PODCAST

Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of Mindfulness

B. Alan Wallace

Teachings from the eight-week retreat at Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand

religion & spirituality buddhism

All Episodes

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32 Mindfulness of the mind (3)

Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of... ·

2012/09/12

In these practices focusing on the mind, it is useful to stabilise them with a reference point: 1) awareness resting in its own place as a subjective reference point or 2) space of the mind as an objective reference point. These practices counter the common belief that we think thoughts rather than thoughts just happen. Meditation: mindfulness of the mind. Release into the body, and release the body. Release into the breath, and release the breath. Release into the mind, and release the

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31 Settling the mind (6)

Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of... ·

2012/09/12

Alan reminds us that closely holding the mind causes suffering. There are two methods which free us from this suffering 1) relative bodhicitta where we identify with all sentient beings and 2) absolute bodhicitta where we completely retract all the tentacles by withdrawing into the substrate and then rigpa. In this practice, we train in viewing mental events from the non-grasping, non-reactive perspective of substrate consciousness. Meditation: settling the mind with full body awareness as a

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30 Mindfulness of the mind (2)

Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of... ·

2012/09/11

Teaching: Alan discusses causality and the relationship between cause and effect within the context of mindfulness of the mind. According to the Sautantrika, both cause and effect are considered real. According to William James, the relationship (relata) is also considered real. In order to perceive any causal relationship, you need to observe phenomena with a wide angle over time and connect the dots.  When experiencing pleasure, enquire whether it is stimulus driven or not. Genuine happiness

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29 Settling the mind pt5

Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of... ·

2012/09/11

For those having difficulties settling the mind, Alan proposes mindfulness of breathing as a useful prelude. Use each breath—and in particular, the out breath, especially the end of the out breath—to release any residual tension and relax the body totally. Make use of every out breath to relax more deeply and release any rumination. Core relaxation is a prerequisite to settling the mind. When practicing settling the mind, maintain peripheral awareness of the breath. Meditation: settling the

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28 Mindfulness of the mind (1)

Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of... ·

2012/09/10

This week, Alan embarks on the 3rd application of mindfulness to the mind. As a prerequisite for this practice, you must be able to distinguish between stillness and motion and maintain single-pointed mindfulness as cultivated in the shamatha practice of settling the mind. As a vipasyana practice, we observe from luminosity and cognizance origination and dissolution of a whole range of emotions and states of consciousness. An emotion like anger exists at the conscious, unconscious, and seed

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27 Settling the mind (4)

Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of... ·

2012/09/10

Some take to settling the mind easily, and others have a harder time. For the latter, start by focusing on mental images (without the soundtrack) which everyone can do, then the soundtrack alone, and mental images with the soundtrack. Among the 4 types of mindfulness, the first is called single-pointed mindfulness which means being simultaneously aware of the stillness of your own awareness and the movement of thoughts. Such mindfulness is accessed through deep relaxation. In post-meditation,

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26 General Session

Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of... ·

2012/09/10

As the 4 applications of mindfulness bring us knowledge of our experience, the 4 immeasurables bring balance in our emotions. If feeling down, practice loving-kindness and not its near enemy attachment. If feeling disengaged, practice compassion which is an antidote to the near enemy cold indifference. Worldly life is characterized by restlessness and anxiety, and for genuine happiness and the achievement of shamatha, we need to gradually wean ourselves from the props of hedonic pleasures.

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25 Compassion (1)

Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of... ·

2012/09/08

Alan presents tips on dealing with subtlety in the shamatha practices. 1) mindfulness of breathing. The breath becomes increasingly subtle, and treat this an invitation to increase calm and clarity. Do not change the place you are attending to the breath. Rather, choose a baseline such as the nerve endings at the nostrils, and continue attending to the baseline and any fluctuations throughout the whole body of the breath. 2) settling the mind. When the space of the mind appears quiet, something

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24 Mindfulness of feelings (5)

Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of... ·

2012/09/07

Shamatha should serve as a baseline or a base camp. However, people have different affinities for the various shamatha practices. Focus on the space of the mind as backdrop and note the thoughts, images, and feelings which flare up. What are the feelings triggered by? Paul Ekman speaks of emotions, moods, and temperaments. Alan asks us to explore grasping as a possible cause for moods. Meditation: choice of mindfulness of breathing or settling the mind. If your mind wanders, stabilize by

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23 Settling the Mind in its Natural State (3)

Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of... ·

2012/09/07

Just as in physics where matter in the universe may be considered crystallization of the energy in space, tactile sensations may be the congealing of energies in the space of the body and mental events may be crystallizations of energies in the space of the mind. It’s important to know stillness and movement in field of perception as well as stillness and movement of your own awareness. Examine whether feelings of pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral are absolutely or relatively so. Meditation:

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22 Mindfulness of feelings (4)

Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of... ·

2012/09/07

Alan elaborates on settling the mind in its natural state. While developing the 3 qualities of shamatha, we are observing external appearances and the (relative) dharmadhatu dissolve into the substrate and our mind (subjective mental events) dissolve into substrate consciousness from the perspective of the substrate or our best approximation thereof. The substrate is the repository of our karma and travels from lifetime to lifetime. Shamatha is sufficient to give us access to the substrate.

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21 Settling the Mind in its Natural State (2)

Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of... ·

2012/09/07

Settling the mind in its natural state is the shamatha practice corresponding the applications of mindfulness on feelings and the mind. This practice itself lies on the cusp between shamatha and vipasyana, but it’s presented within the mahamudra and dzogchen traditions as a shamatha practice for dissolving the coarse mind into the substrate. Awareness of thoughts and emotions frees us from being trapped by our minds and facilitates wiser choices in our behavior. A Tibetan saying goes like this,

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20 Mindfulness of Feelings (3)*

Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of... ·

2012/09/06

Note: This recording is of minor quality since we had to recover it from another device. Thank you for understanding. Teaching: This practice shines a bright light on feelings by attending to feelings internally (our own), externally (someone else’s), and both internally and externally (in ourself and others in interaction). Alan introduces an alternative translation for a key line in the Sattipathana sutta. Instead of the common translation “One views the body in the body,” Alan proposes the

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19 Settling the Mind in its Natural State (1)

Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of... ·

2012/09/05

Meditation: transition from mindfulness of breathing with full body awareness to settling the mind.  1) mindfulness of breathing with full body awareness: Feel the beginning of the in breath at the lower abdomen and let it flow from the bottom up. Let awareness illuminate the space of the whole body. Maintain non-conceptual flow of mindfulness of non-conceptual sensations associated with the in and out breaths, monitoring that mindfulness with introspection. 2) settling the mind: Eyes at least

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18 Mindfulness of feelings (2)

Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of... ·

2012/09/04

Teaching: This practice of mindfulness on feelings using the space of the body is a nice prelude the settling the mind where we attend to the space of the mind. As in the latter, we need to distinguish between stillness and movement—i.e., the stillness of awareness and the movement of sensations or thoughts. Loose, present, and luminous, awareness can remain still if there is no grasping or preference. If we can release desire and aversion, appearances are just appearances. Meditation:

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17 Mindfulness of breathing (8)

Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of... ·

2012/09/04

Alan uses rats as an analogy for thoughts. When a cat (mindfulness) is present, rats (thoughts) stay away. During the bubonic plague, rats (thoughts) carried fleas (disturbing emotions) which carried the bacterial infection (e.g., depression or anxiety). Therefore, we need to treat rumination as public enemy #1. According to Tsongkhapa, we must complete eliminate rumination in order to achieve shamatha. Meditation: mindfulness of breathing method of your choice. For each breath cycle, arouse

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16 Mindfulness of feelings (1)

Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of... ·

2012/09/03

Teaching pt1: Alan introduces the new cycle with the 2nd application of mindfulness on feelings. Feelings (Skt. vedana) refer to 1) like/pleasant, 2) dislike/unpleasant, or 3) neutral. Although feelings could be considered part of the mind, feelings get their own application and their own skandha due to their primacy. Feelings arise in reaction to 1) too much, 2) too little, or 3) wrong kind of the 4 elements.  The hedonic response to feelings is to want pleasant feelings to stay and unpleasant

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15 Mindfulness of breathing (7)

Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of... ·

2012/09/03

Teaching: A new cycle begins this week on mindfulness of feelings. When feelings arise, there is a strong tendency for us to grasp onto them as I or mine. Therefore, we need to learn how to release grasping and identification with feelings and remain simply present with them. As for release, Alan emphasizes the importance of learning how to breathe properly. Without proper breathing, it’s difficult for our meditation to progress, since the prana system is central to body/mind. Proper breathing

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14 Mindfulness of the body (6)

Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of... ·

2012/09/02

Teaching pt1: Alan reviews the view of reality according to the 3 turnings of the wheel of the dharma. In the 1st turning, in response to the question as posed by the Sautantrika of “What is real?”, we see things as simply or mere phenomena. Seeing means knowing what we’re seeing is mere or simply phenomena which means in accordance with the 3 marks of existence, free from our conceptual projections con-fused with reality. In the 2nd turning, we use our intelligence to uncover the ultimate

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13 Loving Kindness (1)

Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of... ·

2012/09/02

Alan gives a brief introduction to the 4 immeasurables. Whereas shamatha and vipassana attend to reality that is already manifest, the 4 immeasurables concern the realm of possibility and aspiration. Meditation: loving-kindness. Begin with the aspiration for yourself by asking, “What would make you truly happy?” Visualize your own awareness as a white orb at your heart chakra, and with every out breath, light fills your entire with the aspiration “May I find happiness and the causes of

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Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of Mindfulness

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