2022 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 3, 21 May 2022, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado, USA
We begin today with Yangchen leading us in taking refuge and invoking Guru Rinpoche, and incorporating the visualisation and meditation on the Lake-Born Vajra mantra, that we explored in detail yesterday. As we continue to receive further commentary on the sadhana, Yangchen emphasises our need to be patient with our mantra mediation and recitation. She suggests that by its very nature, this practice is a gradual one, therefore she urges to allow it to grow with practice over time. Yangchen then elaborates on the stage of generation practice of stabilisation of divine pride and divine samadhi. Referring to the Vajra Essence, she emphasises two crucial points that the Lake-Born Vajra makes. Firstly, when performing this practice “… if you disengage from this crucial point of transference of your own appearance to that of the deity, no matter how much you practice, the deity will not be actualised”. On the other hand, “If you achieve stability in divine pride in this way, finally, when you identify pristine awareness, you will already have achieved stability in pristine awareness within yourself, so this will propel you toward the state of liberation.” Yangchen suggests that if one has the motivation to practice Stage of Generation and stick with it, this last sentence is very important to memorise. She elaborates further that by taking empowerment, our Lama is showing us how to be a divine being, but then we need to nurture this as a continuous flow. Therefore, she asks us to reflect personally on what it would take to overcome our habituation to being a sentient being, so as to be able to maintain that purity of vision, when karma is still ripening, and the propensities to experience mental afflictions are still manifesting. In this light, she reminds us just how important our samayas are in guarding that sublime vision we had in empowerment, and points out how it is possible to keep all samayas of the five Buddha families with this sadhana practice. She then proceeds to go through the samayas of each of the families in detail, to illustrate this. Returning to mantra visualisation and recitation, Yangchen continues to identify correlations between lines in the sadhana, the Vajra Essence, and Gyatrul Rinpoche’s commentary, The Generation Stage In Buddhist Tantra. She highlights that the Lake-Born Vajra refers to the practice of approach, as in approaching the deity by focusing on the Hrīḥ in this practice, and the practice of close approach, of visualising the mantras that rise from the seat and circle while reciting. She then links this to the different types of mantra recitation Gyatrul Rinpoche refers to, beginning with focusing primarily just on the syllable Hrīḥ and the surrounding mantra garland; or “recitation like sending forth the king’s messengers”, whereby you send out offerings of light and then the jinaputras dissolve back into you. We follow-up on this in our practice today — Approach and the Recitation of Sending Forth the King’s Messengers, which starts at 1:08:44
2023 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 4, 25 Apr 2023, Crestone, Colorado and Online
Yangthang Rinpoche (View, Meditation, and Conduct): “If you wish to look into the mirror of the actual nature of your mind, Do not look outward. Rather, look inward. Looking outward involves the delusion of reification. By looking inward, you observe your own mind. Do not follow after past thoughts, Or anticipate thoughts to come. As for the wild agitation of the thoughts of the present moment, As soon as you direct your mind inwards upon itself, Loosely rest right there, Without fixing or modifying anything in the slightest. This natural settling of thoughts Is a way of resting, but is not the main practice. But in that very way of resting You are ready to encounter pristine awareness, which is the main practice.”
2020 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 1, 03 Apr 2020, Online-only
Session 1: Settling body, speech and mind 1. What is shamatha? 2. Why is shamatha practice important? 3. Preparation (body, speech & mind) 4. Meditation - settling body, speech & mind
Shamatha Teachings Presented by Glen Svensson, 03 Apr 2020, Originally part of 2020 8-week retreat
Session 1: Settling body, speech and mind 1. What is shamatha? 2. Why is shamatha practice important? 3. Preparation (body, speech & mind) 4. Meditation - settling body, speech & mind
2017 8-Week Retreat, 25 May 2017, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
The guided meditation is a vipashyana examination that brings the mind as subject and agent into clear focus and then then asks, if you exist, show me your characteristics. If you don't exist, what came to that conclusion? When the inquiry shatters the concept that your mind is either existent or nonexistent, rest there in nonmeditation.
Fall 2010 Shamatha Retreat, 18 Nov 2010, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
By clearly stating “Nobody has direct access to the mind as you do” Alan speaks briefly about science and Buddhism, especially in terms of defining who we really are, where the scientific conclusions lead generally to disempower the individual experience. He invites us, then, to watch the nature of our own awareness. He affirms that the reason why the mind has the appearance of movement is because of grasping. If you relinquish all grasping, awareness is by nature still and luminous. Even when dullness arises we can be vividly aware of it, by not grasping to it. And these are the characteristics of achieving shamatha: stability and vividness. After a 10–minute introduction to today’s practice, we went into the 3rd round on meditating on awareness of awareness. He guided us by asking questions about our mind, about the agent or the observer… but, it is better if you listen to this meditation session! NOTE ON THE PICTURE: The name of this lovely dog who resides in the Mind Centre is Joy. She was particularly inspiring for us this morning showing us how to practice in the śavāsana posture (supine), as Alan noted.
Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat, 09 Apr 2012, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Focus on the tactile sensations of the breathing throughout the body, cultivating relaxation of body and mind. If we're not fully engaged with what is happening in the present moment, rumination will fill our mind. Learn the prerequisites for Shamatha, how to get rid of OCDD and why multitasking is inefficient.
Meditation starts at 09:05
2023 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 4, 08 Apr 2023, Crestone, Colorado and Online
The meditation is on settling the mind in its natural state with kind instructions on how to respond gently when the mind wanders away. Excitation, a reminder that it takes lots of practice. Notes on boredom and spacing out - laxity and to refresh ones interest. The remainder of the meditation is silent.
The Wisdom of Atisha and Knowing Our Own Minds, 18 Sep 2021, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, CO
- Settling body, speech and mind - Counting 10 breath to calm the conceptual turbulences of the mind - Shamatha focused on the mind - Close application of mindfulness to feelings, observing mental feelings as feelings - Observing the factors of origination of feelings, how feelings are present and investigating the factors of dissolution - Maintaining a larger space of awareness than the space that is occupied by feelings to dispassionately noting feelings. - Experiencing feelings in the same way we are experiencing many things that are not our own. - Experiencing awareness and feelings without them being I or mine.
2023 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 4, 11 May 2023, Crestone, Colorado and Online
The meditation is through the guidance of Padmasambhava, on the cultivation of vipaśyanā from Natural Liberation. We pick up from where we left off, continuing and concluding on the section on the search for the mind. “Due to differences in intellect, some may report that they find nothing within the parameters of existence and nonexistence. Let them carefully examine the mind that thinks nothing is found. Is there something that is still? Is there a luminosity? Is there a still emptiness? Examine! If they report that there is a stillness, that is śamatha, so that is not the mind. Seek out awareness, and come up with its nature. If they say it is an emptiness, that is one aspect, so let them seek out awareness. If they say there is a consciousness that is sort of still and sort of clear, but inexpressible, they have identified it a little bit, so they should come to certainty and identify it. Let this phase of spiritual practice last for one day or as long as necessary.”
2019 8-Week Retreat, 12 Apr 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Glen begins the afternoon by reading a description of the meditation on merging the mind with space from Natural Liberation: Padmasambhava’s Teachings on the Six Bardos with commentary by Gyatrul Rinpoche and translated by Alan Wallace pg. 104. Meditation is on Merging the Mind with Space After the meditation, Glen poses the question regarding what is the difference between Awareness of Awareness and Merging the Mind with Space. There is a short discussion of this question. Glen provides extensive commentary on two charts regarding Shamatha. One chart is labeled The Nine Stages Leading to Shamatha which is from the Appendix of Attention Revolution by Alan Wallace. The other is a pictorial description of an elephant symbolizing mind and a monkey symbolizing discursive thought. The pictorial chart is from the mind perspective with better and better abiding on the object. The other chart shows the Mahamudra and Dzogchen event perspective. After this, Glen again reads from Attention Revolution pg. 155 for a description of the experience of actually attaining Shamatha. It is a radical transformation of body and mind like a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis. At the very end there are two short questions about changing meditational objects for Shamatha and antidotes for laxity and excitation. The meditation begins at 4:46
2023 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 4, 06 May 2023, Crestone, Colorado and Online
In this meditation we practice freedom from appropriating body, speech and mind by placing awareness in the space in front of us, outside of our body, and by settling body, speech and mind from that disembodied and impersonal perspective.
2019 8-Week Retreat, 03 May 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Lama Alan begins the session with pith instructions from the Buddha on close application of mindfulness to the mind. The practice is to simply note the mind with craving as the mind with craving (and so forth). Observing the mind with discerning intelligence and recognizing when any of the three poisons arise is a practice we can do at any time and is remarkably helpful when moving about in the world. This can become a life changer as we swiftly recognize mental afflictions and don’t act upon them. The meditation begins with Settling the Mind in its Natural State and Continues to the Close Application of Mindfulness on the Mind. After the meditation, Lama Alan returns to the text and the topic of distinguishing between the substrate and the Dharmakaya. When you achieve Shamatha and experience bliss, luminosity and non-conceptuality you may mistake it for Nirvana. The experience is just as good each time you experience it and it never wears out. The danger is that if you take this as the path you will be reborn in the formless realm but will not have left samsara. When the karma is exhausted you will again take a lower rebirth. He then discusses the substrate and substrate consciousness obscuring the Dharmakaya even though it is nothing other than an expression of Dharmakaya. A metaphor is a river that is frozen on top with white ice and yet the water of the same nature flows below. Likewise, the five poisons obscure the five facets of Primordial Consciousness just as they are an expression of them. Meditation begins at 22:28
Fall 2013 Shamatha and the Seven-Point Mind Training, 24 Sep 2013, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
The end of the explanation of shamatha without a sign by Padmasambava in the 14th century, the very last line is 'bring your mind to space and leave it there'. Dujong Lingpa's mind treasure in the 1860's picks up right where this left off, 5 centuries apart, 'merge your mind with empty external space'.
Alan discusses the practice further so as to talk less through the meditation.
After the meditation, Alan reads a short passage from the Vajra Essence. Alan then discusses where shamatha practice and mahamudra practice intersect, where they are distinct practices from each other, and where confusion sometimes lies between the practices.
Meditation starts at: 12:31
2017 8-Week Retreat, 11 Apr 2017, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
In his brief prefatory remarks to this evening's guided practice, Alan reminds us that as a general base for practice it is of utmost importance to relax, relax, relax. Relax like a corpse relaxes! The guided practice is on Settling the Mind in Its Natural State, reached by way of a ‘guided tour’ through the most prominent physical sense domains: visual, auditory, tactile. After the practice, we cover the root text from “Now some contemplatives these days say…” up to “…the three specific phases of childhood, youth, and adulthood in the course of a person’s life.” In this section, Dudjom Lingpa lays out three practices which Alan says can be seen as "fixing the mind from within the coarse mind itself," "allowing the mind to heal itself,", and "recognizing the non-duality of that which appears and that which cognizes." Dudjom Lingpa, speaking from the position of the highest possible view, warns us that as indispensable as these three might be in their right place, getting stuck in any of them will only keep us spinning in samsara. Guided meditation starts at 8:35
Fall 2013 Shamatha and the Seven-Point Mind Training, 10 Sep 2013, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Our usual mode of thinking is obsessive because of an involuntary flow of thoughts. It is compulsive because our attention is drawn in by the thoughts and delusional because we think whatever we are thinking is true. Mindfulness of breathing cuts this disorder right at the start by stopping the obsessive thoughts.
Resting the mind in its natural state allows this obsessive flow of thoughts to flow. This mediation can develop lucidity in the waking state. In a lucid dream there is no possibility of harm to you as you know it is a dream. Likewise the events arising in the mind have no power over us unless we identify with them. When you are lucid to whatever arises in the mind, when mental afflictions arise, if you don’t identify with them they dissipate.
Lojong – the lucidity of shamatha allows you to shape your thoughts the way you can shape a lucid dream – you can shape everything in your mind to Bodhicitta.
Alan gave a short story about Milarepa in the rain.
Meditation starts at: 23:45
2017 8-Week Retreat, 13 Apr 2017, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Alan begins the session by going back to the two variations of practicing Settling the Mind in its Natural State he introduced earlier. The first one, in which we attend closely to whatever comes up in the mind while knowing those contents directly, without any need to label or reflect upon them, and another mode, in which there’s less interest in whatever comes up and more focus on just trying to sustain the delicate balance of resting awareness in the midst of motion. The guided meditation was a shamatha practice of Settling the Mind in its Natural State, in the second mode mentioned above. After the meditation, we return to Mud and Feathers, with Alan explicating Dujdom Lingpa’s densely-packed section of the text on the practice of Settling the Mind. After an initial presentation of the practice, the text shares a common vocabulary for the practice, describes what one can expect to take place as we progress further, and finally how to overcome some of the obstacles which are bound to happen as we go deeper in the practice. Guided meditation starts at 24:26
2023 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 4, 13 Apr 2023, Crestone, Colorado and Online
Remember the entry – first thing is to relax. Ground your awareness in the tactile sensations of your cushion, bench and settle the body in its natural state. With the body utterly at ease, relaxed and comfortable watch the breath as you will later passively watch thoughts coming and going. Relaxing more deeply with each breath, return to silence. Bearing in mind the rhythm of the breath, clearly and without spacing out. Without possessing, passively observe the comings and goings of the breath. With every outbreath release the thoughts. Don’t miss an opportunity with each breath to return to silence. Maintaining or bearing in mind the rhythm of the breath without spacing out. And return to silence. Gently, incrementally silencing the mind. Primarily resting in awareness, secondarily noticing the rhythm of the breath. Then move on to settling the mind in its natural state. Primarily resting in awareness, secondarily notice the movements of the mind. Recognize stillness and know what is still, and rest there. Utterly at ease, free of grasping. A crucial feature of this practice is whatever comes up in terms of movements of the mind, simply observe them without modification, like the appearance and disappearance of rainbows. Simultaneously be aware of both the stillness of awareness and the mind. If again and again you are caught, step back to primarily resting in awareness, secondarily noticing the rhythm of the breath, calming, and releasing the thoughts.
Fall 2010 Shamatha Retreat, 18 Nov 2010, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
This morning we began the cycle of Settling the Mind in its Natural state following the instructions that the Buddha gave to Bahia “In the seen let just the seen be…” “In the heard let just the heard be”,” In the mentally perceived let just be the mentally perceived…” So we don’t elaborate or label. We suspend judgment as if you are listening to a fascinating person or are seeing other people’s mind. Reality is speaking to you. Bare, naked. Alan mentioned that the quintessential instruction is to do it without distraction, without grasping. This is a practice without inquiry.
We meditated on the visual, auditory, tactile and mental fields.
Then he explained Aryadeva’s qualities to be a Buddhist: First: Perception, including hearing, thinking and meditation. Second: Open mind and Third, Yearning to test the practices on oneself.
Spring 2011 Shamatha Retreat, 26 Apr 2011, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
During this 24-minute guided meditation, Alan guides us in the practice of settling the mind in its natural state, beginning with the space of the body and moving to the space of the mind.
The guided meditation begins at 10:10.
2017 8-Week Retreat, 30 Apr 2017, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Questions include: 1. A while back there was a discussion in Glens review about the difference between definitive and provisional meaning of Buddhist texts (re the third of 4 Reliances). I think someone was querying whether any text could be really definitive since we were always reading it through our imperfect (i.e. provisional) understanding. There seemed to be some residual confusion despite Glen’s clarification. Do not rely on the provisional meaning, rely on the definitive meaning (drang don la mi rton/ nges don la rton ) 2. So far in my meditation sessions outside of the group sessions I have been working primarily with Settling the Mind in it's Natural State, or a combination with mindfulness of breath. My understanding is that as the mind clears and stabilizes, as openings occur in the incessant stream of images and chatter, I should invert my awareness and practice awareness of awareness. Where I am a bit unclear is how much interest to pay the contents of the mind. It seems like these instructions are more akin to the explanation of merging the mind with space, not giving them any attention but letting them resolve themselves effortlessly. Is this correct?
2019 8-Week Retreat, 07 May 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Lama begins by correcting previous comments he did regarding the size of the Buddha as described in the Pali Canon. Then he goes into explaining the first of the common preliminares: suffering, and karma. He starts by reading a passage from Dudjom Lingpa's text "The foolish Dharma of an idiot clothed in mud and feathers" and explains that reflecting about karma and its consequences really stabilizes the mind, since every time there is intention we understand that we are planting seeds for the future. Regarding the topic of karma, Lama shares two approaches to adopt it, based on Kant's work. The first one is to know what is true, and the second is to know what is good. These two are related to wisdom and skillful means. Meditation is on taking the mind as the path and to try to see from the vantage point of the calmed mind how mental afflictions disturb this state of mind, ending on probing for the observer. After the meditation Lama answers a question that many people have asked during the interviews, as to whether the empowerment is required to practice or for receiving the teachings. The meditation starts at: 25:14
Fall 2011 Shamatha Retreat, 02 Sep 2011, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
In this session Alan introduces the practice of settling the mind in its natural state, this time first starting by focusing on the visual, auditory and tactile senses, and then switching to the mental. The practice entails attending to the space of the mind and whatever arises within that space, without distraction and without grasping.
The meditation starts at 5:23
2020 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 1, 05 May 2020, Online-only
Session 10: Observing Space of the Mind 1. Review 2. The actual practice 3. Meditation - observing space of the mind 4. Space of the mind 5. Process of delusion in samsara 6. Q&A Today’s practice centers on observing the space of the mind, with an emphasis on the clarity that remains in the intervals between thoughts. Glen also introduces an element of inquiry into this meditation. Meditation starts at 11:23 There are three levels of consciousness: coarse consciousness, substrate consciousness, and primordial consciousness. The relative domain of phenomena (the relative dharmadatu), is what obscures our substrate consciousness (alayavijyana). This is our ordinary space of mind. The substrate (alaya) is then what obscures our primordial consciousness, and we cut through to primordial consciousness through vipashana. The substrate is the basis for all appearances that arise. The substrate is of the nature of space, and all appearances arise and dissolve into the substrate. Due to the movement of karmic energies and grasping, the luminosity of the substrate arises as the substrate consciousness. The consciousness that grasps at a self (klishtamanas) is then aroused. We then grasp to the sense consciousnesses and their appearances, and thus samsara arises. Finally, coarse grasping is to firmly believe that these appearances truly exist, continuing the process of delusion of samsara. Q & A: Glen speaks about the differences between the terms mind and awareness, and how they can be mean different things depending on their context.
Shamatha Teachings Presented by Glen Svensson, 05 May 2020, Originally part of 2020 8-week retreat
Session 10: Observing Space of the Mind 1. Review 2. The actual practice 3. Meditation - observing space of the mind 4. Space of the mind 5. Process of delusion in samsara 6. Q&A Today’s practice centers on observing the space of the mind, with an emphasis on the clarity that remains in the intervals between thoughts. Glen also introduces an element of inquiry into this meditation. Meditation starts at 11:23 There are three levels of consciousness: coarse consciousness, substrate consciousness, and primordial consciousness. The relative domain of phenomena (the relative dharmadatu), is what obscures our substrate consciousness (alayavijyana). This is our ordinary space of mind. The substrate (alaya) is then what obscures our primordial consciousness, and we cut through to primordial consciousness through vipashana. The substrate is the basis for all appearances that arise. The substrate is of the nature of space, and all appearances arise and dissolve into the substrate. Due to the movement of karmic energies and grasping, the luminosity of the substrate arises as the substrate consciousness. The consciousness that grasps at a self (klishtamanas) is then aroused. We then grasp to the sense consciousnesses and their appearances, and thus samsara arises. Finally, coarse grasping is to firmly believe that these appearances truly exist, continuing the process of delusion of samsara. Q & A: Glen speaks about the differences between the terms mind and awareness, and how they can be mean different things depending on their context.
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 12 Apr 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
Alan starts the afternoon session by reading and commenting on a section of the text which was skipped previously. The section can be found on page 45 and is titled "How the nature of Existence of Ultimate Reality manifested". He then stresses the relevance of the mind as the creator of all other phenomena and comments on the importance of these teachings and that they are available right now. Furthermore, he puts that into context by talking about the history and development of the Mind Sciences from 19th century onwards. It seems that it is no coincidence that these teachings are available now, when the cutting edge of modern physics (quantum physics and quantum cosmology) meets Mahayana-Buddhism (Madhyamaka and particularly Dzogchen). To support this, Alan quotes several world-class physicists (Andre Linde, Anton Zeilinger, John Wheeler, Thomas Hertog, Christopher Fuchs and Hans Christian von Baeyer). Their research and findings all indicate that the mind is in fact the creator of all phenomena and that the observer counts and cannot be left out of the equation. This view has huge impacts on our life. If we realize the dependent existence of phenomena, craving will naturally subside. We then venture into the meditation session. Meditation is on the emptiness of the mind. After the meditation, Alan points out that the realization of the emptiness of the mind is the most direct approach to understanding the emptiness of the whole universe, because of the implications that flow out of this realization. If the mind doesn't inherently exist, then everything else appearing to the mind cannot possibly have real existence. The meditation starts at 57:52 Text p.49
2019 8-Week Retreat, 19 May 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Before venturing into today’s topic Lama-la reviews the big picture of our current practice, which is taking the impure mind as the path. This can be a simple Shamatha practice and an approach to see what is there. To understand the mind, one has to look within, which is a phenomenological investigation of the mind and addressed in the close application of mindfulness to the mind (1st turning of the wheel of Dharma, scientific approach). This is followed by taking the empty nature of the mind as the path (2nd turning of the wheel of Dharma, philosophical approach) and eventually taking Rigpa as the path (3rd turning of the wheel of Dharma, religious approach). Lama-la then ventures into today’s topic by reviewing the previous morning practices of taking felicity and adversity into the spiritual path (text by Jikmé Tenpé Nyima). This short text is not only transforming our intellect but also our feelings, for the two aren’t really separated. The same approach that we have taken in the close application of mindfulness to the mind is now used for the close application of mindfulness to feelings. We investigate feelings by looking at them and examining them closely by seeing feelings as feelings. In the following mediation we are taking the mind as the path and open all six doors of perception, in order to attend to the feelings that arise in connection with all these forms of perception. Meditation is on taking appearances and awareness as the path with a selective focus on feelings. After the meditation Lama-la reminds us that feelings aren’t out there. They are not happening to us. Pleasure and pain are not delivered and don’t come objectively. This will be a perfect practice at the airport and everywhere we go. The meditation starts at 38:03
Fathom the Mind. Heal the World., 04 Oct 2022, Online and in person from Blazing Mountain Retreat Center, Crestone, Colorado
After settling body, speech and mind into the natural state, Lama Alan gives us a tour through the six domains of our experience—the visual, the auditory, the olfactory, the gustatory, the tactile and the mental. By attending closely to these fields and their respective appearances, we see that they don’t exist in physical space, are empty of materiality, empty of substantiality, empty of labels, names, projection or concepts, and that these are entirely distinct fields, non-overlapping with the others. There is also no clear demarcation or border, between the appearances arising in the domains our awareness of them. The sixth domain, the mental, is a special, though. It can peer into the other 5 domains, riding picky back on visual, auditory perception and so on. Then Lama la goes even further inward and probes into that which is aware of all these apprehended appearances of the 6 kinds. He asks us to apprehend the apprehender! We call it the mind and now we look for the referent of that label. Seeing that we cannot identify the mind as either existent or as non-existent we rest in the emptiness of existence and non-existence of the mind.
Fall 2011 Shamatha Retreat, 12 Sep 2011, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
In this session Alan talks about the parallels of settling the mind in its natural state with rigpa.
Nirvana and samsara are of one taste and without preference from the perspective of rigpa.
Relationship of space/time, consciousness and energy to the different levels of the mind.
Anger from the perspective of the substrate maps to the luminosity aspect.
Craving from the perspective of the substrate maps to the bliss aspect.
Delusion from the perspective of the substrate maps to the non-conceptuality aspect.
Story of whole/half/no hamburger.
Practice (9:38):
Awareness of the body -> from whole body to abdominal breathing -> up to lip/nostrils -> to space of the mind and its contents
The Wisdom of Atisha and Knowing Our Own Minds, 13 Sep 2021, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, CO
Settling body, speech and mind in the natural state until one recognizes the flow of awareness is rigpa, the opposite of ignorance, not knowing; until one recognizes that being aware is releasing craving and the impulse to move; and until resting in awareness is without grasping and appropriating, either your body or your mind.
Fall 2013 Shamatha and the Seven-Point Mind Training, 09 Sep 2013, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Alan explains how the natural state differs from the habitual state of mind. This practice "melts the ice" of our habitually configured consciousness to get to the substrate consciousness. To assist us to find the object - the space of the mind - we use a process of elimination.
Question: Do we accumulate Karma when dreaming?
Alan explains the four characteristics of full karma (intention, preparation, performance and completion) and the four remedial powers (remorse, turning away, reliance and applying the antidote).
In the Seven Point Mind Training text we move on from the preliminaries with the line: "Once stability is achieved, let the mystery be revealed". Here the mystery is the Nature of Mind and the stability refers to both our motivation and attention.
To finish Alan answers the question: Why don't we have western meditation Heros as exist within other Buddhist traditions?
Meditation starts at: 09:24
Note: We had two minor problems with the microphone causing a short interruption which you might notice.
Fall 2013 Shamatha and the Seven-Point Mind Training, 15 Oct 2013, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Meditation – continue as described yesterday with one meditation on ultimate Bodhicitta and one on relative Bodhicitta.
Continuation of the discussion on transmuting the death process. If have habitual practice of converting adversity into the path then when the final adversity of death arises you will be able to convert that.
During the dying process go back and forth between the meditations on ultimate and relative Bodhicitta.
Discussion of dream yoga as best preparation for the bardo of becoming. Importance of not identifying with body or mind but staying with awareness.
How do you know when your dharma practice is working? When self-grasping gets softer – less frequent and less intense.
Questions:
Is rigpa an individual mind or part of a larger universal mind?
Why are there four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism and what are the differences?
Many of the great yogis had families – how were they able to do both?
When you were explaining the 9 stages of shamatha, does it only apply to the practice settling the mind in its natural state?
Meditation starts at: 3:10 (silent, front loaded at start of session)
2023 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 4, 22 Apr 2023, Crestone, Colorado and Online
As if in a lucid dream, stop engaging with the dream and the dreamscape will vanish. A healing and unveiling is occurring, shifts are occurring whether you are aware of it or not. Stop engaging with and attending to the appearances of the mind. Let your awareness implode upon itself and all that remains is awareness of awareness. Do not attend to any of the six modes of awareness and just rest there. There is effort to release the five external senses. More effort to release even the events of the mind. Then release the effort to withdraw the mind and rest utterly, utterly, rest in this open presence
The Wisdom of Atisha and Knowing Our Own Minds, 17 Sep 2021, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, CO
Content: - We are crossing a continental divide: So far we have focused on shamatha to examine the events arising in the mind. This is a very good foundation for vipashyana and a good segue to a type of practice we will engage in the next four days. - In the text the ground is already broken to venture into deep vipashyana on the nature of the mind (the mind that is the agent) - We will have at least one session on this form of vipashyana without this being just a philosophical exercise. - To get real benefits from our practice, we have to start with ethics and continue with shamatha. - When any type of mental afflictions arises direct the attention at the mind that is afflicted and see what you see. All mental affliction arise due to the activation of self-grasping. They are carried by the host of conceptualizations. - Two stratas of vipasyana. One is a phenomenological investigation presented in the first turning of the wheel of dharma in the satipatthanasutra. The other one is an ontological probe. - The advantage of satipatthana is that it does not remain just a head-trip, as is possible in Madhayamaka. On the other hand, Madhyamika can be deeply transformative. - Resting in the space of awareness, provocative people and provocations have no footing because you are not provocable. The meditation is on the referent, the designated object, mind, and its basis of designation and begins at minute 25.31 Text discussed: - Lama continues with the text on page 6 starting from "This completes the teaching on how to bear in mind the guru’s instructions when pride and a sense of superiority arise." - He ends with "Drom, there is nothing better than impartiality." on page 7
Fall 2013 Shamatha and the Seven-Point Mind Training, 14 Sep 2013, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Today is the last day in the cycle of settling the mind in its natural state. Before the practice, Alan introduces one complimentary practice called gentle vase breathing to be used along the settling the mind in its natural state practice. The purpose of it is to support the settling the mind in its natural state by allowing prana accumulated in the naval chakra to flow more easily and to further strengthen samadhi. Gentle vase breathing is meant for the upright sitting position and its function is to loosen up the belly while bringing in more spaciousness to the area. It also promotes deeper relaxation. To do so, we hold a pot-like shape of the belly during both the in- and out-breath. The practice is optional, meant to augment the settling the mind in its natural state, for those who find it beneficial. After the practice, Alan addresses two questions: one on the role of prayer and another on the possibility to develop samadhi while living a fully engaged life.
Meditation starts at: 8:57
The Wisdom of Atisha and Knowing Our Own Minds, 20 Sep 2021, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, CO
Content: - Discussion of different shamatha methods (settling the mind in its natural state, mindfulness of breathing full body awareness or shamatha without a sign, etc.), recommendation to use the most suitable one and the necessity to tune one’s mind along with two analogies - Mentioning of Lerab Lingpas approach and recommendation of not judging or evaluating of whatever comes up in the Shamatha practice. Let it be! However if appropriation takes place, one has to do something against it. - Importance of how one responds to mental events and recommendations. - After the meditation Lama continues with the presentation and explanation of the specifics of the twenty secondary or derivative mental afflictions. All of them are complex combinations of the the three root afflictions ignorance, craving and hatred. - The 20 derivative mental afflictions help us for the pursuit of hedonia but there are not conducive for the cultivation of eudaimonia. - Discussion and commentary of how to counter resentment from Buddhaghosa. The meditation is on shamatha focused on the mind right on the cusp of the close application of mindfulness to the mind investigating the extend of appropriation. It begins at minutes 46:22.
Fall 2014 Shamatha, Vipashyana, Dream Yoga, 17 Sep 2014, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
We start the afternoon session with meditation on mindfulness of breathing. After meditation, Alan briefly finishes the commentary on the vipashyana section of the book Natural Liberation. Alan comments on Buddha’s awareness, which is omnipresent throughout space and time. If one can cut through to primordial consciousness, this opens the door to reality. The practices we have been doing are not only for the sake of fathoming the nature of the mind, but also phenomena. Therefore, knowing the mind implies knowing the physical world. Alan elaborates on the topic of tumo, levitating and other incredible and extraordinary experiences arising from samadhi. The role of consciousness has been marginalized by the mind sciences. Alan encourages all of us to create a revolution. Let’s have contemplative observatories! Meditation starts at 00:01
2021 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 2, 25 Apr 2021, Online-only
Lama begins this session with reiterating that to fully receive the oral transmissions and commentary of more in-depth Dzogchen teachings, such as in Phase 4, we should have received a Vajrayana empowerment, and be diligently upholding our Pratimoksha, Bodhisattva, and Vajrayana vows/samayas (see teachings by Eva Natanya, Spring Retreat 2019). As the Lake-Born Vajra highlights, ‘our ability to keep samayas’ is one of the defining features of a person who is a suitable vessel for these teachings. Lama draws our attention to the fact that whilst he has been authorized by his own Lamas to teach these teachings, he does so with a mixture of reverence and some fear. This is because on the one hand he is aware that to teach people who are not suitable vessels, is to break one of his Bodhisattva vows, and at the same time, it is highly disrespect to the lineage. On the other hand, given that he cannot see into the hearts and minds of each of us who are listening to these teachings, he cannot assess whether or not we are suitable vessels. Therefore, the sole responsibility for ensuring that we are indeed suitable vessels for these teachings, is ours. Then Lama elaborates on two of the fourteen Vajrayana root downfalls that we may be in danger of committing, including (i) disparaging one’s guru - the first and heaviest of all the downfalls; and (ii) offending one’s spiritual companions. Lama urges us to be wise in protecting ourselves and this extremely powerful practice with the Vajrayana vows, recognizing that just as much as it can catalyze enormous benefits, if any of these vows are violated and not purified, the effects can be catastrophic, in this and future lifetimes. Lama Alan then begins his oral transmission and commentary of Phase 4, ‘Determining the Characteristics and Qualities of the Ground’, with the first subject being ‘Identifying the Unique Features of the Ground Great Perfection’. He paraphrases the question raised by the Vajra of Pristine Awareness in the opening paragraph, asking, “If you have realised emptiness, have you necessarily realised your own pristine awareness? Are you done? Is that all you need?” Lama goes on to highlight the deep significance of the Lake-Born Vajra’s reply that the teachings on emptiness are the foundation for all the yanas – all spiritual paths. Following up on this, Lama explores that this view may sound like sectarianism, and an example of one of the six root mental afflictions, that of “grasping to one’s own view as supreme”. After investigating this, he points to the fact that that since the time of the Buddha until the present day, there has been significant empirical evidence indicating that there have been people who have directly realised the actual nature of reality - emptiness, including how they have done this, and what have been the results. Therefore, like some laws of matter that are true, irrespective of any belief system, Lama concludes that the Lake-Born Vajra’s view that the teachings on emptiness are the foundations of all spiritual paths, is ‘not simply clinging to a view, it’s just knowing what is true, to be true’. The meditation begins at 01:06:47 and is on resting in the awareness of all that you have understood.
Spring 2011 Shamatha Retreat, 19 May 2011, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Alan first speaks for 15 minutes about the benefits of the practice of settling the mind in its natural state and its use in freeing ourselves from our habitual propensities of craving, aversion, and delusion. He also talks about the skillful use of stage of generation practices in the context of settling the mind in its natural state.
The unguided meditation begins at 16:20 in the recording.
2017 8-Week Retreat, 28 May 2017, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
In this session, after settling body, speech and mind in their natural states, we calm the mind by resting awareness in its own place, peripherally aware of the respiration. Then we practice oscillating awareness of awareness as taught by Padmasambhava in Natural Liberation and rest in the primordial stillness of rigpa that observes this movement of awareness.
The Wisdom of Atisha and Knowing Our Own Minds, 18 Sep 2021, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, CO
Content: - Analogy to indicate the relationship between the primary mind and the many mental processes of the wishy-washy, clueless king who has no mind of his own and all the members of his court. Some of those members are villains, some are foolish, other are virtuous. These members form cliques and whenever they meet with the kind, the king has to do whatever they say. - Another analogy of the mind being like the pure water of mountain stream with no flavor but as it is flowing down the river bed it can be flavored by whatever is trickling in. - The primacy of feelings are shown in the most sublime and the most terrible acts. - Feelings become more important when we are off the cushion. - Conative intelligence may be more important than emotional intelligence, because the former is about our intentions, aspirations and desires and they blow us through life. - Discussion of the close application of mindfulness to the mind and its mental processes. First know which mental processes afflict your mind - the six primary and 20 derivative mental affliction. - Mental afflictions generically make the mind unpeaceful. They disturb the equilibrium of the mind. They also wrap or bend the mind, so that way of viewing reality is distorted, so that we fall into three kinds of aberration: i) a cognitive hyperactivity, ii) a cognitive deficit, iii) a combination of the former and the latter. - For an ordinary person when a mental affliction arises it is like an eyelash landing on your hand. For an Arya Bodhisattva a mental affliction is like an eyelash falling in your eye. The more you mature on the path, the more unbearable your mental afflictions will become. - In this session we start with settling body, speech and mind in the natural state, then do shamatha focus on the mind and at the very beginning establish a baseline. Then we bring this into the vipashyana and observe what in terms of mental events come up that disrupt or erode our baseline. - In the west, we don't have a word for the primary causes of our own distress, so how will we fight the enemy? - Discussion of the five object-determining mental processes - Nickname for these five is the five mercenaries, because they are opportunists and each of them can be afflictive as well as virtuous - Mental factors usually come in clusters (virtuos or non-virtuous mental factors) and they are able to hire and influence the objective-determining factors. - Short discussion of the 8-fold noble path. The meditation is on the close application of mindfulness to the mind. It begins at minute 32:49. After establishing one’s baseline of mental balance one observes the arising and passing of mental afflictions and how they disturb the mind.
2022 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 3, 09 May 2022, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado, USA
Eva starts out talking about the empowerment. It will be different from Gelugpa Anuttara tantra empowerments. In the style of Dzogchen, many things are encompassed in the simple language. Some aspects are implicit. Discussion of taking refuge. Bodhisattva vows and Vajrayana vows will be given as a part of the empowerment. This empowerment does not include a daily recitation commitment but does include the samaya of the five Buddha families. Eva then returns to Phase 4 regarding blessing the offerings. All samsaric objects are impure so the offerings must be purified. Actual and visualized offerings are both used as a means of purifying our relationship to appearances. Importance of doing visualization. Returning to page 118 of the Vajra Essence (just before 211 of the Tibetan) starting with "Manifesting the dharmakaya, absolute space free of the extremes of conceptual elaboration, as the spontaneously actualized, self-emergent displays of the kayas and facets of primordial consciousness is the ultimate blessing of the offerings." Offerings are dissolved into emptiness before they become the actual offering substances. Description of the seven outer enjoyments and the five inner sensory objects as offerings. There is no one to be offered to and no one offering and no object of offering separate from the awareness from which it emerges, thus taking us closer to experience of non-duality. The meditation on Inner Fire — melting the red and white Bindu — begins at 1:05:05
2017 8-Week Retreat, 28 Apr 2017, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
In this final session of the week, we launch right into meditation. Beginning with settling the mind in its natural state, we move into vipashyana territory, attempting to locate our identity within the space of the mind. In an important teaching, Alan gives his perspective on why we find such an emphasis on settling the mind in its natural state in Dudjom Lingpa’s writing. He suggests that after such a “grand tour” of the mind, the culmination of the practice sees us left standing in an “empty house” eliminating the need of an explicit search for the self within the mind. We have now been perfectly set up for the next section of the text, which is the search for identity within the body. This is material held in common with the Pali Canon that we have heard before, and, feeling that it won’t require wisdom arisen from hearing or reflecting, Alan encourages us to treat his reading this section of the text aloud as a meditation. In an increasingly humorous teaching, we continue with the Dzogchen “ontological shock therapy” as the text moves from the lack of personal identity to the lack of phenomenal identity. Alan gives his take on why this is still an authentic teaching, despite not being found in the Pali Canon. We end the week having thoroughly searched and not found ourselves. Guided meditation starts at 0:0:32
2017 8-Week Retreat, 05 Apr 2017, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
The meditation—Settling Body, Speech, and Mind in Their Natural States—is designed to make our minds serviceable for the Lake Born Vajra empowerment that will take place in the afternoon. The Lake Born Vajra is the speech manifestation of Padmasambhava. In this shamatha practice we rest in the stillness of our awareness, and note the appearances that arise within the space of the mind, without identifying with them. We release all identification with a sentient being's body and mind, and empty out into spaciousness and looseness. We should try to sustain this stillness of awareness amidst the movements of the mind throughout the day. The empowerment authorizes, or empowers, us to engage in the sadhana practice of the Lake Born Vajra. Alan discussed the qualifications and qualities that the student and teacher must bring to the empowerment for the empowerment to be fully effective. He told the parable of the prince who thought he was a beggar as a way of understanding how the empowerment can transform our sense of identity from that of a sentient being to that of an enlightened being. Guided meditation starts at 8:28
Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat, 24 Apr 2012, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
We expand on the techniques for settling the mind in its natural state, and introduce a second type of mindfulness: manifest mindfulness. We learn that feelings and emotions are not intrinsic to the phenomenological sensations we experience—they are merely the _way_ we experience the sensations that rise up to meet us. Understanding this distinction, with practicing settling the mind, can help us learn to avoid reacting harmfully when we are confronted with experiences we judge negatively.
Meditation begins 28:20
Closing comments 52:58
Question and Answer 1: 01:04
There is a recording error at 1:29:54
Q&A
* Progressing along the stages of shamatha.
* Clarifying the duration of continuity of mindfulness.
* When the mind resembles a life that resembles a lucid dream.
* Are the feelings attached to sensations hardwired?
2023 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 4, 18 Apr 2023, Crestone, Colorado and Online
The meditation begins with the practice of taking the mind as the path. The movements of the mind are monitored with discernment, without acceptance, rejection, or modification. With introspection, laxity and excitation are recognized, and are then modified and corrected. There is then a segue to the practice of awareness of awareness, which is taking consciousness as the path.
2017 8-Week Retreat, 22 May 2017, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Alan starts the session by explaining that the whole point of Dzogchen practice is to see your own face as dharmakaya. With this being the case, the question comes up what stands in the way? What's the obstacle? The answer, your mind. We are mind havers by definition - sentient beings - and having a mind stands in the way of realizing our true nature. As long as you have a mind and identify with it, you will continue to not know who you really are and believe you are someone you are not. So the strategy for seeing your own face as rigpa is to stop having a mind. Alan compares the separation required as being like the need to end a bad marriage. You and your mind have irreconcilable differences and its time for divorce. To implement this in practice, the guided meditation begins by following the simple approach of Lerab Lingpa by resting in the natural clarity and luminosity of awareness. Whatever comes up just release it without distraction and without grasping. However, if you want a real divorce and not just a separation, you need to go beyond shamatha into the realm of vipashyana. Using its power, you can not only overcome the afflictive obscurations that are subdued by shamatha, but also also the cognitive obscurations of dualistic grasping and impure appearances. After the mediation, Alan returns to the text Buddhahood without Mediation and begins with the first paragraph on page 32, "Their natural presence is called kaya." Along with explaining Mañjuśrī’s etymology and descriptions of the various kayas and buddhafields, Alan highlights Sera Khandro’s commentary and recommends carefully reading it. The view from rigpa sees the physical world and its inhabitants as none other than the display of the three kāyas. Guided meditation starts at 16:14
2022 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 3, 14 May 2022, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado, USA
Returning to the preliminaries section of the Lake-Born Vajra Sadhana, we pick up where we left off in session 70, the Ten Branches of Devotion. Elaborating on different approaches to visualisation, Yangchen highlights that it is here at the beginning of the sadhana, that we dissolve the fields of merit and objects of refuge into ourselves – becoming one with all the objects of refuge. She emphasises that when we do this, we need to go into emptiness, because in the next step in the sadhana one arises as the wrathful being, Heruka - Hayagriva. To clarify this, Yangchen points out that in the revised sadhana text, before the next section on Establishing the Protection Boundary begins, the following lines will be inserted – ‘In a single instant I turn into the form of the powerful Heruka – Hayagriva, together with his divine partner’. Yangchen goes on to clarify that the meaning here is that of erasing all ordinary appearances, including the identification with the ‘you’ that you might have thought you were when you sat down to practice. Sharing a link to an online image of Heruka – Hayagriva, Yangchen outlines some details of the imagery and its energy — a blazing red wrathful being, male and female together, a union of male and female energy that is an expression of divine wrath that allows no obstructions to get in the way of the sublime sacred practice that we are about to do. Once again she highlights that it is the meaning that is most important here so she suggests that if all one can visualise here is a volcano of fire, that will suffice. Focusing on Establishing the Protection Boundary, Yangchen elaborates on the meaning of the torma offering to dispel obstructive forces. She points out that at its deepest level, one is acknowledging how any potential obstructing force is arising from karma, and past habitual propensities, especially the rudra of grasping to a self. Therefore, by expelling them, one is expelling the wrong view, enabling one to be utterly fearless in relation to whatever may arise. It is suggested that if one is in retreat then it is important to make a torma and do a formal torma ritual, but in day-to-day practice, visualisation of this is sufficient. After detailing what is required for a torma offering, Yangchen recommends that we become familiar with the actual ritual, so that we are well prepared for when a retreat opportunity may arise. She then presents the revised verse for this section of the sadhana, together with line-by-line commentary. Before beginning the meditation on everything we have done in the sadhana up until now, Yangchen invites us to approach this practice as if we are about to start a retreat that we have been longing to do for some time. It begins at 00:51:00.
Spring 2011 Shamatha Retreat, 15 Apr 2011, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
This session is the continuation of "10A Compassion and the Suffering of Change" and includes the 24-minute guided meditation on compassion, focusing on the suffering of change.
During the following question and answer with the group, Alan answers the following questions.
1. What is the difference between desire without attachment and motivation?
2. In the context of the practice of settling the mind in its natural state, what is the mind?
3. What happens to an arhat after death?
4. What are the internal causes for shamatha?
The Wisdom of Atisha and Knowing Our Own Minds, 20 Sep 2021, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, CO
The meditation is on shamatha focused on the mind right on the cusp of the close application of mindfulness to the mind where. It is between examining and investigating As you are resting in awareness, see to what extent you are witnessing subjective impulses without collapsing into it. Examine closely the extent to which you have merged with them appropriation took place. Observe the grey area of quasi-appropriation, whether there is no appropriation at all and when there is full appropriation including acting upon the thought.
