Alan Wallace Shamatha Teachings Fall 2010

Alan offers final words and we tearfully say goodbye. The session ends with a big group hug.

Alan encourages us not to be discouraged when life dishes up difficult situations, and instead to bring our best motivation to daily life.

Alan discusses bringing wholesome intentions into our daily lives as a way of letting our minds become dharma. Though we will continue to be mentally afflicted, if we can see our mental afflictions for what they are, we will be able to act on them less and less.

Alan talks about envisioning something new for ourselves as we go back into situations that feel old and familiar.

As we anticipate the end of retreat, Alan mentions that the effects of retreat will not be lost as we go out and engage with the world. Genuine happiness can certainly arise outside of a retreat, as we go out into the world and lead an ethical way of life.

In this talk, Alan encourages us to continue our practice in a spirit of loving-kindness for ourselves. He then answers questions about Arhats, colors of traditional monastic robes, and oracle to the Dalai Lama, Khandro La.

Alan offers some brief remarks on the 5 Dhana factors, as well some of the possible implications of Buddhist mindfulness on memory loss associated with aging. This is followed by a silent meditation.

This time Alan gave us advice on how to maintain protection from imbalances once we engage in daily life activities and that is becoming more and more familiar with the practices of the Four Immeasurables regarding them as our 4 best friends. We should know that whatever situation comes up there is a chance to practice. He shared a marvelous metaphor of 4 mighty horses (Four Immeasurables) pulling the chariot leading to awakening and when one of the horses falls stray there is always another one who helps bringing balance to the one that went off track into a false facsimile. The session continued with a free meditation, and ended with 5 very interesting questions and answers.

Alan offers some brief remarks on choosing which practice we’d like to engage in during these silent meditations. This is followed by an unguided 24 minute Gatika.

On this, the last night of led practice for this retreat, Alan first teaches on how the cultivation of shamatha and the four immeasurables are profoundly inter-related. With shamatha, we withdraw inwards, away from our ordinary identification with the limitations of our physical embodiment and our coarse psyche. Then with the four immeasurables, we expand outwards to identify with all beings. While leading the meditation on equanimity, we are guided briefly through all modes of shamatha and then into the practice of tonglen. Following the practice, Alan speaks at length about benign spirit possession and about the state oracle for the Tibetan government.

This morning we had the last guided Shamatha meditation. Alan explained how in this transient world in which all things that are born have to die, we can tap into the substrate consciousness and even though it is also impermanent in the sense that it changes moment by moment, it is a continuum that carries from one life to the next. It is present even during deep dreamless sleep, comatose and general anesthesia and that’s the reason that we can wake up again. When dying, if you have achieved Shamatha you can follow the process. After the black out if you have Shamatha it will be luminous, then your substrate consciousness dissolves into the clear light of death and you get access to Rigpa. When resting in the clear light there are physical signs that have been witnessed by medical doctors several times, even though the breathing and heart beating has stopped, there is no decomposition of the body, the skin is fresh and the area of the heart remains warm.Then we practiced awareness of awareness directing our attention to the space in different directions.

Equanimity is understood as a sense of composure in engaging with life situations and persons as well as even heartedness. Is an attitude transformation that gives you freedom. Since you conceptually designate, you can change the designation and there lies the power to be totally present, engaged, without grasping. Fully alive, revolutionary! It’s possible since we never leap outside the space of our minds. We then meditated on Equanimity.Suggested that we read the Patience or Fortitude chapter from Shantideva’s “Way of the Bodhisattva” for the occasions when you are mistreated. Be decent. Sprinkle kindness al around you. Wish well to strangers. That’s totally without attachment. There are no Buddhas without patience!.Then Alan spoke on Dzogchen, the spirit of emergence, subjective experiences, the role of information and Prana.

This morning Alan took another stab at modern scientific reductionism – the tendency to reduce everything to an objective, solid reality, independent of an observer. He cited William James’ experience at Harvard Medical School in the 1860s to show that the idea of the brain being the agent – the source of consciousness- actually pre-dated any significant discoveries about the brain and its functions. All along, however, there have been people like William James himself and the entire Buddhist tradition who have claimed that the brain constricts consciousness rather than being its source. This is where Buddhism and modern scientific reductionism clash. According to Buddhist contemplatives and some modern thinkers who are being successfully ignored – in the mind-brain relationship, it is the mind (experience), not the brain (matter) that is primary and not vice versa. We then proceeded to investigate for ourselves, who does what in our own contemplative laboratories.

Alan begins this session with an inspirational story about one of his foremost teachers, Geshe Rabten. This humble lama, who had completed years of scholarly work and consultation studies with the Dalai Lama, found true contentment in life as he meditated under a simple rock shelf. His dedication to this single pointed purpose demonstrates a shining example of loving-kindness as a practice. “Dharma”, Alan says, ”is Bodhicitta. We must meditate on it, cultivate it, and then allow it to flow through us.” This is the dance between the Four Immeasurables and Shamatha practice. Their integration will facilitate us on our path to liberation: “Shamatha is in the service of the Four Immeasurables.”

Today we take an excursion into our experienced sense of being the observer and probe inward to investigate. The practice - awareness of awareness – deactivates the coarse mind, the mind with which we identify. We do our best to do the practice from the vantage point of the substrate. Practiced correctly, shamatha will rise up to meet us. “Our practice here is softening [us] up for vipashyana.” Likewise with all the practices along the path, each prepares us for the next.“Let Buddha-hood rise up to meet you.”

In the Theravada context, cultivating Empathetic Joy (Mudita) is cultivating an emotion. There is so much to take delight in! This will add yeast to life regardless of one’s world view. When we get away from the retreat center we can really practice!In the Mahayana context, the practice is cultivating an aspiration, not an emotion. “Why couldn’t we all be free from suffering, why not?” If we don’t terminate after death, the Mahayana prayer takes on greater relevance. Only from the perspective of rigpa does the prayer take on significance: “I shall see that we all never become separated from happiness”. Alan uses the term, “sacred tension” to define the balance between the wish to be of service and the wish to attend to one’s own enlightenment.The question and answer time included: Are the lamas lying when they say they have no realizations? Is it better to be vegetarian? Alan shared some personal stories about the lovable qualities of some of his teachers.

There are some terms we shouldn’t misunderstand, because if we do, we can waste a lot of time of practice. Alan gave an explanation of such terms: mindfulness, open presence, Rigpa, according to the Buddhist and non-Buddhist perspective in order for us to see the difference. After his brief lecture, this morning we came back into the first method of Awareness of Awareness (4th cycle), where we simply rest in the experience of being aware; a second part of the session followed by oscillating the awareness out into space, and inwards, inverting awareness into awareness itself, sustaining the flow of knowing.

The deepest level of suffering is caused by the three poisons, particularly the grasping to “I am.” While the “message of modernity” is that suffering is inescapable during life, Buddha’s message is that suffering will in fact cease if we attend to its source. To do this we must face our self-grasping. Lucid dreaming is the closest analogy to abandoning the ignorance of self-grasping. You may feel a recurrent pressure during this retreat, as if something is holding you back. This is a good sign! It means you are waking up from ignorance. Shamatha pulls off the layers, forcing us to face the clinging to “me,” the “urge to become,” and to our brand new Honda (Alan’s story is quite funny).Food suggestions and headache remedies: Alan recommends books on Tibetan medicine, “Healing from the Source” (Dhonden) and “The Quintessence Tantras of Tibetan Medicine” (Barry). Alan also discusses a question regarding Shamatha experience within the Dzogchen view.

In the intro, Alan explained the difference between the space of the mind with its 6 fields of experience (dharmadatu) and ultimate reality, nirvana, emptiness, absolute space of phenomena (dharmata). Like Dudjom Rimpoche said: dharmakaya it’s the nature of your own mind. He goes from that and when he talks about open presence, “if excitation arises, then loosen up, if laxity arises, then focus more clearly”. So, within Dzogchen is it possible to take emptiness (sunyata, dharmata), as the object of your Shamatha meditation? The answer is yes, it is hard (you are taking nirvana as your object of meditation), but it is possible. But with the meditation in emptiness you can also achieve relaxation, stability and vividness. All the space between thoughts can be called, in this case, rigpa.

Once more Alan gave us magnificent reflections about the 5 obscurations, which are responsible for the suffering of change. On this occasion he referred to these obscurations from a universal perspective imagining how it would be like to have an educational system where students could receive specific teachings supporting them in overcoming those obstacles. He pointed out that when we throw away the 5 obscurations then our inner resources can manifest. Alan continued with a meditation session and ended with Q&A. The first one regarding purification practices, and how can we know if we have purified. Then a question about the meaning of the colors of his shawl. And the last one about his impressions upon the realizations and achievements or lack of them of shamatha, vipashyana and so forth of Tulkus and Rinpoches.

Good Morning to All Shamatha Minded Sentient Beings,This morning Alan went into more detail on settling the mind in its natural state. He opened with a quote from Dujom Rinpoche. “Whatever comes up in the mind don’t apply any antidote.” ( while doing Settling the Mind in its Natural State). He also talked about having confidence in oneself and having a balanced mind. We reviewed the 5 Obscurations and the antidotes for them. And then, how being present, relaxation, and looseness are essential for a sense of well being during meditation. At the end, he cleared up an analogy he had told about the maras that he was concerned was misleading. Alan’s closing is “Enjoy Your Day”!Darlene

This evening we return to compassion, with a focus on how Buddhism runs against the grain of modernity in terms of its approach to suffering. We can achieve lasting and total freedom from suffering while still alive; we don’t have to wait for death to bring salvation (as in modern mainstream Christianity), or total annihilation (as in the materialistic, neurocentric view of mind). Then, following the meditation session, Alan answers questions concerning ‘settling the mind in its natural state,’ how to find the right balance between mindfulness and introspection, and how to scientifically obliterate the neurocentric view once and for all.

This morning we began the cycle of Settling the Mind in its Natural state following the instructions that the Buddha gave to Bahia “In the seen let just the seen be…” “In the heard let just the heard be”,” In the mentally perceived let just be the mentally perceived…” So we don’t elaborate or label. We suspend judgment as if you are listening to a fascinating person or are seeing other people’s mind. Reality is speaking to you. Bare, naked. Alan mentioned that the quintessential instruction is to do it without distraction, without grasping. This is a practice without inquiry.We meditated on the visual, auditory, tactile and mental fields.Then he explained Aryadeva’s qualities to be a Buddhist: First: Perception, including hearing, thinking and meditation. Second: Open mind and Third, Yearning to test the practices on oneself.

Alan starts by mentioning that within all physical and mental impermanence, what remains always constant is a person that wants to be happy, loved and smiled back to. The Bodhisattva is a friend of the world! You can practice without having to believe anything; from the Theravada tradition softly sending Loving-Kindness to all; from the Mahayana view expanding the Loving-Kindness until you feel responsible for alleviating the suffering of all beings or, from the Vajrayana tradition, generating yourself as Avalokiteshvara, breathing in all the blessings in the form of light coming from all the Buddhas of the three times and 10 directions, then generating a “super nova” wave of loving kindness that encompasses all mother sentient beings.

This morning Alan used the Russian-dolls imagery (the dolls that stuck within each other) as his mold. First, he applied it to our mindfulness of breathing practice. Settling the body, speech, and mind are all contained within one another. The mind is at rest when the inner voice is quiet. The inner voice is quiet when the respiration is flowing unobstructed, not forced and unconstricted within a properly aligned body, which is relaxed, still, and yet in a posture of vigilance. We then use our introspection to check on the body, respiration and the mind to see if all them are in their natural states.Alan then applied the Russian-dolls metaphor to Buddhism in general. Just as a larger doll cannot fit into a smaller one, so the various philosophies of Buddhism gradually build up on one another. Hinayana is encompassed within Mahayana. Mahayana is included within Vajrayana and Vajrayana (and all others) are contained within Dzogchen – The Great Encompassment. Oh, yes…and his favorite – Science makes sense within the context of the Buddhist tradition. However, reverse the gradation and we end up with a whole lot of conflicts and nonsense.Before we entered the meditation Alan expressed his disgruntledness with people who might pick any school of Buddhism, chop off what doesn’t fit into their worldview and call themselves “secular Buddhists”.

Once again cultivating loving kindness through the practice of Tonglen, Alan advises to start with ourselves as we concentrate on our own merit and then move outwards to others. As we continue through the practice focusing on loved ones, then neutral persons and finally those with whom we have difficulty, we are really starting the practice where we will end. The ultimate goal is to breakdown all barriers. This meditation is a flow of benevolence for others and ourselves. Listen further for an explanation and a new understanding of Nirvana.

“So with the man who has daily inured himself to habits of concentrated attention, energetic volition, and self-denial in unnecessary things. He will stand like a tower when everything rocks around him, and his softer fellow-mortals are winnowed like chaff in the blast.”1In this short talk Alan gives these succinct instructions; “Have your concentration tight enough that there is not space for thoughts to take hold… Don’t give involuntary thoughts an inch.” He also discusses how to count the breath, rumination, and three sorts of thinking with a not-to-be-missed dog and newspaper analogy.1 James, W. (1899). Talks to teachers on psychology: And to students on some of life's ideals. New York: Henry Holt and Company. P. 76.This book is available as a searchable pdf of the first edition from: http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/JamesTalksToTeachersFirstEdition.html Note the copyright information.

Discursive meditation, because it is repetitive, can become stale. Between sessions, look for sentient beings with whom to interact, each time is a fresh interaction. Add fresh yeast to the practice. Invite more and more beings into the practice. The object is sentient beings. We are generating an aspiration which gives rise to a feeling, not simply a feeling. Alan suggests we envision the aspiration to achieve Shamatha with all the inner and outer requests fulfilled.Question topics include: What to do if good ideas come up during meditation? Is Shamatha the same as Perfect Recollection? Can monks marry? What do we do when a practice bumps us into discovering an uncomfortable memory?

Pressure in the head and headaches are not habits we should build while meditating. Therefore, this morning, Alan gave a detailed reminder of how this should be approached: back to Infirmary. This is by giving special attention to release all thoughts and tension during the out-breath and by focusing on the earth element (sensations of firmness and solidity).The tension might come from the feeling of anxiety that there are only 2 ½ weeks left for the retreat to be over. So, Alan used an analogy on the deva land of Tushita in the desire realm and the Pure Land of Tushita as to be Phuket and the Mind Center respectively, in order for us to understand the different ways of looking at our reintroduction into the world once the retreat finishes.

Following a silent meditation session, Alan addressed a wide range of questions from students:Post-retreat advice regarding refuge, ethics, and the importance of spiritual friends • Can I drink one or two beers without affecting my meditation? • How to adapt yourself to wake naturally at 3AM • How to use meditation on a physical, visual object as a calming technique • Can bodhisattvas or arhats suffer? • Discussion of alternate pronunciations of Padmasambhava’s mantra and the Vajrasattva mantra • What do Buddha statues’ hand gestures mean? • Why are the three types of ethics not taught much in the West?

We started with a silent meditation with free choice on practicing one of the Shamatha practices. Then Alan gave some examples of the path of Shamatha. He joked that commenting on your daily meditation practice as being “bad” or “good” or having “highs and lows” is like the habit of coming home to a spouse and reporting on your day. Alan encouraged us not to measure and evaluate our practice in a hedonic way, but rather to think about what we can bring to our practice in terms of motivation, and to evaluate our performance based on that. He gave the example of a farmer: a farmer doesn’t reap a harvest very quickly; it takes a while to plow the land, sow the seeds, etc. He said that he hopes we will respond to the question, “How is your practice?” by saying that we are doing “GREAT” (GREAT being the acronym for: “Gently but Relentlessly Easing and Arousing Tension”). In Shamatha it is necessary to “tune our instrument.” At times we’ll have to release and tighten the tension. This is the Middle Way.

We started with a silent meditation with free choice on practicing one or more of the Four Immeasurables. Then Alan gave a little bit of advice and encouragement to all the meditators about dealing in a healthy way with all kinds of obstacles that arises on continuous practice. After that there were 5 Q&A. The first one about the practice of the Four Immeasurables, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th about the three methods of shamatha that Alan has been guiding and the last one about controversial teachers and how to deal those issues if we are interested in their teachings. For this last question Alan gave a superb and profound answer that we definitely recommend you to listen.

This evening we return to the practice of Immeasurable Equanimity, with some profound instructions drawn from Karma Chagme Rinpoche, a great Tibetan master and patriarch of the Mahamudra and Dzogchen lineages. Alan discusses the ways in which the Dharma we practice can be conditioned by our sense of personal identity, history and cultural context, and how achieving Shamatha and the Four Immeasurables allows us to free our Dharma practice from this limited context. He also explains the Four Greats, which go a step beyond the Four Immeasurables and venture into the realm of Bodhicitta by awakening our Buddha nature, and an instruction on how to connect their practice with the four times of day and the activities of the four Buddha families.

In this session Alan made an analogy between the practice of visualizing a Buddha image in the first stages of shamatha and the clarity we can expect to have in the first stages of the practice of awareness of awareness. According to Tsongkhapa we should be satisfied with maintaining just enough contact of the image in the first stages. As we progress on the path of shamatha we develop greater clarity and in the final stages we can see the image as being tridimensional and as vivid as in a dream. Similarly in the practice of awareness of awareness we shouldn’t expect to have a high degree of clarity in the first stages, but just enough continuity of being aware of being aware. The clarity and sharpness will kick in until stages 4 and 5. He also mentioned two important steps in this practice. The first point is to release all interest to the appearances arising in any of the 6 domains of experience. You’re not deliberately giving your attention to any appearance, if these arise, it’s ok, but if you’re caught in a thought you’re not doing the practice correctly. The second point is that it is quiet and in the silence there is awareness of awareness. You’re not sitting there and not doing anything, you are aware that you are aware.We then practiced according to the instructions given by Padmasambhava in “Natural Liberation” by directing our awareness to the space upwards, then to the right, left and downwards, then to the heart and finally releasing it into space.

Alan explains that Equanimity is similar to the Serenity prayer:God grant me the serenity 
to accept the things I cannot change; 
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.It’s not being indifferent. You remain calm. It’s a state cooled from the flames of Samsara, imperturbable. In Theravada Buddhism is a cultivated emotion. In the Mahayana tradition is an aspiration. Don’t judge people according to their appearances, because that’s where attachment and aversion come from. Neither you analyze persons trough emptiness. You would dehumanize them. So don’t go too shallow nor too deep. Only enough until you find a being like yourself, which wants to be happy and to avoid suffering.

The point of awareness of awareness is NOT to prove that there’s no one who is aware because there is. Not finding any-specific-one who controls the attention and concluding that we don’t exist (and therefore no one else exists) is a nihilistic, not the Buddhist view. Unfortunately, it is exactly that close facsimile of the Madhyamika view that is most often picked up and allied with by the archetypical scientist materialist Alan likes to debate with. “We are just our brains. We are just the summary of our parts. We are our thoughts/cognition” are simple statements that come out of people’s observation to one particular part of the human experience, seeing there is no one there who’s in charge and concluding there’s no one at all. Their disastrous consequences come out of the implied refutation of free will and moral responsibility. Yet, we do make choices or else one couldn’t become a neuroscientist. And there IS a perceiver. The opposite statement begs the question of “who concludes I don’t exist?”The practice of Dharma (and meditation in particular) is not to refute free will, and plunge us into an existential depression. We can get that, free of charge, by simply having “faith” the materialistic view. The practice of Shamatha (and especially awareness of awareness) is an invitation to investigate HOW we, our perceptions, and our awareness of them exist in relation to each other. So that’s what we did in the guided session that followed. Enjoy!

Alan reviews for us the process of cultivating empathetic joy. It is possible to find many rewards in this practice as he explores the unfolding of empathetic joy in its three flavors: Attending to the kindness shown to us by others, taking delight in one’s own virtue, and creating an aspiration for happiness for all sentient beings. You will especially enjoying listening to Alan’s own personal story of the way he discovered dharma near the end of the question and answer session.

If you want firewood, you can trim off all the leaves and branches and wait for the tree to die and fall over. OR you can cut the tree down at its base - at the root, and you have firewood now. Likewise for investigating the mind: you can go at it intellectually – using logic, forming hypotheses, picking off one idea after another or you can go for the root by way of direct observation, though direct experience of the mind at close range in the practice of awareness of awareness. Urging us on to the practice, Alan invokes our Star Wars hero; “Be like Luke Skywalker going after the death star. May the force be with you… … and the death star is TOAST.”Other subjects include: the Dalai Lama and the book – The Good Heart, a great quote from physicist Anton Zeilinger, atheism, agnosticism, Stephen Hawking, and more. Listen for yourself. See for yourself.

Strong mental afflictions catch our attention. We do not notice good deeds as much as bad. This is especially true of the media. We need to make a conscious effort to have an antenna up for joy. In a single meditation session we can take delight in doing the practice well. Even if our mind wanders, we can bring it back joyfully.The meditation includes the Mahayana prayer: May we all never be parted from genuine happiness and the causes of happiness. Why couldn’t we? May we never be parted from genuine happiness and well-being. May I make it so! May my own spiritual mentors bless me so I may be enabled to help others to achieve genuine happiness!The questions and answers dealt with the “cascading waterfall” of thoughts listed in the Stages of Shamatha and practical suggestions for using insight to improve the practice.

Awareness of awareness is “the most profound practice” according to the Buddha, and he gave us this morning very meaningful advice on how to know we’re doing it correctly.You may wonder that if you’re doing such a profound practice, you should be getting profound results… But, nothing! This doubt comes from an expectation for deep results. How do you know if you are doing this practice of awareness of awareness correctly? You could ask the following questions:1. Are you aware that you are aware? And the answer could be:“Well, yes… I’m aware of what is arising”. But in this practice you don’t have to be aware of anything arising, but instead you have to draw your attention to you, who is aware.2. How do I know?Alan explained this by giving an analogy that if you were taken into a vacuous container (or a deprivation tank), and all your senses were withdrawn, even your mind wouldn’t have any thoughts, nothing… do you think there would still be something? He explained there would still be a feeling or a presence there, and that would be your awareness, getting ready to illuminate anything that could arise.So, that is what you look at. A good expectation by the end of this 8-week retreat would be having the certainty of doing this practice correctly or incorrectly, and knowing it. This practice is about letting be, it is very yin, while modern world is very yang: trying always to accomplish something. So, just practice it in this simple way.

Grasping the “real I” and “really mine” is at the root of suffering. How do we get rid of grasping? All of Dharma. After 8 weeks we may find that although our thoughts are still like a cascading waterfall of garbage, we don’t have to eat it any more. Even if we can’t stop it, we can cut our suffering by developing discerning mindfulness, by not reifying ourselves and our ruminations, and by not acting while afflicted by grasping. One sign of meditation progress is that our obsessive thoughts and dreams become less disturbing. But before we totally silence our thoughts, let’s try to cultivate good ones.The immediate catalyst of compassion is to perceive the suffering of others and to know there is hope. Authentic compassion for oneself is called renunciation. In tonight’s meditation we envision how much suffering would be dispelled if we all realized our true nature. By expanding our field of caring we shrink our relative self-grasping. We see that our suffering is really small, like one goldfish in the ocean.

Alan starts the session with an explanation of mindfulness of breathing, saying that, with time and practice, there may be a moment where you do not detect the breath anymore, and you can no longer find any sensation. He recommended doing 2 things: relax more deeply as you are breathing out, and as you are doing so, attend sharply to pick up the sensation. Then, in the explanation of settling the mind, he said that the substrate is not a mere absence of thoughts.  It is something that can be perceived.  He used some examples of people in deep sleep, under general anesthesia and in a vegetative state, and he said that the substrate consciousness is present and manifesting in those instances. In fact, the Substrate is always manifesting – or “shining” – but is obscured most of the time. Like the stars in the sky, it shines more when the sun sets. Alan also explained that the mental domain is the king of all senses.  The other domains (taste, sight, sound, tactile and olfactory sense) cannot perceive mental awareness, but the mental domain can perceive the others. He finished with a talk about how, unlike scientists and philosophers in the West, Buddhists have a methodology for the study of consciousness. Scientific materialists only attend to the brain when trying to understand the phenomena of consciousness, but they lack an empirical methodology.  Alan joked that Buddhism is in a fun-loving wrestling match with these other schools of thought – but certainly not a violent boxing match – to get to the bottom of the consciousness question, and that we can all work together.

This evening Alan taught us more about the cultivation of compassion, but now going deeper, from the compassion for the blatant suffering of sentient beings to the compassion of the suffering of change which emerge from the 5 obscurations (attachment, malice, dullness, excitation and uncertainty) and he pointed out the unsatisfying nature of hedonism. Then he raised the questions: what is it dukha good for?; Can I make it meaningful? And the response is that dukha can be our best allied making us wake up getting on a real path to emerge definitely from suffering. And for that we should question ourselves: what is a true source of happiness, could it come from within? He addressed the significance of the practices of shamatha and vipashyana. He continued with a touching meditation, finishing with Q&A, the first one regarding the practice of mindfulness of breathing and the second one about Alan’s knowledge of some realizations of practitioners.

Good Morning,
This Mediation is settling the Mind in Its Natural State.
Alan said that because he didn’t answer two questions last night he would answer them this morning.
The first question was about the elements. The second question was about grasping. After the meditation, Alan said a couple of more sentences about the prerequisites before starting the practice of settling the Mind in Its Natural State.
Darlene

This evening, as we return to the theme of Immeasurable Compassion, Alan offers an expansive and truly remarkable presentation of how the Buddhist approach to suffering runs directly against the grain of modernity’s approach to suffering, and finally how the bodhisattva’s response to suffering departs radically from that of a hinayana practitioner aspiring to the state of an arhat. Challenging, mind-expanding and deeply inspiring; one hour of Alan at his finest.

This can be a challenging practice. In today’s approach, drawing from the teachings of the Buddha to Bahia “In the seen let it just be the seen”, we applied it to the visual field, then the auditory, the tactile and finally to the mental.
The main instruction for this practice is “without distraction and without grasping”. Distraction refers to the tendency to follow a chain of associations. For example, when we see an attribute of an object, like a color, we start superimposing concepts based on memories of past experiences. In this practice we try to see the visual appearances without the association, without the labeling. Just aware of what is presented to our senses; we then apply it to the mind by being aware of mental events.
On the other hand, grasping refers to the tendency of reifying the mind and the five obscurations by thinking for example “my mind is tormenting me” or “my thoughts are so disturbing”. We’re getting caught in the drama, and creating a mini-samsara of the movie that is projected in our minds. In this practice we attend to the movie trying to perceive the emptiness of the audio and visual input.

This afternoon Alan deepens into the subject of Loving-Kindness. He cites sources from the Mettā Sutta  found in the Pali Canon; the Visuddhimagga (The Path of Purification) written by Buddhaghosa , and, of course from the Buddha itself when he says we shouldn’t doubt the Four Immeasurables as explained in the Kalama Sutra. Explains that what we are cultivating an aspiration, that the object of this discursive meditation are all sentient beings. He then guides the meditation saying that we could use the liturgies like a starter for the meditation in Loving-Kindness. Más... Sin comentarios

This morning Alan raised the emotional issue of the warrior returning home from the front. Going down memory lane he recalled the various ways heroes have been greeted upon their return. Some were welcomed and accommodated with gratitude; others were left to paddle for themselves. And then he got to the point: how about those of us taking time from their lives to face the most noblest (and bloodless) of all battles – the one with our own afflictive emotions. How would we be received when the retreat is over? With love and encouragement? Or indifference at best?
Then with a swift maneuver he wiped off the tears and quoted a Kadampa Geshe: “Now is not the time to subdue others’ minds, it’s the time to subdue our own” We then followed him onto the battlefield of mind.

Alan reminds us that the practice of loving-kindness first begins with loving ourselves. As so often is the case in meditation practice, we often discover our own shortcomings rather than our assets. Being judgmental, feeling self-contempt and lack of worth leads us to further mental afflictions. He recommends that we attend to these faults (cravings, hatred, jealousy, pettiness, to name a few) and identify them as delusional obstructions to our own healing. The solution is to view these as mere appearances that are not parts of ourselves. Alan recommends that the anecdote to self-loathing and discontent is to observe and investigate, looking carefully for the lovable qualities in ourselves and in others.

Alan discusses synergy this morning. In the “infirmary” this is experienced while one balances maintaining the initial state of clarity with deepening relaxation. With this practice alone one can dispel 95% of the troubles with meditation. In mindfulness of breathing with stability (focus on the sensations of the breath in the abdomen) discipline is introduced to strengthen stability and balanced with deepening relaxation and vividness. For those interested, today’s practice leads the way into falling asleep lucidly. Comparing practicing dharma by developing authentic motivation and practicing dharma in the service of samsara, Alan counters the second stating; “The Four Immeasurables grease the wheels for meditation.”

In the prelude to this afternoon’s meditation, Alan reminds us that mainstream society is in a frenzy to consume the earth. We are categorized as consumers and told to get spending to stimulate the economy. In the thrust of modernity, one may consider himself special if he meditates 20 minutes a day. Are we devoting our time to what we value? In the meditation we expand on the resources that are not earth depleting or competitive. We tap into the internal, boundless resources of our Buddha nature to send loving kindness to ourselves and others. The Questions and Answer session was filled with practice oriented advice. Some of the topics: Overcoming eye strain, changing the object of meditation within a session, subliminal tapes (short cuts) and combining meditation and creative endeavors.