Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat podcast

#Religion #Science #Buddhism #Shamatha #Four #Meditation #Podcasting Education #Social Sciences #Thanyapura Mind Centre #Immeasurable

26:46

For many travelers, Antarctica is a bucket-list destination, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to touch all seven continents. In 2023, a record-breaking 100,000 tourists made the trip. But the journey begs a fundamental question: What do we risk by traveling to a place that is supposed to be uninhabited by humans? And as the climate warms, should we really be going to Antarctica in the first place? SHOW NOTES: Kara Weller: The Impossible Dilemma of a Polar Guide Marilyn Raphael: A twenty-first century structural change in Antarctica’s sea ice system Karl Watson: First Time in Antarctica Jeb Brooks : 7 Days in Antarctica (Journey to the South Pole) Metallica - Freeze 'Em All: Live in Antarctica Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices…

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

Поширити

Головна серій•Feed

Spring 2012 shamatha retreat audio teachings with Alan Wallace. Live from the Thanyapura Mind Centre in Phuket, Thailand.

94 епізодів

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

updated 13 років тому

Поширити

Головна серій•Feed

Spring 2012 shamatha retreat audio teachings with Alan Wallace. Live from the Thanyapura Mind Centre in Phuket, Thailand.

94 епізодів

#Religion #Science #Buddhism #Shamatha #Four #Meditation #Podcasting Education #Social Sciences #Thanyapura Mind Centre #Immeasurable

Усі епізоди

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
94 Loving-Kindness. Q&A 35:28

13 years тому35:28

35:28

Aspiring for genuine happiness. Unguided meditation not included. Q&A What do i have to do to achieve stage 4 outside of retreat? What does full enlightenment mean?

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
93 Practice in the Spirit of Loving-Kindess, Q&A 1:40:45

13 years тому1:40:45

1:40:45

We proceed directly into meditation with loving kindness for ourself, then spend the remaining time with Q&A. Q&A (at 24:51) * Subtlety of subjectivity in lucid dreams. * Achieving shamatha while dreaming. * Sleep paralysis and false awakenings. * What is deja vu? * Relevance of learning the Tibetan language today. * Unpacking the terms "reality-based" and "let reality rise up to meet you."…

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
92 Morning Q&A 1:04:01

13 years тому1:04:01

1:04:01

We are encouraged to practice the four immeasurables in a spirit of looking back on our retreat and broader past. Then we receive advice around the question, "How do we prepare for death when we have months, days, hours, seconds?" (27:19)

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
91 Practice in the Spirit of Loving-Kindness. Q&A 1:06:45

13 years тому1:06:45

1:06:45

Enter your practice in the spirit of loving-kindness, particularly when the mind is prone to rumination. Consider the analogy of the horse saved from a burning barn, scared and frantic—never would you be hard on such a horse, it needs only gentle kindness. Only this brief but essential advice tonight, before we practice and open the floor to questions. Q&A * As an aid in settling the mind in its natural state, which types of mental events can be generated to find the space of the mind? * Recommended dzogchen reading. * When expanding awareness in the four directions, must it be returned to center? * Nyam, flashbacks, and the placebo effect.…

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
90 Morning Q&A 35:53

13 years тому35:53

35:53

How to help people ? What aspects of dharma speak of developing these abilities and is there a first aid guide for specific ailments ?

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
89 A wellspring of good advice 1:43:58

13 years тому1:43:58

1:43:58

Our shamatha practice can help keep us cognitively tuned while back in the big world, even if we can only practice briefly during the day. In times when we are fatigued from stress, full-body awareness in the shavasana pose is the most healing; on brimful days when the mind is agitated, mindfulness of breathing can bring the best benefit; when we're more relaxed and grounded, settling the mind in its natural state or awareness of awareness can be the tonic that enriches our lives. Alan gives us 'le grande tour' of the paths available in dharma; how buddhahood can be attained by various combinations of realizing emptiness and rigpa, cultivating bodhicitta, samadhi, and different options and complements of the practices. Silent meditation 45:38 Q&A 01:10:40 * Techniques to calm the pranas in preparation for meditation. * Distinction between attachment and commitment. * Drug use for spiritual gain.…

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
88 The Four Immeasurables 35:54

13 years тому35:54

35:54

Alan explains why the four immeasurables build a perfect system by each backing up one of the others. Silent meditation

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
87 Awareness of Awareness (4) 1:35:27

13 years тому1:35:27

1:35:27

We expand upon the two methods given by Panchen Lama Rinpoche of managing incoming thoughts: in the first, after flicking an arrow of thought, what remains in its place is awareness—a knowing devoid of thought. It's as if you get your own built-in dzogchen master. Phet! In the second method, letting thoughts arise and evaporate, you begin to perceive all thoughts, your body, and awareness itself as empty and identityless. It is said, while in between sessions, one should act as an illusory being. Though we dismiss thoughts as unwanted, we must be thankful for they provide the whetstone with which we sharpen the stability and vividness of our awareness. When people and events of the outer world come and go just as thoughts, we can be grateful too for their contribution to our practice. Silent meditation at 30:20 Q&A at 55:41 * Distinguishing between awareness of awareness and settling the mind in its natural state. * Introspection in awareness of awareness. * When the distracting thought is a mantra. * Defining locality in awareness of awareness. * Resting without thoughts and a subtle thought stream. * Awareness (vidya) vs. consciousness (jñana, vijñana) vs. mind (citta). * Subject and object in awareness.…

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
86 Equanimity 10:10

13 years тому10:10

10:10

Alan gives the remaining two of Buddhaghosa's fourfold analyses of the four immeasurables, those of empathetic joy and of equanimity. The analyses consist of the false facsimile, the diametric opposite, the immediate catalyst, and the sign of success of each quality. Silent meditation not included.

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
85 Awareness of Awareness (3) 1:37:11

13 years тому1:37:11

1:37:11

When performed in the method described by Panchen Lama Rinpoche of letting thoughts emerge and dissolve on their own like a raven on a ship, awareness of awareness qualifies as a practice of shamatha, vipassana, and dzogchen. The latter two require a supplementation of theory and view, but the practice is pertinent to all three and in its polyvalence can contribute to the deep shift in perspective yielded by each. Confidence of correct practice is essential, strengthened by realizations asserted by the experience of a diminishing of the five obscurations. Doing practice that produces pragmatic benefits which linger for weeks or years gives this perfect confidence. Silent Meditation starts at 45:00 Part 2 starts at 01:09:56 No Q&A session tonight.…

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
84 Great Equanimity (1) 11:05

13 years тому11:05

11:05

Alan elaborates the four modes of enlightened activities: 1. Pacifying color white 2. Enriching color gold 3. Power color red 4. Ferocity color blue Silent Meditation

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
83 Awareness of Awareness 1:07:40

13 years тому1:07:40

1:07:40

The stillness experienced in awareness of awareness is due to the absence of grasping. In sustaining this awareness we are observing nothing other than the substrate consciousness itself, though veiled by the course mind. Compare this to the possibility of observing rigpa while practicing dzogchen's open presence meditation. We may then know reality is not like a dream, but is a dream; nothing existing from its own side, objectively or subjectively. Q&A * Advice on effectively helping self absorbed complainers. * Comparing Hinayana with Theravada and Mahayana. * The feasibility of doing a one-year shamatha retreat. * Practicing gratefulness. * Which variety of awareness of awareness to practice in a personal retreat. * Does one realize any emptiness by achieving the first jhana?…

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
82 Great Empathetic Joy 14:23

13 years тому14:23

14:23

While attending to sentient beings always think... It's because of you're kindness that i have the opportunity to achieve enlightenment.

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
81 Awareness of Awareness 1:35:49

13 years тому1:35:49

1:35:49

As if we've become disciples in the 17th century, this evening we listen to the 4th Panchen Lama Rinpoche's teachings on awareness of awareness. Alan reads this translation to exemplify the uniformity through the ages of these acultural teachings. Silent Meditation at 40:14 Q&A (1:06:32) * Evaluating one's authentic motivation. * How rigpa relates to karma's influence of substrate consciousness. * How hell realms exist. * Practices for redeeming transgressions.…

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
80 Empathetic Joy 12:11

13 years тому12:11

12:11

May we be a light that inspires others to draw on their own inner resources! Silent meditation not included.

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
79 Settling the Mind in its Natural State (3) 1:28:58

13 years тому1:28:58

1:28:58

In settling the mind in its natural state we seek to emulate viewing the substrate from the perspective of the substrate consciousness as a cognizant, luminous and unmediated experience of mental phenomenon. On this path we'll notice thoughts and images carry our attention away less often when they do not have an emotional counterpart; feelings and emotions have a strong draw to cognitive fusion. If we keep a spaciousness in our awareness larger than the emotions and feelings that arise, entanglement can be avoided. Whether the emotion is hostility, anger, anxiety, craving or bliss and pleasure, they can be allowed to arise and experienced without grasping or reification. This practice trains us to recognize emotions in our daily interactions, and allows us the space to respond wisely. After the meditation Alan recontextualizes his comments about dzogchen's open presence meditation from a previous podcast, lest it be mistaken that it is only for the advanced practitioner; we learn how to begin planting the seeds of dzogchen practice even as beginners. Silent meditation starts at 32:49 - 57:50 Q&A * Comparing the substrate with Jung's subconscious. * Rumination cockroaches come out after the lights go out.…

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
78 Compassion (3) 26:47

13 years тому26:47

26:47

Silent meditation

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
77 Settling The MInd in it's Natural State 1:17:06

13 years тому1:17:06

1:17:06

In settling the mind in its natural state, by observing mental events without taking interest in their contents we develop a familiarity with their essential nature. By this we receive the benefit of gaining a nonconceptual certainty that nothing in the mind can inflict harm on us, and if strong emotions arise they do not elicit a refractory period. It has also said knowing the essential nature of mental events is the basis for all samadhis. Before the meditation Alan also gives an introduction to the technique of gentle vase breathing. Q&A * How to analyze the nature of mind. * Insights in settling the mind in its natural state. * The mind is not a polygon. * Maintaining cognizance of awareness in settling the mind in its natural state. * Having preferences in settling the mind in its natural state. * Finding the origins of somatic correlates.…

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
76 Compassion Reflecting on Our Self-Centeredness 18:22

13 years тому18:22

18:22

Silent Meditation Not Included

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
75 Settling the Mind in its Natural State 1:32:32

13 years тому1:32:32

1:32:32

We begin tonight by reading an excerpt by Düdjom Lingpa describing the dzogchen practice of open presence and discussing its similitude to settling the mind in its natural state. The illusions of a lucid dream are analogous to the empty appearances of mental phenomena when settling the mind which in turn is a microcosm of the immeasurably deeper open presence practice and recognizing pristine awareness in the emptiness of all phenomenon. Silent meditation from 40:02 - 1:04:40, then Q&A. Q&A * The fast-track helicopter method of entering into meditation. * Om mani padme hum and Newt Gingrich. * Judging nonsectarian bare attention mindfulness meditation.…

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
74 Compassion - Focused on Our Blatant Suffering 57:30

13 years тому57:30

57:30

Alan reviews the nature of mental suffering and the strategies for dealing with it in each of the three methods of Shamatha. Silent meditation 23:17 — 48:30. Also, a talk about the ease of retrieving Shamatha-related skills, though they may seem to deteriorate; the "best friends" of the four immeasurables; and our capacities for discursive meditations, including the "hired guns" of intelligence, imagination, creativity, and concentration.…

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
73 Mindfulness of Breathing (3) 1:07:10

13 years тому1:07:10

1:07:10

Like an old friend, mindfulness of the sensations of the breath at the apertures of the nostrils, with its gentle undulations, makes us feel at home and flush with well-being. It is a marvelous compliment to the more stirring effects of settling the mind and awareness of awareness. Little is said about the practice before we begin. Q&A * In a beginningless universe, shouldn't all beings be enlightened? * Settling the mind in its natural state and multiple lucid dreamers. * Classic yidam practices, balancing with shamatha, and three-year retreats. * Maintaining shamatha. * A reality where Padmasambhava is born from a lotus.…

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
72 Loving-Kindness (3) 13:16

13 years тому13:16

13:16

Metta bhavana as taught by the Buddha. Silent meditation not included

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
71 Mindfulness of Breathing (2) 1:04:38

13 years тому1:04:38

1:04:38

Being mindful of the sensations of the breath at the abdomen can result in a eudaemonic contentment if we release craving for more stimulating pleasures, and simply enjoy watching our body unravel energetically. In this flow, we can progress to the fourth stage of shamatha. It can help our practice to retain the same contentment when we are off the meditation cushion, while bringing ourselves replete to the world. The substrate consciousness, a storehouse of memories and karmic seeds, does not appear brimming with these things when we can finally observe it upon achieving shamatha. Is it because these things are dormant? Or are they nonexistent from a relative perspective? In what way does the information of our mindstream persist? When we are able to rest in the pure cognizance of awareness do we know it to exist in its own right outside of any cognitive framework? Alan attends to these questions with glee.…

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
70 Loving-Kindness (2) 8:23

13 years тому8:23

8:23

The meditative cultivation of loving kindness as taught in the Visuddhimagga by Bhadantacariya Buddhaghosa. Silent meditation not included

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
69 Settling Body, Speech, and Mind in Their Natural State 1:36:01

13 years тому1:36:01

1:36:01

With a new cycle we return to settling the body, speech, and mind in their natural states. In the Vajra Essence, Düdjom Lingpa intimates shamatha can be achieved simply by fully releasing the body, speech, and mind. When we remove all activity, our mind naturally gravitates into alignment, the pranas equalizing into the central channel. But in order to allow this a solid dharma practice alone is not sufficient; we must have a conducive environment, lifestyle, and community. This is especially true when going into a solitary shamatha retreat, which requires having few activities, pure ethics, a release of rumination, and importantly, having few desires and being content (to avoid living the parable of the elephant and the cat). Q&A * The four jhanas and the experiences to expect after attaining shamatha. * Comparing the bliss of shamatha with that of tummo. Meditation begins at 30:07 Q&A Begins at 1:09:01…

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
68 Loving-Kindness 33:30

13 years тому33:30

33:30

We review loving-kindness' distant enemy, false facsimile, proximate cause, and sign of success. What is your vision of your own flourishing? Silent meditation begins at 8:55

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
67 Awareness of Awareness 1:27:12

13 years тому1:27:12

1:27:12

Tonight we plunge right into the practice of awareness of awareness, with the variant of stretching in four directions. Then we discuss the value of familiarizing oneself with awareness, as a portal to the greater depths of wisdom and virtue. Q&A * Cognition fused with dullness in settling the mind in its natural state. * Are the Buddha's teachings that resulted in spontaneous nirvana related to taking the result as the path? * Could there be a benefit to inducing fainting safely? * The method of probing in awareness of awareness. * Dredging the psyche in awareness of awareness. * The briefest moments of experience in awareness of awareness. * Aversion to giving attention and the need for forbearance.…

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
66 Great Equanimity (2) 55:55

13 years тому55:55

55:55

Might it be that when our resolve is to realize genuine happiness for the sake of all beings we may have confidence and trust that reality rises up to meet us day by day moment by moment? Meditation starts at 31:23

Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

1
65 Mindfulness of Breathing 1:28:47

13 years тому1:28:47