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

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12 Mindfulness of the body (5)

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

2012/08/31

Teaching: Alan begins the session by presenting the 2nd and 3rd marks of existence. In the 2nd mark of existence, dukkha can be understood to mean the unsatisfactory nature of looking at any experience and thinking, „This will make me happy.“ The 3rd mark of existence: all phenomena are empty and non-self. This means that „me“ and „mine“ are conceptual designations empty of intrinsic entity (=self). Meditation: mindfulness of the body focusing on the 3rd mark of existence emptiness and

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11 Mindfulness of breathing (6)

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

2012/08/31

Teaching: Alan gives a brief teaching on Dromtönpa’s quote „Give up all attachment to this life, and let your mind become dharma.“ In shamatha practice, releasing excitation corresponds to giving up attachment, and resting in awareness, 5 antidotes naturally arise to counter the 5 obscurations to the substrate and rigpa: 1) sukkha vs. malice/ill-will, 2) single-pointed attention vs. desire/attachment/fixation, 3) coarse investigation vs. laxity/dullness, 4) bliss vs. excitation/anxiety, and 5)

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10 Mindfulness of the body (4)

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

2012/08/30

Teaching pt1: Alan begins the session by introducing the buddhist theory of causality. Here, one distinguishes between substantial causes and cooperative conditions in how effects are created. We can contemplate the factors of origination and dissolution in reference to the 18 dhatus—i.e., 6 sensory fields, 6 modes of consciousnesses, and 6 faculties. Meditation: mindfulness of the body focusing on the 2nd mark of existence dukkha. Closely apply mindfulness to see if sensations of

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09 Mindfulness of breathing (5)

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

2012/08/30

Meditation: mindfulness of breathing at the nostril. Same instructions as before. Use introspection to attend to the flow of mindfulness. If there’s excitation, relax, release, and return. If there’s laxity or dullness, refresh, refocus, and retain. In between sessions, let your default mode be perception of real phenomena as defined in the Sautantrika and release rumination. Also, check to see that your respiration is flowing naturally. Meditation starts at 9:30

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08 Mindfulness of the body (3)

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

2012/08/29

Meditation: body scan. Single-pointedly focus on sensations (both outer and inner) at one target area, scanning the body from top to bottom as instructed in the guided meditation. Teaching: Alan introduces some Sautrāntika philosophy—view of reality—to help us observe closely. There are 1) things that exist and 2) things that don’t exist. Among things that exist, there are 1a) real and 1b) unreal. Real phenomena constitute anything that can be perceived directly or with the help of instruments.

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07 Mindfulness of breathing (4)

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

2012/08/29

Meditation: mindfulness of breathing at the nostril. Focus mental awareness on breath coming in and out at the nostril or upper lip, wherever you feel the sensation most clearly. Engage with the full course of in and out breath, arousing attention at in breath and releasing thoughts and relaxing at out breath. Experiment with staccato counting to counter rumination. This practice enhances vividness, but does so without sacrificing stability and relaxation.  Be relentless about breaking up

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06 Mindfulness of the body (2)

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

2012/08/28

Teaching: Alan begins by framing the quest as the pursuit of inner knowledge, contrasting the centrality of subjective experience and mind in buddhism with the emphasis on understanding reality from the outside and materialism in science. In science, conceptual understanding and reason are considered the highest goal. In buddhism, concepts are used as a means to arrive at non-conceptual experience/realization. Both the body and the environmental are composed of the 4 elements. Meditation:

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05 Mindfulness of breathing (3)

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

2012/08/28

Meditation: mindfulness of breathing at the abdomen using counting of breaths as a support. Counting does break the flow of mindfulness, so use it only if it helps stem rumination. Keep the counting staccato and as before, use introspection to detect any laxity or excitation. Meditation starts at 2:36

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04 Mindfulness of the body (1)

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

2012/08/27

Meditation: mindfulness of the body. For each of the following senses—1) visual, 2) auditory, 3) tactile—engage in the following steps 1) direct mindfulness to the sense objects, 2) observe to see if they are unchanging, 3) direct mindfulness to space of sense field, 4) observe to see if it is unchanging. Teaching: Mindfulness of the body includes your own body, others’ bodies, all objects of the 5 senses. Alan recounts the story of the Buddha’s teaching to Bahiya, „In the seen, let there be just

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03 Mindfulness of Breathing (2)

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

2012/08/27

Meditation: focus attention on the in and out breath at the belly. With the in breath, arouse your attention. With the out breath, release any thoughts and relax. In order to maintain attention, it is important to develop relaxation first. Otherwise, we get tired easily. Normally, our default mode is rumination, where we become susceptible to mental afflictions. We need to develop a new default mode: continuity of attention, continuity of non-conceptual knowing. When your breath is long, notice

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02 Introduction to the 4 applications of mindfulness

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

2012/08/25

Meditation: Settling body, speech, and mind in the natural state; Bare attention; Application of mindfulness on the body Teaching: Alan begins by distinguishing between mindfulness, bare attention, vipassana, choiceless awareness, open presence, and dzogchen. As an entry point to vipasyana, it necessary to undo the conflation between that which is being presented and our superimposition of labels, memories, like/dislike, etc... Vipasyana is an expedition which attends to and engages with all

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01 Settling body speech and mind in its natural state

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

2012/08/25

It's important to settle the motivation for the day. In Mahayana teachings the motivation is the base of bodhicitta. It's important to have cognitive balance, which brings intelligence to our desires and aspirations. Relaxation, stability and clarity are crucial for meditation. First melt away the body and then allow the breath to flow naturally. Trust in the healing capacity of our own body. If you get tired when meditating, focus on relaxation without loosing stability. Meditation starts at

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00 Introduction to the retreat

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

2012/08/25

Alan welcomes the participants and explains some of the groundrules for the 8-week retreat.Teaching: Alan begins by presenting the framework for his cycle of teachings on shamatha, vipasyana, mind-training, dream yoga, and dzogchen. During this retreat, the instructions in the morning will focus shamatha and those in the afternoon on the 4 applications of mindfulness. Even if one has not yet realized shamatha, vipasyana practice will support shamatha and vice versa. Practice by being sweet and

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Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of Mindfulness

All Episodes

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