Alan Wallace Shamatha Teachings Fall 2010

Alan begins this session with an inspirational story about one of his foremost teachers, Geshe Rabten. This humble lama, who had completed years of scholarly work and consultation studies with the Dalai Lama, found true contentment in life as he meditated under a simple rock shelf. His dedication to this single pointed purpose demonstrates a shining example of loving-kindness as a practice. “Dharma”, Alan says, ”is Bodhicitta. We must meditate on it, cultivate it, and then allow it to flow through us.” This is the dance between the Four Immeasurables and Shamatha practice. Their integration will facilitate us on our path to liberation: “Shamatha is in the service of the Four Immeasurables.”

The deepest level of suffering is caused by the three poisons, particularly the grasping to “I am.” While the “message of modernity” is that suffering is inescapable during life, Buddha’s message is that suffering will in fact cease if we attend to its source. To do this we must face our self-grasping. Lucid dreaming is the closest analogy to abandoning the ignorance of self-grasping.

You may feel a recurrent pressure during this retreat, as if something is holding you back. This is a good sign! It means you are waking up from ignorance. Shamatha pulls off the layers, forcing us to face the clinging to “me,” the “urge to become,” and to our brand new Honda (Alan’s story is quite funny).

Food suggestions and headache remedies: Alan recommends books on Tibetan medicine, “Healing from the Source” (Dhonden) and “The Quintessence Tantras of Tibetan Medicine” (Barry). Alan also discusses a question regarding Shamatha experience within the Dzogchen view.

In the intro, Alan explained the difference between the space of the mind with its 6 fields of experience (dharmadatu) and ultimate reality, nirvana, emptiness, absolute space of phenomena (dharmata). Like Dudjom Rimpoche said: dharmakaya it’s the nature of your own mind. He goes from that and when he talks about open presence, “if excitation arises, then loosen up, if laxity arises, then focus more clearly”. So, within Dzogchen is it possible to take emptiness (sunyata, dharmata), as the object of your Shamatha meditation? The answer is yes, it is hard (you are taking nirvana as your object of meditation), but it is possible. But with the meditation in emptiness you can also achieve relaxation, stability and vividness. All the space between thoughts can be called, in this case, rigpa.

Good Morning to All Shamatha Minded Sentient Beings,

This morning Alan went into more detail on settling the mind in its natural state. He opened with a quote from Dujom Rinpoche. “Whatever comes up in the mind don’t apply any antidote.” ( while doing Settling the Mind in its Natural State). He also talked about having confidence in oneself and having a balanced mind. We reviewed the 5 Obscurations and the antidotes for them. And then, how being present, relaxation, and looseness are essential for a sense of well being during meditation. At the end, he cleared up an analogy he had told about the maras that he was concerned was misleading.

Alan’s closing is “Enjoy Your Day”!

Darlene

This morning we began the cycle of Settling the Mind in its Natural state following the instructions that the Buddha gave to Bahia “In the seen let just the seen be…” “In the heard let just the heard be”,” In the mentally perceived let just be the mentally perceived…” So we don’t elaborate or label. We suspend judgment as if you are listening to a fascinating person or are seeing other people’s mind. Reality is speaking to you. Bare, naked. Alan mentioned that the quintessential instruction is to do it without distraction, without grasping. This is a practice without inquiry.

We meditated on the visual, auditory, tactile and mental fields.

Then he explained Aryadeva’s qualities to be a Buddhist: First: Perception, including hearing, thinking and meditation. Second: Open mind and Third, Yearning to test the practices on oneself.

This morning Alan used the Russian-dolls imagery (the dolls that stuck within each other) as his mold. First, he applied it to our mindfulness of breathing practice. Settling the body, speech, and mind are all contained within one another. The mind is at rest when the inner voice is quiet. The inner voice is quiet when the respiration is flowing unobstructed, not forced and unconstricted within a properly aligned body, which is relaxed, still, and yet in a posture of vigilance. We then use our introspection to check on the body, respiration and the mind to see if all them are in their natural states.

Alan then applied the Russian-dolls metaphor to Buddhism in general. Just as a larger doll cannot fit into a smaller one, so the various philosophies of Buddhism gradually build up on one another. Hinayana is encompassed within Mahayana. Mahayana is included within Vajrayana and Vajrayana (and all others) are contained within Dzogchen – The Great Encompassment. Oh, yes…and his favorite – Science makes sense within the context of the Buddhist tradition. However, reverse the gradation and we end up with a whole lot of conflicts and nonsense.

Before we entered the meditation Alan expressed his disgruntledness with people who might pick any school of Buddhism, chop off what doesn’t fit into their worldview and call themselves “secular Buddhists”.

“So with the man who has daily inured himself to habits of concentrated attention, energetic volition, and self-denial in unnecessary things. He will stand like a tower when everything rocks around him, and his softer fellow-mortals are winnowed like chaff in the blast.”1

In this short talk Alan gives these succinct instructions; “Have your concentration tight enough that there is not space for thoughts to take hold… Don’t give involuntary thoughts an inch.” He also discusses how to count the breath, rumination, and three sorts of thinking with a not-to-be-missed dog and newspaper analogy.

1 James, W. (1899). Talks to teachers on psychology: And to students on some of life's ideals. New York: Henry Holt and Company. P. 76.

This book is available as a searchable pdf of the first edition from: http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/JamesTalksToTeachersFirstEdition.html Note the copyright information.

Discursive meditation, because it is repetitive, can become stale. Between sessions, look for sentient beings with whom to interact, each time is a fresh interaction. Add fresh yeast to the practice. Invite more and more beings into the practice. The object is sentient beings. We are generating an aspiration which gives rise to a feeling, not simply a feeling. Alan suggests we envision the aspiration to achieve Shamatha with all the inner and outer requests fulfilled.

Question topics include: What to do if good ideas come up during meditation? Is Shamatha the same as Perfect Recollection? Can monks marry? What do we do when a practice bumps us into discovering an uncomfortable memory?

Pressure in the head and headaches are not habits we should build while meditating. Therefore, this morning, Alan gave a detailed reminder of how this should be approached: back to Infirmary. This is by giving special attention to release all thoughts and tension during the out-breath and by focusing on the earth element (sensations of firmness and solidity).

The tension might come from the feeling of anxiety that there are only 2 ½ weeks left for the retreat to be over. So, Alan used an analogy on the deva land of Tushita in the desire realm and the Pure Land of Tushita as to be Phuket and the Mind Center respectively, in order for us to understand the different ways of looking at our reintroduction into the world once the retreat finishes.

Following a silent meditation session, Alan addressed a wide range of questions from students:

Post-retreat advice regarding refuge, ethics, and the importance of spiritual friends • Can I drink one or two beers without affecting my meditation? • How to adapt yourself to wake naturally at 3AM • How to use meditation on a physical, visual object as a calming technique • Can bodhisattvas or arhats suffer? • Discussion of alternate pronunciations of Padmasambhava’s mantra and the Vajrasattva mantra • What do Buddha statues’ hand gestures mean? • Why are the three types of ethics not taught much in the West?