Courses / Fall 2015 Stage of Generation, Shamatha, Vipashyana and Mahamudra /

36 Awareness of Awareness, Paranormal Abilities and Posture

×

Fall 2015 Stage of Generation

B. Alan Wallace
30 Jul 2015 – 24 Sep 2015
Araluen Retreat Center, Queensland, Australia

This eight-week retreat will focus on stage of generation, shamatha, vipashyana and mahamudra.

Participants in this retreat should have a sound understanding of the Sutrayana teachings of Mahayana Buddhism, and have experience in the practices of shamatha, the four applications of mindfulness, and the four immeasurables.

Please read the text, A Spacious Path to Freedom: Practical Instructions on the Union of Mahamudra and Atiyoga, by the great 17th-century master Karma Chagmé (from the chapter “The Stage of Generation” up through “Mahamudra”). The book can be purchased from SBI here.

Please contribute to help us afford the audio equipment we rent to make these, and future podcasts.

Subscribe to this course

Subscribe with your favorite podcast app or RSS reader:

RSS

Please support our work

If you appreciate this website please give generously to provide us with the funds to keep it online, to support aspiring yogis, and for the other services provided by the Santa Barbara Institute.

Donate to Santa Barbara Institute Give a gift to Alan Wallace

B. Alan Wallace, 20 Aug 2015

Alan begins the session with a guided meditation on Awareness of Awareness.

Following this he comments further on the passage by Tsuglak Trengwa on p.67. It is possible to gain sufficient single pointed attention while in the desire realm to shatter the underlying assumptions of classical physics, so that the world becomes fundamentally different to how it is normally viewed. Tsuglak Trengwa states that it is possible to gain this and paranormal abilities, by getting close to achieving Shamatha. Others claim Shamatha needs to be achieved. The text clearly points out though that Shamatha is not cultivated for the development of paranormal activities but as a basis for cultivating insight. Alan explains that ESP and paranormal abilities are the technology of Buddhism.

Today finding Lamas with such abilities is rare due to the disappearance of yogis doing this practice and the destruction of related scriptures in Tibet in 20th century. In addition, today, analytical meditation and devotional practices are more common than the practice of Shamatha. There are some who believe that paranormal abilities should be developed so that when the time is right they can be revealed to dispel delusion. Alan gives anecdotes of instances where paranormal displays have been witnessed.

He then addresses the section on posture starting on p.68. Alan points out that in general those described really refer to tummo (the practice of generating inner heat for gaining insight) which is a stage of completion practice. He then reassures us by quoting Buddhaghosa, the Vajra Essence (Dudjom Lingpa) and His Holiness the Dalai Lama, all of whom emphasise that the posture must be comfortable to the practitioner.

Meditation Starts at 0:18.

Course notes, other episodes and resources for this retreat are available here

The text for this retreat can be purchased via the SBI Store.

Finally, Please contribute to help us afford the audio equipment we rent to make these, and future podcasts freely available.

Download (MP3 / 85 MB)

Transcript

This lecture does not have a text transcript. Please contact us if you’d like to volunteer to assist our transcription team.

Discussion

Ask questions about this lecture on the Buddhism Stack Exchange or the Students of Alan Wallace Facebook Group. Please include this lecture’s URL when you post.