Explore every episode of the podcast Fall 2011 Shamatha Retreat

We come to our very last session with a meditation on loving kindness and dedication of merit (0:50)
Afterwards our group prepared such a lovely closing ceremony that we figured other people might like to cultivate some empathetic joy :)

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We come to the last day of the retreat, where Alan invites us to reboot our mind by way of shamatha.
Silent meditation starts at 01:16
Afterwards Alan shares a story and shows us how through shamatha, for a moment everything can be ok

In this session Alan reminds us that shamatha is designed to dispel the 5 obscurations and as the imbalances are built-in, the remedies are also built-in. In the same way, among the 4 Immeasurables one naturally arises as the remedy for the near enemy of another one.
For Loving Kindness' facsimile which is self centered attachment, the remedy is Equanimity
For Compassion's facsimile which is depression, grief, despair, the remedy is Empathetic Joy
For Empathetic Joy's facsimile which is frivolous joy or hedonic fixation, the remedy is Loving Kindness
For Equanimity's facsimile, which is aloof indifference, the remedy is Compassion

Silent meditation starts at 4:08

Questions (29:10):
• How do the 4 immeasurables transform into bodhichitta and into the stages of a bodhisattva. Is there any text you would recommend?
• What happens when one realizes emptiness? Does it happen in meditation? Do your senses go dormant or the opposite? Can you lose it?
• If a being in the bardo chooses parents not only out of karma, but out of wisdom, why would we choose, for instance, to be born in Africa from parents who are starving?
• According to Tibetan culture, to have a few consorts at the same time as some lamas do, is not against ethical values?
• Can you tell a little bit about the range of ways of working with the fear that is holding us back from seeing things the way they are? There is much evidence right in front of us but it seems like our hearts and minds uncontrollably prefer to remain blind and ignorant to it.
• The Dharma has been described as the law of nature or as encompassing the nature of reality. If that is true, then sentient beings are involved in the dharma, whether they are formal students of it or not. For instance, I have met people who show an intuitive understanding of Buddhist concepts without any exposure to the teachings.
• In a sense that we are all bumbling through the universe of our experience, some more skillfully than others, perhaps, just like the early cosmologists bumbling their way through heavens, such reflections help me with humility, with connectedness and with devotion to wellsprings of life itself.

The Four Immeasurables unguided meditation. Alan reiterates how important it is to have a sense of direction, a path. You really need to have a vision in your heart of where you want to go. He mentions that on the Dzogchen path he has the sense that rigpa breaks through to our side, whereas on other paths one has to break through to rigpa.
Meditation starts at 7:44

For those of us returning to our ordinary lives, Alan suggests that we avail ourselves of all the shamatha practices depending on our body and mind at that moment. For those of us continuing in retreat, Alan suggests that we focus primarily on one practice and deepen that.

Non-guided meditation (7:18) on shamatha practice of our choice.

Questions (33:02)
Q1a) It takes one countless eon to achieve the Path of Seeing. Why not take the shravaka path of realizing selflessness and using that wisdom from the very start?
Q1b) Where are we after achieving shamatha and vipashyana?
Q2a) Please tell us about Sakya Dagmo-la
Q2b) What is Samantabhadra’s pure land of Akanishta?
Q3) Who are Alan’s 2 principal teachers?
Q4a) How can we practice shamatha during ngöndro?
Q4b) I haven’t had any success with lucid dreaming, so are there easier practices?
Q5) Please give advice on preparing for retreat.
Q6) In Settling the Mind, is there subtle preference in letting thoughts arise in free association?
Q7) Since dzogchen is less complex and possibly easier for realizing clear light mind, why did the New Translation Schools move away from this towards the stages of generation and completion practices?

Experienced meditators can move through a process of maturation where the Dharma and practices become ever more central to their lives. They come to practice without preference for good or bad meditations but continue regardless of their personal experiences - much like a veteran sailor has learned to ply the seas regardless of the weather.
Silent meditation starts at 7:05

After a silent meditation (1:40) Alan gives an overview and brief ‘how to guide’ of lucid dreaming and dream yoga.
Then questions (67:20) include eyes closing as we progress along the path of mindfulness of breathing, the use of tonglen for shamatha and discussion of the life of Dudjom Lingpa and other great Dzogchen masters.

“Shape your mind, shape your life.” Having completed the cycle of guided meditation, Alan speaks briefly about envisioning the transition from retreat into daily life, and in particular the difference between “aspiration” and “hope and fear”.
Silent meditation starts at 8:11

Reading from Vajra Essence regarding the difference between consciousness, substrate consciousness and Rigpa.
Meditation on awareness of awareness expanding out to all directions (26:30)
Questions (51:23)
How does the "naked" healing process of the mind by way of settling the mind happen with other shamatha methods?
How lasting or fleeting are the changes to the coarse and subtle bodies caused by altering the flow of prana through shamatha practice?
Person getting headaches from meditation – what suggestions to prevent it?
Question related to rigpa being necessary to explain extrasensory perception such as precognition and remote viewing
What is meant by the compassionate display of rigpa? Difficulty seeing rigpa as compassionate.
Question regarding how to move away from not liking oneself and feeling guilty over past unwholesome activities.

Meditation on equanimity. Start with loving kindness for ourselves. Mental afflictions come to us just like the flu – don’t fuse your identity with the mental afflictions. The more loving kindness you have for yourself, the more you can extend it to others.
Meditation (16:23)
Can do usual Tonglen practice. Can also visualize receiving blessings from your teachers and all the Buddhas in the form of light coming in to you and then breathe it out to others.

Dharma talk and meditation on Awareness of Awareness with the focus on the observer: Is there someone in there?
The Bahiya (of the Garment) Sutra. Bahiya received a short discourse from the Buddha and immediately became an arhat. Bahiya was a merchant who had sailed the seas. On his eighth voyage, he was shipwrecked and washed ashore naked. He used the flotsam on the beach to cover himself and the local villagers saw him and thought he was a holy man. He became well-regarded as an arhat from whom the villagers often asked spiritual and mundane advice. Eventually Bahiya began to wonder if he was, indeed, an arhat. However a feminine diva appeared to him and said that he was not, but that he should go to the Buddha who could give him instructions. Bahiya walks a long way across India to find the Buddha and asks on three different occasions for instruction. The third time, the Buddha consents and gives the short discourse on selflessness. Bahiya becomes immediately liberated as an arhat. Three days later, he is gored by a cow and dies.

There is no self/observer/agent inside, outside or in between. There is no correlate to a self in the brain.
After the horrible period between about 1400 and 1750 which saw the bubonic plague and witch hunts, there was a rise in science and a mechanistic view of the world. This continues today despite enormous evidence to the contrary. 96% of the universe is metaphysical (i.e. it can’t be measured; physicists call it “black matter” and “black energy”).
Everything we experience is appearances – non-physical (although there is a physical existence). What we see is the space of the mind.
Being awake is dreaming with physical constraints. Dreaming is waking experience without physical constraints.
The universe is enchanted with consciousness.

Meditation starts at 57:44

No Question and Answer session this time.

We come back to equanimity and Alan talks about it from 3 different levels:
Coarse mind - Shantideva: "If there is something you can do about it don't worry. If there's nothing you can do about it, don't worry"
Subtle mind - Everything arises as a manifestation of our own karma. "I will paint from my own mind. All I'm seeing/experiencing are appearances from my coarse mind" Consider what you've contributed but don't respond with craving or hostility.
Rigpa - Everything is an expression of the Buddha Mind. An all-pervasive display of compassion
Meditation starts at 10:47

Alan leads the group, who has started talking now, through a shamatha session (02:13) designed to bring the mind down from agitation to calm. He speaks to a question (35:53) regarding the Dzogchen view of rigpa and the extent to which one can provide a reason as to why one who awakens from the dream of reality won’t fall asleep again.

Note: The first 5 or 10 seconds were missing because Alan started talking before the computer had finished loading. Sorry about that! We were coming back from our (hectic) group photo session so he was talking about that, and that's also why this session is shorter.

Deep…During this extremely inspiring afternoon, Alan started by explaining how to recognize the object of attention of the practice of awareness of awareness for those that find this practice elusive. Also he explained, with the parallel of mosquitoes flying around a fan, how the oscillation works against thoughts. At the end, this practice leads to resting the mind into luminosity and emptiness.
After this clarification, he went on to present his opinion of some aspects of how is being presented the dharma related to these degenerated times. We should try to avoid to be playing the last piece of music with the orchestra of the sinking Titanic by relying on the notion of the path that starts with afflictions and finishes free from them. He mentioned again the lack of emphasis put into shamatha nowadays.
Moving on, Alan kindly shared with us another sublime passage from Dudjom Lingpa’s Vajra Essence that distinguishes the ground of the coarse mind from rigpa, giving detailed and extremely inspiring descriptions, and clarifying the notion of the path.
Then it followed the practice of awareness of awareness (55:02), probing into the agent to ascertain its nature, essential.
Finally, we got a very rich question (79:44) about the differences between the Mahamudra terminology and its path and those of Dzogchen. Alan made again a gift to us of it…
Please settle your body, speech and mind to listen to these teachings. Enjoy

Instruction and meditation on cultivating Empathetic Joy:
Calling upon the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and gurus for blessing and remembering that they are not outside of ourselves but within us.
Meditation starts at 11:26

Alan talks about the up and downs of the practice and how to keep the enthusiasm and where to draw the inspiration from. Then he shares an excerpt from Dudjom Lingpa's The Vajra Essence about the difference between the substrate, the substrate consciousness and rigpa.
The practice for today is awareness of awareness (46:53)
Alan shares some more stories, and then there's one question (79:44) about Shambhala

Why couldn't we all never be parted from genuine happiness free from suffering? Cultivating Empathetic Joy is not just an emotion but also an aspiration. When we take on the personal commitment, "May I make it so" we go from immeasurable Empathetic Joy to great Empathetic Joy. We place a marker in the future for this commitment that we can't fulfill right now. Alan calls the Four Immeasurables the heartbeat of Bodhicitta - the four great steads that pull the Mahayana chariot with wisdom as the charioteer.
Meditation starts at 11:34

Alan goes into greater detail about ascertaining the space of the mind between mental events in settling the mind. He explains the danger of complacency at Stages 4 and 7 and the importance of overcoming remaining faults by sharpening the blade of introspection in order to progress further.

Guided meditation on settling the mind in its natural state (36:23)

Questions (71:34)
Q1) If it takes 2 years to achieve shamatha, how long does it take to achieve vipashyana, trekchö, and thodgyal?
Q2) If the Buddha could see all his past lives at enlightenment, why not the first?
Q3) In a personal interview, Alan mentioned that grief was a wholesome emotion. How can we learn about the range of wholesome emotions?
Q4) If labeling is not part of the shamatha practice and may be counter-productive, how can we know if we’re on track?

Note: For a series of free online recordings of Tenzin Palmo on shamatha and the 4 immeasurables, check: http://www.tushita.info/resources/audio-downloads/287-jetsunma-audio

Compassion, understood as the suffering of conditioned phenomena, is conditioned by ignorance. Suffering in its broadest manifestation involves the understanding of a dualistic vision. How we tend to see others as outer, ourselves as inner, and experience suffering as if we are its personal victims. But there are 7 billion people on earth, meaning that there are 7 billion universes. The core message of Dzogchen is that we have all created our personal universe, and that we can all be free, if we simply understand what’s going on.
Meditation starts at 14:03

“Give up attachment to this life and let your mind become Dharma” Alan explains how to approach the suffering of change and elaborates on the role of shamatha in dealing with this particular kind of suffering.
Meditation starts at 14:31

Settling the mind in its natural state. When mental afflictions come up, if you recognize them as such, you have a choice regarding whether you act on them. If you don’t recognize them you will simply act on the basis of the mental afflictions. Be present and observe with interest all that comes up even if they are not pleasant.
Description of how to do the gentle vase breathing. Discussion of prana and the dangers of practicing pranayama without a qualified teacher; it is much easier to damage prana than to repair it.
Meditation starts at 49:58
Questions (75:01)
Question on the differences in Alan’s books particularly between Genuine Happiness and the Four Immeasurables.
Question regarding the emptiness of the mind – that practice as the soft spot on the death star, leading to realization of other emptiness. Question regarding emptiness as a negative, what is the positive aspect? Discussion of different strategies between Tsongkhapa where it is just the sheer absence of inherent nature, and Mahamudra and Dzogchen which attends to emptiness with awareness in the nature of luminosity.

Meditation on Compassion. Why couldn’t we all be free from suffering and the causes of suffering? There is a dearth of knowledge regarding the causes of suffering. When resting in awareness of awareness, how many mental afflictions do you experience? Cultivate compassion from the perspective of purity – from your Buddha nature to theirs. Compassion coming from a place of purity addressing a place of purity.
Meditation starts at 13:27

Instruction and meditation on Mindfulness of Breathing: the focus on anapanasatti (focusing on the sensations at the opening of the nostrils and/or on the upper lip under the nostrils)
The problem with this foundational practice is that the mind has a thirst for entertainment and it gets bored with the practice and makes up its own entertainment. Thoughts will come up in this practice but you do not cognitively fuse with them (fall into daydreaming).
The problem with Settling the Mind in its Natural State is that you get sloppy and just get caught up in what arises in the mind.
In Awareness of Awareness, the most common error is just sitting there, zoning out and not knowing anything – which is the root of samsara.
In Mindfulness of Breathing, the antidote to restlessness/too much kinetic energy is to relax and release the energy gently on the out breath. If it gets boring when the sensations become very subtle, attend closely while releasing all control of the breath.
If stability isn’t getting better, your shamatha isn’t working
Asanga does not mention the acquired sign or the counterpart sign. He discusses attending to the whole body and the route of the passage of the breath. He also discusses prana – a subtle energy (and it might be what he is referring to when he speaks about breathing through the skin).
Some discussion of Tibetan medicine and the notions of the three humors: wind, fire, and phlegm.
Meditation starts at 48:19

Q&A (73:07)
Discussion of the differences between the discovery and the development models.

We continue with the practice of metta, or loving kindness, expanding out as in the Pali suttas, combined with the Tibetan liturgy of Mahamaitri (great loving kindness)
Helping others can mean to help them hedonically, not just to fulfill legitimate needs/desires but also ultimately to help them see through 'hedonic fundamentalism'
Why couldn't we all find happiness and the causes of happiness? May it be so! We can!
With the help of the Buddha, deity and guru may I make it so!
Celebrate different aspirations for happiness - diversity of desire
Meditation starts at 14:50

Welcome to all! This afternoon Alan started by stating that stability is usually regarded as the core of the shamatha practice and how it is developed by the rope of mindfulness. Then following a text of Panchen Lobsang Chokyi Gyaltsen that describes that with practicing settling the mind in its natural state one can attend also to the luminosity and cognizance of the mind (which is none other
than awareness of awareness). So the two ends of the rope of mindfulness will be applied to the practice of this afternoon: mindfulness of the breath focused on stability (49:58).

Next Alan covered a wide range of topics from the different control over the bardos by bodhisattvas and common sentient beings to the fact of being able to remember when we become lucid but never when non-lucid. All of these topics were to point out the fact of the common and permanent denominator of them: the presence of awareness.

After the practice we got two questions (80:14): one about the different explanations of our need to sleep and what happen to the sleep of one who has achieved shamatha, and the second about if all sentient beings share the same rigpa.

Please enjoy, most interesting…

Meditative cultivation of Loving Kindness: The focus was Great Loving Kindness, seeing through the outer manifestations of people, including ourselves, and attending to the essential Buddha nature of each sentient being.
Meditation starts at 7:20
If you have trouble with the “ball and chain” you carry around that is the picture of yourself that you have constructed from your past, “reboot” you system. Recreate yourself. See yourself as having Buddha nature, as the Dalai Lama, as Chenrezig. You created the negative picture of yourself; you can create the new picture.

Once again we start the cycle, beginning with mindfulness of breathing. Alan first gives an overview of the whole path, from settling the body, speech and mind in their natural state, all the way up to dzogchen, by using the analogy of a computer. We start with a very old, big and clunky computer that barely works, and we upgrade it over and over with the "software" of shamatha, vipashyana, bodhichitta, etc. that reboots and enhances it until we end up with a perfect machine, which stays turned on "for as long as space remains, for as long as sentient beings remain..." Quite nice!

Meditation starts at 38:00

Questions (63:08):
1) Why is it said that when we see a negative quality in someone else like anger, we're reflecting our own, like a mirror; when the Buddha got rid of his defilements couldn't he see any more anger, envy, etc in other people?
2) Differences between science and buddhism in terms of goals (hedonic vs eudaimonic) and how each treats meditation accordingly

In this round, Alan will lay emphasis on the Mahayana approach to the 4 immeasurables. „Why can’t all sentient beings find happiness and the causes of happiness? May all sentient beings find happiness and the causes of happiness. I shall make this happen. By the blessings of the guru and yidam, may I be able to do so.“

Guided meditation (6:33) on envisioning our own flourishing. What is our heart’s desire? What would we like to receive as support? What qualities would we like to be rid of, and what qualities would we like to attain? What would we like to offer?

Alan reviews the process of relinquishing control/agency in the 3 shamatha practices. Given the buddhist assertion that something true should appear truer with increasing scrutiny, the truth of emptiness is now reinforced with insights from modern quantum physics. Yet the insight in modern science does not appear to alter lifestyles and world views, whereas buddhist practice grounded in ethics, concentration, and wisdom do.

Guided meditation (46:20) on projecting awareness up, right, left, down, center, release, and rest. This meditation should be considered a stretching exercise to help us understand that awareness is totally open, without center nor periphery.

Questions (71:13):
Q1) How can we overcome the lion at the gate of „I am the observer“?
Q2) What are other methods to weaken the veils of luminosity in addition to oscillation in awareness of awareness?
Q3) When does the birth process begin?
Q4) What are the Tibetan terms for settling the mind in its natural state and awareness of awareness and their connotations?
Q5) In terms of Hawking’s theory of the past as being in superposition, how is the present different?
Q6) Can you clarify the terms appearance and perception, nangwa and nangyul, within the contexts of mind and space of mind and the 8 consciousnesses?

Equanimity is the final fruition of the path. In the Theravada tradition, equanimity is envisioned as a composure of imperturbability, of not being thrown out of balance by adversity or felicity. In the Mahayana literature, it's also seen as an even open-heartedness and caring for all sentient beings without exception. Three steps to descend to deeper levels of authenticity are outlined, involving ethical restraint, settling the mind in its natural state and uprooting the conceit of 'I am.'
Meditation starts at 21:19

Alan covers the prerequisites for the development of equanimity, which involve one transcending one’s ordinary deluded outlook. He discusses how one may become able to do this: how one may cultivate a sense of contentment, how one may more strongly identify a common ground between self and other and how to then develop an evenness of caring that is founded upon reality based hope and warmth.
Meditation starts at 12:03

There are three strategies to protect from the tornado of thoughts in the mind. The first is to go to a shelter which is mindfulness of breathing – releasing and releasing the thoughts. The second is the tornado chasers who learn a great deal about tornadoes without getting caught in them – that is settling the mind in its natural state. The third is to go up into the tornado and come out on the other side in the expanse of blue sky – that is awareness of awareness. Silent meditation starts at 04:18
Questions (29:02)
Were the four immeasurable taught as a part of the year of shamatha practice with Gen Lamrimpa?
Could you discuss further the role of the observer participant related to frozen time.

We all experience taking voluntary action such as raising an arm. Who is the agent for voluntary actions? In Awareness of awareness meditation during the inversion into awareness, look for the agent who is doing the inversion and release.
In the seen there is just the seen – Buddha said when you look at appearances you are not with them. Discussion of scientific views regarding physical world and its objectivity. Discussion of quantum mechanics. Anton Zeilinger’s position that nothing which exists is independent of our system of measurements. Alan presents other physics theories that he views supports the philosophical view of emptiness and refutes materialistic scientific views.
Afternoon meditation (69:51) – Awareness of awareness looking for the agent of voluntary actions.

Sorry, no time for questions this time!

Morning talk – Empathetic Joy – Finding commonality with others
Meditation (13:12)
Taking Joy in others joy – first in conventional joy, then in those creating virtue through their service to others, then in those creating virtue through Samadhi practice and finally taking joy in those creating virtue by practicing wisdom.

Many people have expressed confusion about this practice, probably because of looking for something to happen that isn’t happening. Therefore, they miss what is happening.
The basic practice is something you already know: being aware of being aware. You know when you are aware. Begin there. The oscillation is between being aware of your own awareness and releasing into something brighter, emptier, non-conceptual, and of no objects. You can mount the oscillation on your breath at first and then do it at your own pace. But release the oscillation in the middle. Let it rest in its own place. It is the best approximation of the substrate consciousness.
Meditation starts at 47:35

Q & A (72:32):
Is the dark near attainment before the clear light of death the same as the substrate?
Let's say my girlfriend wants to dance and I don’t. What would be examples of the applications of the Four Immeasurables in this circumstance?
What is dream yoga and what is it for?

We come back to the cultivation of mediate, starting with oneself, but not an immutable self, a dependently arisen self.

Alan again comments on our way of evaluating our practice: "Meditation, what have you given me this week?" No, no, no!
All that comes up is a maturation of our karma

From the lo jong (mind training) teachings: everything that comes up, transmute it into fuel for the path.
"This happened. Others see it as poor you. I take it as a lesson to deepen my practice and wisdom."
Become the alchemist of your life.

From the perspective of rigpa: with deep intuitive faith seeing all experiences arising as coming from Buddhas to help us become enlightened - we can have an ongoing flow of gratitude for this!
The one taste of felicity and adversity

Meditation starts at 14:21

Alan started the session of this afternoon explaining why among the immense variety ofmethods to achieve shamatha, he presents these three, and how they are fit for modernity.

Then he enlightened us with a global parallel between each of these practices with one of the three yanas: starting from the roles of mindfulness and introspection in each of these three until the different lifestyles of the shravaka, the bodhisattva and the tantric or dzogchen practitioner. Also he covered how each practice deals with the coarse, subtle and very subtle minds.

After this he connected this presentation with the practice of settling the mind in its natural state practice that followed up (42:17).

Finally, the questions (67:04) addressed the topics about the connection between body and mental feelings and how to focus only into the mental for the practice of settling the mind; reincarnation and Christianity; what does it mean “ola so” (I thought it was Spanglish); and how to consider those that seem that go in an opposite direction than genuine happiness.

As usual… inspiring…don’t miss it.

Dharma talk on Compassion
Suffering relates to the “conceit of ‘I am’” – the delusion that there is an “I” that exists outside of conceptual constructs.
There is a current trend among some people that one must develop a strong sense of “I am” before one can meditate. However, it is important to develop confidence rather than ego. Confidence and humility along with a sense of gratitude for one’s teachers can be developed simultaneously. Rather than a strong ego, one must have a realistic sense of who you are.
A dream sign to develop (regarding lucid dreaming) is the psychological impulse of “I am.” Develop this in your so-called “waking state.” Observe your reaction when you are either blamed or praised, not given enough respect. There is a surge of emotion. When you experience anger, resentment, fear, anxiety, self-loathing, pride, do a “reality check” (or as is done in developing lucid dreaming, a “state check”). Ask “Is there really somebody here or is it just a thought?”
Meditation (16:00) on all three types of suffering: blatant suffering, the suffering of change, and the suffering that arises due to our vulnerability because of our vision of who we are.
Carrying practice: Throughout the day, when you have a sense of “I am,” do a reality/state check. Just jumping up and down won’t be enough. Go deep into your awareness that is obscured by mental afflictions but is never contaminated by them.

Alan starts by explaining the concept of rang dröl (self-liberation or natural liberation) in the context of shamatha practice. He then talks about the 5 obscurations and its antidotes, which are:

The five factors of stabilization remove the five obscurations
1. The factor of coarse examination removes the obscurations of laxity and dullness.
2. The factor of precise investigation removes the obscuration of uncertainty.
3. The factor of well-being removes the obscuration of malice.
4. The factor of bliss removes the obscurations of excitation and anxiety
5. The factor of single-pointed attention removes the obscuration of sensual craving.

Water similes of the five obscurations
1. Sensual craving is like water mixed with various colors.
2. Malice is like boiling water.
3. Laxity and dullness are like water covered over by moss.
4. Excitation and anxiety are like agitated water whipped by the wind.
5. Uncertainty is like turbid, muddy water.

Today we continue with the practice of settling the mind in its natural state, now focusing on both the objective as well as the subjective aspects of the foreground
Meditation starts at 44:33

Questions (69:17):

1) What does it mean to achieve shamatha in the water, air, earth, etc elements?
2) How does the physical world map to the model of the 3 levels of consciousness, as related to this morning's talk?
3) Advice on what to do when one experiences waves of energy and a sense of "buzz" while practicing loving kindness
4) If one who has achieved shamatha but didn't have time to proceed along the mundane or supramande paths...what should this person do in order to avoid losing it in his/her future lives?

Back to Compassion focusing on suffering of change because of the mental affliction of attachment. The internal antidote is samadhi. Alan relates a true story of a hyena and a lion which perfectly illustrates why we should have compassion even for those who apparently have a great life hedonically. In the meditation session we start with ourselves.
Meditation starts at 17:10

Alan begins by giving examples of how one could experience the substrate directly before achieving shamatha. As with emptiness and rigpa, such direct experiences of the substrate are veiled by concepts. As such, the first quality of the substrate to strive for is non-conceptuality. Reminder: the core practice is to attend to mental phenomena without distraction, without grasping.

Guided meditation (17:55) starting with focusing one’s attention on the visual, the auditory, and the tactile before moving on to the mental.

Alan explains the meaning behind snapping his fingers before sitting down.

Questions (43:07):
Q1) At what stage can vipashyana be integrated with shamatha?
Q2) At advanced stages of shamatha, breathing gets less frequent, stopping for periods at a time. What are the 4 immeasurables good for then?
Q3) Developing buddhanature according to dzogchen.
Q4) What’s the difference between buddhist teachings and buddhism in the highest levels of shamatha?
Q5) Can we experience the substrate consciousness in various states like sleep?
Q6) What is resistance to samadhi that one encounters through stage 5?
Q7) Is the clear light of death the same as rigpa?
Q8) Please elaborate on the term appearances in the expression „taking appearances and awareness as the path“
Q9) What are some physiological reasons for keeping the eyes open during meditation?

The most obvious form of suffering is blatant suffering, which is both physical and mental. Physical suffering involves lack of necessities such as food, clothing, shelter, health, while mental suffering is such that people can be in wonderfully endowed in all the necessities but suffer terribly mentally. The black plague of mental suffering is carried on the fleas of mental concepts - suffering encroaches via concepts. With mindfulness of breathing, one blows concepts and thoughts away with the out-breath and the stages of shamatha involve the progressive diminishing of this conceptual realm. Achieving bodhicitta is a second way of achieving liberation. By cherishing others more than yourself, this too leads to the cessation of mental suffering.
Meditation starts at 14:10

We are beginning our final descent. The deva realm of Tushita and the pure land of Tushita sit side by side. In the deva realm when it is time for a deva to leave their flowers fade and they suffer great mental anguish over leaving. However in Tushita, the pure land, beings have been training their minds in dharma and leave there because of their great compassion to help suffering sentient beings. So when they leave it is a time of celebration. Likewise, if we were at the sports and leisure center down the street we might feel sadness to be leaving the sun and the pool and the fit people. But since we are leaving the mind center with the intention to offer our best to those we meet it is not a cause of sadness but a cause of celebration.
Silent meditation starts at 22:34

Alan leads a meditation in which one utilizes one’s own experience of loving kindness from a person who embodies such qualities as a means to develop greater loving kindness in oneself. He notes that our limitations in being loving come substantially from the limitations we impose and accept upon ourselves.
Meditation starts at 8:07

Afternoon talk
Mindfulness of breathing. Cultivating stability of attention while focusing on the rise and fall of the abdomen. Maintaining the same sense of relaxation. Breathe in to arise wakefulness and eliminate dullness. Breathe out to release all distractions. Discussion of counting technique with breathing. One thing you bring to the practice is your substrate consciousness with its stillness. Clarity is an intrinsic quality that gets covered over but not eliminated. Importance of releasing grasping.
Meditation starts at 30:43
Questions (55:55)
How do you know when medium and subtle excitation are occurring in the settling the mind in its natural state meditation? How about medium and subtle laxity?
Is it true that merely attaining shamatha, the body remains fresh after death? What level of realization is needed to be liberated in the bardo of the Dharmata?
Why do we need to be in solitary retreat to attain shamatha?
Question regarding free will and the self. How does rigpa impact the coarse mind and does it influence free will? Are there parallels in Christianity?

Morning talk
Four immeasurables – Loving Kindness. Why can’t all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness? In the Tibetan prayer it is posed as a rhetorical question because the answer it that they can because the causes of happiness are within each sentient being.
Meditation (8:47)
Meditate on the causes of happiness and the wish that all sentient beings develop these causes. Includes visualization of specific individuals and sending this wish to them in the form of light.