45 Conclusion of Karma Chagmé's Text on Shamatha and Conditions that Give Rise to Serenity

Spring 2016, 45, Conclusion of Karma Chagme’s text on Shamatha and Conditions that Give Rise to Serenity.

[00:00] Olaso. So what I’d like for us now to have is a silent session with just a very brief comment about, for those of us especially here in the retreat in Tuscany, in terms of the method or methods that you choose on your own, in your own private time. What I want to encourage is to really focus on or emphasize the shamatha method that you find most helpful. It’s really just that simple. So I will continue to introduce nuances and variations, different methods, for the remaining four weeks or so of our retreat. And I, of course, when we’re doing it here, I invite you to participate; people listening by podcast or eventually, apparently LiveStream is coming on, is that correct? In a couple of days? Yeah? Good! So when that happens that will be nice too then people can join us live. But…what I would encourage you is, of course as we explore new methods, week by week, explore them together, as we move through a bit more variation on the settling the mind, awareness of awareness, moving into vipassana and then culminating of course in the actual Mahamudra and Dzogchen meditation itself. But in terms of your kind of regular diet, your daily fare, what I want to encourage you to do is just to focus primarily on the method you find most beneficial, and not consider, not even worry about, or have any consideration for the notion, “is this a higher practice or a lower practice.” As I have often given the example, if there is a lock to a door, and you have three keys: gold key, silver key and brass key, which key shall you use? Jody? [pause]

Jody: Any one.

Alan: Mmmm…[laughing] you haven’t heard this one yet… [more laughing] Michelle has.

Michelle: The one that opens the door.

Alan: The one that opens the door, yeah.

Retreatant: [inaudible]

Alan: No, I didn’t say that. [laughter] That was a cognitive hyperactivity disorder. [laughing] Protecting something that wasn’t there. You have three keys, you would think, the gold one has got to be better, I mean, it is worth so much more, and the silver mediocre and the brass, eh. But, uh, yes, whatever opens the door. Whatever method works; that’s the gold one for you.

[02:17] And so, don’t think about Theravada, Mahayana, Dzogchen, how high it is, how low it is, just whether it works. And then again, I mean, I love so many things about shamatha, but one of the major things that really, you know, I don’t know what the verb is, but draws me to it, is the total transparency of it, and that we just don’t have to speculate. We don’t have to wonder, we don’t have to ask somebody, we don’t have to wait until next life, is it working? Well, you know, what’ll be the long-term consequences? Will we have a good rebirth? Uh, well, relaxation, stability, clarity, that’s it. And in that sequence, sequentially and then synergetically, there it is.

[02:57] So, what I’d like to do now is give myself a break. I’m going on a vacation for twenty-four minutes. Let’s enjoy a silent session, no need to record it, and we’ll come back and finish off this chapter from Karma Chagme. [sounds of retreatants moving to prepare for meditation]

[04:07] Olaso. So, let’s return to and complete the transmission and commentary on this chapter from Karma Chagme Rinpoche on shamatha. So, he’s finished his discussion of flawed and flawless shamatha, and then he goes on with a very very, how do you say, bullet points, extremely concise references to or description of moving through the different dhyanas in the form realm. So picking up with the text, he writes, In that shamatha that is, ‘that shamatha’ is by having once you have achieved shamatha you have achieved access to the first dhyana, let’s say. In that shamatha by applying an investigative analytical mind as an antidote to scattering you are endowed with wellbeing and bliss and the mind remains single-pointedly. And that is the first dhyana. This type of description is exactly the type of description that lends itself to a lot of interpretations and if people don’t study the background literature, this is where the massive dumbing-down comes down. You could read that and this could be referring to stage two, prior to shamatha, you know? So this is why you just need to know. People who just read the Pali Canon and are dismissive of Buddhaghosa, uh, frankly I just think they are deluding themselves, unless they are incredibly brilliant. And whenever they interpret, they are interpreting something easier than what Buddhaghosa says. So, that’s extremely concise.

[05:54] Uh, I can tell you, I can unpack a little but, but I’m not going to linger here. And that is in the classic descriptions I’ve received in the Indo-Tibetan tradition, how you actually move from the, from let’s say access to the first dhyana, second dhyana, third dhyana, you are practicing along that continuum, you are practicing what is called mundane vipashyana, mundane vipashyana. And it simply has one theme all the way through, it’s a very simple theme. You are going from that which is coarse, relatively coarse, to that which is relatively subtle. And you do use your analytical investigative ability just to assess what is, what are the more subtle dimensions of consciousness. And then you keep on moving towards the subtler and subtler. It’s like a finer and finer tune or almost like moving to higher and higher frequency consciousness, uh, it’s very rarified. And, so, this is interesting to look at but by in large I think Karma Chagme Rinpoche himself, I am speculating, he’s just referring to this as something, ‘understand this conceptually but the next chapter we are moving right back into Dzogchen.’

[07:06] So, in that first dhyana, you are endowed with single-pointed attention, remain single-pointedly---that’s one of the dhyana factors; and it’s investigative, so investigation, coarse investigation: that’s a dhyana factor; subtle analysis, that’s a third dhyana factor; sukha, as sukha is well-being, that’s a fourth one; and prīti in Sanskrit is bliss. And so these are the five dhyana factors that are now very strong; they’re robust; they’re durable, when you fully achieve the first dhyana, you have them, you can use them when you have only access but they’re kind of like, fortified when you fully achieve the first dhyana. You would have to be I think absolutely brilliant to read that one sentence and be able to know what to do to move from access to the first dhyana. So I will just say this: if one is, anybody listening by podcast or listening here, if any of you have the aspiration, ‘I think I’d really like to, I feel a calling to actually achieve these dhyanas,’ I’ve never seen anything so definitive, compelling, transparent, and inspiring for that path as Buddhaghosha. His presentation of how to move along the dhyanas is just, it’s just magnificent.

[08:26] And I’ve not seen myself anything in the Indo-Tibetan tradition that shows that degree of sophistication, precision, and do-ability, because you really know what to do. So it’s just my perspective, maybe it’s just, you know, very prejudiced toward Theravada, but when I read the similar accounts, there’s a whole genre of literature called Sam Zuk, Sam Zuk, in Tibetan which pertains to the form and formless realms, samadhis, and it’s very sophisticated, but, as I read it, just from my own perspective I just find it very academic. And my sense is, that this, I just I’ve never seen an actual meditation manual in any tradition--- Gelug, Kagyu, Sakya, Nyingma--- that really strongly encourages and gives you a step-by-step account of how actually to achieve these, and again for very good reason, very good reason: they’re busy. They have their Lam-Rim or something comparable, and then they have stage of generation, stage of completion, they’ve got the Six Dharmas of Naropa, they have Dzogchen and Mahamudra, they have the Six Bardos, they have all of these teachings, and these are all Vajrayana level so why if you have access to that and you have shamatha, you’ve realized emptiness and you have bodhichitta, why would you linger here? You know. So that’s my impression. What do you think Glenn? It’s an impression; that’s all it is. Neither one of us can speak definitively, that’s an impression.

[09:54] So we’re just going to move right on through here. But it’s very true that when you’ve achieved the five dhyanas you do have those five dhyana factors, they’re all five there. And now we’re going to see they drop off one by one, or two by two, as you go to subtler dimensions within the form realm. So That mind is lucidly singly-pointedly drawn inwards without needing to look out for scattering by means of investigation or analysis, that is the second dhyana. So, again I would not try to use that as an explanation or as practical instructions for achieving the second dhyana. The gist that we can draw from that one sentence is that as you move from the relatively coarse first dhyana to the relatively subtle second dhyana, two of the five dhyana factors fall away, you release them, because they themselves are what is keeping you back; they are relatively gross or coarse, and that’s investigation and analysis. Once you’ve achieved the second dhyana they’ve faded out and you’re left with only three out of the five. The single-pointed attention, of course, and then you have sense of well-being, sukha, and the bliss, prīti, and you have only three now, two have dropped away. Remaining single-pointedly so again this is the common denominator, Remaining single-pointedly without investigation or analysis, without joy or sorrow, but with mindfulness and introspection is the third dhyana. Here ‘joy’, joy is referring to prīti, prīti, that bliss or joy, something that is real enjoyment, it’s sharp, it has a real edge to it, it is joyful, blissful, delightful, that’s gone.

[11:33] Sorrow is ancient history; there is no manifest dukkha, there is no suffering of suffering whatsoever in any of the form realm, anywhere in the form realm, but now you’ve moved beyond prīti, so you only have two of the five dhyana factors, you have the single-pointed attention and you have sukha, which is a more diffuse sense of well-being in contrast to the prīti, which is a bit coarser and that’s more of the bliss, the joy that has a sharp edge, but if you’re on this trajectory of going to greater and greater subtlety, you don’t want the perturbation, the unsettling quality of bliss. You’re going for complete, perfect equanimity. And so let alone suffering, that’s a hassle…but you don’t even want bliss, because it’s too exciting. You’re prioritizing a sense of evenness. And that’s what you get in the fourth dhyana. Pure mindfulness So now it’s said in the classic literature, that in the fourth dhyana, mindfulness has come to its full strength. Pure mindfulness, with unwavering equanimity. So now you have equanimity. There’s no more sukha, a sense of well-being, you’ve moved beyond that. There’s no more prīti, and of course there’s no more investigation or analysis, so all four of those dhyana factors are gone. No bliss, no sorrow, and with no respirations. So there it is, it’s a definitive statement. So nowadays, a fair number of people in southeast Asia, Burma, and so forth, and then Westerners who are following in their footsteps, think they’ve achieved the fourth dhyana. And maybe they have; it’s not for me to say, but, as Buddhaghosha says, I’m not going to quote him again, it’s there in plain sight, that if you’ve achieved the fourth dhyana, it’s not that your breath becomes subtle. Your breath can become very, very subtle before you even achieve shamath, you know, your breath stops. Your breath stops. And, it can stop for like two weeks on end. And, during that time, you’re completely immersed in the form realm, you’re completely oblivious of your surrounding environment, as I recall (I didn’t check it out recently, I just didn’t see any need) but it’s there in Buddhaghosha, it’s something like, you can go in for two weeks, and if a bullet train with a hundred wagons rolls right by, right next to you, right in front of your meditation cushion, you have no awareness of it whatsoever. But your breathing stops, your breathing stops, for two weeks. Uh, ask any medical doctor what that should do to your brain [laughter], it ain’t pretty.

[14:07] But this would be interesting, if, you know, there is somebody who is not eager to follow the Mahayana path or the Vajrayana, and so forth and so on, they really want to explore this, this would be of great scientific interest, to see how can you come to such equilibrium that your body doesn’t need any air, because that’s it: you’re not holding your breath for two weeks. [laughter] Your body doesn’t need any air. It is so tuned, so free of wear and tear, so not consuming calories, it doesn’t need any air. So it’s a completely natural process. You remember I mentioned as a hypothesis, don’t know whether it’s true or not, or whether it’s only locally true but not more globally, “fifteen cycles per minute.” If the fact that that is the frequency cited in the Vajrayana literature suggests, well there may be something deep going there, but my suggestion early on, hypothesis was, that this is when, ‘breathing in short one knows I breath in short, breathing out short one knows I breathe out short,’ and then, so then you come to this constant frequency, and my hypothesis is, you haven’t achieved shamatha yet, but now just ride that horse. Attending to the whole breath you breathe in, attending to the whole breath you breathe out, and ride that horse, and you ride that horse all the way until you achieve the fourth dhyana. Even long after you are aware of the tactile sensations of the breath you can still be aware of the rhythm of the breath, right? And the amplitude gets damped, damped, damped. A damped amplitude means that it’s going smaller and smaller oscillations, until finally, “beeee” it looks like the person’s dead. “beeeee.” No blip. “Beeee.” Like that. As long as you’re in samadhi. So the amplitude goes down, the frequency stays the same. That’s my, my hypothesis.

[16:01] I would love, I would really truly be delighted for somebody to prove me wrong, that would be very interesting, I would learn something. So, This with no respiration is the fourth dhyana. Now of course when you get up and walk around again, you start breathing again, because then your body needs the air. Sempa Rangjung Dorje, again, one of the great Karmapas, he states, and this is now, he’s just showing his source, with the antidotes of investigation and analysis, if you strive for single-pointedness, the result of delight arises. Delight is that prīti, and of course there is sukha as well this is the first dhyana, single-pointedness without investigation and analysis, with inwardly directed lucidity and delight and well-being delight is bliss, wellbeing is sukha is the second dhyana; single-pointedness with mindfulness and introspection, free of investigation, analysis, wellbeing and sorrow, is called the third dhyana that should be, not wellbeing, I just see a flaw in my translation, I don’t know what the Tibetan is but I know that the well being, sukha, is still there in the third dhyana, it is prīti that is not, so I would scratch out well-being and say bliss or delight, okay? As you can see this is still kind of a rough translation. And somewhere the Tibetan is buried in my library at home. I’d have to dig it out someplace.

[17:21] So this is the third dhyana. Pure, pure mindfulness, with unwavering equanimity so now you’ve achieved, again, the perfection of equanimity, because there is not even a ripple, not even a perturbation, of either pleasure or displeasure. And you’re unaware of your body so that is not even an issue while you’re in samadhi. with unwavering equanimity, devoid of the eight faults of investigation, analysis, wellbeing, suffering, happiness, unhappiness, inhalation and exhalation is called the fourth dhyana. So this is, this is, a common point here. It’s a remarkable claim, but it’s not one that is unique to Buddhism. Uh, it’s been known for I think literally thousands of years in the Hindu tradition, the great yogic tradition of India. They, they achieved all of these. This was all old, this was all old science, contemplative science, by the time the Buddha came along. And if you recall his stepping out from his palace when he was twenty-nine, he sought out two samadhi masters. In a very brief time, he achieved the fourth dhyana, and way beyond. And, so the story goes.

[18:27] But this is all very well-known. India really, as far as I can tell---I’m certainly not a scholar of Chinese civilization, let alone of the ancient Greek or the Mayans and so forth and so on, but it seems to me, as something of a scholar in this area, I think India was just far ahead of any other civilization, at the time of the Buddha, in terms of samadhi. Each of the great civilizations have their excellences, you know, they shine like jewels--- but one of the great jewels of India was, boy, they nailed samadhi. They had it so far ahead of anybody else I think. And so then Buddhism made its way to China, then they have a great samadhi tradition, down to Southeast Asia, a great samadhi tradition, and so forth and so on, but it was the Indian yogis, really it seems to be, they were the ones that developed this extraordinary contemplative technology. Which, on the whole, I mean really quite quite widely, broadly speaking, until the time of the Buddha, they would achieve not only these, but we’ll see that the formless realm will be coming up soon; they would achieve these extremely rarified states of samadhi, and then they would get satisfied. And they would say, “I’ve found what I was looking for… moksha.” And it was the sphere of nothingness, for example, in the formless realm, or it was the sphere of neither discernment or non-discernment, in the formless realm, so far, it seemed like, they felt, very understandably… we should never be condescending of these people… they are miles ahead of us, in the twenty-first century…um, but they really felt, to use the modern terminology, they really felt for a very good reason, they had achieved escape velocity. And that is, they had gone so far, so far, into the depths of samadhi, that they would never be snapped back--- they would never be pulled back. That, you know, they’re free. It would be like sending a rocket so far away on a proper trajectory that the earth will never get you back. You know, you’ve gone, and you’re a free agent now. And we, we’ve---NASA--- has done that---they’ve sent off to Mars and so forth. Now they want---Steven Hawking and some financer wants to---I think the financer put up $100,000,000.00 to send a rocket to another star system. Alpha Centauri or something like that. Um, but obviously, you do that, the earth will never get you back, alright. And so it’s understandable.

[20:45] But Gautama, being the inconceivable prodigy that he was, he saw, when he came out of samadhi, escape velocity had not been achieved. No irreversible freedom had been achieved, that it was just like a stretched rubber band, and whhick! It snaps right back again. And you’ve never actually gotten out of samsara. So this is so far beyond anything that has been explored in the modern West, and probably anytime in the West.

[21:28] That, you know, we’re wondering whether this extraterrestrial intelligence… this is extraterrestrial intelligence. This is so far out of anything we know in the whole Greko-Roman Judeo-Christian continuum and one day we might wake up and recognize that there are civilizations on our planet who know immeasurably more about certain aspects of reality then we do. That idea is really not widely being entertained by modern academia. We’re simply assuming that whatever we might have to learn from China, India and the other great civilizations, we’ve already learned a long time ago. And now anybody who learns something well we’re it, or as you know, other people we’ve taught. So there’s a kind of a wild, crazy ethnocentricity in that. We move on… moreover when such fine shamatha arises again all of this is called shamatha because this is the whole continuum of shamatha it is cultivated without attachment and craving… if it is cultivated without attachment and craving it leads to the path. So all of this can be on the trajectory to giving you a finer and finer finer samadhi which then you can use and apply to vipashyana and that takes you onto the path. So, in the Pali Canon the Buddha strongly recommended achieving all four dhyanas. Strongly recommended, it comes up again and again and again, and so… and then if you use that fourth dhyana that, that extraordinary balance… talk about objectivity, this is just sublime equanimity, free of any imbalances of desire or aversion, sadness or joy, and perfection of mindfulness. Well you use that and apply that to vipashyana, well, you’re coming in loaded, and that’s when it leads to the path. On the other hand if, as you’re experiencing these more and more rarified states of consciousness along the trajectory of the four dhyanas, if you respond with attachment and craving regarding any of these states, as the highest state, the culmination as moksha and practice while thinking that this alone is meditation, in the short run you achieve tainted extrasensory perception and paranormal abilities, tainted because they’re still tainted with delusion, delusion especially of reification, but you do not transcend Samsara.

[23:34] So, now the interesting point here, there’s a lot of technical names in Sanskrit, uh, is that these are not just states of consciousness, it is very easy to psychologize this in a very, you know, rarified and sublime way but it’s not just states of consciousness… this is, this is a major point and it runs through all of Buddhism and we see it, you know, it it relates very deeply to the whole of Hinduism and all of the various gods within the Hindu, Hindu pantheon. And that is that each of these dhyanas corresponds not just to a state of consciousness but to a whole dimension of reality so you can be born in the fourth dhyana, the first dhyana, born in the domain of the second dhyana and so forth and so he’ll unpack this just a little bit: By cultivating the first dhyana you are born, cultivating and achieving, the first dhyana so now you’re fully immersed in the form realm and this dimension of the form realm you are born in one of the three Brahma worlds of Brahmakaya, Brahmapurohita, or Mahabrahma, so these are the three celestial realms within the form realm, by cultivating, achieving the second dhyana you’re born in one of the three worlds of Parittabha, Apramanabha, or Abhasvara, the Tibetan’s down below.

[24:58] By cultivating… and so again, each of these, you achieve it, and if you’re satisfied, then that’s, that’s… you’ve basically bought yourself a ticket to be reborn in that dimension of reality that you’ve accessed by way of your samadhi while still a human being. So, while you’re still a human being, if you kind of basically act like a dog, you know just completely, base desires and so forth, then you’ll get a form corresponding to how you use your human mind that’s more fitting, get to be born as a dog… you’re acting like a dog, then you look like a dog.… Here, your mind is ascending to these kinds of celestial realms, and then you discard, when you die, you discard your human form and you are actually born in that.

[25:47] And, they have form. These are extraterrestrials. So who was it? I just saw, saw something…some video clip. Maybe it was Thomas Hertog… maybe it was he…when speaking of the possibility of extraterrestrial intelligence, he is a top-notch scientist… I watched this recently; it was a short clip. But he said, you know, if there’s life out there, there may be life-forms out there that as we are above single-celled organisms, they are above us. In a hundred billion galaxies, each with a hundred-billion to a trillion stars, and they’ve been around for, you know, up to, I’ll say fifteen billion years, there could be some who are very highly evolved. Close encounters of the first kind… contemplative kind. And the cool thing is, you don’t have to wait until you die. You can access this, you can actually… this is like broadband. You know the ordinary consciousness--- you remember we had modems that go (imitates screeching modem sound) (laughter). I think they did that just to make it irritating for us so that we would be so happy when we transcended that level of technology. ‘Cause why it had to make such an incredibly annoying sound… shall I do it again? (Imitates old modem sound) (laughter).

[27:00] And it’s going “clug clug, clug clug, clug clug” you know, like a tortoise walking across a freeway. Huu…it’s coming… it’s coming. (laughter) And then we got broadband, we think, “Oh, I remember in the dinosaur age, the dinosaurs had modems. But you know, we’ve got broadband.” Well this is broadband. We’re click click clicking in a 64k per minute, and this is broadband. This is what you would increase the spectrum, broadband of mental awareness. And you are actually able to see the beings, the inhabitants of that.. That’s what Yangthang Rinpoche was saying, achieve the first dhyana…. You not only see Mt. Meru and so forth, but you see who’s dwelling there because it’s not just a big mountain. On levels and levels and levels, you know, there are beings inhabiting it, and above it as well. You remember? That goes to the desire realm and above that is the form realm. So, this would be an adventure: if you really wanted to be a tourist of samsara, you know, like my parents really loved to travel, they travelled, they went to all the continents, including the Antarctic, ‘cause they loved to travel, and so if you really love to travel in samsara, this is the way. And you don’t have to spend $100,000,000 on a piece of metal shooting off like a bullet to one star. This is much cheaper.

[28:22] So by cultivating the third dhyana you are born in one of the three worlds of Shupa, Paritha-shupa, and Apramana-shupa. And by cultivating the fourth dhyana you are born in one of the three worlds of anabhakrabapunyaprasaba or prtpala. Okay. So, you are born into those due to cultivating shamatha, and non-buddhist shamans and so on are born there too. It really doesn’t have anything to do with your belief system per say, it has everything to do with whether you have this contemplative technology and it provides you with the Eurail Pass basically, to you know, to visit these different realms, within the form realm so it’s the Rupa pass, the Rupadhatu pass.

[29:04] Non Buddhists assert the attainment of just that as being the ultimate result. So he’s referring exactly to the teachers of Gautama who, actually beyond this in the formless realm, considered that to be the ultimate result. And then there are domains of reality that are accessible that are non-human, accessible only to Aryas including Sravaka Aryas. If they’re going to be a non-returner, for example, they may very well go to one of these realms, (? 29:39) and Akanistha. And bear in mind this Akanistha is the term common to the Pali Canon as well as to the Mahayana tradition. Mahayana this is the highest of the pure realms, this is not referring, none of these are pure realms as in the Mahayana sense, like Sukhavati or things like that. These are simply very rarified realms within samsara which are kind of the last stop for Aryas on their way out, like non-returners. Shamatha by itself does not result in birth there, and ordinary beings, that is ordinary means, non-Aryas, those who have not had direct unmediated realization of nirvana, do not take birth there, it is solely an abode of Aryas.

[30:24] Then we continue on. He’s just given us a brief, it’s Tuesday it must be the form realm, (chuckling) kind of a very quick overview of the form realm. And now we’re going to have an equally brief glimpse of the formless. By stopping the discernment that grasps to the characteristics of luminosity and non conceptualization there is absorption devoid of it should not be discrimination a better translation would be discernment, discernment. (30:55 Tibetan phrase) So now we’re talking, he’s talking here about the formless realms, the formless samapattis, or meditative absorptions and this is the first of these. And he’s calling this the absorption or samapatti devoid of discernment. This one is usually called, just so you know when you’re reading around like in Buddhaghosa for example, he covers all of this, and he tells you how to achieve each one. I think with much more practical instructions. This first of the samapattis or meditative absorptions in the formless realm is usually called the formless absorption in boundless space, boundless space. But here he’s calling it the absorption devoid of discernment. And then this relates back to the basic lamrim teachings from the, remember the eighteen qualities? The eight types of leisure? Of a fully endowed human rebirth. You remember? You remember among those is you’re not born as a god who’s devoid of discernment. Remember that? That’s this. They live extremely long lives, you know, for I guess millions of years. And they’re not dull, it’s just that in this rarified form that you know, thousands of years can go by, who knows, but very long periods can go by but nothing’s happening. They’re not developing greater wisdom or compassion, they’re just phewww, gone. But they’re not liberated.

[32:24] And so it’s called devoid of discernment and he’s equating this with the first of the four samapattis in the formless realm, boundless space. And that’s how you do it. By ceasing to grasp at the characteristics of luminosity and non conceptuality. Bear in mind that you’ve already long before released any grasping to sukha. (32:50 Tibetan phrase) Sukha is one of the three qualities of achieving, resting in the substrate consciousness. That’s sukka well being, they call it bliss, but it’s sukha, sukha, sukha, sukha. Well, to move along that trajectory into the fourth dhyana, you’ve already released sukha. You’re finished with that one right. All the grasping to that. And now you’re releasing grasping to the other two qualities, luminosity and non conceptuality, right. And that moves you beyond the form realm.

[33:21] So, By cultivating consciousness like space upon stopping all appearances and attainment there’s the absorption of boundless consciousness. that’s the second of the four meditative absorptions in the form realm. It’s subtler than boundless space. By meditating without establishing either an object or any condition for an object, and without establishing anything whatever, the whole conceptual imputation process goes flat, there arises the absorption of nothingness. and that is you’re just so, you’ve so deactivated your sentient being mind that you just, resting in a domain of reality where it’s kind of like just universal substrate. I mean just nothing, sheer nothingness. So that’s what it takes, the materialists would like to think, lights out, all problems finish when you die because you achieve nothingness. Sorry, you have to go through all the four dhyanas in the form realm and get to the third of the formless before you get to nothing, and then the problem is, it still doesn’t last. Because you get up there and again the propulsion, the karma that propelled you there it’s like a tire with a hole in it. And it’s just going to run out.

[34:48] And they say this, I mean in the Mahayana tradition, I mean it’s pretty much everywhere, that none of these last. None of these last. They all, they just all come back. This is why you absolutely need the vipashyana, the wisdom, because you can really understand the first samadhi teacher of Guatama had achieved this and he quite understandably thought this is total freedom from samsara. Because it’s nothing. It’s the total negation of samsara. And of course he thought it would last. And Gautama, the young Gautama, 29 years old he already saw, it doesn’t last, this isn’t it. And so, is anything beyond that and yes there’s one more. And that is By meditating with the thought that subtle discernment is not non existent, upon stopping the gross or coarse discernment of nothingness, So bear in mind you’re not just resting in nothing you’re aware of nothingness. You’re discerningly ascertaining nothingness. You move beyond that. And then you achieve the fourth absorption in the formless realm. You take birth as a god in the absorption of neither the presence nor absence of discernment. And that’s called the pinnacle of samsara.

[36:07] And Gautama’s second samadhi teacher had achieved that. Gautama achieved it very quickly. The teacher thought he’d achieved moksha. Gautama saw that he had not. Gautama then set out on six years of austerities and various other practices. Seeing that samadhi by itself just did not free. Those individuals regard shamatha as the highest state, but since the mind is bound by subtle grasping this is reification there is the drawback that they do not see their own nature with vipashyana. So all of that you have been practicing vipashyana but it’s mundane vipashyana. Mundane to take you to the most rarefied, the highest frequency, the subtlest domains of conditioned existence, mundane existence. And you’re still not out because it’s only, it’s only shamatha, not vipashyana. So among the three higher trainings your ethics is very likely to be extremely good. Your samadhi is extremely good, but the wisdom isn’t there.

[37:14] Saraha, the great Mahamudra master states: one of the greatest mahasidhis of India states, Childish people are seduced by the faults in the natural mind, by the faults in the natural mind and all become thoroughly disgusted. Childish people are non aryas, ordinary beings, not just people who are silly. They’re seduced by the faults in the natural mind and all beings become thoroughly disgusted. Due to the fault of pride reality cannot be pointed out, the whole world is confused by dhyana. So, he’s writing this centuries ago. I don’t know exactly what century. I would assume something like the 10th, do you know? Do you know Glenn? [inaudible response] The 8th that would make good sense. So, eighth century, this was golden. This is the century of Shantideva. This was the century when Nilanda was in full blossom. Vikramashila was in full blossom. Many many great Hindu yogis, tremendous plurality or pluralism within Indian spirituality. Many people displaying, I mean many but certainly enough, displaying siddhis, of a wide variety, it was not that uncommon. And so he’s speaking here from this perspective of Mahamudra where this is, this was their high tech. These were their cell phones, these were their super computers and so forth and so on. And they were seduced by them. So were seduced by our technology. The next big one coming looks like it will be virtual reality and many many millions of people are definitely going to be seduced by that.

[38:48] The great escape from their boring mundane lives. And but the great escape without any of that technology for India 1200 years ago, samadhi. Samadhi all by itself. You know the great tour into the form realm, the formless realms, siddhis, paranormal abilities, extra sensory perceptions. It’s no wonder they thought this was, you know, this was it. And it took a buddha to see that it’s just more samsara. And then of course achieving these, then we can certainly sympathize. Of course you would, why wouldn’t you feel pride. But you have that notion that you’ve already achieved, this is why you know I, I just don’t even know what the adjective is, but I guess distressed. When I see people quite evidently making false claims, you know, about dhyana, about the essence of all Buddhist meditation, about stream entry, about nirvana, about rigpa, about Mahamudra and so forth and so on. I’ve become distressed because when people say that, then they’ve guaranteed they won’t go any further. And when they teach other people that they’ve achieved, then if those people believe them then they guarantee their students won’t go any further.

[40:04] When people say, some people say the Buddha didn’t even believe in reincarnation or karma. Didn’t believe there was [?inaudible], didn’t believe there was the possibility of realizing shamatha or vipashyana. When people believe them then that teacher has now just stopped them in their tracks. It’s like he’s invited them to a concrete, a soft concrete swimming pool, jump right in, and now they’re stuck until they stop believing that teacher. So, that’s where the distress comes. And it’s not hostility like I want to hurt anybody, but it’s bad medicine. And it’s as Daniel Boorsten says in his book, I’ve cited him many times. It’s a great big book called The Discoverers, History of Humanity’s Discoveries. He’s said in the preface, The greatest obstacle to discovery throughout humanity’s history, is the illusion of knowledge. It’s not ignorance. So if you think you’ve already achieved moksha, you’ve got that pride of I’m, I have achieved moksha, I’ve realized rigpa. I’m a stage of completion practitioner. I’m, I’m, I’ve realized emptiness. I’ve realized rigpa, I’ve realized dhyana and so forth. Well, if you haven’t then the problem is, now you won’t. Because if you think you’re already there, you’ve stopped questioning. You’ve stopped asking the question. And then if you teach other people then you’ll delude them as well. So, that’s really sad. I’ll put it that way. I’m speaking really gently here because that’s what it really is. It’s not bullshit, ahh I’m screaming my head off and so forth. That’s just really sad because people are sincere and they want to be free of suffering and if you give them false medicine, you give them misinformation, it’s hard to think of a great disservice than that, you know. Better to just be quiet and let people be ignorant. At least if you’re ignorant and you know you’re ignorant that’s fertile ground.

[41:48] But if you’re ignorant and you think you’ve already achieved something, you have this pride, then as he says, reality cannot be pointed out. People become impervious. I’ve seen this so often people become so attached to their own views that they just can’t hear anything outside of it. It doesn’t matter how much evidence or reasoning. And so you know there’s not much point. And the Buddha himself, I’m just trying to follow the Buddha here, the Buddha himself did not run after these people and say wait a minute you’ve got it wrong, I want to debate with you. He would teach them if people wanted to learn from him. But the first person he met who said whatever dude, and walked away. The Buddha just let him walk away. He didn’t say, are you out of your mind, you’ve just met a buddha you knucklehead? (laughter) Where are you going? Should lasso him, I’m going to tie you down and say repeat after me. You have just met a buddha. You know, he didn’t do that. Right. So if the Buddha didn’t then let alone a schmuck like me. Nobody needs me running after them.

[42:52] Reality cannot be pointed out and in this world of 8th century India, the whole world of India is confused by dhyana. Because it still seems widely believed dhyana’s it, that’s all you really need. Therefore after cultivating shamatha by itself so that’s what this whole chapter was about, cultivating shamatha by itself. He’s not touched vipashyana, at least not supermundane vipashyana that actually liberates. Shamatha, giving it, giving it, its due. And I plucked out this chapter and I include it in this retreat because overwhelmingly throughout all Buddhist traditions shamatha is not being given its due. Even though all four traditions, the great masters, all tell how important it is. In this era which I can only describe as degenerate, it’s being widely overlooked, marginalized, or dismissed altogether. Or misunderstood which is also equally common. Therefore after cultivating shamatha by itself the strength and excellent qualities of vipashyana correspond to the greatness of shamatha. and he lays it out. Here it is. It couldn’t be clearer.

[43:54] If shamatha is small if you have relatively weak shamatha, the power of vipashyana will be small. Just as little rain falls from a small cloud or a small flame burns from a small piece of firewood. Therefore now dispense with recitations and other religious practices and do your best to maintain your mind single pointedly. (Alan exhales) So, he’s writing this in the 17th century. When has this ever been ever more appropriate and timely then now? When so many people are involved in recitations and religious practices of all kinds. Esoteric. But as an old Tibetan aphorism goes, there are many profound practices but very few profound practitioners. And the simple reason is, we’ve not done the, you know, we just felt we could skip kindergarten and go directly to high school. You know because kindergarten is so hard. You know achieving shamatha, oh that’s hard. That’s hard. Let’s go practice six yogas of Naropa instead. Oh shamatha’s hard, let’s go for Dzogchen. Shamatha is so hard, let’s practice Vajrayana. Goofy. (laughter) So, do your best to maintain your mind single pointedly.

[45:10] Get sane. Don’t overlook the second of the three higher trainings of samadhi. In this way I have described the practice of shamatha. Thinking to dedicate the virtue of meditating to all sentient beings recite after me. Let’s recite this together. I’ll recite it, you after me. Why not? Because this concludes the chapter. (retreatants repeat after Alan) So, I dedicate this virtue to all beings in the six realms of existence who have been my mother.

[46:00] If there’s a plague and millions of people are dying from the plague, and suffering greatly in the process, like bubonic plague, something like that. Or who knows what’s coming up because these bacteria and viruses they mutate so fast the medical profession is waiting for the disastrous one to come along. It’s immune to all of our antibiotics. So, when a plague comes along, if there is in fact medicine that when properly administered and taken can completely cure the plague from the root so you’re completely immune to it. If there is such medicine and it’s being offered freely and then there are others out there who are selling medicine that doesn’t work but they’re claiming it’s the best of all medicines, that’s distressing. Because people will then take that and they’ll just suffer. They will not be free of suffering. And it will just take their minds off. They won’t even then consider, especially if the medicine is more like anesthesia. Take this medicine and your symptoms will still be there but they won’t bother you nearly as much. You won’t be so stressed about your symptoms. You’ll feel much more comfortable now that we’ve numbed you. That would be very distressing if in fact there is medicine that can free. And Karma Chagme Rinpoche and Tsongkhapa and Padmasamhava and Asanga and Vasubandhu and Saraha and Rangjung Dorje and Buddha and Buddhagosa, they are all saying there is real medicine out there. There is real medicine that can completely heal.

[47:43] So why should we keep reciting the mantra that we are living in a degenerate era? There are teachers that say ‘oh we are living in such a degenerate era now, nobody can reach the path anymore, nobody can achieve shamatha, we are too coarse, too degenerate, times are too bad.’ And all I can say to such people is I agree with you. If you believe that, you are right, yes it is true. If you believe that, if you believe that you are hopeless and you believe your students are hopeless and all you can really give them is practices that will give them really good imprints for future lives, and you are really quite convinced that nobody can really achieve shamatha or reach the actual path, the Mahayana path of accumulation, nobody can really achieve if you are persuaded of that, then you are completely right. You will not achieve, because you will never get the inspiration, the enthusiasm, the perseverance to actually put those teachings into practice until you come to the culmination, you will never do it and you are encouraging all of your other students to do so as well.

[48:45] So, I feel very passionately about this, not angry but I do feel a lot of passion about it, and that is this is the last 50 years, 60 whatever, it’s the first time that the Buddhadharma, from China from Tibet from Japan, from India from, this whole central Asian region and so forth, has become a global phenomenon. It’s the first time. It was studied by a few scholars but you know, by European scholars with very much a Western colonialist imperialist attitude, you know very much so. But only in the last, about what, mid 20th century or so, are we finding the Dharma centres in Brazil, and Argentina, and in Australia and all over the place. It is the first time the Buddhadharma has become global, very fast of course with our transportation, communication, and many many fine teachers travelling all over the world. So it is quite extraordinary, it took a long time 2500 years or so before it became a global phenomenon. Asia? An enormous impact on India, Tibet, China and so on, but now after 2500 years it has become for the first time in history, global. I think it is an objectively true statement. And if on this occasion, if those who are carrying this lineage, carrying this light like a long marathon, like a marathon carrying this light through 2500 years and now bringing this light to the World. If the message they are bringing is ‘you’ve missed it by that much’ that is 100 years ago in Tibet, 300 years ago in Sri Lanka or what have you, ‘oh we had people achieving really high states of realisation’ you know, but now you know, it is degenerate so all you can really do is just study, try to be ethical, be good and pray for a human, a good rebirth.

[50:29] What they are telling us is that after 2500 years of pretty much being confined to Asia when it finally becomes global, South America, North America, Australia and so forth, they are basically telling us that Buddhadharma is dead on arrival, you know, but here is a warm corpse, and pray over it, get some good karma, and pray for a good future rebirth, because times are so degenerate nobody can achieve shamatha, vipashyana, and so forth, and so on anymore. That may be true, it’s possible. People who believe it is true will be contributing to it being true. And those who hold even a little candle flame of hope, if anybody actually reaches the path, proceeds along the path, it’ll only be those people who have hope, have conviction, who have faith and applied themselves with enormous and sustained enthusiasm. Isn’t that true? I think it is kind of transparently true and that is true for building a cell phone, it is true for getting to the moon, it is true for all the other extraordinary accomplishments that human beings have achieved over the centuries. Building pyramids, you had to believe it was possible, how long do those things take and how much suffering and misery took place? But somebody believed it was possible and then they carried through. And all of the other incredible accomplishments of humanity, however unlikely they seemed at the time, so many things have been accomplished so quickly too. I read in the newspaper now in almost every household in America, somebody has something of a computer or a smartphone or what have you, and yet 30 or 40 years ago I mean people ridiculed it. Computers. Why would ordinary people want computers? This is like a great big box you know like IBM that goes chicka chicka chicka! You know why would anybody want one of those? It is a crazy idea. Then we had people like Bill Gates and you know, Steve Jobs and so forth, thinking well you know, there we are.

[52:35] So, His Holiness commented the only time when a situation is hopeless is when you lose hope. So, never do. That would be my suggestion, never do. Doesn’t matter how bleak, how unlikely it seems. Why lose hope? What is the benefit? What is the upside of that? So, let’s read a little bit more. Now we go back to Penchen Rinpoche’s text. I am making a lot of edits because we are now entering the Shamatha section. It is an area in where I have some interest for a long time, quite a bit of interest actually for a long time. There it is ok.

[53:34] So, we will just cover a little bit. We just have 10 minutes this afternoon. But we’re in serenity. Serenity two dot, two dot, three dot, three dot, one dot, serenity. So we go to the text, this is the commentary: Since that is the case, as stated this is the system in which one seeks the view on the basis of meditation. So, I explained that earlier it is exactly the approach of Padmasambhava as he articulates in Natural Liberation. Since that is the case, what is the way to cultivate Serenity first? So, he said view or meditation? And now we know it’s just like Padmasambhava, what he means by meditation which of course is a great big term that can mean all kinds of things. In this context, do you first cultivate the view and then seek meditation, or vice versa? He is suggesting, I am suggesting, go for meditation first, achieve meditation and then go for the view. And now we know exactly what he is referring to, serenity, and that’s his translation. I am not going to change it for shamatha. It’s a perfectly good translation. Since that is the case, what is the way to meditate on or I should say cultivate, you are not meditating on serenity so I am going to change that right now. What is the way to cultivate serenity first? Shamatha first. There are preliminaries and the main practice. So there is the familiar refrain.

[54:54] So preliminaries, The exalted Maitreya explains, so now we are going down to the nuts and bolts, What are the necessary causes and conditions for bringing about the successful practice of shamatha? And first of all as long as you are embodied you have to be meditating someplace, so what kind of place to meditate in? The exalted Maitreya explains: In what sort of place do the wise practice? It should have easy access, easy access to supplies, basic prerequisites of life, food, and so forth, a pleasant environment. I love that. I kind of find this pleasant myself. I don’t know about you (laughter), but it is kind of like it is ok, it is really ok. One that is pleasing to the mind. When I look out on this magnificent landscape here I don’t look out and say how much would it cost per acre? (laughter) How much could I buy? You know, I’m not thinking that. Of course it would be nice to have up there for a retreat centre, but in terms of boy I wish I owned some of this property it is like, it doesn’t invite that I don’t think it does for any of you either. Like boy I would like to buy that Valley. The beauties of nature don’t tend to arouse, well, then I think about La Salle, all that belongs to France. Okay. There are some real weirdos primarily from Europe, that they would just say, well that belongs to me. Ok, but for normal people, being in a pleasant environment just as one of my beloved and revered Lamas stated, Sakya Damola, a woman Lama. She was asked, what is the role of beauty? It was asked by a Westerner this kind of question just doesn’t come up in the Tibetan tradition. She was asked what is the role of Beauty in spiritual practice, as in a pleasant environment, the beauties of nature. And she said Oh, beauty is so important it makes the heart happy. You know and so at its best, that is exactly what it does. It doesn’t arouse attachment, craving, clinging. Look at the great monasteries of the Christian tradition and the Buddhist tradition look in Japan look in China look in Tibet, and so forth and elsewhere and you will find the hermitages tended to be in really gorgeous spots, right, with great views so for good reason a pleasant environment.

[00:57:11] Good land it should be a healthy environment, not one where you can easily catch malaria, or dengue fever, zika, or hepatitis, and cholera and typhoid and parasites and worms. (laughter) Ahhh, oh yes. So be in a healthy place you know! Good friends. Good friends are not just good chums, but people who are really good for you and you are good for them in supporting each other in spiritual practice and not get in each other’s way. So, a yogic community, a contemplative community, is a very loose knit community where if someone gets ill the other ones are right there to help him or her, but they are not in each other’s face, they are not there to socialize, they are there to plumb the depths of the mind, to gain realisation and they are there just when needed to support each other. So it’s a very lightweight, very sincere, very heartfelt connection of spiritual friendship, but it’s absolutely not a socialising community. So that is what a good conducive environment is and there should be the requisites for yogic bliss ok.

[00:58:25] Requisites, well, all the inner qualities. These are described next and that is Abiding with pure morality. There is the first one. Pure morality, you must have pure ethics, otherwise you may as well go home. Abiding with pure morality in a location thus described, with few desires, few desires for anything you don’t have, and content with what one has So, those are really crucial. If you miss those then you may as well go home. Have few desires with what you don’t have and be content with what you do have. One must rely on the branches or collections of serenity. These are the requisite conditions giving rise to serenity. And definitely accomplish the six preliminary practices. Okay. So, these are the (59:10 Tibetan phrase) And these are not unique to any one of the six schools of Tibetan Buddhism. These are preliminary practices, preparatory practices, I was introduced to this 30 maybe 35 years ago. And what I really liked about these, is that these are not something you get through with, you get finished with, and now you can get a move on to the main event. These preparatory practices, these you continue practicing all the way up until to and including your enlightenment. And they are and you will have this on the website very shortly. Here they are, and listen to this. This is just now, this becomes part of your routine until you are enlightened.

[00:59:54] Sweep and clean the room (laughter) Clean up after yourself, it sounds like Mum you know, clean your room! Don’t be meditating in a pigsty come on kid grow up, you’re not a teenager anymore. Sweep and clean your room and arrange the altar. Create a sacred Space. So, you are not just meditating in a hotel room or just some place where you happen to sit down. Arrange the altar, create a sacred space. This is like as neuro scientists have their laboratories and musicians have their conservatories [sic! recording studios], so does a contemplative need a sacred space. Arrange the altar. A place that gives you a focal point for your devotion. Icons, representatives, of your objects of refuge, arrange the altar. [01:00:45] Make offerings on the altar. such as light, as in candles, food, incense, water bowls, and so on. It is a sign of devotion, it is symbolic but symbols can be very very powerful, so sacred space. Sit in a comfortable position and examine your mind. Okay, sit and if you can’t sit in a comfortable position then lie down in a comfortable position. You should be comfortable. Examine your mind, check your mind. What is the mind you are bringing to the practice? Do breathing meditation - to calm your mind. This can be simply mindfulness of in and out breathing, which is widely practiced as a preliminary exercise in Tibetan Buddhism like counting to 21 breaths. Or as we’ll see shortly there is also a ninefold breathing exercise, kind of a pranayama exercise that you can do. So, balance your mind with breathing either the natural breathing of mindfulness of breathing or the ninefold breathing we’ll get to shortly.

[01:01:41] Then establish a good motivation. renunciation, bodhichitta, that would be good. After that take refuge and generate so get a good motivation and then go on beyond that, to take your refuge and generate the altruistic intention, by reciting the appropriate prayers. of refuge and bodhichitta. Okay, so now you’re creating a space, a mental space, that is loving, that’s gentle, that’s safe, in which you can enter fearlessly, you have a sense of refuge you have a sense of safety, but also benevolence, this is all imbued, your practice now becomes imbued with Bodhichitta. The next one.

[01:02:21] Visualize the merit field that is the Buddhas, the Bodhisattvas, the great Bodhisattvas, the arhats, your gurus, and so forth and so on. Those in whom you are taking refuge. Visualize the merit field with the spiritual mentors, the gurus, buddhas, bodhisattvas, and so forth. You can include dharmapalas, Viras, Dakinis, and so forth, Arhats. If this is too difficult If you find it difficult to visualize sometimes the very elaborate field of merit, then visualize Buddha Shakyamuni Buddha and consider him the embodiment of all Buddhas, Dharma and Sangha. So, just one [can be] the synthesis of everything. And if you are practicing Vajrayana, well then, the Buddha as indivisible from your own Guru.

[01:03:03] Offer the seven-limb prayer We have covered that already in shower of blessings. There are many many versions of it that is a nice one but there are many others equally good. So here it is, here is just the core preliminary practices. The homage, the offering, the purification, the taking delight in virtue, the requesting that the wheel of dharma to be turned, requesting the enlightened ones not pass away into Nirvana but remain, and final dedication of merit. I mean that is just absolutely core for accruing merit and purifying obscurations so this is a keeper, you don’t say how many times do I have to do it. Just keep on doing it until you are enlightened. Offer the seven limb prayer and the Mandala, offer the mandala by reciting those prayers, the corresponding liturgy.

[01:03:50} Make requests to the lineage spiritual mentors or gurus for inspiration by reciting the requesting prayers. So these are prayers of supplication, prayers of supplication. So this will all be on the website very shortly. So just a tiny bit more. So seated on a platform [ta do tado], there we are. So, One must rely on the branches and definitely accomplish the six preliminary practices. There they were. And if you Google it you can find a very nice presentation of this in various ways. But the Gelama Thubten Chodren, one of my old chums since we were both like 14 years old, she is a very fine nun, a good Scholar, a wonderful teacher and she has a nice entry on this on the web you can easily find. Her name, and the six preparatory practices, very nice. So I just gave a very concise version there. [01:04:43] So, then we go to the, we go to the root text. Seated on a platform so this would normally be a cushion conducive to meditation a platform is an interesting turn. It is an accurate term. Then, your body, seated on a platform conducive to contemplation Your body in the seven point posture. The seven point posture, this is Classic, seven point posture, sitting cross legged it is the posture of Vairocana, they are very briefly this too will be on the website very shortly here. Your legs in the vajra, the full lotus position or the half lotus or it can be the bodhisattva position, seated crossed legged, your hands in the mudra of meditative equipoise, left hand beneath right hand on top thumbs touching, Wisdom, method union of Wisdom and Method, the second one is the mudra. Third your back should be straight, fourth your jaw should be relaxed your jaw muscles should be relaxed, tongue against the palate, that is four, tongue just lightly touching the palette, holds the saliva in the mouth so you don’t drool, head tilted forward just slightly, a slight incline of the head. Eyes slightly open gaze directed downwards very gently downwards, shoulders level and relaxed so there is no notion of hunching up like a vulture, this is the classic teachings so shoulders level, don’t be tilted and relaxed. So, that will be all sent out momentarily right after we are finished here. So your body in the seven point posture, there it is.

[01:06:22] If you are comfortable, if you’re not then remember Upatissa, the Arhat supine position, good. Walking, standing, not good for shamatha but good for vipashyana. So be somewhat flexible, but this clearly is the classic construction. Clear away stale breath, The residual stale prana or breath through the 9 round breathing, distinguishing well between. So there’s that. The 9 round breathing, there’s a very, I am not going to explain it. It is very simple, and you can read it and you can understand it perfectly from the PDF that I just sent out this morning. So, that’s online here for our website, I just plucked it off the Internet. It is really really good I thought I have nothing better to say than that so just read it. It is not indispensable, but it is widely taught and it can just kind of clear out the whole system, not like achieving shamatha but it is a good start. And then Distinguishing well between clear and sullied awareness. So as soon as you start, recognise with introspection, is your mind clear or is it sullied, is it a bit vague, dull or what have you. if it is sullied, you might want to say well maybe I can just go ahead and meditate and clear it away, maybe you should go out for a walk or have a cup of tea or something like that, ok.

[01:07:40] So, that’s that. So we’ll continue. So now we’ve really entered into his explicit teachings on shamatha within the Mahamudra tradition. And Penchen Rinpoche, definitely very clearly explicitly draws strongly on the Kagyu tradition for this presentation of Shamatha. So I was introduced to this I have told you 40 years ago, deeply inspired by it. Practiced it and this as I recall is the first time I have ever taught it. So, hopefully it will be helpful. But the transmission, oral commentary, there and I’ve been authorized to teach it. So that’s where this is coming from, thanks to Geshe Rabten. So, enjoy your evening.

Transcribed by Martin French

Revised by Kriss Sprinkle

Final edition by Rafael Carlos Giusti

Discussion

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