All Episodes

Ending Where We Began: Equanimity Permeated With Loving Kindness

The Last Shamatha Practice

Equanimity: Looking Ahead

Of Trust, Devotion, or Lack Thereof (+ Awareness of Awareness Practice)

Awareness of Awareness: Emerging through the Clouds of the Dense, Deluded, Compulsive Mind into Clear and Luminous Space

Empathetic Joy: Using our Mind as a Best Friend (+ great Q&A incl. a deep question about love and attachment).

Awareness of Awareness: A Smooth Transition from the Space of the Mind

Compassion: Investigating a Hypothesis about the Very Root of Suffering (and the importance of not taking Dharma out of context)

Settling the Mind in its Natural State: Sustaining a Continuity

[Extra Bonus] Culminating in the Great Perfection: The Dzogchen View (Addendum)

[Bonus] The Philosophical Evolution of an Individual through all the Four Schools of Indian Buddhism, Culminating in the Great Perfection. In 45 minutes.

[Short Bonus]: How did ignorance and delusion arise in the first place? Will samsara end?

Compassion: Freeing Ourselves from the Underlying Causes of Suffering (Attachment/Craving)

"The Tempest," Settling the Mind in its Natural State

Compassion: Focusing on the Blatant Suffering

Settling the Mind In its Natural State: Exploring Conceptually Unmediated Experience

Loving Kindness: Weaving the Present into the Future (+ Bodhicitta Discussion)

Mindfulness of Breathing: Practicing with the "glass half full" attitude

Opening the floodgates of our inner virtues ( + Loving Kindness practice)

Finding the balance between relaxation and effort (+ Breath Awareness practice)

Analyzing the reality that we live in, and testing the biggest experiment that a human being can perform. (+ Loving Kindness Practice)

Revisiting the Infirmary for the Last Time!

[Bonus] Psychology, attention, and the urgent need for contemplative science.

[Bonus] Phuket Mind Observatory Plans / Neurofeedback Augmentation

Entering the Great Path of the Bodhisattvas

[Vesak] Special Meditation and the Story of The Buddha’s Enlightenment

Vesak Day Guided Meditation

[Bonus] A Sublime Explanation of Awareness of Awareness [Short]

Cultivating Self-Worth, Eliminating Pride, The Story of Alan’s First Meeting with HH. Dalai Lama back in 1971, and flowers.

Retaining the benefits of practice

[Short] The Expedition of Shamatha

Starting a Two Week Retreat

Four Immeasurables / Four Best Friends

"A Sacred Tension" that we might experience

Four Immeasurables: Using our anti-affliction arsenal correctly

Flying Solo [Silent Practice]

[Bonus] The Whole Shamatha Story in one Session

Loving Kindness: "Coming back to the Beginning for the First Time"

Equanimity: Making the task cosmical; Awakening the deepest dimension of our existence.

Awareness of Awareness: Probing into why we exist (the other side of the equation)

Equanimity: Striking a balance between fluidity and structure

Awareness of Awareness: Warming up for the long run

Empathetic Joy (Silent Meditation), Q&A

Awareness of Awareness: Deconstructing the artificial problem of mind and matter by going down to the root from which both emerge

Empathetic Joy: Balancing some of the possible side effects of so much Shamatha practice!

Awareness of Awareness: Understanding the Nature of Consciousness (Going against the Dogma!)

Combining Compassion and Loving Kindness: An Enriched Tonglen

Settling the Mind in its Natural State: Allowing the mind to heal itself

[Bonus] *Follow-up* Clearing up a few points and a profoundly encouraging ending

[Bonus] The nature of information, mind and matter, human existence as a flow of experience/information, quantum cosmology, etc.

[Bonus] The Four Immeasurables

Compassion: Freedom from the three levels of suffering

Settling the Mind in its Natural State: Sharpening the Vividness

Compassion: Separating the Mental Affliction from the Person

Settling the Mind in its Natural State: Coming into our HQ and releasing control

Compassion: Blowing the Dust of our Eyes

Settling the Mind in its Natural State: Coming in From the Senses

Loving Kindness: Breaking down the Barriers

Breath Awareness: Getting in the flow

[Bonus] The Preliminary Practices [Short Episode]

[Bonus] Clearing up misconceptions about the “Non-Self.”

Loving Kindness: Ready to Launch

Mindfulness of Breathing: Focus on the Abdomen

Loving Kindness: Turning Possibility into Actuality / Shaping our own Future

Full Body Awareness: The Importance of Relaxation (and a reflection on anxiety its status quo in modern society)

[Bonus] Discussion on Kickstarting the Mind Sciences Revolution through Paranormal Abilities

Equanimity: Bringing in the Sharp Wisdom (And a great juicy question on the 4I)

[Video] Podcast Fix: Missing Episodes!

Awareness of Awareness: Resting in the Sheer Luminosity and Cognizance of Experience

Equanimity: Focus on Impermanence

Awareness of Awareness: Approximating the Shamatha-Achieved Mind

Empathetic Joy: Taking delight in being of benefit and in contemplative cultivation

Awareness of Awareness: On the edge of Vipassana

Empathetic Joy: How to repay the kindness of others by freeing ourselves of our own mental afflictions.

Back to Awareness of Awareness

Compassion: Lucidity in the Waking State

Settling the Mind in its Natural State: Observing the Nature of the Space of the Mind

Compassion: Going into Deep Waters

Settling the Mind in its Natural State: Seeing and Hearing without using the Brain

[Video] A Message From Alan: Join the Mailing List!

[Bonus] Alan’s Ideal (and possible) Vision of Buddhism and Contemplative Science in the next 10-15 years

Compassion: Focusing on the Underlying Causes (and one more superb example for the Mind/Brain talk from yesterday!)

Settling the Mind in its Natural State: Self-Knowing and Observing the Mind Heal Itself

[Bonus] Explaining Mind and Brain: The mind exists, and it is something different than the brain.

Compassion: Arousing the Heart (And a strong reflection on modern Dharma practice)

Settling the Mind in its Natural State (setting the stage for a great discussion of modern scientific materialism and the mind)

Loving Kindness: Breaking Our Self-Centeredness

Breath Awareness: “Classic” Practice

Loving Kindness: Developing Motivation for the Practice

Breath Awareness: The Rise and Fall of the Abdomen

Loving Kindness: A Remedy for Infatuation with Samsara

Back to the Infirmary: Full Body Awareness

Equanimity: Closing the Circle (with a spice of Tonglen)

Awareness of Awareness: A Final Method in the Cycle

[Bonus] A Followup to Thursday’s Nirvana/Rigpa Answer. A Jewel of a Lecture.

Equanimity: Breaking the “I-It” Relationship with Ourselves

Awareness of Awareness: Third Method in the Cycle

Meditation and Reflections on Equanimity (and a very interesting “deep water” question)

Awareness of Awareness: A Second Method

[Bonus] Awareness of Awareness Question Followed by a Very Enlightening Explanation

Empathetic Joy and Reflections on Guilt and Remorse

Shamatha Without a Sign - As taught by Padmasambhava

The problems of guilt, low self esteem, and self-loathing, and the remedy of Empathetic Joy.

Settling the Mind In Its Natural State: Observing the Background

The Wisdom Aspect of Compassion