Fall 2011 Shamatha Retreat

Introduction

Description of the difference between Awareness of Awareness practice and Open Presence/Open Awareness.

Imagine you are in a sensory deprivation tank so have no sensory input and Merlin removes all activities of mind. You have just had three espressos, so you are awake. What are you aware of? All that is left is awareness of awareness.

Guided meditation (9:15)

Expanding the field of awareness. Awareness pulled out to right, left, up, down and then into the heart chakra.

Equanimity - the "crown jewel" of the Four Immeasurables

In both Shamatha and the Four Immeasurables, we cultivate balance and a sense of "evenness of heart." The Four Immeasurables are immeasurable only if they flow out evenly, without partiality or bias. They cultivate “virtues of the heart” and an understanding of causality. They help us overcome the dehumanizing tendency to only see others as a means of fulfilling our hedonistic desires – it becomes an “I” v.s. “it” relationship. We often respond to people’s agreeable, disagreeable, or neutral appearances. The fusion of appearances with a person is a delusion. We also fuse ourselves with aspects of ourselves (e.g. behaviors, mental afflictions, etc.).

Meditation(48:07): Cultivating equanimity by reviewing our own lives and working with positive and negative times. Then doing this with others (one we “like”, one we “don’t like,” and one to whom we have neutral feelings.

False Facsimile of Equanimity is “Aloof Indifference” (sometimes called “Stupid Indifference”).

Questions(72:50):

1. How do you have a natural measure for practice so that you neither burn out nor become lazy?

2. How do you burn up merit and what's the role of dedication?

3. In the “awareness of awareness” practice, how do I know if I am doing the practice correctly?

4. Is “open presence” the same as shamatha without a sign?

A discussion of substrate, substrate consciousness and pristine awareness. How klishtamanas comes out of the alayavijñana creating a sense of "I am" and subject and object. Also a discussion of the dying process.

Practice(10:53):

Awareness of awareness, oscillating between non-objectified knowing and reflecting on who is knowing (and who is knowing that person knowing)

Final comment:

Padmasambhava: awareness of awareness is a shamatha practice but you may slip into pristine awareness as well.

Uplifted and inspired. If you want to start the week in this way, I recommend this podcast.

This afternoon Alan explained one feature in common between the 3 practices of settling the mind in its natural state, awareness of awareness and empathetic joy. In the first one we withdraw the tentacles of identification that say "this is mine, I am such and such...". In the second one we go into the heart of the matter, to the actual experience of being the agent through our "cognoscopy" of withdrawing and releasing the awareness. In the third one we take the innate identification, usually limited to I and mine to make it unlimitedly benevolent by taking delight in all good fortune and virtue, wherever it is. Empathetic joy counteracts depression and low self-esteem, and balances the mind. The meditation (21:22) consisted of taking delight, step by step, from transient good fortune of others to the enlightenment of the awakened ones. Beautiful!

Then there were interesting questions (47:00) about the relationship between confidence/arrogance and being humble/having low self-esteem; about the practice of settling the mind in its natural state: where do thoughts go, why do they disappear when being acknowledged, its connection with mindfulness of feelings; and a final question about the influence of the agent in the practice of awareness of awareness.

As usual Alan gave juicy and fulfilling answers.

Please enjoy!

Meditation starts at 8:07

Alan introduces the 3rd immeasurable: empathetic joy, defined as taking delight in virtues of oneself and others. While an antidote to grief and general negativity in life, beware of pride which elevates oneself above others.

From your early childhood through the present, bring to mind those who have treated you well and enriched your life. Invoke a feeling of gratitude and gladness as you recall others’ virtue.

From your early childhood through the present, bring to mind what you have brought to others. Take delight in your own virtue, without slipping into pride.

Q1) Are bursts of creativity during meditation nyams? And if so, should we not follow through on them?

Q2) During awareness of awareness, can I remind myself with „knowing“ and „aware“?

Q3) Can we be in one stage in one method and another stage in another method?

Q4) Should we release inner guidance when it comes up?

Q5) Is it possible to be at different stages at different times?

Q6) In the Vajrayana, one brings the energies into the central channel in order to realize the dharmakaya. What’s the relationship to settling the body, speech, and mind in their natural state?

Q7) In settling the mind in its natural state, I felt happy that images were appearing and wanted to manipulate them.

Meditation starts at 20:12

Teaching: Alan introduces the 3rd type of suffering—ubiquitous or all-pervasive suffering—and the last two of the eightfold noble path—authentic intention and authentic view—which belong to wisdom. 

Meditation (25:40):

Based on your own experience, do you see link between grasping at I/mine and suffering?

Generate aspiration for yourself to be free from all-pervasive suffering

Generate aspiration for others to be free from all-pervasive suffering

Generate aspiration for all sentient beings to be free from all 3 types of suffering

Rest awareness in awareness

Teaching: Alan reveals sources for the practice of resting awareness in awareness and discusses the complementarity of the developmental approach (e.g., cultivating compassion) and the discovery approach (e.g., dzogchen).

Q&A (60:05):

1) Do you need shamatha and vipashyana to get rid of all mental afflictions? If so, will only those who take the path of meditation and achieve shamatha and vipashyana have genuine happiness?

2) Within the context of references to the jhanas (aka dhyanas) and samapattis in the tibetan tradition: In the Abhisamayalankara, a bodhisattva on the 6th bhumi trains and perfects all the levels of samadhi. How does this relate?

3) Does the acquired sign arise when one rests in meditation or does it only come when focusing on an object such as the sensations of the breath?

In this session we continue with the practice of settling the mind in its natural state. In shamatha, one must maintain constant flow of knowing at all times. When there is no mental object in the foreground to ascertain, know 1) the absence of thought or 2) presence of space in the background.

The meditation starts at 8:10

In this session we continue with the cultivation of compassion, now focusing on the suffering of change, which we typically see as a source of happiness.

The meditation starts at 39:55

QA starts at 65:10:

1. The acquired sign

2. Eyes open when one is used to having them closed