The 4 Yogas of Mahamudra 2019 Retreat, 18 Jun 2019, Shambhala Mountain Center
Shamatha: Directing awareness in all directions, finishing with releasing the mind into space.
2019 8-Week Retreat, 18 Apr 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Guided meditation is on vipashyana, recognizing the conceptual mind, its labels and reification.
2019 8-Week Retreat, 21 Apr 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Guided meditation is on pith instructions from Yangthang Rinpoche on the nature of the mind
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 03 May 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
The meditation is on observing appearances from the perspectives of the coarse mind, the substrate, and from rigpa.
2022 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 3, 12 May 2022, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado, USA
Train Your Mind by Settling It in Its Natural State and You Will Become Like a Tower in the Howling Wind
2022 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 3, 16 May 2022, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado, USA
Meditation: Settling the Mind in its Natural State Based on Guru Yoga
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 21 May 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
The meditation is Taking the Mind as the Path and developing Single-pointed Mindfulness.
Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat, 27 Apr 2012, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Tonight we begin with a primer on lucid dreaming with techniques from modern oneironaut Stephen LaBerge and dream yoga from the Indo-Tibetan tradition. Then we proceed deeper into the practice of awareness of awareness. Alan reiterates the importance for the six prerequisites for shamatha training and describes the process of "rolling back the carpet" of the eight consciousnesses: past the five senses and the ruminating mind, past the obscured mind (manas), greeting our sense of self or "I" (ahamkara), and finally arriving at the alayavijnana.
Meditation begins 34.26
Q&A 58:29
* Different practices, same shamatha?
* Semantics: bhavanga versus alayavijnana.
* The far side of dullness and tiredness.
* Morning and night people, and entering into practice like a helicopter.
* The bashful maiden as a metaphor for thoughts that vanish with the light of awareness.
Fall 2013 Shamatha and the Seven-Point Mind Training, 10 Sep 2013, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
The essence of the practice of settling the mind in its natural state is as a translation of the Tibetan, not distracted – no grasping.
The Tibetan term for awareness is rigpa – loss of awareness or not knowing is marigpa. The shift from awareness to the loss of awareness indicates that the mind is wandering. The first link of dependent origination is marigpa – not knowing.
Discussion of quantum mechanics and the statement “don’t attribute existence to something that is unknowable in principle”. When does a wandering thought begin – the answer is unknowable in principle because it wouldn’t be a wandering thought if you knew when it began – then it would be a deliberate thought. Likewise for a non lucid dream and also for the beginning of samsara.
Question: If you achieve shamatha in this life do the mental qualities flow into the next life? When you achieve shamatha, the gross mind dissolves into the substrate consciousness. This is also what happens at the time of death. Having attained shamatha, at the time of death you can enter the substrate consciousness lucidly. You know you are there and are prepared for what comes next – the clear light of death. You can then enter the bardo lucidly and direct your attention to where you would like to be born. Some obscuration occurs from the birth process but would have propensities allowing you to develop shamatha again easily.
Seven Point Mind Training – “Once stability is achieved, let the mystery be revealed” The mystery of the nature of consciousness.
Some suggested books:
Ian Stevenson – Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect and Life before Life
Consciousness beyond Life: The Science of the Near Death Experience by Pim van Lemmel
Erasing death by Sam Parnia
Question: How do you know when grasping is occurring in the meditation? Answer regarding the different levels of grasping. Don’t banish the thought but release your clinging.
Meditation starts at: 25:25
2017 8-Week Retreat, 14 Apr 2017, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
In this guided meditation, Alan guides us to recognize and investigate the qualities of the space of the mind
2022 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 3, 27 Apr 2022, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado, USA
Guided Meditation from Düdjom Rinpoché - On Determining the Nature of the Internal Apprehending Mind
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 15 May 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
The guided meditation is on the Dzogchen approach to mindfulness of breathing followed by taking the mind as the path.
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 09 May 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
Before the meditation, Lama Alan refers to the relationship between the guru and disciple. He says that insofar as the guru is approached from the perspective of the mind of a sentient being, then sensory impressions and conceptualizations will come to mind; and we can be totally certain, if we understood the teachings on Phase 3 (and on emptiness in general), that where we see the guru appearing, there's no such a person as she appears to your mind and as you conceive of her. It's like looking at a rainbow. Does the guru have causal efficacy though? Yes. But is the guru there? Where you see the guru, is there anything like what you see there from the guru's own side? The answer is no. That's where self-emptiness comes in. Whenever we look upon, conceive of, visualize or imagine the guru, in terms of ordinary appearances, we can be totally certain that the guru coming to mind is totally empty of any existence from her side, there's no one there. If we don't get that, the path to idolatry is almost certain. We would idolize something we concocted in our own minds and then we'd bow to our own concoction. So, this is crucial. That's why HH the Dalai Lama says that at least you must have some understanding that the guru you see is not actually there from her side, otherwise if there's still something lingering there and we imagine the guru as the Buddha, it's just pretending, it's cops and robbers. When one takes refuge in the guru as the Buddha, it must be totally empty of ordinary appearances and ordinary concepts. Why is there so much emphasis on doing guru yoga correctly in the context of Dzogchen? Being able to develop pure vision towards someone that looks more or less like us with two legs and two arms etc., knowing what it means to dissolve every ordinary appearances and concepts into emptiness and then actually viewing that person as a display of pristine awareness (thereby receiving the blessings and real guidance), all this is a perfect prelude to be able to dissolve every vestiges of your own self-concepts and self-appearances into emptiness, and out of emptiness arouse the divine identity and pure vision, totally empty of other (ordinary appearances and ordinary identity). The guru is a pure effulgence of pristine awareness, whose pristine awareness? The guru's pristine awareness and my pristine awareness are primordially non-dual. Therefore, if I've been able to develop pure identity and pure vision with respect to the guru, and then I dissolve the guru into myself, that makes total sense, it is the meaning of guru devotion: to be able to recognize my own primordially pure nature (rigpa). The meditation is on self-directed compassion (a sliding scale for pure view of yourself). After the meditation, Alan refers to the retreat being like attending rehabilitation - to give up our addictions to the body, mind and self. He recommends that we just stop those addictions 100% now. Meditation starts at 23:31
2023 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 4, 18 May 2023, Crestone, Colorado and Online
The meditation consists of concise instruction from Padmasambhava on “Identifying Pristine Awareness” (Natural Liberation), picking up from where we left off: “If the mind is empty in the sense of being nothing, or primordially nonexistent, who creates the one who wanders in saṃsāra and who experiences suffering? Once one has become a buddha, whence arises the primordial consciousness of knowledge, the compassion of mercy, and the enlightened activity of deeds? All those are experienced and created solely by this steadfast awareness that is inseparable luminosity, awareness, and emptiness. The phrase ‘the stainless, sole eye of primordial consciousness’ refers to this. The phrases ‘in an instant all phenomena are penetrated and held by great wisdom’ and ‘the variety of phenomena with form arise from the mind’ refer to this alone. It is the experienced object of discerning, self-cognizing, primordial consciousness, and there are other authoritative citations.” The remainder of the meditation is in silence.
Fall 2010 Shamatha Retreat, 19 Nov 2010, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
This morning Alan took another stab at modern scientific reductionism – the tendency to reduce everything to an objective, solid reality, independent of an observer. He cited William James’ experience at Harvard Medical School in the 1860s to show that the idea of the brain being the agent – the source of consciousness- actually pre-dated any significant discoveries about the brain and its functions. All along, however, there have been people like William James himself and the entire Buddhist tradition who have claimed that the brain constricts consciousness rather than being its source. This is where Buddhism and modern scientific reductionism clash. According to Buddhist contemplatives and some modern thinkers who are being successfully ignored – in the mind-brain relationship, it is the mind (experience), not the brain (matter) that is primary and not vice versa. We then proceeded to investigate for ourselves, who does what in our own contemplative laboratories.
2019 8-Week Retreat, 21 May 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Lama begins by explaining the differences between the navigators approach and Yangthang's Rinpoche approach to taking the mind as the path. The latter is analogous to starting in lucid dreamless sleep and going lucidly into the dreaming state, and then let the mind decant itself back into the substrate lucidly. The former one does not accept the invitation from any thought and one remains still, noticing the thoughts that come and go so as to not allow them to take you by surprise. Lama also comments that depending on the type of poison with which these thoughts and dreams are imbued, one is recreating the different realms of existence in our own mini and micro samsaras. Lama discusses the questions whether buddhas sleep or not, and he shares some references from the Pali canon. He also comments on the question of whether one accrues karma in dreams. Lama-la stated that he believes that if one is a practitioner of Dzogchen or of stage of generation or completion one is not pretending, in fact the advanced practitioner is in the performing act of being a human being. The meditation is silent, on taking the mind as the path following Yangthang Rinpoche's approach. Then, Lama starts with the new text which is an excerpt from the Vajra Essence on the six bardos. While reading Lama comments that everybody is building a nest for themselves, and he uses the example of how different kinds of birds build their nests. The best kind of nest is the Dharma, it doesn't matter what Dharma, but be very careful, check and then choose very well. The silent meditation starts at 31:25
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 16 Apr 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
This afternoon we return to taking the mind as the path. Alan says that this is a trekchö meditation. Alan goes into a detailed description of resting in the substrate where one is not absolutely devoid of conceptualization. The Dzogchen approach is taking the fruition as the path, but not by the power of imagination as in generation stage practices. Alan then teaches the fundamental Buddhist Dharma of the truth of suffering. He elaborates on the three types of suffering: the suffering of suffering or blatant suffering. Anger and hatred are the main causes of pain both for oneself and for others. In the practice of taking the mind as the path we are opening up a Pandora's Box and all kinds of unpleasant appearances may arise even in a beautiful environment. Alan teaches us to observe the very nature of anger and hatred and in so doing we will find sharpness, brightness, intensity and luminosity. The suffering of change is the pleasure we get which is rooted in attachment. The third type of suffering is the deepest dimension of suffering and what Buddha Dharma is all about. Pervasive, composite suffering that is our fundamental vulnerability to suffering which we will have as long as we identify with the five aggregates. So what is the strategy? To desist from identification and reification of the mind and looking right into the face of delusion we will come to a non-conceptual space. We should do this practice of inverting awareness in upon itself all the time. We should be consistent and practice continuously and this will bring enormous benefit in this and future lives. Meditation is on Taking The Mind as The Path After the meditation Alan continues the commentary on the Sharp Vajra of Conscious Awareness Tantra, explaining that this is a word commentary where the root text is embedded in the commentary. Finally Alan elaborates on the similarities between the practices of Mahamudra and Dzogchen and the fact that the practice of the direct crossing over is unique to Dzogchen, but is not strictly required for the achievement of perfect Buddhahood. The meditation starts at 43:57 Text p. 52-53
Fall 2014 Shamatha, Vipashyana, Dream Yoga, 05 Sep 2014, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
This session starts off with meditation. Following the meditation, Alan elaborates on the relationships with lamas and spiritual teachers. The closer we become to them, the more we identify with them. Therefore, the more we can identify with them with regards pristine awareness. If we purify our minds and maintain pure visions without reifying and making projections, we will be able to identify rigpa in ourselves. Alan reinforces again the importance of the preliminary practices and purification of the mind. The more we fertilize the soil of our own mind, the easier shamatha and vipashana is going to be. There is a sequence in the spiritual path. Before entering the vajrayana, it is crucial to train in foundational practices of the sravakayana such as the four noble truths, the three higher trainings of the path: ethics, concentration and wisdom. Further on, it is vital to engage in bodhisattva’s practices such as the six perfections, the view of emptiness and so on. In this way, there is no sectarianism and we built a strong foundation that prepares our minds for higher practices. With vipashana practices we need to shut off the reification of our own minds and shut off the reification of our own substrate consciousness. We need to realize the emptiness of the coarse mind and the lack of inherent existence of the substrate consciousness. Then, we will be right next to the door of dzogchen. For the last half hour of the session Alan reads and brightly comments on the vipashana section of the book Natural Liberation. Don’t miss Alan’s explanations about the sublime experience of realizing emptiness! Meditation starts at 3:49
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 22 Apr 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
Guided meditation on vipashyana practice focused on the mind, namely on the domain where mental events take place.
2019 8-Week Retreat, 05 May 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Guided meditation is on vipashyana, starting with close application of mindfulness to the mind, and then going to Mahayana and Dzogchen.
2019 8-Week Retreat, 07 May 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Guided meditation is on taking the mind as the path, while observing mental afflictions and intentions, and our identification with them.
2019 8-Week Retreat, 10 May 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Guided meditation is on taking the mind as the path as we listen to a passage by Mandarava on impermanence and suffering
2019 8-Week Retreat, 09 Apr 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Guided meditation is on settling the mind in its natural state, focusing on identifying stillness and movement.
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 27 May 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
The guided meditation begins with taking the mind as the path and culminates in resting in open presence.
Fall 2015 Stage of Generation, 05 Sep 2015, Araluen Retreat Center, Queensland, Australia
Alan begins by commenting that we may need an exorcist to protect us, since our mind is a bad neighbourhood. He then quoted a citation from a text by Dudjom Rinpoche: "For other dharmas, the main practice is considered to be profound, but here we consider the preliminary practices to be profound." He then discusses the four yogas of Mahamudra, the five paths according to sutrayana, and then he explains how Vajrayana is the swift path, thanks to the practices of guru yoga, divine pride, pure vision & shamatha without a support. But for this to function, he adds, we must drop our baggage, our stories (good or bad), our resentments towards other people. We need to dissolve our ordinary sense of self into emptiness. If we want to follow this path, practice as Guru Rinpoche, Avalokiteshvara, and then three countless eons can be collapsed into even just a few years. Alan also explained some points about meditation on the nature of mind drawing from Yangthang Rinpoche's teachings on the text "The Flight of the Garuda." The meditation is on fathoming the empty and luminous nature of the mind. The meditation starts at 1:04:13 ___ Course notes, other episodes and resources for this retreat are available here The text for this retreat can be purchased via the SBI Store. Finally, Please contribute to help us afford the audio equipment we rent to make these, and future podcasts freely available.
2017 8-Week Retreat, 06 Apr 2017, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
The session begins with Alan's comments on the central theme of resting in stillness while in the midst of motion, and how that simple instruction can be deconstructed into several layers of depth. Alan then elaborates on the three balances of shamatha practice: cultivating relaxation without losing the clarity with which we began; developing stability without losing relaxation; and finally, developing clarity without losing both the relaxation and stability we’ve developed. From a Dzogchen perspective, this simple practice can be seen as a means to release everything that’s obscuring rigpa, including our identification with the body and mind of a sentient being. The guided meditation returns to the practice of settling body, speech and mind in their natural states. After the meditation, Alan reflects on the fact that in Vajrayana practice we take the fruition as the path. As long as our practice is imbued with a deep understanding of emptiness, the strategy of deconstructing something that we ourselves have constructed (our sentient being’s mind) makes sense. Alan then offers the intriguing observation that in all practices of Highest Yoga Tantra, it is regarded as essential that the coarse and subtle minds must dissolve before the clear light can arise. However, in Dzogchen practice, coarse and subtle mental appearances—even those normally regarded as mental afflictions—can be viewed from pristine awareness as the effulgence of rigpa. This is, he says, is the Vajrayana of Vajrayanas. We then return to the initial section of Mud and Feathers with Alan expanding on the importance of motivation. Then we explore what are commonly known as The Four Thoughts That Turn the Mind (which Dudjom Lingpa condenses to three.) In these three he highlights the importance of recognizing our precious human rebirth, impermanence, and the reality of karma along with the suffering nature of samsara it creates. Guided meditation starts at 15:06
2017 8-Week Retreat, 11 May 2017, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
In this session Alan continues exploring Settling the Mind in Its Natural State (or Bringing Appearances and Awareness onto the Path), this time providing the oral transmission for this practice as taught by Vimalamitra. The text for Alan’s transmission comes from Lerab Lingpa’s presentation of the seven common preliminaries found in The Heart Essence of Vimalamitra. As preface, Alan discusses the idea of how we can deal with inner challenges and presents two options. The first and more common one is to seek external help from either a psychotherapist or a spiritual friend with the goal that we stop engaging in harmful habits and start developing new, more wholesome habits. An alternative to this route is to contemplate what it is that we are already doing to cause our problems and stop doing it. This is the Dzogchen approach. Alan praises the benefits of taking refuge not in external elements, but in our own awareness, having confidence and trust that over time, as we settle our minds, any negative habits of mind we might have will start to unravel themselves. Before beginning the actual practice, Alan demonstrates the practice of gentle vase breathing, an optional technique that may support a higher degree of inner energetic balance and therefore assist us in developing samadhi. The practice consists of the first of two oral transmissions of Lerab Lingpa’s instructions for Settling the Mind in Its Natural State. Guided meditation starts at 31:27
Fall 2011 Shamatha Retreat, 05 Oct 2011, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Settling the mind in its natural state. When mental afflictions come up, if you recognize them as such, you have a choice regarding whether you act on them. If you don’t recognize them you will simply act on the basis of the mental afflictions. Be present and observe with interest all that comes up even if they are not pleasant.
Description of how to do the gentle vase breathing. Discussion of prana and the dangers of practicing pranayama without a qualified teacher; it is much easier to damage prana than to repair it.
Meditation starts at 49:58
Questions (75:01)
Question on the differences in Alan’s books particularly between Genuine Happiness and the Four Immeasurables.
Question regarding the emptiness of the mind – that practice as the soft spot on the death star, leading to realization of other emptiness. Question regarding emptiness as a negative, what is the positive aspect? Discussion of different strategies between Tsongkhapa where it is just the sheer absence of inherent nature, and Mahamudra and Dzogchen which attends to emptiness with awareness in the nature of luminosity.
Public Teachings from Lama Alan, 28 Aug 2024, Online
On Dakini Day, August 28, 2024, Lama Alan emerged from retreat silence for a few hours to offer the fifth installment of his talk series entitled "Believers, Contemplatives, and the Future of Human Civilization: A Buddhist Response to the Current Metacrisis." Lama Alan continues with the theme of cognitive intelligence, picking up exactly where his previous talk on July 16 left off. The last lecture in this series focused on the cultivation of cognitive intelligence by way of the vipaśyanā practice of exploring the phenomenological nature of the mind. The core practice discussed was the close application of mindfulness to the mind in a radically empirical and pragmatic way, identifying core mental afflictions when they arise, and investigating the factors of origination and dissolution of mental processes. This is a prime example of Buddhist contemplative science taught in the Buddha’s first turning of the wheel of Dharma. In this lecture Lama Alan continues with the theme of cultivating cognitive intelligence by way of the more advanced vipaśyanā practice of exploring the actual nature of the mind through philosophical and contemplative inquiry. The text that is the basis of this talk is an excerpt from the Kagyü master Karma Chakmé’s Great Commentary to Mingyur Dorjé’s Buddhahood in the Palm of Your Hand, which will be published by Wisdom Publications in Lama Alan's forthcoming book, Śamatha and Vipaśyanā: An Anthology of Pith Instructions (New York: Wisdom, forthcoming) co-composed and translated with Eva Natanya. This teaching presents a direct path to realizing the emptiness of inherent nature of the mind, based on the Buddha’s philosophical teachings on the transcendence of wisdom in the second turning of the wheel of Dharma. Insight into the essential, empty nature of the mind is an immediate prerequisite for fathoming our buddha nature, or pristine awareness, which is the central theme of the Buddha’s third turning of the wheel of Dharma. While we encourage you to watch Parts 1–4 of this series in advance of listening to this talk, at a minimum, please listen to Part 4.
Fall 2015 Stage of Generation, 29 Aug 2015, Araluen Retreat Center, Queensland, Australia
Alan starts by commenting that wherever the Buddhadharma has flourished (e.g. China, Japan, South-Est Asia, etc.), it has always been contemporary, in dialogue with what people believe to be true. Now we go back to the fundamental teachings. We all care about suffering. Anything out there can trigger suffering. Why do we suffer? These skandhas influenced by karmic kleshas are closely held. We identify with the body and mind as being either I or mine. So we have two strategies here: (1) we retreat from them, but karmic kleshas will bring us back; (2) we make an expedition into them: are you really I or mine, or not? If you discover there’s nothing there that it’s you or yours, then if you have that insight, you can stay with your body & mind but with no suffering. So withdraw for a while with shamatha and then start the expedition with vipashyana. Alan paraphrases the Heart Sutra: not only the five skandhas are empty of you, they too are empty of inherent existence. They are a conceptual designation. There is no physical universe out there. If you are fundamentally deluded about the nature of samsara, how can you be free? You must know the nature of existence. Why do we suffer from the madhyamaka viewpoint? If you grasp at the true existence of your body and mind, then grasping at I is bound to come up. Alan then brings in Dharmakirti, explaining causal inference: if you are to be able to infer fire from smoke, you must have seen fire making smoke. If you never ever see fire, you cannot make that inference. Based on that logic, have you ever seen your real body that is not an appearance to your mind? And finally we come to Dzogchen. Why do we suffer according to Dzogchen? It’s because we identify with that which is not I or mine as being I or mine, and because we fail to recognise who we are. Buddhas know who they are, sentient beings don’t. Meditation is on vipashyana on the body After meditation, Alan resumes his commentary on “A Spacious Path to Freedom” from page 87. He concludes the session by quoting the aphorism from Atisha’s 7-point mind training, which invites us to “act as an illusory being” when we’re off the cushion. The meditation starts at 35:18. ___ Course notes, other episodes and resources for this retreat are available here The text for this retreat can be purchased via the SBI Store. Finally, Please contribute to help us afford the audio equipment we rent to make these, and future podcasts freely available.
Fall 2015 Stage of Generation, 09 Sep 2015, Araluen Retreat Center, Queensland, Australia
Alan provides a transmission of Padmasambhava’s pointing out instruction on the nature of the mind which is the meditation for this session. After the meditation, Alan highlights two ways of cutting through the structure of the mind. The first is like a bolt of lightning that can occur as a result of pointing out instructions from an accomplished master. The second is by returning again and again in meditation until it becomes clearer. This can also happen by reading a text or listening to an oral transmission including a recording. An oral transmission has the benefit of containing a blessing. The theme of the chapter so far has been ‘the mind as a label’. Alan gives examples of the mere labelling of phenomena through two quotes on emptiness from the Pali Canon between Bhikkuni Vajira and a mara, and another discourse between King Milinda and Nagasena. He also draws on the work of Stephen Hawking, John Serle, John Wheeler and his own scholarship to demonstrate that our belief system drives our knowledge of the world. Our understanding of the world requires three entities – the known, the knowing and the knower (Nagarjuna). If one of these is missing then simultaneously all three disappear. Alan discusses the placebo effect as being the result of the mind using information to transform matter into a healing process. The placebo is an information effect. Alan then provides commentary on pages 110 and 111 of the text and returns to the subject of emptiness. He comments that the Middle Way is very slender and finishes with the statement that all phenomena are like reflections in the mirror. The meditation starts at 3:31 ___ Course notes, other episodes and resources for this retreat are available here The text for this retreat can be purchased via the SBI Store. Finally, Please contribute to help us afford the audio equipment we rent to make these, and future podcasts freely available.
2017 8-Week Retreat, 07 Apr 2017, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
In this session we return to a lightly guided practice of Settling Body, Speech, and Mind in Their Natural States.
2017 8-Week Retreat, 04 Apr 2017, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
A guided meditation using the practice of Settling Body, Speech, and Mind in Their Natural States to cultivate still awareness.
Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat, 30 Apr 2012, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
If you bring that equal openness of heart to everyone who comes to mind and everyone who comes into the field of experience, than that will do it for all sentient beings.
Meditation starts at 05:54
2023 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 4, 05 Apr 2023, Crestone, Colorado and Online
The guided meditation is on choosing between different approaches of mindfulness of breathing and the Dzogchen practice of taking the mind as a path.
2017 8-Week Retreat, 16 May 2017, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
The guided meditation begins with settling the body, speech, and mind in their natural states and then using that still awareness in which ever way you choose.
2017 8-Week Retreat, 04 Apr 2017, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Alan begins by explaining that the Dzogchen practice of Mindfulness of Breathing is a combination of three approaches to shamatha: 1) mindfulness of breathing; 2) settling the mind in its natural state, and; 3) awareness of awareness. The guided meditation integrates all three into a single practice that produces a stillness of awareness that can illuminate changing appearance without entering into them. Following the meditation, Alan discusses how to most beneficially listen to familiar teachings and then the 19th century Tibetan milieu in which Dudjom Lingpa composed his text. We pick up the text again on page 2 with Dudjom Lingpa's pithy and dense version of the first of the four thoughts that turn the mind. Alan emphasizes that we should reflect, contemplate, and know this so deeply that we totally integrate it into our lives, and sow the seeds of benefit for all future lifetimes. Guided meditation starts at 23:40
2020 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 1, 28 Apr 2020, Online-only
Session 8: Observing thoughts 1. Review 2. Observing thoughts 3. The actual practice 4. Meditation - observing thoughts 5. Tips for the practice 6. Q&A In this session we continue with the practice of observing the mind. For people who struggle with maintaining mindfulness towards their thoughts, they should simply relax, let thoughts be as they are, and observe them. By doing this long enough, they will become masters of their own mind. Lerab Lingpa states how one must meditate on their guru’s oral instructions, as without them we will probably waste a lot of time. Glen also speaks about how one must search for both external and inner solitude. While external solitude can be hard to find, internal solitude can be even harder. Inner solitude is realized by abandoning the 8 mundane concerns. This does not mean that one must abandon worldly life, simply to let go of our attachment to them. The four revolutions in outlook are practices that help us abandon the 8 worldly concerns. Meditation starts at 34:10
Shamatha Teachings Presented by Glen Svensson, 28 Apr 2020, Originally part of 2020 8-week retreat
Session 8: Observing thoughts 1. Review 2. Observing thoughts 3. The actual practice 4. Meditation - observing thoughts 5. Tips for the practice 6. Q&A In this session we continue with the practice of observing the mind. For people who struggle with maintaining mindfulness towards their thoughts, they should simply relax, let thoughts be as they are, and observe them. By doing this long enough, they will become masters of their own mind. Lerab Lingpa states how one must meditate on their guru’s oral instructions, as without them we will probably waste a lot of time. Glen also speaks about how one must search for both external and inner solitude. While external solitude can be hard to find, internal solitude can be even harder. Inner solitude is realized by abandoning the 8 mundane concerns. This does not mean that one must abandon worldly life, simply to let go of our attachment to them. The four revolutions in outlook are practices that help us abandon the 8 worldly concerns. Meditation starts at 34:10
Fall 2015 Stage of Generation, 21 Aug 2015, Araluen Retreat Center, Queensland, Australia
The symptom of an unbalanced mind is to feel ill at ease - dissatisfaction when there is no outside stimulus. Shamatha helps you balance the mind so that when you are sitting quietly your mind is ok. The meditation is on breathing with the vajra recitation - breathe in and think OM, at the pause think AH and when you exhale, think HUNG. After the meditation, Alan reads from the text - under the heading "The Cultivation of Attention". He covers a variety of methods from staring at a flower, stick or pebble, visualization of a diety, and viewing one's own body as a skeleton. Alan provides commentary on the passage from the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra, "a great being, by dwelling with introspection and with mindfulness, eliminates avarice and disappointment towards the world by means of nonobjectification and he lives observing the body in the body internally." Question: What to do when you have been given practices from teachers you respect, that no longer resonate for you, where you feel that you are going through the motions. Alan provides a lengthy response using Tibetan medicine as an example and encourages us to provide feedback on how practices are working so that dharma can grow and flourish in the west. The meditation starts at 14:04. ___ Course notes, other episodes and resources for this retreat are available here The text for this retreat can be purchased via the SBI Store. Finally, Please contribute to help us afford the audio equipment we rent to make these, and future podcasts freely available.
Fall 2013 Shamatha and the Seven-Point Mind Training, 24 Oct 2013, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Silent session, followed by one question regarding the origin of people within a lucid dream. They all stem from the substrate consciousness. Even when lucid, they are not puppets on your string. As the relative dharmadhatu has no clear boundaries, it is porous so it is possible for a visitation to occur. There are accounts of people having visions of tara, padmasambhava etc. It is hard to say if these are actually tara or some figment of your imagination. But if a teaching leads to enlightenment, who else but a buddha could have taught them. The Theravada believe in metaphysical realism, the world is really out there, the self does not exist, but the world does. This is rejected by the mind only and middle way schools, there is no real world existing out there. So what was occurring on vulture's peak was pure perception. Just as you might walk right through Shambhala and not see it unless your body and mind are purified. So if the perfection of wisdom teachings are true, if teachings like the Kalachakra designed to lead to buddhahood in one life time, if they work, who else but a Buddha could have taught them.
Meditation starts at: (silent, not recorded)
2017 8-Week Retreat, 12 Apr 2017, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
The guided meditation is the practice of Settling the Mind in Its Natural State with a recitation of the Seven-Line Prayer and the Four Empowerments at the beginning.
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 08 May 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
The guided meditation begins with mindfulness of breathing (Asanga's method) and then continues with the practice of taking the mind as the path.
2019 8-Week Retreat, 08 Apr 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
“The Enlightened View of Samantabhadra” - last 2 paragraphs of page 166 and the first paragraph of page 167. Lama Alan guides us to consider where consciousness does not come from. He asserts that it does not come from: • nothing (nothing comes from nothing); • a way of talking/thinking (if you stop talking/thinking consciousness is still there); • energy, matter, chemicals (no branch of science asserts that non-physical emerges from the physical); • space-time (configurations of space-time emerge from configurations of space-time). Lama Alan states that coarse consciousness emerges from subtler consciousness. That consciousness perpetually seeks liberation. Further, that substrate consciousness is the actor/agent – it roams from role to role. The vipashyana meditation for this session will help you establish the nature of consciousness. Firstly, reach a sustainable silence (even for a few seconds, but optimally this would imply resting in the substrate consciousness). Then observe that awareness and ask “do you have a form, shape, color ?” Can you make that awareness a referent? As you rest there – luminous and cognitive – space-like awareness is all that remains. Ask “Does it come from anywhere?” (Origin) “Is it located anywhere?” (Location) “Does it go anywhere?” (Destination). It’s an error to conclude here that the mind does not exist at all. There is nothing you can point to – so rest in what remains – in the absence of thought. Lama Alan asserts that consciousness transcends the parameters of existence and non-existence. It neither exists nor does it not exist. It is unfindable. Go to the mind that bifurcates existence and non-existence. This is a hair’s breadth from rigpa. Lama Alan suggests that if you cannot achieve the taste, get the fragrance by applying your best approximation of each element as a facsimile. Meditation starts at 39:04 Lama Alan’s commentary in relation to the text includes the following: 1. “Everyone is none other than I …” The words have been carefully chosen. The speaker is not saying he is the same as/the equivalent of everyone there, but rather that the way others appear to the speaker depends of the mind of the speaker himself. 2. “Individuals with supreme faculties …” Jigten Sumgön (quoted by Garchen Rinpoche) has stated that the reference isn’t to superior individuals but to individuals who are further along the path than individuals with middling and inferior faculties; 3. “… first of all merge your mind with empty, external space and remain in meditative equipoise for 20 days.” Go into total isolation and just rest there, in utter non-activity, in the stillness of awareness and watch whatever comes up. If you have superior faculties you will let go of the human and subtle mind and rest in rigpa. There will be no need to complete Shamatha, Vipashyana, or Trekchö. Individuals with middling faculties doing the same practice can end up resting in the subtle mind (i.e. achieve Shamatha). Individuals of inferior faculties will have to go through all the stages, starting with Shamatha.
Fall 2013 Shamatha and the Seven-Point Mind Training, 19 Sep 2013, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Alan introduces a complementary approach to this practice, which is an ingenious integration between settling the mind in its natural state and shamatha without a sign. The root text is Panchen Losang Chokyi Gyaltsen's union of the Gelugpa and Kagyu traditions of mahamudra. This is a wonderful approach specific to tradition, but if it does not fit you then that is no problem.
Of the two approaches, 1) seeking to meditate on the basis of the view and 2) seeking the view on the basis of meditation, this accords with the latter. The technique starts on a comfortable cushion, adopting the seven point vairochana posture and with the nine fold breathing clearing out stale vital energies. Then clearly distinguish between the radiant purity of awareness and its defilements and with a pristinely virtuous mind take refuge, generate bodhicitta and meditate on the profound path of guru yoga. After making supplication rest in unwavering meditative equipoise.
Meditation starts at: 28:45
Fall 2014 Shamatha, Vipashyana, Dream Yoga, 24 Sep 2014, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Alan guides a meditation on the empty fluctuation of appearances arising in open space. In the commentary that follows, he muses about the instant that the breath ceases in the fourth dhyana as being--from the perspective of that meditator--the last trace of having a body. Similarly, the daytime dreaming practice of the impure illusory body leads to an emptying of the body and mind until only awareness and space remain. At that point one is prepared for the practice of the pure illusory body, which begins with perceiving the empty nature your own guru as Vajrasattva. You then perceive the entire world of illusory appearances as being empty of inherent nature and primordially pure, which is good preparation for liberation in the bardo that follows death. To conclude, Alan answers questions about merging mind and space and the role of humor in dharma practice. Meditation starts at 0:40
2019 8-Week Retreat, 10 Apr 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Guided meditation is on balancing earth and wind, in this case Asanga's method of mindfulness of breathing and then taking the mind as the path.
Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat, 26 May 2012, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
We expand upon the two methods given by Panchen Lama Rinpoche of managing incoming thoughts: in the first, after flicking an arrow of thought, what remains in its place is awareness—a knowing devoid of thought. It's as if you get your own built-in dzogchen master. Phet! In the second method, letting thoughts arise and evaporate, you begin to perceive all thoughts, your body, and awareness itself as empty and identityless. It is said, while in between sessions, one should act as an illusory being. Though we dismiss thoughts as unwanted, we must be thankful for they provide the whetstone with which we sharpen the stability and vividness of our awareness. When people and events of the outer world come and go just as thoughts, we can be grateful too for their contribution to our practice.
Silent meditation at 30:20
Q&A at 55:41
* Distinguishing between awareness of awareness and settling the mind in its natural state.
* Introspection in awareness of awareness.
* When the distracting thought is a mantra.
* Defining locality in awareness of awareness.
* Resting without thoughts and a subtle thought stream.
* Awareness (vidya) vs. consciousness (jñana, vijñana) vs. mind (citta).
* Subject and object in awareness.
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 13 May 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
Lama Alan began the afternoon session by going straight into practice, with a meditation that started with shamatha (taking the mind as the path), proceeded with vipashyana (the emptiness of "I" in the non-conceptual present), and culminated on non-meditation. After the meditation, he emphasized the importance of shamatha as a way to overcome the constant chatter that often goes on in one's mind, and that feeds itself on a narrative focused around I, me and mine. We then went back to a section on the root text (page 83), where Lama updated his previous translation ('the pretense' vs 'the presumption'). Afterwards, we picked up the text from yesterday's session on point 2''' The Summary, and resumed the oral transmission and commentary until the end of Phase 4. Lama made several short notes, including how all yanas are encompassed by Dzogchen, how through the causal yanas one does not achieve full enlightenment (as cognitive obscurations are still present), and finally, on how conventional names (for the sugatagarbha) are used merely for the benefit of disciples. The meditation starts at: 00:20 Text p. 84-88
2019 8-Week Retreat, 20 May 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Today we come back to the practice of taking the mind as the path, again focusing on the approach illustrated by the navigator and the raven. Lama Alan reiterates the importance of relaxation, and refers to another side to it, different from the techniques of releasing with every out breath and the like. He refers to the skillful means of taking refuge, arousing bodhicitta and practicing Guru Yoga as a way of cultivating a sense of existential relaxation. Shamatha is an ongoing cultivation of relaxation. He also comments on Lerab Lingpa's teachings on this practice, reminding us that we can get to the non-conceptual certainty that nothing in your mind can harm us, whether or not thoughts have ceased. Lerab Lingpa also mentions how this is the basis for all samadhis of the stage of generation and completion. He refers in part to lucid dreaming, and to daytime and nighttime dream yoga. Lama Alan invited us to be fully present, totally attentive, responsive when needed and open-hearted with all of our appearances as they appeared in the space of our own awareness, without reification. The meditation was silent, focusing on taking the mind as the path. Then Lama Alan gave the oral transmission of the text from the 3rd paragraph of page 207, all the way to its completion on page 212. We finish covering the 4 visions, culminating in enlightenment itself, as well as an overview of the types of rainbow bodies. Finally Lama mentions that he has a little surprise for the rest of the afternoon sessions, coming from the Vajra Essence. Silent meditation starts at 30:24
