B. Alan Wallace, 18 Nov 2010
WoW! Alan was on a roll this morning. He went from discussing Shamatha and how to gain confidence in it (using awareness of awareness as an example), through the different ways of viewing the Universe according to Buddhist cosmology, only to end on demonstrating when practicing Shamatha may not be Dharma. So in brief: How do we gain confidence in our practice? - By cultivating it. Doing it and knowing when we are doing it correctly. How did the Universe originate? – Well, there’s the long-time ago view of Buddhist Cosmogony and there’s the moment-to-moment view of Dzogchen. How can Shamatha be Non-Dharma? – When we take it as the goal not the path. Dharma is the view and conduct that leads to genuine happiness and Shamatha alone does not get us there.
After the awareness of awareness practice Alan illustrated another alternative ways to developing authentic renunciation. This podcast is so packed you will likely need to run it a few times.
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.