PODCAST · religion
Fall 2011 Shamatha Retreat
by B. Alan Wallace
Dharma talks and guided meditations given six days per week during the Fall, 2011 eight-week Shamatha retreat at the Thanyapura Mind Centre in Phuket, Thailand, with B. Alan Wallace. Podcasts will be posted daily during the retreat.
Episodes
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97 Finishing with loving kindness (and a lovely ceremony)
We come to our very last session with a meditation on loving kindness and dedication of merit (0:50) Afterwards our group prepared such a lovely closing ceremony that we figured other people might like to cultivate some empathetic joy :) Thank you for listening! If you found these wonderful...
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96 For a moment, everything can be ok
We come to the last day of the retreat, where Alan invites us to reboot our mind by way of shamatha. Silent meditation starts at 01:16 Afterwards Alan shares a story and shows us how through shamatha, for a moment everything can be ok
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95 From chaos to calm
Alan leads the group, who has started talking now, through a shamatha session (02:13) designed to bring the mind down from agitation to calm. He speaks to a question (35:53) regarding the Dzogchen view of rigpa and the extent to which one can provide a reason as to why one who awakens from the...
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94 Infusing the day with shamatha
Alan briefly speaks on how to infuse a busier day with shamatha and mindfulness. He also announces that he will do 6 months retreat at the end of 2012, so there will be no 8 week shamatha retreat in Spring 2013. Silent meditation starts at 01:38
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93 The tornado of OCDD
There are three strategies to protect from the tornado of thoughts in the mind. The first is to go to a shelter which is mindfulness of breathing – releasing and releasing the thoughts. The second is the tornado chasers who learn a great deal about tornadoes without getting caught in them – that…
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92 Whenever there's meeting, there's parting
We are beginning our final descent. The deva realm of Tushita and the pure land of Tushita sit side by side. In the deva realm when it is time for a deva to leave their flowers fade and they suffer great mental anguish over leaving. However in Tushita, the pure land, beings have been training…
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91 Purifying our vision
Silent meditation (no introduction) starts at 0:18 Questions (25:28): 1. Comment on the concepts of time and space. 2. What role do the “Hidden Lands” play in the context of Buddhist practice? 3. In the Vajrayana, there is the practice of the illusory body. Is there anything like this in the...
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90 Moving from coal to solar energy
Relying on hedonic pleasure is like a town that relies on a coal-fired generator. We begin to realize how much pollution this represents and seek more environmental friendly energy sources. In the same way we can begin to gradually shift into the "solar panels" of genuine happiness, by way of...
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89 A wellspring of good advice
This last Monday afternoon’s session, which we can say that is indispensable to listen to, Alan offered a huge number of pieces of advice that are extremely useful for those that are going to do a long retreat, for those that are going to meet their daily activities and for all of us that want to...
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88 Karma must ripen
The root of all Buddhist teachings and practice is compassion. We start out with the reality of suffering – something that we have all experienced. The background radiation of anxiety has got to go. It is the result of grasping onto what is not – what is not is “I” and “me.” We must discover who…
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87 The built-in antidotes
In this session Alan reminds us that shamatha is designed to dispel the 5 obscurations and as the imbalances are built-in, the remedies are also built-in. In the same way, among the 4 Immeasurables one naturally arises as the remedy for the near enemy of another one. For Loving Kindness'…
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86 The Path
The Four Immeasurables unguided meditation. Alan reiterates how important it is to have a sense of direction, a path. You really need to have a vision in your heart of where you want to go. He mentions that on the Dzogchen path he has the sense that rigpa breaks through to our side, whereas on...
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85 Practicing after the retreat
For those of us returning to our ordinary lives, Alan suggests that we avail ourselves of all the shamatha practices depending on our body and mind at that moment. For those of us continuing in retreat, Alan suggests that we focus primarily on one practice and deepen that. Non-guided meditation...
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84 Maturation
Experienced meditators can move through a process of maturation where the Dharma and practices become ever more central to their lives. They come to practice without preference for good or bad meditations but continue regardless of their personal experiences - much like a veteran sailor has…
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83 Lucid dreaming and dream yoga
After a silent meditation (1:40) Alan gives an overview and brief ‘how to guide’ of lucid dreaming and dream yoga. Then questions (67:20) include eyes closing as we progress along the path of mindfulness of breathing, the use of tonglen for shamatha and discussion of the life of Dudjom Lingpa and...
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82 Envision the novel of the rest of your life
“Shape your mind, shape your life.” Having completed the cycle of guided meditation, Alan speaks briefly about envisioning the transition from retreat into daily life, and in particular the difference between “aspiration” and “hope and fear”. Silent meditation starts at 8:11
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81 Shamatha without a sign, part 4
Reading from Vajra Essence regarding the difference between consciousness, substrate consciousness and Rigpa. Meditation on awareness of awareness expanding out to all directions (26:30) Questions (51:23) How does the "naked" healing process of the mind by way of settling the mind happen with…
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80 Equanimity, part 2
Meditation on equanimity. Start with loving kindness for ourselves. Mental afflictions come to us just like the flu – don’t fuse your identity with the mental afflictions. The more loving kindness you have for yourself, the more you can extend it to others. Meditation (16:23) Can do usual Tonglen...
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79 Shamatha without a sign, part 3
Dharma talk and meditation on Awareness of Awareness with the focus on the observer: Is there someone in there? The Bahiya (of the Garment) Sutra. Bahiya received a short discourse from the Buddha and immediately became an arhat. Bahiya was a merchant who had sailed the seas. On his eighth…
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78 Equanimity, part 1
We come back to equanimity and Alan talks about it from 3 different levels: Coarse mind - Shantideva: "If there is something you can do about it don't worry. If there's nothing you can do about it, don't worry" Subtle mind - Everything arises as a manifestation of our own karma. "I will paint…
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77 Shamatha without a sign, part 2
Deep…During this extremely inspiring afternoon, Alan started by explaining how to recognize the object of attention of the practice of awareness of awareness for those that find this practice elusive. Also he explained, with the parallel of mosquitoes flying around a fan, how the oscillation…
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76 Empathetic Joy, part 2
Instruction and meditation on cultivating Empathetic Joy: Calling upon the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and gurus for blessing and remembering that they are not outside of ourselves but within us. Meditation starts at 11:26
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75 Shamatha without a sign, part 1
Alan talks about the up and downs of the practice and how to keep the enthusiasm and where to draw the inspiration from. Then he shares an excerpt from Dudjom Lingpa's The Vajra Essence about the difference between the substrate, the substrate consciousness and rigpa. The practice for today is...
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74 Empathetic Joy, part 1
Why couldn't we all never be parted from genuine happiness free from suffering? Cultivating Empathetic Joy is not just an emotion but also an aspiration. When we take on the personal commitment, "May I make it so" we go from immeasurable Empathetic Joy to great Empathetic Joy. We place a marker…
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73 Settling the mind in its natural state, part 3
Alan goes into greater detail about ascertaining the space of the mind between mental events in settling the mind. He explains the danger of complacency at Stages 4 and 7 and the importance of overcoming remaining faults by sharpening the blade of introspection in order to progress further.…
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72 Compassion, part 3
Compassion, understood as the suffering of conditioned phenomena, is conditioned by ignorance. Suffering in its broadest manifestation involves the understanding of a dualistic vision. How we tend to see others as outer, ourselves as inner, and experience suffering as if we are its personal...
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71 Settling the mind in its natural state, part 2
Alan takes us through a comparative study of texts from the time of the Buddha up until the 19th Century, comparing the way shamatha has been dealt with amongst a variety of Buddhist traditions. Meditation starts at 38:04 He reveals the particular relevance of settling the mind in its natural…
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70 Compassion, part 2
“Give up attachment to this life and let your mind become Dharma” Alan explains how to approach the suffering of change and elaborates on the role of shamatha in dealing with this particular kind of suffering. Meditation starts at 14:31
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69 Settling the mind in its natural state, part 1
Settling the mind in its natural state. When mental afflictions come up, if you recognize them as such, you have a choice regarding whether you act on them. If you don’t recognize them you will simply act on the basis of the mental afflictions. Be present and observe with interest all that comes…
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68 Compassion, part 1
Meditation on Compassion. Why couldn’t we all be free from suffering and the causes of suffering? There is a dearth of knowledge regarding the causes of suffering. When resting in awareness of awareness, how many mental afflictions do you experience? Cultivate compassion from the perspective of...
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67 Mindfulness of breathing, part 3
Instruction and meditation on Mindfulness of Breathing: the focus on anapanasatti (focusing on the sensations at the opening of the nostrils and/or on the upper lip under the nostrils) The problem with this foundational practice is that the mind has a thirst for entertainment and it gets bored…
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66 Loving kindness, part 3
We continue with the practice of metta, or loving kindness, expanding out as in the Pali suttas, combined with the Tibetan liturgy of Mahamaitri (great loving kindness) Helping others can mean to help them hedonically, not just to fulfill legitimate needs/desires but also ultimately to help them...
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65 Mindfulness of breathing, part 2
Welcome to all! This afternoon Alan started by stating that stability is usually regarded as the core of the shamatha practice and how it is developed by the rope of mindfulness. Then following a text of Panchen Lobsang Chokyi Gyaltsen that describes that with practicing settling the mind in its...
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64 Loving kindness, part 2
Meditative cultivation of Loving Kindness: The focus was Great Loving Kindness, seeing through the outer manifestations of people, including ourselves, and attending to the essential Buddha nature of each sentient being. Meditation starts at 7:20 If you have trouble with the “ball and chain” you...
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63 Mindfulness of breathing, part 1
Once again we start the cycle, beginning with mindfulness of breathing. Alan first gives an overview of the whole path, from settling the body, speech and mind in their natural state, all the way up to dzogchen, by using the analogy of a computer. We start with a very old, big and clunky computer...
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62 Loving kindness, part 1
In this round, Alan will lay emphasis on the Mahayana approach to the 4 immeasurables. „Why can’t all sentient beings find happiness and the causes of happiness? May all sentient beings find happiness and the causes of happiness. I shall make this happen. By the blessings of the guru and yidam…
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61 Shamatha without a sign, part 4
Alan reviews the process of relinquishing control/agency in the 3 shamatha practices. Given the buddhist assertion that something true should appear truer with increasing scrutiny, the truth of emptiness is now reinforced with insights from modern quantum physics. Yet the insight in modern…
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60 Equanimity, part 2
Equanimity is the final fruition of the path. In the Theravada tradition, equanimity is envisioned as a composure of imperturbability, of not being thrown out of balance by adversity or felicity. In the Mahayana literature, it's also seen as an even open-heartedness and caring for all sentient...
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59 Shamatha without a sign, part 3
Alan expands upon some of the ideas from physics he dealt with in the previous day’s talk and explains how the Dzogchen view and the Prasangika-Madhyamika view are complementary. He weaves this within a broader explanation of the path of taking the breath, mind and awareness as one’s object. The...
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58 Equanimity, part 1
Alan covers the prerequisites for the development of equanimity, which involve one transcending one’s ordinary deluded outlook. He discusses how one may become able to do this: how one may cultivate a sense of contentment, how one may more strongly identify a common ground between self and other...
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57 Shamatha without a sign, part 2
We all experience taking voluntary action such as raising an arm. Who is the agent for voluntary actions? In Awareness of awareness meditation during the inversion into awareness, look for the agent who is doing the inversion and release. In the seen there is just the seen – Buddha said when you...
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56 Empathetic joy, part 2
Morning talk – Empathetic Joy – Finding commonality with others Meditation (13:12) Taking Joy in others joy – first in conventional joy, then in those creating virtue through their service to others, then in those creating virtue through Samadhi practice and finally taking joy in those creating...
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55 Shamatha without a sign, part 1
Many people have expressed confusion about this practice, probably because of looking for something to happen that isn’t happening. Therefore, they miss what is happening. The basic practice is something you already know: being aware of being aware. You know when you are aware. Begin there. The...
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54 Empathetic Joy, part 1
We come back to the cultivation of mediate, starting with oneself, but not an immutable self, a dependently arisen self. Alan again comments on our way of evaluating our practice: "Meditation, what have you given me this week?" No, no, no! All that comes up is a maturation of our karma From the…
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53 Settling the mind in its natural state, part 3
Alan started the session of this afternoon explaining why among the immense variety ofmethods to achieve shamatha, he presents these three, and how they are fit for modernity. Then he enlightened us with a global parallel between each of these practices with one of the three yanas: starting from...
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52 Compassion focused on pervasive suffering
Dharma talk on Compassion Suffering relates to the “conceit of ‘I am’” – the delusion that there is an “I” that exists outside of conceptual constructs. There is a current trend among some people that one must develop a strong sense of “I am” before one can meditate. However, it is important to...
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51 Settling the mind in its natural state, part 2
Alan starts by explaining the concept of rang dröl (self-liberation or natural liberation) in the context of shamatha practice. He then talks about the 5 obscurations and its antidotes, which are: The five factors of stabilization remove the five obscurations 1. The factor of coarse examination...
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50 Compassion focused on the suffering of change
Back to Compassion focusing on suffering of change because of the mental affliction of attachment. The internal antidote is samadhi. Alan relates a true story of a hyena and a lion which perfectly illustrates why we should have compassion even for those who apparently have a great life…
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49 Settling the mind in its natural state, part 1
Alan begins by giving examples of how one could experience the substrate directly before achieving shamatha. As with emptiness and rigpa, such direct experiences of the substrate are veiled by concepts. As such, the first quality of the substrate to strive for is non-conceptuality. Reminder: the...
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48 Compassion focused on blatant suffering
The most obvious form of suffering is blatant suffering, which is both physical and mental. Physical suffering involves lack of necessities such as food, clothing, shelter, health, while mental suffering is such that people can be in wonderfully endowed in all the necessities but suffer terribly...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Dharma talks and guided meditations given six days per week during the Fall, 2011 eight-week Shamatha retreat at the Thanyapura Mind Centre in Phuket, Thailand, with B. Alan Wallace. Podcasts will be posted daily during the retreat.
HOSTED BY
B. Alan Wallace
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Fall 2011 Shamatha Retreat currently has 97 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Fall 2011 Shamatha Retreat about?
Dharma talks and guided meditations given six days per week during the Fall, 2011 eight-week Shamatha retreat at the Thanyapura Mind Centre in Phuket, Thailand, with B. Alan Wallace. Podcasts will be posted daily during the retreat.
How often does Fall 2011 Shamatha Retreat release new episodes?
Fall 2011 Shamatha Retreat has 97 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
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Fall 2011 Shamatha Retreat is created and hosted by B. Alan Wallace.
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