Alan Wallace Shamatha Teachings Fall 2010

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

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 a

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

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.

We are starting for the 3rd time the cycle of meditations starting with the Infirmary, this wonderful practice to get grounded and enhance relaxation. In his opening 20-minute lecture, Alan talked this time about the parallelism between Shamatha and the 4 Immeasurables on how the former leads to realizing emptiness and the latter bodhichita. Both are the 2 “supernovas” on our way to enlightenment. He also shared in detail his point of view, according to the Geluk tradition, on Ngöndro Practices and the practice of Shamatha. He gives clear advice on how not to make those powerful preliminary practices a quantitative practice just to cover a number of prerequisites in order to have access to other type of teachings and practices, by just becoming religious. So, for a western mind, it could be useful to practice Sutrayana first, because they are too a way of purifying obscurations and creating merit. He suggests letting our faith increase so these preliminary too become meaningful and really transforming.

Alan makes two important points about equanimity and balance. Alan’s first point is that equanimity is the balanced foundation needed to achieve Bodhicitta. Just as Shamatha provides the cognitive balance needed for Vipassana, equanimity provides the affective balance needed for Bodhicitta. Alan’s second point is that a balance between faith and intelligence is extremely critical. This sacred tension between faith and skepticism is part of our practice of equanimity. Alan leads us in a meditation on equanimity by guiding us to expand our horizons of inclusion with the practice of Tonglen. Following the meditation, Alan answers student questions about what are the best and worst times of day to practice Dharma.

Alan’s introduction was very interesting. He explained to us that, according to the teachings of Padmasambhava, this practice is designed to go straight to the nature of the phenomena of consciousness, “the space of awareness,” the relative space of the mind. He shared with us that years ago some scientists were trying to investigate and research yogis, and how these people practice Shamatha and Compassion. The scientists wanted to study only the brain, but the yogis refused to take part, because practice is something that is experiential. It’s like trying to investigate how a mathematician can understand sophisticated math, by only looking at his brain. The only one who can assess consciousness is a first person observer, looking at his/her own mind.

This afternoon Alan delighted us with his lecture. He gave us advice in how to continue practicing after one has finished a retreat and has to go back to the usual activities of daily life. He questioned, how does special bonds of special relationships fit with the ideal of equanimity? And the answer to that is to take out the threads of attachment attending to the needs of the other person, deepening the sense of loving-kindness. Furthermore turning the hedonic concerns into eudemonic (genuine happiness) ones, at that moment the other becomes our spiritual friend. He also taught us how to deal with wisdom, loving-kindness and compassion in situations when a loved one is behaving badly, out of mental afflictions. After that he continued with a beautiful meditation that we definitely encourage you to practice. Finally he ended with four Q&A. The first one about the recommendation of practicing Ngondro (preliminary practices) before or after Shamatha. The second one, very interesting on advantages and disad

Good Morning to All Human Beings, This is the third morning for Awareness of Awareness Shamatha Meditation. Alan was speaking like a wrathful deity this morning. He is wrathful about the way some scientists (as well as the journalists who report on scientific studies) use words to describe the functions of computers and the brain. They use language that would suggest that neurons and computers are “smart” and can “communicate” and “detect” things, but at the same time disempower human beings by telling them their minds are merely computers. He is calling for all of us who meditate to use introspection and examine our own experience when we are meditating. Alan says that we are each the scientist of our own mind. The lecture had so much value, pointing out what some of the implications are of this type of word usage in the scientific community. I suggest you listen to his lecture five times in order to get the full meaning. Thank you for being conscious. Darlene

This afternoon we look at Empathetic Joy – the aspiration for all beings to never be parted from happiness and its causes – and explore what this means from a wisdom perspective. Ultimately we look at it from the perspective of ‘Path,’ and what it means for one’s life to become Dharma. Following the meditation, Alan answers questions related to the practices of settling the mind in its natural state and awareness of awareness, as well as some very practical guidance related to the practice of lucid dreamless sleep. This mudita really is a cultivation of emotion. (It s joy. … Taking delight in others’ joys successes)

In this session we practiced awareness of awareness. According to Padmasambhava, by doing this practice you may realize Rigpa or Pristine awareness. Alan talked about the differences between coarse impermanence and subtle impermanence. He referred to the individual stream of consciousness as one which is impermanent yet never terminates. Rigpa, however, is beyond change, it does not arise upon causes and conditions and it’s a dimension of awareness that transcends the concepts of permanence and impermanence. Letting go of categories, concepts and even the grasping to the experiences of bliss, clarity and non-conceptuality, we might be able to recognize Rigpa.

The third Immeasurable attends to actuality; it is not an aspiration like the first two: Loving-Kindness and Compassion. Empathetic Joy is rejoicing in the well-being of others. Isn’t that extraordinary…? Choosing to feel right! First, you sweep through your life and reflect on the kindness you received. You rejoice in their virtue. You delight in what brings meaning to life. Then you can raise the question how can I repay the kindness that I have received from the world? Then you can think of using your abilities, or ask the question and let the creativity of your substrate consciousness emerge, or try deep form your Buddha Nature. Alan then answers questions related to the Shamata Project and practical issues like how to deal with your eyes during meditation.

WoW! Alan was on a roll this morning. He went from discussing Shamatha and how to gain confidence in it (using awareness of awareness as an example), through the different ways of viewing the Universe according to Buddhist cosmology, only to end on demonstrating when practicing Shamatha may not be Dharma. So in brief: How do we gain confidence in our practice? - By cultivating it. Doing it and knowing when we are doing it correctly. How did the Universe originate? – Well, there’s the long-time ago view of Buddhist Cosmogony and there’s the moment-to-moment view of Dzogchen. How can Shamatha be Non-Dharma? – When we take it as the goal not the path. Dharma is the view and conduct that leads to genuine happiness and Shamatha alone does not get us there. After the awareness of awareness practice Alan illustrated another alternative ways to developing authentic renunciation. This podcast is so packed you will likely need to run it a few times.