Fall 2013 Shamatha And The Bodhisattva Way Of Life

As in the three fold space meditation, where we are trying to view space from the perspective of rigpa, here in Asanga's method we are trying to attend to the object from the perspective of the substrate. The substrate illuminates but does not enter into the object - no grasping. So we attend to the tactile field and within that field the sensations of the flow of prana correlated with the breath but without grasping. Alan also explains stage four of the nine attentional states leading to Shamatha. Here coarse excitation has stopped but the problems of medium excitation and coarse laxity are present. Meditation starts at: A silent meditation session at 5:58, not recorded.

Line from Seven Point Mind Training - 'By meditating on delusive appearances as the four kayas, emptiness is the unsurpassed protection'. Alan gives an analogy of lucid dreaming and the 'waking state' to refer to the way inner and outer space is perceived and how they can be non-dual. Alan explains how to transmute equally all that comes up, whether we are in a spa or if people treat us badly. It is easy to practice Dharama in the 'spa' but you know how you are doing (with your practice) when you come up against difficulties. Alan quotes from a Guide to the Bodhisattvas Way of Life - 'There is nothing that does not become easier with familiarisation'. Start by giving special attention to the small things that irritate you and release all resistance and let it be. Then you can work up to bigger irritations. You can view enemies, illness and mental afflictions as opportunities for growth. Qu: Metaphor of an arhart and a Buddha in the context of a lucid dream. Qu: Regarding awareness of awareness practi

Alan discusses the Theravada classical approach of attending to the sensations and the tip of the nostrils, as described by Buddhagosa. Although the Buddha did not teach this specific technique, we can have confidence in the Sangha who have practiced it and learn from them too. Alan emphasises the need to not create tension in the face when doing this practice. Alan talks about the acquired sign and the counterpart sign. Alan outlines the characteristics of the 3rd of the 9 stages of shamatha - resurgent attention or 'patch like' attention. Meditation starts at: Silent session at 13:45. Alan advised not to record.

Alan starts the session by describing his first interview with His Holiness on the topic of pride in one’s dharma knowledge. Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche presented three approaches to learning and practicing dharma. The first is to study a great deal like eating a banquet. The second is to really focus on a few texts and the third is to receive quintessential teachings from a qualified lama. All of them fill you up. You can come to meditation by way of the view or come to the view by way of the meditation. The Three spaces meditation – First rest awareness in outer space, then rest in inner space and then rest in the non-duality of inner and outer space. By meditating on delusive appearance as the four Kayas, emptiness is the unsurpassed protection. Alan provides an explanation of this statement. Meditation starts at: 16:34

We go right into meditation on the rise and fall of the breath at the abdomen. Burmese method to stabilize the mind. Stage 2 of Shamatha is reached when you can stabilize your mind for up to a minute at a time. Alan discusses how to use the 9 stages of Shamatha – as sign posts, not as goals. If you set as goals then turn the 9 stages into poison. Achieve this stage by the power of thinking such as counting the breaths. Most of the time your attention is not on the object. This is to be expected. In between sessions maintain mindfulness. Meditation was silent and so not recorded.

Here we look at how an understanding of emptiness informs the Lojong teachings with a meditation asking questions designed to help us understand the origin, location and destination of the mind. Knowing this gives us different perspectives to view the world and Alan lays out options comparing theistic, materialistic and Buddhist views. We then look at how karma and emptiness sit together to explain our common and unique experiences.

We return to Mindfulness of Breathing after Alan cautions us to avoid putting pressure on ourselves to try harder. Relaxing rather than pushing down is prescribed and Alan suggests the infirmary or mindful walking. He goes on to say that at this stage of our practice we are working with the imbalance of coarse excitation, where the mind is like a cascading waterfall. He guides us to see this as a successful experience at stage one and to have realistic expectations of the path. Meditation starts at: 6:42

We begin the evening session with the practice of Tong Len, focusing on gratitude towards all those people in our lives who enabled our physical survival, then those who helped us on our spiritual path, and finally on all the difficult people we encountered in our lives who catalyzed our mental afflictions and, hence, provided us an opportunity to see the afflictions and realize their impact. The practice of seeing kindness in difficult people is not to become ignorant, but to see beyond their vices and appreciate the opportunity to observe your own afflictions manifesting and to practice applying antidotes. In fact, without adversities, there would be no motivation to pursue a spiritual path. Therefore, we need to be equally grateful for kindness coming from difficult people as we are for that coming from kind/pleasant people. After the meditation, Alan continues the topic started in the morning, explaining the four yogas of the Mahamudra path and how they correspond to the bodhisattva path, namely: the yoga

We start today's morning session with the last (silent) meditation in the cycle of merging mind with space. After the meditation, Alan gives a big-picture context of the path (marga) in Mahayana Buddhism, namely in Mahamudra and Dzogchen. By elaborating on the steps and stages of each path, Alan makes it clear - once again - how Shamatha is an indispensable step if one aspires to cultivate genuine realizations on his/her path. He also points out how often unskilled teachings/teachers can confuse the qualities of Shamatha practice with much higher realizations and when this happens, the practitioner not only does not progress on his/her path but is also deluded regrading the realizations, which is the danger of inauthentic teachings. Hence, one should not abandon the ground practices of Shamatha and other preliminaries (Tong Len, Lam Rim, etc.) before venturing out into more esoteric practices. Meditation (left in so you can practice along with us) starts at: 02:00

The session starts with the Tong Len meditation. After the guided meditation, we go back to the aphorism "Blame everything on the culprit", using a verse of Shantideva (chapter 4, verse 34 of the Bodhicaryavatara) and the story of Ben Gungyal, the leader of a gang in Kham. Mental afflictions always point to other people than yourself. Alan tells about three remedies for when mental afflictions come up, as taught by Geshe Rabten: 1) apply antidotes, 2) settle the mind in its natural state, or 3) direct your attention to something else. Next, Alan Talks about how Shamatha and Vipassana "deal" with the five obscurations. He also points out that when self grasping and self centeredness are diminishing, that is a sign that the practice is working. Followed by a question on the four methods of Shamatha meditation: should we pick one out? or practice all of them? Finally, don't miss the story of Lobsang Tenzing! Meditation starts at: immediately

We immediately go into the guided meditation. After the meditation, merging the mind with space, Alan shares and comments on various quotes from Asanga and Tsongkhapa on the implosion of the five senses while practicing Shamatha. After that, he tells a story about a yogi and his attendant travelling from Kham to Lhasa, finallizing in an elaboration on why there are so few people realizing Shamatha in the world today. Meditation starts at: immediately

Straight into meditation and then unpacking "Blame everything on one culprit" aphorism from the seven point mind training. Here the one culprit is self grasping. There are two reasons we suffer, self cherishing and self centeredness (sometimes translated as self cherishing). Although we may overcome self grasping, self centeredness may come into one's spiritual practice. The developmental approach to overcoming self centeredness is through being selective about which qualities of mind to cultivate and which to reject (not just foolishly accepting it all). Another approach, such as in settling the mind in its natural state, where we sustain an ongoing intelligent, discerning and alert flow of mindfulness and, not applying antidotes, thoughts release themselves. So Lama Atisha is calling for a deepening of introspection beyond what we use in Shamatha (to detect laxity and excitement) to note when the impulse arises "me first". Observe, recognise and investigate the toxicity of this impulse, and not to act on

Two points about this practice. Like riding a bicycle, once we are in the flow we don't need to remember to push with our left left leg, then our right leg and so on. Similarly once we are in a steady state with this practice, release all recollection, in other words, release mindfulness (as it is understood in Buddhism). The second point is to see if we can be free of mental engagement as in 'now I am observing awareness, I got it, I got it" - just keep it simple. Ordinarily mindfulness and mental engagement is how we know anything but for Shamatha practices, particularly Shamatha without a sign and merging mind with space, we are seeking to slip into a mode of knowing that is still alert but free of mindfulness and mental engagement. After the meditation Alan quotes from several sources including the third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje and Dudjom Lingpa which relate Shamatha with the Four Yogas of Mahamudra and the five Mahayana paths. From these authentic sources Shamatha is also clearly defined so that we can

Straight into Tong Len meditation. Begin on the 3rd point of Atisha's 7 point mind training. A story about Dontonpa - 'give up all attachment to this life, and make you mind Dharma'. From the text 'When the physical world and its sentient inhabitants are enslaved by vices, transform adversities into the path of spiritual awakening'. See adversity as fruition of past karma. Personal story about Tibetan refugee. Geshe Chen-ngawa: If you have the will to practice in the face of physical and mental suffering, they become blessings from the objects of refuge; so apply all suffering to the two types of Bodhicitta. Something to cultivate with sincere, dedicated practice like His Holiness Dalai Lama. The true enemies are self centredness and self grasping. Once identified they can be overcome. A strategy to overcome self centredness - not following the 8 mundane concerns (includes pursuit of wealth, power and fame). Alan poses a question - Can we trust that their is some power in the universe that will bri

The end of the explanation of shamatha without a sign by Padmasambava in the 14th century, the very last line is 'bring your mind to space and leave it there'. Dujong Lingpa's mind treasure in the 1860's picks up right where this left off, 5 centuries apart, 'merge your mind with empty external space'. Alan discusses the practice further so as to talk less through the meditation. After the meditation, Alan reads a short passage from the Vajra Essence. Alan then discusses where shamatha practice and mahamudra practice intersect, where they are distinct practices from each other, and where confusion sometimes lies between the practices. Meditation starts at: 12:31

Discussion of Jesus taking on all the suffering and sins of others on the cross. Two views – Jesus suffering on the cross and Gnostic vision in which he is laughing and joyful. May both be true with suffering on the surface and beneath that resting in pristine awareness. St Francis – gave up everything to live in poverty and became very joyful. Meditation – loving kindness to oneself. Taking all the darkness into your Buddha nature. Discussion of the phrases – May the suffering and its causes of all sentient beings ripen upon me and may the causes of my wellbeing ripen upon all sentient beings. Developmental model. Discovery model – going deep into one’s own awareness and discovering loving kindness. Tap into ultimate Bodhicitta and relative Bodhicitta comes out like a geyser. Question: Practices were given for people of superior, middling and inferior faculties. What about those needing remedial help? Answer – go to taking the mind as the path and if still having problems than let your mind mount yo

Intent of Samantabhadra – Placement exam – different practices for those of superior, middling and inferior faculties. Those with supreme faculties hear teachings and experience the direct crossing over and become a vidyadhara. Those with middling and inferior faculties follow the 10 bhumis (grounds) and the 5 paths. Merge your mind with space and remain in equipoise for 20 days. Those with middling faculties will identify rigpa and become a vidyadhara. Those with inferior faculties practice shamatha, vipassana, breaking through, and crossing over. Merging your mind with space – let awareness slip into space rather than taking space as an object. Release all grasping to your mind and even the bliss, luminosity and nonconceptuality of shamatha. Release everything on the out breath – designed to counter the tightness or wired feeling that can come with awareness of awareness. Working hypothesis – right now we are in a non-lucid dream. What would be the most direct way to wake up? Don’t do anything tha

Alan explains equanimity and how we can use this Lo Jong text to transform each moment of our waking life into Dharma practice. He gives practical examples of how we can confront the afflictions of attachment, aversion and ignorance in our own minds recognising that they begin with us. He shows us how to use the combination of mindfulness and introspection relating this to our practice of Tonglen. Question: What are imprints and how are they different to tendencies? Meditation starts directly at the beginning of this session.

Alan introduces this last of four Shamata practices with concise instructions from two traditions. He then talks briefly on Tummo and Prana. Questions: - How are imprints stored in the substrate consciousness? - Where does the realisation of minor emptiness occur? - Why did Atisha use the word Alaya? - In which state can past life memory be accessed? Alan expands on these questions sharing his vision of the Alaya project, scientific process and faith and ethnocentricity in relation to belief. Meditation starts at: 10:28

We begin the afternoon session with Tonglen meditation. After the session, Alan explains the second component of Tonglen, which is loving-kindness. Alan explains how loving-kindness is often compared with love and how they are different in nature. While ordinary love is an emotion and often comes with associated attachment (to a person, animal or thing), loving-kindness is an aspiration and a heart-felt yearning for sentient beings (both those we feel affection towards and those we despise) that they find genuine happiness (its fruition) and causes of genuine happiness. Also, attachment looks only at the surface of the person and changes with changing circumstances and the person's behavior. Loving-kindness, on the other hand, looks at a very deep substance of a person and is independent of circumstances and changes in the other person's behavior or character. Later, Alan refers to the Pali canon to explain both the near and far enemies of loving-kindness. The near enemy is self-centered attachment and the fa