between awareness and appearances?
2) mindfulness of phenomena. Direct your attention to the world of phenomena. Whatever comes to mind, distinguish between the basis of designation and your designation. The basis of designation is empty of designation. The basis of designation isn’t arising out there. All appearances are empty of their own identity, and emptiness is none other than the luminosity of all phenomena. Sustain this flow of knowing. Teaching pt2: We’re bringing our practice to reality. When we have some wisdom of emptiness and yeshe intuiting the blessings of the buddhas, we can perceive phenomena to be saturated by the blessings of the buddhas. Alan recounts a series of extraordinary coincidences along his own path. Meditation starts at 55:22

Teaching: Alan continues with verses 85-87 in Ch. 9 of the Bodhicaryavatara covering components of the body. Just as we examined the body, we now examine parts of the body, going all the way down to the atomic level. As long as something has attributes, it can be divided further. The Vaibashika view contends that while we view the world with our senses and that configurations depend on our way of perceiving, atoms are truly existent. The Madhyamika view understands dependent origination as follows: 1) conditioned phenomena arise in dependence on prior causes and conditions, 2) parts and attributes, and 3) conceptual designations. The Dalai Lama says that which you’re pointing your finger at and holding to be already out there from its own side does not exist in that way. In the dzogchen view, dharmadhatu, primordial consciousness, and energy of primordial consciousness are all co-extensive. Perhaps it is possible to arrive at this one reality via different doors—e.g., probing matter, probing space, or probing the mind. Meditation: mindfulness of the body. Attend to the 5 elements in the space of your body. Open your eyes, and see the form of your body. Note the difference between the tactile and visual perceptions. Apart from these tactile and visual perceptions, is there anything else of the body you can perceive? These perceptions are arising and dissolving either in the space of the body (tactile) or the space of the mind (visual). What do you think of as “my body” among all these perceptions? As in the Heart Sutra, form is emptiness, and emptiness is form. Appearances are mere appearances that arise from and dissolve into space. Appearances consist of space. Appearances are none other than space which is empty. Release the conceptual designation “my body” and rest in the realm of appearances, which are the basis for designation yet empty. Q1. For me, lucid dreaming starts with me being aware that I’m asleep (body is paralyzed). As the dreamscape begins to unfold, I’m not sure how best to make use of this opportunity.
Q2. This is a question about emptiness and atoms. While people may question the reality that arises to meet them, interdependence makes classical reality true for all of us within the same quantum system. 
Q3. In Ven. Analayo’s book on the satipatthana sutta, he covers the dry insight approach which dispenses with shamatha and describes sati as attacking an object like a stone hitting the wall which sounds like it requires a lot of effort. 
Q4. There are claims of people achieving multiple dhyanas or offering 1-2 week retreats to move through all the dhyanas. From your perspective, you seem sceptical of these claims. Do such people have experiences which somehow match the dhyanas, or are there references to dhyanas with lower levels of realization? Meditation starts at 40:19

Great compassion is the principal practice of the 4 greats. Alan continues with great loving-kindness. Meditation. Great loving-kindness. Visualize the primordial buddha Samantabhadra, deep-blue in color. From now until perfect awakening, take refuge in Samantabhadra, the dharma revealed by all the buddhas, and the sangha of vidyadharas. At the crown of your head, Samantabhadra melts into light, streams down your central channel, and reforms at your heart chakra, merging with your body, speech, and mind. 1) Why couldn’t we all find perfect happiness and its causes? Each one of us has pristine awareness, the cause, and are awaiting the contributing circumstances. 2) May we find perfect happiness and its causes. With out breath, light from Samantabhadra at your heart chakra spreads in all directions, leading each sentient being to fulfillment. With every out breath, arouse the intention 3) May I lead every sentient being to perfect happiness and its causes, and imagine each one finding perfect awakening. 4) May the gurus and the buddhas bless me, so that I may be enabled. With every in breath, light from all enlightened beings come in from all directions. With every out breath, light flows out to all sentient beings. Teaching. Qualified teachers of the Mahayana and Vajrayana usually say that one needs a lot of merit in order to achieve shamatha. This is true. However, we shouldn’t think that we don’t have enough merit, so it’s not worth trying. As Dromtönpa said, give up all attachment to this life and let your mind become dharma. While you are actually cultivating shamatha and practicing the 4 immeasurables, you are accumulating merit. Meditation starts at 04:40

Teaching pt1: Alan gives his and the Dalai Lama’s commentary on the section on mindfulness of phenomena in verses 105-112 of Ch. 9 of Shantideva’s Bodhicaryavatara. Just as the mind does not come into existence, in the same way, we come to certainty that no phenomenon comes into existence. That which we perceive cannot be more real than our perception of it. Two objections are discussed. 1) If conventional truth doesn’t exist, then does nothing exist at all? If phenomena are just apparitions to a confused mind, then wouldn’t whatever anyone says be true? According to the Madhyamaka, entities and non-entities (e.g., a rabbit’s horn) are both conceptual designations—i.e., neither exists from its own side—but entities i) have causal efficacy and ii) can be established by verifiable cognition (incl. both perception and understanding). The mind which conceives and the object conceived are simultaneously interdependent, so neither is inherently real. An action depends on an agent, and an agent depends on an action. 2) Wouldn’t the analysis of that which is analyzed lead to infinite regression? Awareness that apprehends the emptiness of an entity is focused on emptiness, not the entity. Inverting the analysis upon awareness, one establishes that awareness is empty and emptiness is empty. There is nothing more to analyze. Meditation: Mindfulness of phenomena preceded by mindfulness of the mind. 
1) mindfulness of the mind. Let your eyes be open, gaze rested evenly. Simply be present without distraction, without grasping. Withdraw attention from all appearances and rest in the knowing of being aware. Probe into the nature of awareness. What is the thing that performs functions such as being still or following after an object and has these attributes of luminosity and cognizance? Can you find this awareness separated from all appearances? Know that absence and sustain that flow of knowing.
2) mindfulness of phenomena. Return your attention to objects of the 6 sense domains. Focus on one object, and probe its nature. What is really there from its own side? Rest in emptiness and sustain that flow of knowing Teaching pt2: Alan speaks about William James who understood that introspection was the first and foremost method for the scientific inquiry of the mind. Although his vision has been ignored by much of the modern mind sciences, the contemplative observatory in Bangalore will offer a setting for contemplative knowing to engage with modern scientific knowledge. Meditation starts at 57:03

Teaching. Alan continues the series on the 4 greats with great empathetic joy. When you become lucid in a dream, happiness arises from knowing reality as it is. As long as you remain lucid, nothing in the dream can cause suffering. Therefore, the instruction is to stay lucid by not losing the recognition of the dream as a dream. Shamatha helps you sustain lucidity. Vipasyana counters our ingrained tendency to reify everything. When you break through the substrate consciousness to primordial consciousness, the instruction is similar: don’t lose the recognition by sustaining the view of rigpa. There is nothing else to do. Meditation. Great empathetic joy. Let your awareness permeate the space of the body and come to rest in the immediacy of the present moment. In the space before you, visualize Samantabhadra, the personification of your own primordial awareness, deep blue in color and radiating a sapphire light. Take refuge in the primordial buddha Samantabhadra, the dharma of all the buddhas, and the sangha of vidyadharas. Samantabhadra comes to the crown of your head, dissolves into indigo light, flows the your central channel, and reforms at your heart chakra. Your own body, speech, and mind become indivisible with Samantabhadra. Light permeates the space of your body and your empty mind. From this perspective, inquire 1) why couldn’t all sentient beings never be parted from happiness free of suffering? Arouse the aspiration 2) may we never be parted from such well-being. Arouse the intention 3) as long as space remains, as long as time remains, I shall do whatever is needed to bring this about. 4) May I receive blessings from the guru Samantabhadra and all the enlightened ones to carry through. With every in breath, light from all the buddhas flow in from all directions, saturating your being and purifying all negativities. With every out breath, light flows out in all directions, dispelling all negativities and doing whatever is needed to bring all sentient beings to lasting happiness without suffering. Meditation starts at 13:21

Teaching pt1: Alan completes his commentary on the section on mindfulness of the mind in Ch. 13 of Shantideva’s Compendium of Practices. The mind is not really seen anywhere—e.g., inside, outside, in the skandhas, in the elements, etc... From what does the mind arise? Does the mind arise from an object? If so, are they the same or other? Mind cannot see itself just as a blade cannot cut itself. Ordinary mind is never still, being conscious of one thing after another. A stable mind is still, single-pointed, not agitated, not scattered, single-pointedly quiescent, and free of distraction. One should dedicate oneself to purifying the mind which also purifies the body and the environment. One should always retain the ultimate reality of the mind—i.e., mind is like an illusion. Whenever you experience attachment or aversion, probe right into the referent, since klesas are rooted in reification of the object. Whenever your mind is tormenting you, look for it, and see that it is not there. Meditation: Mindfulness of the mind preceded by mindfulness of breathing at the nostrils. 
1) mindfulness of breathing. Let your awareness illuminate the space of the body, especially the sensations associated with the breath. Focus on the sensations of the breath at the nostrils. From there, give increasing attention to the space of the mind, until all your attention is focused on the impure mind.
2) mindfulness of the mind. Where is this impure mind? Do you see it? From what does it arise? Invert your awareness on the subject who is inquiring. Is the mind still or in motion? If the mind is in motion, where does it come from, and where is it going? Rest in the emptiness and luminosity of your own awareness free of concepts. Teaching pt2: Atisha commented, “Achieve stability, and let the mystery be revealed.” Shamatha cultivates the unflickering flame of awareness that investigates its own nature. Q1. Can the arts be a way to introduce buddhist teachings? 
Q2. In settling the mind, are feelings mental states associated with physical sensations? I find myself attending to both feelings and physical sensations, since it’s easier to detect feelings via physical sensations. 
Q3. Is it possible to recognize an emotion before it is manifest in the body? If so, is this a sign of clarity? Meditation starts at 36:15

Teaching pt1. Alan continues the series on the 4 greats with great loving-kindness. Hedonic well-being is important, and the understanding of cause and effect in the natural world by modern science has made important contributions. In union with shamatha, knowing reality as it is through the wisdom of dependent origination and emptiness leads to durable eudaimonia. Meditation. Great loving-kindness preceded by mindfulness of the body and the mind. 
1) mindfulness of the body. Seated on its throne, awareness illuminates the space of the body and appearances therein. Closely apply mindfulness to the body, withholding all concepts and labels. The appearances are empty of concepts, empty of the body. Sustain the flow of mindful knowing without distractions, without grasping. 
2) mindfulness of the mind. With your eyes open, direct awareness to the space of the mind and mental events, withholding conceptual designations. They are empty of concepts, empty of the mind. Withdraw the light of awareness from all appearances and turn it onto itself. Attend closely to awareness in the present moment. Where is awareness to be found? It is unfindable, unknowable, empty.
3) great loving-kindness. Turn your awarenss outwards. All sentient beings have primordial consciousness, so 1) why couldn’t we all find happiness and the causes of happiness? 2) May we all find happiness and its causes. 3) May I lead each one to happiness and its causes. 4) May I receive blessings from the guru and all the enlightened ones to do so. With every in breath, light comes in from all sides, filling your body and mind. With every out breath, that light flows out in all directions, leading each sentient to their own awakening. Teaching pt2. While in retreat, we’ve been breathing in meditative equipoise. As we leave retreat, we need to breath out the 4 immeasurables, especially when reality is not dishing out the circumstances for shamatha. Dharma practice requires balance, and we need to be able to respond to reality with great mental suppleness. Meditation starts at 5:10

Teaching pt1: Alan begins his commentary on the section on mindfulness of the mind in Ch. 13 of Shantideva’s Compendium of Practices. Where is the mind that becomes attached, hateful, or deluded? It has no location, basis, or form. The mind is not seen by any of the buddhas. The mind is like an illusion because it apprehends events with unreal projections. Even though one looks for the mind everywhere, it is not to be found. This means it is unobservable which means it doesn’t arise in the 3 times which means it transcends the 3 times which means it is neither existent nor non-existent. The same holds for rigpa which is beyond conceptualization. Meditation: Mindfulness of the mind preceded by settling the mind. 
1) settling the mind. Let your eyes be open with a vacant gaze. Turning away from the 5 sensory domains, direct your attention to the mental domain. Observe the space of the mind and all mental events arising therein illuminated by awareness holding its own ground. Sustain the flow of mindfulness without distraction, without grasping.
2) mindfulness of the mind. Is there any stable or unchanging? Are mental events intrisically the source of happiness or suffering? Is there anything here which is intrinsically mine? Is there anything here that is really mind? Is it anywhere to be found? Mind that is nowhere to be found nor has any attributes is empty. Rest in the emptiness of your own mind. Teaching pt2: Paranormal abilities are cited as the 4 legs of miraculous activity attained within the first yoga of single-pointedness. Q1. What is the difference between the space of the mind when it’s still and awareness of awareness? There is nothing there in either, so can we speak of vacuity? Is it transparent and spacious? 
Q2. How long does it take to get to each stage in shamatha and maintain it? Once shamatha has been attained, how to maintain it?
Q3. In awareness of awareness, do the eyes focus on the space before us?
Q4. How can we relate to others experiencing the wrath of samsara? 
Q5. In the 4 immeasurables, the visualization and aspiration require effort and don’t work when I’m relaxed. Meditation starts at 31:15

Teaching. Alan repeats the series on the 4 greats, starting with great compassion. Focusing on the cause of suffering, we have experienced during the retreat that the mind caught up in rumination is very vulnerable to suffering. Mind is beaten up by samsara. Without shamatha, the mind is dysfunctional. When the mind is able to rest in the substrate, there is no blatant suffering. The proper way to view shamatha is not as an end itself, but as an on-ramp to the path of awakening. Meditation. Great compassion preceded by settling body, speech, and mind. 
1) settling body, speech, and mind. Let your awareness illuminate the space of the body, without entering into the body. Relinquish all control over the breath, releasing all thoughts with every out breath. Simply observe the flow of the breath. In the spirit of renunciation, let awareness be still in the present moment.
2) great compassion. Turn your awarenss outwards. Inquire 1) why couldn’t we all be free from suffering and the causes of suffering? All sentient beings have substrate consciousness. 2) May we realize this freedom. 3) May I free each one. 4) May I receive blessings from the guru and all the enlightened ones to do so. With every in breath, light comes in from all directions, empowering you to fulfill your aspiration. With every out breath, that light flows out in all directions, freeing each sentient being you encounter. Meditation starts at 03:40

Teaching pt1: Alan continues with verses 104-105 of Ch. 9 of Shantideva’s Bodhicaryavatara. Since awareness cannot precede, co-occur, nor follow the object of awareness, awareness is not inherently real. Similarly, no phenomenon comes into (inherent) existence. Inherently existent phenomena cannot causally interact with anything. Only conventionally does awareness arise in dependence on an object. 
Alan talks about the entry point of the 5 paths and 10 bhumis as outlined in Asanga’s Abisamaya Alankara and summarized into the 4 yogas of Mahamudra in Karma Chagme’s Union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen. Shamatha is the first step on the yoga of single-pointedness. The 4 applications of mindfulness brings you from earth-like bodhicitta to gold-like bodhicitta. Shamatha is the on-ramp to the bodhisattvayana. Meditation: Mindfulnes of the mind preceded by awareness of awareness. 
1) awareness of awareness. Settle the mind in the immediacy of the present moment. With every out breath, release awareness into space without an object. With every in breath, awareness converges on itself for an unelaborated experience of being aware. There is nothing to think about. Just taste it continually.
2) mindfulness of the mind. While you may have the sense that mind is empty, how about awareness which seems really there? Does awareness have attributes? Is it static? Does it have the quality of knowing? Luminosity and clarity? Is awareness still? What is the nature of awareness with these attributes? What is the distinction between awareness and non-awareness? Awareness and appearances? Rest non-conceptually in knowing emptiness of awareness—emptiness by nature luminous, luminosity by nature empty. Teaching pt2: Alan describes the development of ESP and other paranormal abilities. In the Theravada, paranormal abilities require realizing the dhyanas for each element. In the Mahayana, paranormal abilities appear in the first two paths through the union of shamatha and vipasyana on the nature of awareness. meditation starts at: 55:00

Teaching pt1. Alan continues with the series on the 4 greats with great equanimity. There’s a similar liturgy beginning with 1) why couldn’t all sentient beings abide in great equanimity free from attachment to those who are close and aversion to those who are far? There are various levels of equanimity. In settling the mind, still awareness and a lack of preference for all arisings are crucial for the mind to settle in its natural state. If you respond with anything other than equanimity, you are not doing the practice. In vipasyana, subjective awareness itself is established as empty as are the appearances arising to the mind and their referents. In dzogchen, samsara and nirvana are not only equally empty but equally pure and equally expressions of rigpa. Meditation. Great equanimity. Let your awareness illuminate the space of the body and the space of the mind. Your body is neither the space nor the sensations, either individually or collectively. Rest in the emptiness of your body. Your mind is neither the space nor the mental events, either individually or collectively. Rest in the emptiness of your mind. If your subjective mind is empty, so are all the sense objects out there. Rest in the emptiness of the environment. Release all grasping, and let your awareness come to rest in its ground state. Imagine pristine awareness as an orb of light at your heart chakra. Inquire 1) why couldn’t all sentient beings abide in great equanimity free from attachment to those who are close and aversion to those who are far? Arouse the aspiration 2) may we all abide in great equanimity. Arouse the intention 3) I shall do it. 4) May I receive blessings from all the enlightened ones to do so. With every in breath, blessings in the form of light come in from all directions. With every out breath, that light flows out in all directions. Teaching pt2. Imperturbability, equanimity, and balance are signs that your practice is working. Those in long-term shamatha retreat have a clear preference for a good environment. Equanimity is dharma practice, not just shamatha practice, and we should develop equanimity towards all appearances (mind, body, and environment). It’s about the quality of awareness we bring to reality, not the quality of the experience rising to meet us. Meditation starts at: 11:55

Teaching pt1: Alan revisits the 3rd application of mindfulness to the mind. Mindfulness means recollection. Here, we are taking the impure mind as the object of investigation. Specifically, we are examining the reified sense of “my mind”. Alan continues with verses 102-103 of Ch. 9 of Shantideva’s Bodhicaryavatara. The mind is not located in the sense faculties, sense objects, nor in between. It is nowhere to be found. Therefore, it is non-existent. As this impure mind which keeps us in samsara is actually non-existent, we sentient beings are by nature liberated. Realizing the empty nature of your own mind is realizing nirvana.
Alan gives instructions on gentle vase breathing which is an optional accompaniment to settling the mind. Practice this only in the upright position. Keeping your respiration natural, use a teaspoon of effort to maintain the roundness of the belly during both in and out breaths. Eventually, you will be able to do this on auto-pilot and direct your full attention to the space of the mind. Meditation: Mindfulnes of the mind preceded by settling the mind. 
1) settling the mind. Let the breath flow naturally, and experiment with gentle vase breathing. When the belly expands with the in breath, hold the roundness, and let the breath flow out naturally. Open your eyes, and direct the full force of mindfulness to the space of the mind and its contents. 
2) mindfulness of the mind. Hold in mind that which you grasp onto as your mind. Can you find it in the body, in objects, in the space of the mind, or in mental events? If the mind is still, do you still have a mind? Investigate the mind as a whole and parts. How does the mind arise? Do mental events have inherent nature? Do the most elemental components of the mind has their own attributes? The mind is empty. The appearances are empty. Emptiness is nirvana waiting to be unveiled. Q1. What are the 2 kinds of composites?
Q2. When the counterpart sign arises, initially it is difficult to sustain. Is this due to absence of mindfulness? Should we invert consciousness upon itself to access the counterpart sign, or should we dwell in the substrate and wait for it to reappear? 
Q3. How does the acquired sign appear? Meditation starts at 40:00

Teaching pt1. Alan continues with the series on the 4 greats with great empathetic joy. Unlike empathetic joy in the Pali canon, great empathetic joy is an aspiration. There’s a similar liturgy. 1) Why couldn’t all sentient beings never be parted from happiness free of suffering? This doesn’t refer to hedonic pleasure but eudaimonia. It also refers to freedom from all three kinds of suffering. 2) May we all never be parted from happiness free of suffering. 3) I shall do it. 4) May I receive blessings from all the enlightened ones to do so. Meditation. Great empathetic joy. Let your awareness illuminate the space of the body and the space of the mind. The human body is imputed upon the appearances within the space of the body, and the human mind upon the appearances within the space of the mind. Yet these appearances are empty of body and mind. Imagine pristine awareness as an orb of light at your heart chakra. Withdraw all appearances into this orb, and reimagine your human form as transparent, radiant light with the nature of Avalokiteshvara. Inquire 1) Why couldn’t all sentient beings never be parted from happiness free of suffering? What would be needed to bring this about? Arouse the aspiration 2) may we all never be parted from happiness free of suffering. Arouse the intention from your pristine awareness 3) I shall do it. 4) May I receive blessings from all the enlightened ones to do so. With every in breath, blessings in the form of light come in from all directions and fill your body. With every out breath, light flows out in all directions, bringing sentient beings to happiness without suffering. Teaching pt2. Try to achieve a smooth transition between meditation sessions and post-meditation sessions. In between sessions, act as an illusory being. This instruction helps withdraw reification of body and mind. Meditation starts at 8:15

Teaching pt1: Alan continues with his commentary on the section on mindfulness of feelings in Ch. 13 of Shantideva’s Compendium of Practices. When experiencing a painful feeling, develop great compassion for beings who fixate on feelings, totally identify with them, hold them close, misapprehend them, and ruminate about them. Let the feeling arouse compassion. One may also use a wisdom approach by inquiring who is the one who experiences the feeling? By gaining insight into the emptiness of the experiencer, one penetrates the entire system of simultaneous interdependence with the object and the feeling as mode of experience. Finally, one views feelings from the perspective of rigpa—i.e., peaceful, pure, and luminous. The first step is recognizing the feeling as a feeling, by being able to distinguish between the stillness of your own awareness and movements of mind. Only then, can we choose to react wisely, such as following Shantideva’s advice of remaining as still as a log of wood in the presence of klesas. Meditation: Silent session with mindfulness of feelings following the compassion or wisdom method outlined above or another practice of your choice. Q1. You’ve taught 3 methods of shamatha. It appears that in all of them, the practitioner takes the throne of awareness, and only the objects differ. The practices could be called awareness of the breath, awareness of the mind, and awareness of awareness. Upon achieving shamatha, is it possible to focus on any chosen object without effort? What is the role of the counterpart sign? Is it reasonable to switch back and forth between the 3 methods? Meditation starts at 26:30

Teaching pt1: Alan continues with his commentary on the section on mindfulness of feelings in Ch. 13 of Shantideva’s Compendium of Practices. Regard feelings as feelings which stills cognitive fusion with them. Have great compassion for those who grasp onto joy. Those who do not grasp onto feelings experience true well-being. Whenever you experience pleasant feelings, generate great compassion for all sentient beings who suffer from attachment, and abandon attachment. Whenever you experience painful feelings, generate great compassion for all sentient beings who suffer from hatred, and abandon hatred. Whenever you experience neutral feelings, generate great compassion for all sentient beings who suffer from delusion, and abandon delusion. Experience no attachment to pleasant feelings, no aversion to painful feelings, and no ignorance with regards to neutral feelings. Recognize pleasant feelings as impermanent, painful feelings as unsatisfying, and neutral feelings as peaceful and identityless. Meditation: mindfulness of feelings as above combined with great compassion. Apply mindfulness to the field of the body and the mind. Observe how sensations in the body and thoughts/images in the mind act as cooperative conditions for feelings. Let awareness be still as you recognize feelings as feelings. When encountering a pleasant feeling, recognize impermeance, unpleasant feeling as unsatisfying, neutral feeling as having no owner and no inherent existence. Weaving together great compassion... Whenever you encounter a pleasant/painful/neutral feeling, arouse great compassion for all those suffering from attachment/hatred/delusion. Repeat the liturgy and visualizations from this morning for each type of feeling. Teaching pt2: Simply being present with won’t change conventional reality. Conventional reality needs to be challenged with direct realization of emptiness. Only then, can withdrawing or changing conceptual designation alter your reality. Q1. I have chronic tinitus, and the severity of the whistling is normally correlated to my stress level. Here in retreat, I’m feeling very relaxed, but the whistling is quite loud. Is this being produced by shifts in prana?
Q2. How does the body exist? The bundle of space-energy-matter appears to the substrate consciousness as my body, but without the substrate consciousness, that bundle of space-energy-matter is still there. Meditation starts at: 30:56

Teaching pt1. Alan begins a new cycle on the 4 greats. While the 4 immeasurables don’t require a particular world view, the 4 greats are firmly rooted in the buddhist world view. “With meditative equipoise, one sees reality as it is. When on sees reality as it is, the bodhisattva develops great compassion.” The liturgy contains four lines. 1) Why couldn’t we all be free from suffering and its causes? It is helpful to consider all sentient beings as referring to all those we encounter. 2) May we be free from suffering and its causes. There is no time limit on this aspiration. 3) May I free us from suffering and its causes. This intention is realistic only from the perspective of rigpa. 4) May the gurus and buddhas bless me, so that I may be enabled. Meditation. Great compassion. Establish meditative equipoise by settling body, speech, and mind and mindfulness of breathing. Dissolve your ordinary identity by reflecting on the emptiness of your own body. In its place, your primordial consciousness crystalizes into an energy body. 1) Why couldn’t we all be free from suffering and its causes? Reflect on the whole world and specific people who come to mind. Draw the conclusion that freedom is possible because all sentient beings have buddhanature. 2) May we be free from suffering and its causes. 3) May I free us from suffering and its causes. Imagine your own buddhanature as a small white orb of light at your heart chakra. With every in breath, make resolve to free self and others and imagine others’ suffering in the form of darkness converging at and extinguished within the white orb. 4) May the gurus and buddhas bless me, so that I may be enabled. With every in breath, light from all enlightened beings come in from all directions and fills your body and mind. With every out breath, light flows out to all sentient beings, relieving their suffering and its causes. Teaching pt2. Nothing can be said to be inherently virtuous. Motivation is key, and coupled with great compassion, the shamatha practices we’re doing here can also be quite virtuous. Meditation starts at: 24:33

In the Mahayana, equanimity is a sense of evenness or equality between self and other. In order to practice guru yoga where there is non-duality between your own mind and the guru’s mind, pure vision for both self and guru is needed. Meditation. Equanimity from verses 90-119 in Ch. 8 of the Bodhicaryavatara. Since everyone experiences suffering and happiness, I must protect others from suffering just as I protect myself. My suffering does not affect another, and another’s suffering does not affect me. Just as my suffering is difficult for me due to clinging, so is another’s suffering for him/her. Suffering has no owner. All suffering is equally ahorrent. Therefore, I must eliminate suffering in myself and others just because it’s suffering. But how about the suffering associated with compassion? Compared to the suffering in the world, this suffering is small and must be endured for one’s own and others’ sake through habituation. Meditation starts at 5:13

Teaching pt1: In buddhist epistemology, valid perception depends on an object, sense faculty, and continuum of consciousness. While the Shravakayana takes all three as real, Madhyamaka asserts their emptiness. Alan continues with verses 93-103 of Ch. 9 of the Bodhicaryavatara which addresses the origination of feelings. In buddhist epistemology, feelings arise from contact, so Shantideva deconstructs contact. If there’s an interval, there can be no actual contact between an object and sense faculty. If there’s no interval, the object and sense faculty would be one. Consciousness is immaterial, so how can it have any contact with a material object? Without contact, how can feelings arise? If the experiencer doesn’t truly exist nor feelings truly exist, why does craving arise when looking at an object? Feelings don’t arise to the mind like objects of perception. Feelings arise together with the mind as a mode of apprehending the object. Mind itself has illusion-like nature, so feelings too lack inherent existence. Meditation: mindfulness of feelings preceded by mindfulness of the body. 
1) mindfulness of the body. Settle the mind in the stillness of the present moment. Rest in the stillness of awareness by releasing all grasping. From that stillness, let awareness illuminate the space of the body. With naked awareness (no concepts!), observe sensations in the field of the body, and perceive each of the 5 elements via those sensations. 
2) mindfulness of feelings. Can you distinguish between sensations and feelings? Closely apply mindfulness to feeling, and examine its nature. Probe the feelings. Probe the sensations. Now turn awareness on the experiencer. When some insight into empty nature arises, stop investigating, and just rest in that knowing. Teaching pt2: Geshe Rabten’s advice on dealing with klesas: 1) the best way is to observe them directly, sharply, without entering into cognitive fusion, 2) if that fails, apply other antidotes, and 3) if that fails, move attention away from the object. Fighting klesas is like guerilla warfare. Q1. How can I increase the resolution of images in the mind? At times, I find it helpful to hold onto blurry images, but this may not be good practice.
Q2. Please elaborate on the 4 types of mindfulness in settling the mind. Are there signposts in awareness of awareness? Meditation starts at 50:04

Teaching pt1: With respect to the Madhyamaka, 1) hearing means that you understand the View as presented, 2) reflection means that you relate the teachings to your own experience, and 3) meditation means investigation based on shamatha to penetrate to direct realization. Alan elaborates on verses 90-92 of Ch. 9 of the Bodhicaryavatara. Suffering arises in dependence on causes and conditions; however, neither suffering nor joy is inherently existent. They are conventionally there without investigation, without analysis. However, upon analysis, neither is there from its own side. Just as causes and conditions can shift to produce either suffering or joy, conceptual designation can also be shifted by the observer participant. Reification is the problem, and this is the antidote to reification. Meditation: mindfulness of feelings preceded by mindfulness of the body. 
1) mindfulness of the body. Let awareness illuminate the space of the body and tactile sensations therein. With discerning mindfulness note each of the 5 elements. When the mind is quiet, perceive tactile sensations as tactile sensations. Do sensations bear an intrinsic identity? 
2) mindfulness of feelings. Closely apply mindfulness to feelings that arise with tactile sensations. Are they static or in flux? Are they pleasurable or unpleasurable? Do they have an owner? Choose a spot on the body where you experience a feeling, and observe with samadhi the appearance, and see what you see. Now experiment on that same spot by deliberately labelling the sensation as pleasant or unpleasant. Reify it as being absolutely there. Now withdraw the designation and reification, and observe the impact with a quiet mind. Once some clarity arises, stop investigating, and simply maintain that knowing. Teaching pt2: By withdrawing conceptual designation, reification is also withdrawn, yet it is possible to conceptually designate without reification. No reification means no klesas, and no klesas mean no suffering. Q1. Please explain how to generate a proper vacant gaze.
Q2. What criteria can I use to determine whether I should receive a Vajrayana empowerment and do the practice? Meditation starts at 43:44

Teaching pt1. Alan revisits the 4th immeasurable equanimity. The Pali canon emphasizes a sense of imperturbability or emotional balance. In this spirit, Alan reads a section from Dudjom Lingpa’s Sharp Vajra of Conscious Awareness Tantra. Hoping for and clinging to things regarded as good and fearing things regarded as bad will lead to misery and suffering. Whatever joys and sorrows arise, these are mere appearances which are not to be blocked. Just stop reifying—i.e., the feeling of joy or sorrow and its causes. The mind that reifies appearances is the root that needs to be blocked. Meditation. Equanimity with suffering in the past, present, and future. 1) Direct your attention to a situation in your own past which you found very difficult and led to suffering. Can you distinguish between the event that arose to meet you and your response to that event? If there is suffering, you identified an event as bad. Can you observe phenomena as phenomena and distinguish that from your designation? The basis is empty of your conceptual designation. The feeling of suffering is also an empty appearance. In all adversity, as an active participant, you designated something as bad and experienced suffering as a result. 2) Is there anything here and now that troubles you? What is the basis for your designation? See the emptiness of both the basis and your designation. Once you withdraw reification, form is emptiness, emptiness is form, and there is neither benefit nor harm. 3) Is there anything in the future you dread? What is the object that you fear or find unpleasant? Is your unhappiness lodged out there in the object? The object doesn’t exist at all, nor does the unhappiness. No more substantial than a mirage, they are all empty appearances arising and dissolving in space. Teaching pt2. Once hopes and fears are released, the mind settles in the center. In the center, there is neither pleasure nor pain, but a sense of equanimity. Beware of falling into dullness and indifference. Maintain lucidity while resting in the center, and it dissolves into a well-spring of bliss. Meditation starts at 15:00

Teaching pt1: Alan outlines the situation in the modern health system regarding mental disorders. There has been an explosion in brain research since the 1990s, and while knowledge of neuronal correlations has increased, drugs targeting psychiatric disorders haven’t become more effective. Although a multitude of anti-depressants have been produced for decades, a recent meta-analysis has shown that except for severe depression, most drugs work no better than placebo, albeit with worrisome side-effects, many of which are psychological. Neuroscientists work strictly within a materialistic paradigm of mind equals brain, yet have no actual proof that this is so, but are, nevertheless, determining the discourse around fundamental questions of mind, free choice, and human nature. The media just pass scientific findings to the general public without taking a critical stance. Pharmaceutical companies appear to function as drug cartels. Doctors deal the poisonous drugs to their patients. There is support from both government and insurance companies, who prefer to pay for drugs rather than psychotherapies. The consequences of this scenario are dire, and a new Protestant Revolution is needed.
Alan would like to elaborate on verses 88-92 of Ch. 9 of the Bodhicaryavatara. He covers verses 88-90. If suffering were inherently existent like a billiard ball, then you would only experience suffering and nothing else like joy. Like suffering, happiness is not inherent in places, people, or things. Meditation: mindfulness of feelings. Rest in the luminous, clear nature of awareness, holding its own ground. Let awareness illuminate sensations and feelings in the space of the body. Examine feelings closely. Does pleasure/pain exist like an atom? Is feeling embedded in sensations? Is there a nucleus of feeling? Is it influenced by your observation? Is the feeling already there as pleasure/pain? Teaching pt2: Meditation on emptiness leads to the Middle Way. For someone who is well prepared, realization of emptiness leads to compassion and bliss. For someone who is still self-centered, direct insight into emptiness can lead to grief and fear. Meditation starts at: 01:06:08

Teaching pt1. Alan recounts 2 parables from Karma Chagme’s Naked Awareness. 1) foolish prince who likes horses but develops renunciation and 2) foolish prince who becomes a beggar due to amnesia but rediscovers his true identity. Remain in the castle of your own awareness while beholding the kingdom of your own body. Take satisfaction in awareness resting in its own place. After rumination, take satisfaction in recovering awareness and coming home. Meditation: empathetic joy preceded by shamatha method of choice. 
1) shamatha method of choice. Let awareness come to rest, releasing all grasping and effort. 
2) empathetic joy. Take satisfaction in awareness holding it s own ground—still, relaxed, luminous, content. As you gain experiential insight into your own consciousness, take delight those sowing the seeds for the renaissance of contemplative traditions and a revolution in the mind sciences. Take delight in those identifying the true causes of suffering and pursuing the true causes of happiness. With each out breath, shine light of gratitude and appreciation. Teaching pt2. Who’s there according to the 3 turnings of the wheel of dharma? In the 1st turning, the autonomous agent is not there. In the 2nd turning, there is no sentient being to be found. In the 3rd turning, 1) where you are, there’s buddha mind, rigpa, or dharmakaya, 2) the ultimate nature of your mind and buddha mind is no different, and 3) all sentient beings belong to the same buddha family. We can either adopt and identify with mind and body arisen through karma and mental afflications or buddha mind. We need insight into emptiness of self and the guru in order to practice guru yoga which leads us to buddha mind. Guru yoga isn’t blind faith idolatry. Even in the 1st turning, we are advised to check the guru carefully before viewing him/her as an emissary of the Buddha. Apologies, there has been a cut in the recording at: 57:28 Meditation starts at: 18:45

Teaching: Alan begins by exploring why it is said that dzogchen is particularly effective in degenerate times. He suggests that when the teachings are degenerate, society is degenerate, the mind is shot, the body is shot, they become difficult vehicles to transmit the dharma. By going directly to awareness, dzogchen bypasses culture, body, and coarse mind. 
Alan presents the misnomered placebo effect as a miracle for modern science and medicine because they do not understand consciousness. Both modern medicine and faith healing are disempowering the mind, by attributing its effects to another.
Alan revisits the 2nd close application of mindfulness to feelings by commenting on verses 88-92 of Ch. 9 of the Bodhicaryavatara. Does suffering truly exist? If so, one could not experience joy. Can suffering and joy exist at the same time? No, as there is no such thing as an unexperienced feeling. This type of investigation benefits contemplatives who have achieved dhyana. Because of OCDD in our ordinary mind, we cannot merely choose to stop conceptually designating, nor is it a serviceable basis for investigating the nature of phenomena. When probing into the nature of feeling, it dissolves. Feeling is a way of experiencing/apprehending, and is not in the object itself. Suffering is designated as suffering, and once the conceptual designation is released, it is liberated. Meditation: mindfulness of feelings preceded by mindfulness of the body.
1) mindfulness of the body. Let awareness remain motionless, holding its own ground. Let awareness illuminate the space of the body without entering into it nor becoming immersed by it. Observe the space of the body from awareness’ own place. Illuminate the tactile sensations of the body. Is there anything substantially there from its own side? 
2) mindfulness of feelings. Feelings do arise, but how do they exist? Attend closely, and penetrate feeling with samadhi to find its core. Penetrate through the feeling to the tactile sensation, and see if the feeling lies therein. Probe right into the origin of pain. Does investigation have any impact on pain—i.e., are you participating, or is pain simply being presented to you? Meditation starts at 1:08:25

Teaching pt1. Alan revisits the 3rd of the 4 immeasurables, empathetic joy. One of the early lamrim meditations is recognizing precious human rebirth (or literally, body) imbued with leisure and opportunity. This body—especially the subtle body of prana, chakra, and bindu—is likened to a wish-fulfilling gem. Meditation: empathetic joy preceded by settling body, speech, and mind. 
1) settling body, speech, and mind. Let awareness descend into the space of the body and rest in the empty appearances of the 5 elements. Release grasping onto the body, sensations, and feelings. Release the breath, also empty appearances without owner or inherent nature. Release the mind. Release fully with each out breath, and relax more and more deeply without losing clarity.
2) empathetic joy. Consider what value you place on this lifetime/opportunity with leisure to progress along the path to liberation and awakening. Rejoice in this immense opportunity, and resolve to take its essence for your own and others’ benefit. Turn your attention outwards to others who have found such an opportunity and are taking full advantage. With every out breath, shine light of appreciation, and rejoice in their virtue. Teaching pt2. Times were already degenerate at the time of the Buddha who taught mindfulness of breathing more than any other shamatha practice for those prone to rumination. Breathing out long may be associated with the peaceful. Breathing out short may be associated with the sublime as the pranic system settles. The whole body (of the breath) may be the flow characteristic of the ambrosial dwelling. Once shamatha is achieved, any unwholesome thought is dispelled. In the 19th century, Dudjom Lingpa taught taking appearances and awareness as the path for those whose mind is coarse and nervous system shot. Don’t look for clarity in the mind. Discover clarity by releasing everything that isn’t. Awareness is by nature clear. Just stay at home, and relax in the present moment where it’s real, without losing the flow of knowing. Don’t strive or hope for anything. The present moment and luminosity will rise up to meet you, until awareness is all that remains. There is nothing to achieve, nothing to meditate on. For the substrate consciousness and rigpa, simply release all that obscures that which is already there. Meditation starts at 13:15

Teaching: Alan continues with his commentary on Ch. 13 of Shantideva’s Compendium of Practices on the 4 applications of mindfulness. The body is filled with impurities, fragile by nature, and subject to destruction. One who sees this body as impermanent takes the essence of life, serving all sentient beings, avoiding faulty behavior, no craving or clinging to enjoyments, etc... One views the body as a the body, nothing that is mine. One designates the body of all sentient beings as my body, wishing to bring this body to buddhahood. The ultimate nature of this body is undefiled. In sum, Shantideva uses impurity of the body to dispel craving as in the Shravakayana, but then on that basis, builds the Mahayana practices of compassion, emptiness, and pure vision which provide the framework for Vajrayana. Meditation: practice of your choice. Q1. What is the connection between Mahasi Sayadaw and Pa Auk Sayadaw?
Q2. You mentioned that phenomena come into existence with conceptual designation, but a person doesn’t become a fool merely through being designated as such, etc... It appears that phenomena come into existence with conceptual designation but not really. 
Q3. I’ve had lucid sleep without dreams whereby the only awareness I have is akin to awareness of awareness. Am I doing this practice correctly? 
Q4. We’ve established that a baby needs secure attachment for survival. Secure attachment appears to be biologically inbuilt for humans, being defined as a lasting psychological bond between beings. Is it possible to have healthy human relationships without attachment? 
Q5. From the time of the agricultural revolution (human population of 5 million) through the present day (human population of 7 billion), there has been a population explosion. Where are the reincarnated human consciousnesses coming from? Are lesser consciousnesses being promoted before their time, leading to chaos and degeneration? 
Q6. I’m finally starting to enjoy meditation, see changes in the quality of awareness, and detect a certain calmness in mind. I find that I’m worrying about leaving in a few weeks and losing all these gains made. How can we best make use of the time in the final weeks? Meditation starts at 33:10

Teaching pt1. Alan introduces the 3rd and deepest level of suffering called all-pervasive suffering which is the fundamental vulnerability to suffering of body and mind caused by closely holding the aggregates. Compassion requires more than just sympathy. Just as we must have a sense that there’s another source of happiness than hedonic pleasure, here we must have a sense that liberation is possible. These direct tastes provide us with a platform for attending to that very suffering in others. The cause of all-pervasive suffering is delusion, and the antidote for delusion is wisdom—i.e., the wisdom of viewing reality from the Middle Way. Meditation: compassion preceded by vipasyana. Release awareness from the network of rumination into the space of the body.
1) vipasyana. As the cognitive basis for attending to the deepest dimension of suffering and wisdom, practice mindfulness of the body to attend to the experiences of the 5 elements for what they are. Now examine closely, can you find a referent for “my body” in any of its parts or in any of its appearances? Not just not finding the referent, but the referent is nowhere to be found. Rest in that awareness of emptiness, and view the body as space. 
2) compassion. With this awareness, arouse the aspiration “May I be free from all dimensions of suffering, including its deepest dimension caused by delusion.” With every in breath, visualize them as darkness dissolving into the white orb at your heart chakra. Imagine becoming free here and now. Turn attention outwards to those around you. “May we be free from all dimensions of suffering and their underlying causes.” With each in breath, repeat the visualization. Finally, attend to someone especially burdened by delusion and its resultant suffering, and repeat the practice. Teaching pt2. NASA is working on a warp drive that would allow spaceships to travel to distant galaxies. In buddhism, several practices can give us warp drive on our way to enlightenment: shamatha, bodhicitta, and vipasyana. In stages of generation and completion, we collapse the space-time between us and enlightenment. In trekchö, we break through directly to rigpa which is beyond space-time and all conceptualizations. Meditation starts at 20:30

Teaching pt1: Alan shares his translation of Ch. 13 of Shantideva’s Compendium of Practices on the 4 applications of mindfulness. The body is simply a configuration of various parts and compilation of various substances assembled by the agent which arises from karma. What is called the body? What is the referent for “my body”? Where is the body which has all these parts? The body didn’t come from the past, nor does it go into the future. In the present, the body is like space. The body is devoid of an agent or one who experiences it. It has no essence and is designated by transient labels. This is medicine which is designed to overcome attachment and reification. When doing the practice, it is important to look carefully in order to come to conclusive certainty. Not only did I not find it, but had it been there, I would’ve found it, and recognize that it is not there. Meditation: mindfulness of the body. Your basecamp is settling body, speech, and mind in their natural state, and make the mind serviceable. At your own pace, scan the different parts of the body to try to pinpoint the referent for that which is called the body. What comes to mind when you think “my body” and try to locate it experientially. If nothing can be found which corresponds to “this is my body,” rest in that not finding and knowing that absence without distraction. Look at the space of the body and the experience of the 5 elements. Is there anything here that is “my body”? View your body like space, and rest without distraction. Teaching pt2: Alan comments that for Vajrayana practice, it is necessary to realize the emptiness of both self and phenomena. Realization of the emptiness of phenomena is needed in order to transmute our body, the environment, and beings into pure appearances. Our ordinary appearances arise from karma. In Vajrayana, all appearances are dissolved into emptiness, and through the power of samadhi, one is able to overwhelm ordinary appearances with pure appearances. In this way, one takes the result as the path. In dzogchen, when one breaks through to pristine awareness, pure perception arises spontaneously. Q1. Does a program of study support shamatha practice and vice versa? Is study necessary in order to progress beyond stage 8 of shamatha? Meditation starts at 43:35

Teaching pt1. Yesterday, we addressed the first of three forms of suffering: suffering of suffering or blatant suffering. Its primary cause is hatred/anger due to getting what we don’t want or not getting what we do want. While renunciation for oneself and compassion for others are antidotes, ethics constitute the basic remedy and can be summarized as not harming others and being helpful to others when possible. Today, we look at the suffering of change which isn’t obvious to most. Its primary cause is attachment, especially to the impermanent as permanent. The basic remedy for attachment is samadhi. Sadly, samadhi has become somewhat neglected in buddhism with many teachers and students alike believing that just a dab will do, yet not achieving samadhi breaks one of the bodhisattva vows. Meditation: compassion. Begin by attending inward. Is it true that craving leads to suffering? With every in breath, “May I be free from suffering and its causes of attachment/craving.” Visualize them as darkness dissolving into the white orb at your heart chakra without a trace. Turn attention outwards to a person or group who is suffering due to craving/attachment. “May you like me be free from suffering and its causes of attachment. May we cultivate samadhi. May we be free.” With each breath, imagine each one becoming free. Teaching pt2. The 20th century has been the worst era for buddhism. Communism dealt a nearly lethal blow to buddhism in several Asian countries. Some teachers say that the times are so degenerate that one should not even try to gain any realizations. Such an attitude would finish off buddhadharma. The Dalai Lama supports the creation of a contemplative observatory in Bangalore open to contemplatives of various traditions and scientists alike with the aspiration to revitalize the contemplative traditions of the world, so that each one can rediscover its own treasures. Meditation starts at 16:50

In solitary retreat, it is easy to get caught up with all your own stuff coming from your own mind. This is attenuated being in a group retreat with others around. The 4 immeasurables help cultivate emotional balance, so when we encounter others, it’s like throwing a pebble into a swimming pool rather than a teacup. Alan recommences the meditation on compassion where we attend to others and their suffering. Meditation: compassion. Rumination is both tiresome and stressful, so an act of compassion for yourself, settle your mind in the space of the body and the respiration in its natural state. Compassion is not feeling sorry, but an aspiration rooted in empathy, a sense of common ground. Bring to mind a person or a community facing blatant hedonic suffering. With every in breath, “May you like me be free from suffering.” For the visualization, practice either 1) traditional tonglen method of drawing in the suffering in the form of darkness which dissipates entirely in a white orb at the heart chakra or 2) have the suffering in the form of darkness just evaporate into thin air. Attend to another person or community, and repeat the practice. Attend to a person and or community with genuine suffering arising from their own mind. With every in breath, “May you like me be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.” Repeat visualization as before. Meditation starts at 4:20

Teaching: As an appendix to last night’s talk, Alan introduces the placebo effect which is clearly a mental that happens and is well-known. However, there is no explanation in modern science for how it works. Applying John Wheeler’s assertion that information is primary and that the universe is an information processing system to the microcosm of one’s mind/body, we can consider mind/body as being derivative from information and as an information processing system. Information can catalyze the specific sequelae seen in the placebo effect. According to Wheeler, we are co-creating our universe by how we measure it and how we make sense of it.
Alan introduces mindfulness of the body according to the Madhyamaka (Middle Way). It is useful to hone in on the Middle Way by identifying the two extremes of 1) nihilism/solicism – the universe comes into existence based on our perception and 2) metaphysical realism – the universe is already out there, waiting to be discovered. Alan introduces close application of mindfulness to the body from the Madhyamaka perspective following verses 78-105 in Ch. 9 of the Bodhicaryavatara. 
Meditation: mindfulness of the body per Shantideva. What do you think is there when you’re not looking? What do you think of as “my body”? Closely apply mindfulness to individual parts from the feet upwards. Do you think the feet are the body, etc...? If you think the body as the whole, then what of amputees? If you think the body has parts, then where is the body that has those parts? How many parts can we remove before we stop having a body? When does a fertilized egg become a human body? When does the human body stop becoming a human body? Neither origination nor cessation exists from ist own side. Rest in the emptiness of your own body. Q1. If the psyche is individually configured, yet the substrate’s qualities are universal, does everyone have the same experience of the substrate? Q2. If rigpa is outside the system, can rigpa be considered God eye’s view? Within rigpa, are my choice already made leading to a deterministic universe? Meditation starts at 48:00

Teaching: When you understand the causality of how others contribute to your well-being, a sense of happy indebtedness can arise. “How can I do more to repay their kindness?” We can contribute to others’ well-being hedonically and/or eudaimonically. Most altruism in the world is focused on hedonic happiness/suffering, yet eudaimonia is real and can be cultivated. Following Atisha’s advice, we need to achieve shamatha in order to help others find genuine happiness. Genuine happiness is a symptom of a meaningful way of life, a balanced mind, and knowing reality as it is. Someone who acts in accord with genuine happiness—as the center of his/her own mandala—is living in a utopia. Meditation: loving-kindness. Motivated by loving-kindness, settling body, speech, and mind in the natural state. Envision your own well-being, both hedonic and eudaimonic, and attend to its causes. In eudaimonia, your potential is limitless, its very source being primordial consciousness. Imagine it as an orb of white light at your heart chakra. With every out breath, “May I be happy and find the causes of happiness.” Light fills your body, dispelling all obstacles. Light entirely consumes the materiality of your body as it settles in its natural state, becoming the pure energy of primordial consciousness. Only a body of light, luminous but empty, remains. Now, with every out breath, extend the light in all directions until it embraces all sentient beings on the planet. “May we find happiness and the causes of happiness.” Expand exponentially in all directions, stretching the mind to 100 billion galaxies and all the beings who dwell there, each one realizing full awakening. Meditation starts at 21:55

Teaching: Alan draws the teachings into the 21st century by dedicating this session to a brief history of science culminating in the view according to quantum mechanics. Early scientists like Galileo were devout Christians who attempted to understand reality from God’s perspective. The real world must be out there because 1) stuff happens when we’re not looking and 2) there is a commonality of perceptions. Modern physicists debunk this view. Anton Zeilinger said that reality is based only on information we receive. John Wheeler spoke of the participatory universe where its (physical world) come from bits (information). Based on bits, the conceptual mind makes the its. Andre Lindt asserts that perception is primary and that consciousness is needed to explain the physics observed in the real world. Stephen Hawking speaks of the quantum world which is in a superposition state (in probabilistic mode or realm of possibility). He notes being inside (causality and linearity) or outside the system (quantum world where observer creates both past and future). Without an observer, the universe is frozen. The observer breaks the symmetry of the quantum world, giving rise to the classical world. In sum, both the observer and information constitute essential links in understanding the world.
In buddhist epistemology, a cause which can never be seen cannot be inferred based on the effect. Appearances of the 5 sense domains arise in the substrate, not in physical space. We can only see the qualia of the 5 senses, not the things is physical space which are unknowable. Samsara arises from not knowing (avidya), reifying the its and not recognizing that come from the bits. In terms of Vajrayana, the ordinary self lies inside the system whereas rigpa lies outside the system. We can go outside the system by realizing the emptiness of self and phenomena and dissolving mind into rigpa. Just as in quantum mechanics where there is no absolute time, from the perspective of rigpa, Ground, Path, and Fruition are simultaneous. Given the indivisibility of primordial consciousness (yeshe) and dharmadhatu, we can know simultaneously who we are and how reality is. Apologies, there has been a cut in the recording at: 29:13 and 1:10:38 There is no meditation today, rather a really interesting talk.

As opposed to meditations on suffering and impermanence, loving-kindness offers a gentle remedy for attachment, the near enemy of empathetic joy. The basis is seeing loveable qualities in oneself and others. Where low self-esteem is prevalent, we must start with loving-kindness for ourselves as this practice cannot be done meaningfully by skipping ourselves. Meditation: loving-kindness. There are two methods for cultivating loving-kindness: 1) meditation and 2) kind and loving actions. Start each meditation with settling body, speech, and mind in the natural state as an act of loving-kindness for yourself. Direct your attention inwards to yourself as someone worthy of finding genuine happiness. If you can, attend to the lumunious nature of awareness. Seeing yourself from this perspective, what is your vision of truly fluorishing, your heart’s desire, your greatest happiness? With each out breath, 1) arouse the aspiration, may I be truly well and happy, 2) light from an orb at your heart chakra fills your body and mind, dispelling all obscurations, and 3) experience that very well-being here and now. Now bring someone close clearly to mind, and repeat the practice with the out breath. Now move on to another person, gradually moving outwards to those who are more distant. Finally, release all appearances and rest in that awareness. Q1. These practices have been bringing out a lot of memories and emotions I wasn’t even aware of. Meditation starts at: 5:31

Teaching pt1: As we revisit this section, Alan will present teachings from the shravakayana and dzogchen. 
According to the shravakayana, nama rupa should not be understood as two entities but as a single activity of experience. Nama (naming) is the subjective experience of identifying an object. Rupa (all appearances) is the objective experience of an object perceived or conceived through the process of identification. Mano/manas (mind/mentation) is the mental process of conceptualization which makes meaning out of the 6 sensory inputs. 
According to dzogchen, dharmadhatu and primordial consciousness (yeshe) are of the same nature and extensive. Appearances are considered their creative expression or effulgence. Ignorance of this play when rigified becomes the substrate which is immaterial, blank, unthinking, and void. Substrate consciousness radiant and clear is the basis for appearances. It reflects but does not identify them. From the substrate consciousness, arises sense of I over here and substrate over there. As the sense of I cements, mano/manas becomes acitvated, and from that, appearances illuminated by the substrate consciousness. Reification leads to appearances becoming owners of those very conceptualizations. Thus arises samsara. By returning to the substrate in shamatha, we are reversing this very process. Meditation: mindfulness of the body. Withdraw your attention from all 6 domains of experience, and just rest without knowing anything at all, as if in deep sleep. Arouse your attention just enough to become aware of awareness. Do you have a sense of being aware, present, or yourself as the subject? Attend to the space of the mind. Do you have a sense that you’re here and that the space of the mind is over there? Allow consciousness to illuminate all 6 domains. Apply mindfulness now to the appearances of the body. Observe the process of conceptualization of the body—e.g., my head with its attritbutes, moving on to other body parts. Attend to the subject experiencing the body. Is the body already there in appearances? Is the I already there in appearances? Teaching pt2: Alan introduces the first 4 links of the 12 links of dependent origination. 1) ignorance – which is nature of the substrate. 2) mental formations (samskara) – karma or kinetic energy of the mind stirs or activates. 3) consciousness – substrate consciousnes becomes explicit, yet it is luminous without illuminating anything. 4) nama rupa which refers to appearances and identifying appearances. Mere labelling is not the problem, their reification is. Q1. How does your diet affect shamatha practice?
Q2. What do you mean by appearance? Is it possible to have pure appearance without ignorance? 
Q3. Is it possible to observe with introspection the entire evolution of manas and nama rupa at once? Meditation starts at 31:30

Alan notes that we’re starting the second half of the retreat. Afterwards, when we return to an active way of life, while our shamatha practice may be maintained at best, other practices may indeed flourish. In an active life, the practices of the 4 applications of mindfulness can shift how we view reality in accordance with the 3 marks of existence, gradually becoming unstuck. Similarly, as our best friends, bodyguards even, the 4 immeasurables can be practiced in everyday life as we engage with others. Together, both sets of practices represent wisdom and skillfull means. So that we may train in the 4 immeasurables as in previous retreats, Alan will now dedicate the morning sessions to guided meditations of the 4 immeasurables. Meditation: loving-kindness. Ask yourself the following 4 questions in sequence, envision your response clearly, practice the corresponding exercise, and imagine your vision becoming reality in the here and now. 1) What will make you truly happy? With every out breath, light from your heart flows into this vision. 2) What would you like to receive from those around you to help make your vision possible? With every in breath, receive light from sentient beings flowing in from all directions, giving you all that you need. 3) What qualities of body, speech, and mind would you like to be freed of and imbued with so that you can transform into the person you would like to become? With every out breath, light of purification transforms you breath by breath into that person. 4) What would you love to offer to the world? With every out breath, light from your heart emanates, taking the forms of all you wish to offer. Finally, may we all find happiness and the causes of happiness! With every out breath, imagine it to be so. Meditation starts at 5:30

Teaching: Continuing from Asanga’s Shravakabhumi, Alan gives the detailed explanation of the 4th thorough training by way of the 16 phases: 1) long breath, 2) short breath, 3) the whole body, 4) refining the bodily formation, 5) joy, 6) well-being, 7) formations of the mind, 8) wonderfully refining formations of the mind, 9) experiencing the mind, 10) bringing exception joy to the mind, 11) concentrating the mind, 12) liberating the mind, 13) impermanence, 14) eradication of obscurations, 15) freedom from attachment, 16) cessation of the aggregates. Each practice is appropriate at certain stages, and involves vipasyana knowing coupled with the in and out breaths. 
Alan outlines the 3 shamatha practices in healing the body and mind using different entry points: 1) mindfulness of breathing whereby we can watching healing via the body, 2) settling the mind whereby we can watch healing via the mind, and 3) awareness of awareness whereby we go straight to the center, without watching the body and mind sort themselves out. Meditation: shamatha practice of choice with vipasyana.
1) Shamatha. Based on the shamatha practice of your choice, 
2) Vipasyana. When you’ve settled into the flow, use vipasyana to discern its nature. Know that the body, mind, or awareness is not self nor owned by the self. Experience body, mind, or awareness as it is. Q1. Is it possible for technology to aid in the development of shamatha—e.g., neurological signatures of various states and using neural feedback especially in the beginning? Do you see any major issues?
Q2. In Asanga’s mindfulness of breathing, I have a question about the interim inhalation and exhalation. Does it feel like a pause? 
Q3. You mentioned discursive lamrim meditations as antidote for laxity/dullness. For those of us who aren’t familiar with the lamrim, what is the essence of Atisha’s advice? How does lamrim fit into a healthy diet of spiritual practices? Is the lamrim necessary?

Teaching: Alan talks about the fifth of the five obscurations afflictive uncertainty. While it is appropriate to be uncertain about that which is uncertain, when we wonder about whether or not it is possible to make progress in our practice or attain enlightenment we need to apply its antidote close investigation. As the Dalai Lama says, something becomes hopeless, the moment we’ve given up hope. 
Alan introduces the fourth of the 4 immeasurables equanimity. People appear to us differently, so how can we attend evenly to a reality that’s uneven? We need to look more deeply until we find common ground: just like me, every sentient being wants to be free from suffering. How can we attend to all sentient beings? Every sentient being you encounter, either physically or those who come to you, represents all sentient beings. Meditation: equanimity. Direct attention to the space of the mind, settling the mind in its natural state. When someone comes to mind, attend to that person carefully until you find common ground. Then practice loving-kindness and compassion. With every in breath, “May you be free from suffering and the causes of suffering,” and imagine suffering and its true causes as darkness in that person converging at a white orb of light at your heart chakra and dissolving completely. With every out breath, “May you be find happiness and the causes of happiness,” and imagine light suffusing this person and fulfilling his innermost desires. Allow this appearance to dissolve and see who else comes to mind, repeating the practice with the in and out breaths. Now with every in breath, imagine the light from all the buddhas filling you completely, purifying body and mind. With every out breath, give this light out evenly, excluding no one. Meditation starts at 36:52

Teaching: Continuing from Asanga’s Shravakabhumi, Alan introduces the 4th thorough training by way of the 16 phases: 1) breathing in, 2) breathing out, 3) the whole body, 4) tranquilising the bodily activities, 5) joy, 6) happiness, 7) formations of the mind, 8) tranquilising formations of the mind, 9) experiencing the mind, 10) gladdening the mind, 11) concentrating the mind, 12) liberating the mind, 13) impermanence, 14) eradication of obscurations, 15) freedom from attachment, 16) cessation of the aggregates. 
Alan elaborates more on sukkha and joy which may arise from engaging in the practice.
Alan addresses the sudden enlightenment of the Buddha’s disciples. Meditation: mindfulness of breathing per Asanga followed by mindfulness of phenomena (aggregates).
I) Mindfulness of breathing per Asanga. Know exactly when the out breath ends, how long the interim out breath is, when the in breath starts, when the in breath ends, how long the interim in breath is, and when the out breath starts.
II) Mindfulness of phenomena (aggregates). 1) recognize form as form (pure perception), 2) observe feelings as feelings arising in the body and mind, 3) with recognition, not that you are discerning, 4) direct attention to the mental formations in the space of the mind, 5) draw awareness to consciousness itself. Release awareness into all 6 sense fields and the events arising therein. Q1. Does prana have the same quality in the in and out breaths?
Q2. Because body and brain decline with age, is age a factor to consider in achieving shamatha? 
Q3. In Asanga’s mindfulness of breathing, I’m not sure what to do with the awareness of all 6 sense fields? It seems so busy.
Q4. In Asanga’s text, why is there so much emphasis on breathing? 
Q5. In awareness of the body, there’s a sense of bliss. What insight is there to be derived from bliss pervading the body? 
Q6. In Asanga’s text, these 16 phases which include shamatha and vipasyana may offer a bridge to Tibetan lamas who don’t seem to place much importance on practicing shamatha. 
Q7. Asanga explains the causes of breathing as being propelling karma and space. Is this the cause for our involuntary breathing or is that caused by something biological? 
Q8. Why are men more prominent in buddhism? Women multi-task better, so perhaps that’s a disadvantage to achieving shamatha? Meditation starts at 20:53

Teaching: Alan talks about the fourth of the five obscurations excitation and anxiety. Excitation is associated with restlessness and agitation. Anxiety is also known as guilt, remorse, shame, or regret. Bliss and joy are the natural antidotes. But since these qualities cannot be called up at will, discursive meditation on the pros and cons of the practice (in this case, shamatha) can be helpful. As long as we have not achieved shamatha, we are subject to the 5 obscurations characterized as being: 1) sensual craving = indebted, 2) ill-will = sick, 3) laxity/dullness = bondage, 4) excitation/anxiety = enslaved, 5) uncertainty = lost in a desert tracked. Achieving shamatha is the ultimate retreat, makes both body and mind supple, places the 5 dhyana factors at our disposal, and allows us to truly help others. It also greatly facilitates the realization of bodhicitta, vipasyana, and for buddhahood in one lifetime according to Dudjom Lingpa, threkchö and thogyal. Meditation: mindfulness of breathing per Asanga. If needed use oscillation as in awareness of awareness until your mind comes to rest in the center. As you breathe in, focus your attention from the nostril down to the navel, and without visualization, as you breathe out. Note the 4 stages: 1) inhalation, 2) pause at the end of inhalation, 3) exhalation, 4) pause at the end of exhalation. Note the end of the in and out breaths. With each out breath, total, complete release. With each in breath, just take in whatever presents itself. Meditation starts at 30:14