Episodes
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Teaching: Alan shares the conclusion of phase 1 of the Dudjom Lingpa’s Sharp Vajra of Conscious Awareness Tantra. Phase 1 covers taking the impure mind as the path aka settling the mind. You identify the impure mind that is dissolved into substrate consciousness. How never to be separated from the experience of the practical instructions when distant from sublime spiritual friends. A sublime spiritual friend reveals the path. It is important to distinguish between path and not path. We need to practice diligently in this phase, as shamatha is indispensable when we venture into practice. We know the taste of luminosity and cognizance of awareness. We know substrate and substrate consciousness. But shamatha is just a preliminary to the path. If we just stay put, we don’t actually get on the freeway to liberation. Whether or not we’ve recognized rigpa, if our mind still gets distracted or dull, we need to mount conceptual mind like a cripple onto the blind stallion of the breath. Tethering the mind with attention, uncontrived, primordially present consciousness will manifest, and it will be easy for the guru’s introduction to pristine awareness to strike home. Alan concludes with some suggestions for further reading/study/practice.
Q1. In awareness of awareness, I don’t understand the instruction to forcefully withdraw attention. Is it correct to contract back towards me when inverting?
Q2 What does o laso mean?
Q3. Can we still have emotions in a lucid dream?
Q4. When I practice emptiness of awareness, there’s an open feeling that’s not there when I practice awareness of awareness. -
Teaching: Awareness of awareness is also known as shamatha without a sign. Sign refers to a target, so there’s no vector of attention. During the meditation, when you do the warm-up exercise of directing awareness in the 4 directions, don’t meditate or visualize the 4 directions. Just send out your antenna, or expand the space of awareness.
Meditation: Awareness of awareness. With your eyes open, evenly rest your gaze in the space before you. Simply be present in the present moment. Accentuate your awareness of being aware. A) Do the following oscillation at your own pace (coupling with the breath if helpful). Withdrawing from all appearances and really focusing with effort, invert your awareness on being aware. Utterly relaxing, release your awareness into space with no object. Invert on your sense of being the meditator, the agent doing the inversion. Invert on your sense of being the observer or subject experiencing your own awareness, and observe closely. If there’s an appearance of self, what’s aware of that appearance? B) Direct your attention straight up into space as far as you can. Let it come to rest in its own place. Direct your attention to your right as far as you can. Let your awareness come back to the center. Direct your attention to your left as far as you can. Let your awareness come back to the center. Direct your attention straight down into the space below you as far as you can. Let your awareness come back to the center. With closed eyes, rest your awareness at the heart chakra. With open eyes, release awareness into boundless space. Rest your awareness in the sheer luminosity and sheer cognizance of awareness.
Q1. In awareness of awareness, what’s the distinction between awareness in space and awareness holding its own ground?
Q2 In awareness of awareness, I’ve heard 2 terms used. When I hear awareness of awareness, I think of awareness of awareness of awareness, etc… You’ve also mentioned sheer awareness.
Q3. In awareness of awareness, is this supposed to be like a Zen koan because of the conceptual impossibility of knowing that I’m aware?
Q4. In awareness of awareness, if awareness is still, how can I move it?
Q5. What’s the distinction between letting your awareness descend into the body and letting your awareness illuminate the space of the body?Meditation starts at 06:15
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Missing episodes?
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Teaching: Alan presents the conclusion from Karma Chagme’s Union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen. Emanation of Padmasambhava’s speech, Atisha addressed how to combine all the teachings of the 3 yanas into one practice. The fivefold practices are: 1) bodhicitta as motivation, 2) meditation on one’s own body as the deity, 3) meditation on one’s spiritual mentor as the deity, 4) view of non-conceptuality (insight into emptiness and rigpa), 5) dedication. Alan also introduces the 4 reliances: Rely not on the person but on the dharma. Rely not on words but on the meaning. Rely not on the provisional meaning but on the definitive meaning. Rely not on conditioned consciousness but on primordial consciousness. Both coarse mind and subtle mind (substrate consciousness) are conditioned consciousness.
Meditation. Fivefold practice with shamatha, vipasyana, and vajrayana. Attend closely to sentient beings who all wish to be free from suffering. Arouse bodhicitta to be achieve awakening for the sake of sentient beings. Practice mindfulness of breathing to clean the space of awareness. Let your awareness illuminate the space of the body and tactile sensations therein. Monitor the space of the mind. Include the flow of knowing already present: awareness of being aware. Probe into the nature/referent of awareness, and know emptiness. Imagine personification of primordial consciousness Samantabhadra before you. Take refuge in the ultimate source of refuge. Samantabhadra comes to your crown, dissolves into light, flows down your central channel, and reforms at the heart. With every in breath, light of all the buddhas flow in from all directions. With every out breath, light flows out serving the needs of sentient beings, guiding each one to freedom. Dedicate the practice with your most meaningful aspiration.
Q1. How can we keep motivation for practice fresh and unwavering?
Q2. What advice for people who want to do retreat?
Q3. In mindfulness of breathing, sometimes I’m very aware that mind is right there. If I go into mind, it slows rumination. I’m not sure this is OK. Please explain the image of the air mattress.
Q4. In settling the mind, sometimes everything is very vivid like I’m in right in the thick of things. Does this mean grasping?Meditation starts at: 35:30
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Meditation: Settling the mind preceded by settling body, speech, and mind.
1) settling body, speech, and mind. Let your awareness come to rest in its own place. There may be knowing of knowing. Let your unmoving awareness illuminate the space of the body and the objective/subjective experiences. Observe them like an out-of-body experience.
2) settling the mind. Let your eyes be open, gaze vacant. Direct mindfulness single-pointedly to the space of the mind and its contents. Begin with mental images and discursive thoughts. Awareness in stillness illuminates the movements of the mind without distraction, without grasping. Monitor with introspection. If distracted, relax, release, and return. If spaced out, refresh, refocus, and retain. Let mindfulness include subjective impulses like feelings and desires. Take special note of the intervals between thoughts. Can the space of the mind be ascertained? The space where appearances of the mind arise from, remain, and dissolve into. With the mentally perceived, let there be just the mentally perceived.
Teaching: Alan speaks about how to make the teachings on emptiness practical. These teachings are designed to cut the root of mental afflictions by critiquing our views of reality. According to the Prasangika Madhyamaka, all the phenomena we experience arise in dependence on conceptual designations. We can see this process happening in our experience. Mindfulness of breathing cleans the lab. In settling the mind, awareness stops being jerked around, and with discernment, comes to view mental events as mere empty appearances in both meditation and post-meditation. You come to non-conceptual certainty that nothing in your mind can harm you, whether or not thoughts have ceased. Upon achieving shamatha, the power of samadhi flows right into sleep. The dream yoga practice of emanation and transformation strengthens the conviction that there is nothing here from its own side, just a world of possibility waiting to be designated. Sentient beings reify everything they experience. In practicing the 4 applications, ask yourself, “Do I reify anything?” When you experience craving or hostility (arising from delusion rooted in reification), identify the referent and probe its existence.Meditation starts at: 1:00
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Teaching: Alan completes his commentary on the section on mindfulness of phenomena in Ch. 13 of Shantideva’s Compendium of Practices. Composite phenomena are impermanent and unstable, rising quickly and passing away. This points to impermanence and relative reality. Although this is just the way things are, people may react with depression to the hedonic present, anxiety to the hedonic future, and PTSD to the hedonic past. Composite phenomena are also unmoving and empty, like an optical illusion. This points to their absolute nature, empty of inherent existence. Composite phenomena arise in dependence of causes and conditions. They are neither always there nor passing into non-existence. As for objects, so too for consciousness. All speech is like an echo, momentary and without essence. Its coming and going is unobservable. The essential nature of phenomena is like space. Conditions are empty and nameless. Neither the names nor their referents have any inherent existence. Names illuminate phenomena, but as soon as we reify them, they obscure their nature.
Meditation. Mindfulness of phenomena preceded by mindfulness of the mind.
1) mindfulness of the mind. Let your eyes be open, resting your gaze evenly. Rest awareness in the present moment, mindful presence without distraction, without grasping. You are aware, and you know it. What is the referent of awareness? What has its qualities of luminosity and cognizance? What are its boundaries?
2) mindfulness of phenomena. Turn your attention outwards towards appearances arising in the relative dharmadhatu. Whatever comes to mind, examine its nature. Does anything exist from its own side? All composite phenomena are empty and unmoving. They appear, and yet are empty, mere configurations of empty space. With awareness still and clear, attend to emptiness and luminosity of all appearances.
Q1. Is it possible to experience timelessness in shamatha or only in the union of shamatha and vipasyana?
Q2. In a guided meditation, I applied vipasyana to an unpleasant feeling and made it go away. I still get stuck on visual appearances, like the square panel on the ceiling. I haven’t conceptually designated it, so how is it empty?Meditation starts at 37:50
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Teaching: All the teachings are included in settling body, speech, and mind in their natural state. According to Asanga, sensations of the breath become increasingly subtle until prana dissolves into space. Conceptualizations diminish further and further until mind slips into non-conceptuality. Keep it simple. It’s the nature of the practice.
Meditation: Mindfulness of breathing preceded by settling body, speech, and mind.
1) settling body, speech, and mind. Let your awareness illuminate the non-conceptual space of the body. Settle the body in ease and comfort. Settle the speech in silence. Let the breath flow in its natural rhythm. With every out breath, relax more and more deeply without losing clarity, utterly release the breath and let go of rumination, so your are especially silent and present at the end of each out breath. The in breath comes of its own accord. Release all thoughts of the past and future, and settle awareness in stillness in the present.
2) mindfulness of breathing. When the in breath is long, know that it is long. When the out breath is long, know that it is long. When the in breath is short, know that it is short. When the out breath is short, know that it is short. Let your awareness illuminate the space of the body and whatever tactile sensations arise therein, without distraction, without grasping. Awareness is not fused with the space of the body and its contents. Mindfully breath in and out, attending to the whole body.
Q1. In equanimity, does it mean we should react with satisfaction and contentment with things as they are?
Q2. In formal and semi-formal shamatha retreat, should we hold the view between sessions by visualizing oneself as the deity and the environment as a pure land? If so, should we recite the mantra as well?
Q3. As for the dying process, how can we help? How can non-buddhists prepare?
Q4. How is remote viewing possible without dependence on the visual cortex?
Q5. Returning to a socially engaged way of life, the qualities of relaxation, stability, and vividness will decline. Should we do intermittent short/long retreats for upkeep?
Q6. According to the Madhyamaka, rigpa and buddhanature are also empty, suggesting nihilism. Rigpa and ultimate reality are in some sense real, but if we say they are real, that may be construed as eternalism. Nihilism is more prevalent in the modern world, and of the two, eternalism appears less dangerous.
Q7. How should we plan practice at home? Should we maintain a weekly structure as we have here, or do whatever we feel like? Practice shouldn’t be just limited to shamatha.Meditation starts at 5: 35
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Teaching pt1. Alan completes the 2nd cycle on the 4 greats with great equanimity. Literally, it refers to freedom from attachment to the near and aversion to the far. There is nothing closer than our own awareness. Thogyal—direct crossing over or leaping over—means traversing the bhumis in leaps and bounds to complete enlightenment.
Meditation. Great equanimity preceded by mindfulness of the mind.
1) mindfulness of the mind. Let your mind release all thoughts about that which has already happened and not yet happened, and let your awareness dwell in the fleeting present moment. Awareness is still, naturally clear, and rest in the flow of knowing of being aware. Can you identify from where it emerges? If it doesn’t arise from anything, it is unborn. Can you identify where it is to be found? If it cannot be found, it is non-existent. Does awareness cease? If it does not cease, it is ceaseless. Rest in awareness that is unborn non-existent, and ceaseless.
2) great equanimity. From that perspective, inquire 1) why couldn’t all sentient beings dwell in great equanimity free from attachment to the near and aversion to the far? 2) May we all dwell in great equanimity. 3) I shall bring all beings to great equanimity. 4) May I receive blessings from all the enlightened ones and the guru to do so. With every in breath, blessings in the form of light come in from all directions. With every out breath, light of purification flows out in all directions, dispelling all obscurations.
Teaching pt2. Despite India’s unparalleled history in exploring the mind, modern scientific materialism has become the dominant paradigm in its leading institutions. Modern science lacks testable theories of the origin of the universe, the origin of life, and the origin of consciousness. The practices of shamatha, vipasyana, trekchö, and thogyal lead to direct experience of primordial consciousness and its energy, putting the following theories to the test. Does primordial consciousness give rise to substrate consciousness which in turn gives rise to individuated consciousness? Does the energy of primordial consciousness—non-dual from primordial consciousness—give rise to life? Does the dharmadhatu—also non-dual from primordial consciousness—give rise to the environment?Meditation starts at 7:30
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Teaching pt1: Alan gives his commentary on the section on mindfulness of phenomena in Ch. 13 of Shantideva’s Compendium of Practices. This section challenges our view that we’re leaving the Mind Center and returning to the mundane world. Contemplating phenomena as phenomena can be understood in terms of the 3 turnings of the wheel of dharma. In the 1st turning, we closely apply mindfulness to phenomena. Because phenomena deceive, the 2nd turning instructs viewing them as empty, illusion-like.
Meditation: Mindfulness of phenomena preceded by mindfulness of the mind. In the 3rd turning, buddha mind is omnipresent, there is no difference between your mind and dharmakaya, and all sentient beings have the potential for perfect awakening. The lattermost points to pure perception where there is nothing where the qualities of the buddhas cannot be found. Phenomena are devoid of klesas, for when we probe into their nature, the 3 poisons arise from the 3 qualities of the substrate consciousness or more deeply, the 5 poisons are in fact the 5 wisdoms of primordial consciousness. There is nothing that brings about phenomena points to the ultimate truth. There is nothing that arises without a cause points to the conventional truth. In this context, mindfulness means to bear in mind this way of viewing reality.
Meditation. Mindfulness of phenomena preceded by mindfulness of the mind.
1) mindfulness of the mind. Let you awareness walk the tightrope of the immediacy of the present moment. What is the nature of awareness? Can you find it? Can you observe it arising and passing? What’s the border between awareness and appearances?
2) mindfulness of phenomena. Direct your attention to the world of phenomena. Whatever comes to mind, distinguish between the basis of designation and your designation. The basis of designation is empty of designation. The basis of designation isn’t arising out there. All appearances are empty of their own identity, and emptiness is none other than the luminosity of all phenomena. Sustain this flow of knowing.
Teaching pt2: We’re bringing our practice to reality. When we have some wisdom of emptiness and yeshe intuiting the blessings of the buddhas, we can perceive phenomena to be saturated by the blessings of the buddhas. Alan recounts a series of extraordinary coincidences along his own path.Meditation starts at 55:22
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Teaching: Alan continues with verses 85-87 in Ch. 9 of the Bodhicaryavatara covering components of the body. Just as we examined the body, we now examine parts of the body, going all the way down to the atomic level. As long as something has attributes, it can be divided further. The Vaibashika view contends that while we view the world with our senses and that configurations depend on our way of perceiving, atoms are truly existent. The Madhyamika view understands dependent origination as follows: 1) conditioned phenomena arise in dependence on prior causes and conditions, 2) parts and attributes, and 3) conceptual designations. The Dalai Lama says that which you’re pointing your finger at and holding to be already out there from its own side does not exist in that way. In the dzogchen view, dharmadhatu, primordial consciousness, and energy of primordial consciousness are all co-extensive. Perhaps it is possible to arrive at this one reality via different doors—e.g., probing matter, probing space, or probing the mind.
Meditation: mindfulness of the body. Attend to the 5 elements in the space of your body. Open your eyes, and see the form of your body. Note the difference between the tactile and visual perceptions. Apart from these tactile and visual perceptions, is there anything else of the body you can perceive? These perceptions are arising and dissolving either in the space of the body (tactile) or the space of the mind (visual). What do you think of as “my body” among all these perceptions? As in the Heart Sutra, form is emptiness, and emptiness is form. Appearances are mere appearances that arise from and dissolve into space. Appearances consist of space. Appearances are none other than space which is empty. Release the conceptual designation “my body” and rest in the realm of appearances, which are the basis for designation yet empty.
Q1. For me, lucid dreaming starts with me being aware that I’m asleep (body is paralyzed). As the dreamscape begins to unfold, I’m not sure how best to make use of this opportunity.
Q2. This is a question about emptiness and atoms. While people may question the reality that arises to meet them, interdependence makes classical reality true for all of us within the same quantum system.
Q3. In Ven. Analayo’s book on the satipatthana sutta, he covers the dry insight approach which dispenses with shamatha and describes sati as attacking an object like a stone hitting the wall which sounds like it requires a lot of effort.
Q4. There are claims of people achieving multiple dhyanas or offering 1-2 week retreats to move through all the dhyanas. From your perspective, you seem sceptical of these claims. Do such people have experiences which somehow match the dhyanas, or are there references to dhyanas with lower levels of realization?Meditation starts at 40:19
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Great compassion is the principal practice of the 4 greats. Alan continues with great loving-kindness.
Meditation. Great loving-kindness. Visualize the primordial buddha Samantabhadra, deep-blue in color. From now until perfect awakening, take refuge in Samantabhadra, the dharma revealed by all the buddhas, and the sangha of vidyadharas. At the crown of your head, Samantabhadra melts into light, streams down your central channel, and reforms at your heart chakra, merging with your body, speech, and mind. 1) Why couldn’t we all find perfect happiness and its causes? Each one of us has pristine awareness, the cause, and are awaiting the contributing circumstances. 2) May we find perfect happiness and its causes. With out breath, light from Samantabhadra at your heart chakra spreads in all directions, leading each sentient being to fulfillment. With every out breath, arouse the intention 3) May I lead every sentient being to perfect happiness and its causes, and imagine each one finding perfect awakening. 4) May the gurus and the buddhas bless me, so that I may be enabled. With every in breath, light from all enlightened beings come in from all directions. With every out breath, light flows out to all sentient beings.
Teaching. Qualified teachers of the Mahayana and Vajrayana usually say that one needs a lot of merit in order to achieve shamatha. This is true. However, we shouldn’t think that we don’t have enough merit, so it’s not worth trying. As Dromtönpa said, give up all attachment to this life and let your mind become dharma. While you are actually cultivating shamatha and practicing the 4 immeasurables, you are accumulating merit.Meditation starts at 04:40
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Teaching pt1: Alan gives his and the Dalai Lama’s commentary on the section on mindfulness of phenomena in verses 105-112 of Ch. 9 of Shantideva’s Bodhicaryavatara. Just as the mind does not come into existence, in the same way, we come to certainty that no phenomenon comes into existence. That which we perceive cannot be more real than our perception of it. Two objections are discussed. 1) If conventional truth doesn’t exist, then does nothing exist at all? If phenomena are just apparitions to a confused mind, then wouldn’t whatever anyone says be true? According to the Madhyamaka, entities and non-entities (e.g., a rabbit’s horn) are both conceptual designations—i.e., neither exists from its own side—but entities i) have causal efficacy and ii) can be established by verifiable cognition (incl. both perception and understanding). The mind which conceives and the object conceived are simultaneously interdependent, so neither is inherently real. An action depends on an agent, and an agent depends on an action. 2) Wouldn’t the analysis of that which is analyzed lead to infinite regression? Awareness that apprehends the emptiness of an entity is focused on emptiness, not the entity. Inverting the analysis upon awareness, one establishes that awareness is empty and emptiness is empty. There is nothing more to analyze.
Meditation: Mindfulness of phenomena preceded by mindfulness of the mind.
1) mindfulness of the mind. Let your eyes be open, gaze rested evenly. Simply be present without distraction, without grasping. Withdraw attention from all appearances and rest in the knowing of being aware. Probe into the nature of awareness. What is the thing that performs functions such as being still or following after an object and has these attributes of luminosity and cognizance? Can you find this awareness separated from all appearances? Know that absence and sustain that flow of knowing.
2) mindfulness of phenomena. Return your attention to objects of the 6 sense domains. Focus on one object, and probe its nature. What is really there from its own side? Rest in emptiness and sustain that flow of knowing
Teaching pt2: Alan speaks about William James who understood that introspection was the first and foremost method for the scientific inquiry of the mind. Although his vision has been ignored by much of the modern mind sciences, the contemplative observatory in Bangalore will offer a setting for contemplative knowing to engage with modern scientific knowledge.Meditation starts at 57:03
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Teaching. Alan continues the series on the 4 greats with great empathetic joy. When you become lucid in a dream, happiness arises from knowing reality as it is. As long as you remain lucid, nothing in the dream can cause suffering. Therefore, the instruction is to stay lucid by not losing the recognition of the dream as a dream. Shamatha helps you sustain lucidity. Vipasyana counters our ingrained tendency to reify everything. When you break through the substrate consciousness to primordial consciousness, the instruction is similar: don’t lose the recognition by sustaining the view of rigpa. There is nothing else to do.
Meditation. Great empathetic joy. Let your awareness permeate the space of the body and come to rest in the immediacy of the present moment. In the space before you, visualize Samantabhadra, the personification of your own primordial awareness, deep blue in color and radiating a sapphire light. Take refuge in the primordial buddha Samantabhadra, the dharma of all the buddhas, and the sangha of vidyadharas. Samantabhadra comes to the crown of your head, dissolves into indigo light, flows the your central channel, and reforms at your heart chakra. Your own body, speech, and mind become indivisible with Samantabhadra. Light permeates the space of your body and your empty mind. From this perspective, inquire 1) why couldn’t all sentient beings never be parted from happiness free of suffering? Arouse the aspiration 2) may we never be parted from such well-being. Arouse the intention 3) as long as space remains, as long as time remains, I shall do whatever is needed to bring this about. 4) May I receive blessings from the guru Samantabhadra and all the enlightened ones to carry through. With every in breath, light from all the buddhas flow in from all directions, saturating your being and purifying all negativities. With every out breath, light flows out in all directions, dispelling all negativities and doing whatever is needed to bring all sentient beings to lasting happiness without suffering.Meditation starts at 13:21
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Teaching pt1: Alan completes his commentary on the section on mindfulness of the mind in Ch. 13 of Shantideva’s Compendium of Practices. The mind is not really seen anywhere—e.g., inside, outside, in the skandhas, in the elements, etc... From what does the mind arise? Does the mind arise from an object? If so, are they the same or other? Mind cannot see itself just as a blade cannot cut itself. Ordinary mind is never still, being conscious of one thing after another. A stable mind is still, single-pointed, not agitated, not scattered, single-pointedly quiescent, and free of distraction. One should dedicate oneself to purifying the mind which also purifies the body and the environment. One should always retain the ultimate reality of the mind—i.e., mind is like an illusion. Whenever you experience attachment or aversion, probe right into the referent, since klesas are rooted in reification of the object. Whenever your mind is tormenting you, look for it, and see that it is not there.
Meditation: Mindfulness of the mind preceded by mindfulness of breathing at the nostrils.
1) mindfulness of breathing. Let your awareness illuminate the space of the body, especially the sensations associated with the breath. Focus on the sensations of the breath at the nostrils. From there, give increasing attention to the space of the mind, until all your attention is focused on the impure mind.
2) mindfulness of the mind. Where is this impure mind? Do you see it? From what does it arise? Invert your awareness on the subject who is inquiring. Is the mind still or in motion? If the mind is in motion, where does it come from, and where is it going? Rest in the emptiness and luminosity of your own awareness free of concepts.
Teaching pt2: Atisha commented, “Achieve stability, and let the mystery be revealed.” Shamatha cultivates the unflickering flame of awareness that investigates its own nature.
Q1. Can the arts be a way to introduce buddhist teachings?
Q2. In settling the mind, are feelings mental states associated with physical sensations? I find myself attending to both feelings and physical sensations, since it’s easier to detect feelings via physical sensations.
Q3. Is it possible to recognize an emotion before it is manifest in the body? If so, is this a sign of clarity?Meditation starts at 36:15
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Teaching pt1. Alan continues the series on the 4 greats with great loving-kindness. Hedonic well-being is important, and the understanding of cause and effect in the natural world by modern science has made important contributions. In union with shamatha, knowing reality as it is through the wisdom of dependent origination and emptiness leads to durable eudaimonia.
Meditation. Great loving-kindness preceded by mindfulness of the body and the mind.
1) mindfulness of the body. Seated on its throne, awareness illuminates the space of the body and appearances therein. Closely apply mindfulness to the body, withholding all concepts and labels. The appearances are empty of concepts, empty of the body. Sustain the flow of mindful knowing without distractions, without grasping.
2) mindfulness of the mind. With your eyes open, direct awareness to the space of the mind and mental events, withholding conceptual designations. They are empty of concepts, empty of the mind. Withdraw the light of awareness from all appearances and turn it onto itself. Attend closely to awareness in the present moment. Where is awareness to be found? It is unfindable, unknowable, empty.
3) great loving-kindness. Turn your awarenss outwards. All sentient beings have primordial consciousness, so 1) why couldn’t we all find happiness and the causes of happiness? 2) May we all find happiness and its causes. 3) May I lead each one to happiness and its causes. 4) May I receive blessings from the guru and all the enlightened ones to do so. With every in breath, light comes in from all sides, filling your body and mind. With every out breath, that light flows out in all directions, leading each sentient to their own awakening.
Teaching pt2. While in retreat, we’ve been breathing in meditative equipoise. As we leave retreat, we need to breath out the 4 immeasurables, especially when reality is not dishing out the circumstances for shamatha. Dharma practice requires balance, and we need to be able to respond to reality with great mental suppleness.Meditation starts at 5:10
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Teaching pt1: Alan begins his commentary on the section on mindfulness of the mind in Ch. 13 of Shantideva’s Compendium of Practices. Where is the mind that becomes attached, hateful, or deluded? It has no location, basis, or form. The mind is not seen by any of the buddhas. The mind is like an illusion because it apprehends events with unreal projections. Even though one looks for the mind everywhere, it is not to be found. This means it is unobservable which means it doesn’t arise in the 3 times which means it transcends the 3 times which means it is neither existent nor non-existent. The same holds for rigpa which is beyond conceptualization.
Meditation: Mindfulness of the mind preceded by settling the mind.
1) settling the mind. Let your eyes be open with a vacant gaze. Turning away from the 5 sensory domains, direct your attention to the mental domain. Observe the space of the mind and all mental events arising therein illuminated by awareness holding its own ground. Sustain the flow of mindfulness without distraction, without grasping.
2) mindfulness of the mind. Is there any stable or unchanging? Are mental events intrisically the source of happiness or suffering? Is there anything here which is intrinsically mine? Is there anything here that is really mind? Is it anywhere to be found? Mind that is nowhere to be found nor has any attributes is empty. Rest in the emptiness of your own mind.
Teaching pt2: Paranormal abilities are cited as the 4 legs of miraculous activity attained within the first yoga of single-pointedness.
Q1. What is the difference between the space of the mind when it’s still and awareness of awareness? There is nothing there in either, so can we speak of vacuity? Is it transparent and spacious?
Q2. How long does it take to get to each stage in shamatha and maintain it? Once shamatha has been attained, how to maintain it?
Q3. In awareness of awareness, do the eyes focus on the space before us?
Q4. How can we relate to others experiencing the wrath of samsara?
Q5. In the 4 immeasurables, the visualization and aspiration require effort and don’t work when I’m relaxed.Meditation starts at 31:15
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Teaching. Alan repeats the series on the 4 greats, starting with great compassion. Focusing on the cause of suffering, we have experienced during the retreat that the mind caught up in rumination is very vulnerable to suffering. Mind is beaten up by samsara. Without shamatha, the mind is dysfunctional. When the mind is able to rest in the substrate, there is no blatant suffering. The proper way to view shamatha is not as an end itself, but as an on-ramp to the path of awakening.
Meditation. Great compassion preceded by settling body, speech, and mind.
1) settling body, speech, and mind. Let your awareness illuminate the space of the body, without entering into the body. Relinquish all control over the breath, releasing all thoughts with every out breath. Simply observe the flow of the breath. In the spirit of renunciation, let awareness be still in the present moment.
2) great compassion. Turn your awarenss outwards. Inquire 1) why couldn’t we all be free from suffering and the causes of suffering? All sentient beings have substrate consciousness. 2) May we realize this freedom. 3) May I free each one. 4) May I receive blessings from the guru and all the enlightened ones to do so. With every in breath, light comes in from all directions, empowering you to fulfill your aspiration. With every out breath, that light flows out in all directions, freeing each sentient being you encounter.Meditation starts at 03:40
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Teaching pt1: Alan continues with verses 104-105 of Ch. 9 of Shantideva’s Bodhicaryavatara. Since awareness cannot precede, co-occur, nor follow the object of awareness, awareness is not inherently real. Similarly, no phenomenon comes into (inherent) existence. Inherently existent phenomena cannot causally interact with anything. Only conventionally does awareness arise in dependence on an object.
Alan talks about the entry point of the 5 paths and 10 bhumis as outlined in Asanga’s Abisamaya Alankara and summarized into the 4 yogas of Mahamudra in Karma Chagme’s Union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen.
Shamatha is the first step on the yoga of single-pointedness. The 4 applications of mindfulness brings you from earth-like bodhicitta to gold-like bodhicitta. Shamatha is the on-ramp to the bodhisattvayana.
Meditation: Mindfulnes of the mind preceded by awareness of awareness.
1) awareness of awareness. Settle the mind in the immediacy of the present moment. With every out breath, release awareness into space without an object. With every in breath, awareness converges on itself for an unelaborated experience of being aware. There is nothing to think about. Just taste it continually.
2) mindfulness of the mind. While you may have the sense that mind is empty, how about awareness which seems really there? Does awareness have attributes? Is it static? Does it have the quality of knowing? Luminosity and clarity? Is awareness still? What is the nature of awareness with these attributes? What is the distinction between awareness and non-awareness? Awareness and appearances? Rest non-conceptually in knowing emptiness of awareness—emptiness by nature luminous, luminosity by nature empty.
Teaching pt2: Alan describes the development of ESP and other paranormal abilities. In the Theravada, paranormal abilities require realizing the dhyanas for each element. In the Mahayana, paranormal abilities appear in the first two paths through the union of shamatha and vipasyana on the nature of awareness.meditation starts at: 55:00
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Teaching pt1. Alan continues with the series on the 4 greats with great equanimity. There’s a similar liturgy beginning with 1) why couldn’t all sentient beings abide in great equanimity free from attachment to those who are close and aversion to those who are far? There are various levels of equanimity. In settling the mind, still awareness and a lack of preference for all arisings are crucial for the mind to settle in its natural state. If you respond with anything other than equanimity, you are not doing the practice. In vipasyana, subjective awareness itself is established as empty as are the appearances arising to the mind and their referents. In dzogchen, samsara and nirvana are not only equally empty but equally pure and equally expressions of rigpa.
Meditation. Great equanimity. Let your awareness illuminate the space of the body and the space of the mind. Your body is neither the space nor the sensations, either individually or collectively. Rest in the emptiness of your body. Your mind is neither the space nor the mental events, either individually or collectively. Rest in the emptiness of your mind. If your subjective mind is empty, so are all the sense objects out there. Rest in the emptiness of the environment. Release all grasping, and let your awareness come to rest in its ground state. Imagine pristine awareness as an orb of light at your heart chakra. Inquire 1) why couldn’t all sentient beings abide in great equanimity free from attachment to those who are close and aversion to those who are far? Arouse the aspiration 2) may we all abide in great equanimity. Arouse the intention 3) I shall do it. 4) May I receive blessings from all the enlightened ones to do so. With every in breath, blessings in the form of light come in from all directions. With every out breath, that light flows out in all directions.
Teaching pt2. Imperturbability, equanimity, and balance are signs that your practice is working.
Those in long-term shamatha retreat have a clear preference for a good environment. Equanimity is dharma practice, not just shamatha practice, and we should develop equanimity towards all appearances (mind, body, and environment). It’s about the quality of awareness we bring to reality, not the quality of the experience rising to meet us.Meditation starts at: 11:55
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Teaching pt1: Alan revisits the 3rd application of mindfulness to the mind. Mindfulness means recollection. Here, we are taking the impure mind as the object of investigation. Specifically, we are examining the reified sense of “my mind”. Alan continues with verses 102-103 of Ch. 9 of Shantideva’s Bodhicaryavatara. The mind is not located in the sense faculties, sense objects, nor in between. It is nowhere to be found. Therefore, it is non-existent. As this impure mind which keeps us in samsara is actually non-existent, we sentient beings are by nature liberated. Realizing the empty nature of your own mind is realizing nirvana.
Alan gives instructions on gentle vase breathing which is an optional accompaniment to settling the mind. Practice this only in the upright position. Keeping your respiration natural, use a teaspoon of effort to maintain the roundness of the belly during both in and out breaths. Eventually, you will be able to do this on auto-pilot and direct your full attention to the space of the mind.
Meditation: Mindfulnes of the mind preceded by settling the mind.
1) settling the mind. Let the breath flow naturally, and experiment with gentle vase breathing. When the belly expands with the in breath, hold the roundness, and let the breath flow out naturally. Open your eyes, and direct the full force of mindfulness to the space of the mind and its contents.
2) mindfulness of the mind. Hold in mind that which you grasp onto as your mind. Can you find it in the body, in objects, in the space of the mind, or in mental events? If the mind is still, do you still have a mind? Investigate the mind as a whole and parts. How does the mind arise? Do mental events have inherent nature? Do the most elemental components of the mind has their own attributes? The mind is empty. The appearances are empty. Emptiness is nirvana waiting to be unveiled.
Q1. What are the 2 kinds of composites?
Q2. When the counterpart sign arises, initially it is difficult to sustain. Is this due to absence of mindfulness? Should we invert consciousness upon itself to access the counterpart sign, or should we dwell in the substrate and wait for it to reappear?
Q3. How does the acquired sign appear?Meditation starts at 40:00
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Teaching pt1. Alan continues with the series on the 4 greats with great empathetic joy. Unlike empathetic joy in the Pali canon, great empathetic joy is an aspiration. There’s a similar liturgy. 1) Why couldn’t all sentient beings never be parted from happiness free of suffering? This doesn’t refer to hedonic pleasure but eudaimonia. It also refers to freedom from all three kinds of suffering. 2) May we all never be parted from happiness free of suffering. 3) I shall do it. 4) May I receive blessings from all the enlightened ones to do so.
Meditation. Great empathetic joy. Let your awareness illuminate the space of the body and the space of the mind. The human body is imputed upon the appearances within the space of the body, and the human mind upon the appearances within the space of the mind. Yet these appearances are empty of body and mind. Imagine pristine awareness as an orb of light at your heart chakra. Withdraw all appearances into this orb, and reimagine your human form as transparent, radiant light with the nature of Avalokiteshvara. Inquire 1) Why couldn’t all sentient beings never be parted from happiness free of suffering? What would be needed to bring this about? Arouse the aspiration 2) may we all never be parted from happiness free of suffering. Arouse the intention from your pristine awareness 3) I shall do it. 4) May I receive blessings from all the enlightened ones to do so. With every in breath, blessings in the form of light come in from all directions and fill your body. With every out breath, light flows out in all directions, bringing sentient beings to happiness without suffering.
Teaching pt2. Try to achieve a smooth transition between meditation sessions and post-meditation sessions. In between sessions, act as an illusory being. This instruction helps withdraw reification of body and mind.Meditation starts at 8:15
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