Courses / Fall 2012 Shamatha, Vipashyana and the Four Applications of Mindfulness /

00 Introduction to the retreat

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Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of Mindfulness

B. Alan Wallace
25 Aug 2012 – 17 Oct 2012
Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand

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

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B. Alan Wallace, 25 Aug 2012

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 gentle to yourself. Most problems in meditation come from pushing too hard or too much ego.
Note: Several sections concerning logistical issues have been removed from the recording.

Download (MP3 / 31 MB)

Transcript

Transcriber’s note for the readers:

  • We have not transcribed everything that Alan Wallace said during this session since it is just the introduction to the retreat. We are writing here just a summary of this session.
  • In all 92 transcriptions of this retreat, we have tried to stay as close as possible to Alan’s words, with minimal editing to ensure readability. We hope you enjoy the teachings.
  • Sessions of Questions and Answers: we have not included in the transcripts these sessions. You may find the audio of these sessions in the podcasts after the sessions of teachings and meditation.

Transcribed by Rafael Carlos Giusti

Revised by Alma Ayon

Final edition by Alma Ayon

Discussion

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