B. Alan Wallace, 12 Oct 2024
On Guru Rinpoche Day, October 12, 2024, Lama Alan emerged from retreat silence for a few hours to offer the sixth installment of his lecture series entitled “Believers, Contemplatives, and the Future of Human Civilization: A Buddhist Response to the Current Metacrisis.” In this talk, Lama Alan focused on the theme of “The Cultivation of Emotional Intelligence.”
This public talk from Lama Alan coincided with the CCR’s Ghatika Monthly event. It was a joyous gathering and the chapel was full with contemplatives-in-training, as well as our friends in the local community. If you would like to receive reminders from the CCR about future Gahtika Monthly events you can register here.
The following is a description of this month’s talk from Lama Alan: As long as we are primarily devoted to the pursuit of our own individual happiness by way of sensual pleasures and the pursuit of financial stability, influence, and reputation, our emotions will constantly fluctuate between elation and depression, hope and fear. The development of emotional intelligence is rooted in prioritizing genuine well-being over mundane happiness, where the former is cultivated from within and the latter is pursued outwards. Moreover, the sole focus on our own well-being as our highest priority destabilizes our emotions, whereas expanding our field of caring to all those around us is a direct path to ever-increasing emotional intelligence. In this lecture Lama Alan will address the theme of emotional intelligence by way of the cultivation of the “four immeasurables” of loving kindness, compassion, empathetic joy, and impartiality. These four virtues will be discussed within the contexts of the Pali canon, Mahayana Buddhism, and Dzogchen. They are foundational for all schools of Buddhism and are indeed so universal that they can be practiced by everyone, irrespective of their beliefs.
To provide context for this lecture, we encourage you to listen to Parts 1–5 of this series.
You will find the video recording here, as well as Lama Alan’s prior talks.
Lama Alan’s notes for this public talk are indicated as “October Talk - The Cultivation of Emotional Intelligence” and “October Talk - The Four Immeasurables Chart.”
During Lama Alan’s talk, he mentions the Fall 2010 Shamatha Retreat, where he offered detailed instructions on the cultivation of śamatha and the four immeasurables. This was the first 8-week retreat he offered in Phuket, Thailand. We invite you to register for this free 8-week retreat here.
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