B. Alan Wallace, 16 Sep 2015
Alan begins by saying that this will be a mellow session! Before the meditation on balancing wind and space, he extends briefly on the morning’s theme on how our conceptual frameworks determine what we observe and see. He quotes from Einstein and Niels Bohr. He explains further that once we label a phenomenon or idea, that “thing” becomes simultaneously illuminated and darkened. Alan then talks about our eternal longing for transcendence. Meditation practices such as vispashyana are designed to deconstruct and transcend existing frameworks. Ultimately, when we breakthrough to rigpa, all conceptual frameworks are transcended.
Meditation is on balancing wind and space.
After the meditation, Alan speaks about the difference between the experience of an arya bodhisattva and a vidyadhara when each emerges from meditative equipoise. For the arya bodhisattva, all phenomena appear as if they are a dream. By contrast the experience of a vidyadhara is that all appearances are a dream, but taken from the perspective of “sacred space”. Everything is seen to be divine when experienced from the View.
Alan then returns to the text and provides commentary on passages in pages 131 to 136. The main theme is to simply rest in rigpa, without grasping and without going back to conceptualisation. An important point is that once we have tapped into rigpa, there is no need for further validation. However it might be wise to check with a qualified guru to ensure that we are not mistaking the experiences such as those coming from the substrate for rigpa.
As promised, Alan ends on a mellow note with an anecdote about David Crosby of Crosby, Stills and Nash fame. Enjoy the music and lyrics!
The meditation starts at 14:54
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