Glen Svensson, 01 May 2020
Session 9: Observing emotions
Glen continues reading Lerab Lingpa’s text on settling the mind in its natural state, and begins by speaking about meditative experiences. In general, meditators should try not to make a big deal out of pleasant or unpleasant experiences, and let go of any attachment and aversion towards their practice. It is very common por modern meditators to overestimate their level of realization.
Glen gives some guidance on our shamatha practice. Simply rest in your mind’s natural state and observe the movements of the mind. One technique to not get caught up in your thoughts is to gently note the mental events for what they are, such as desire, anger, fear, etc. If this does not work, then one can simply rest in stillness. It is much easier to get caught up in the subjective mental events than in the objective mental events, as subjective events are reactions to whatever appears in our mind.
Meditation starts at 29:55
Glen speaks briefly about the duration of the meditation session, and how it is initially preferable to have shorter sessions, with an emphasis on quality instead of quantity.
Q & A: Glen answers a question regarding our reactions to phenomena such as pain, and responds how we should simply observe the reaction and not the event itself. Glen sates how we don’t suffer because of pain, we suffer because of our aversion to pain. By observing unpleasant experiences, we can transform suffering into our spiritual practice.
This lecture does not have a text transcript. Please contact us if you’d like to volunteer to assist our transcription team.
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.
RSS