Fall 2013 Shamatha And The Bodhisattva Way Of Life

Before the final (silent) meditation session on settling the mind in its natural state, Alan compares this mode of Shamatha with Vipassana (four applications of mindfulness). While settling the mind in its natural state has some resemblance of the Vipassana’s close application to the mind and both give rise to insight, what differentiates Vipassana from Shamtha is the degree of inquiry. In Shamatha, the main mode of meditation is simply placing attention on the chosen object (non-judgmentally). In Vipassana, on the other hand, it is close examination of the object. Hence, settling the mind in its natural state is a perfect preamble to Vipassana and a natural Segway toward it. After the meditation, Alan gives his second commentary to the Atisha’s aphorism: “Examine the unborn nature of awareness.” Alan starts with a quote from Padmasabhava, who said that there is something called mind and different schools of thought point into the common reality, while calling it by different names and starting from a diff