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

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

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. Medi

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 consciousn

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 inhe

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

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 bas

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 b

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 happine

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 min

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’ be

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

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 referen

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

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 darkn

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 o

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

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 ligh

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

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 fil