Spring 2011 Shamatha Retreat, 30 Apr 2011, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
This afternoon's guided meditation on the immeasurable of empathetic joy focuses on cultivating the underlying causes of genuine happiness and flourishing. Alan Wallace reminds us that Tsongkhapa said that the easiest and most effective way to empower and energize one's practice is to take delight and satisfaction in it.
The guided meditation begins at 12:30 in the recording.
After the guided meditation, Alan answers these questions from the group:
1. Can you expand on the concept of collective karma that you mentioned recently?
2. Does Buddhism have a concept of free will, and how does this relate to non-self?
3. When I'm dwelling in the space of the mind, suddenly I remember that I am supposed to exhale and release, and I lose the concept of dwelling in the space of the mind. Then I'll just forget about exhaling anything, and breath and maintain awareness in this space...
4. In the practice of awareness of awareness, is there a difference in the way you release thoughts as compared to the practice of mindfulness of breathing?
5. Can you describe a different way of doing tonglen (sending and receiving) for those who, like myself, have difficulty letting go of (or allowing the incineration of) the suffering that is drawn in on the in-breath?
6. You've used the term "sealing the path" often - what does this mean and how does it relate to stream entry?
2017 8-Week Retreat, 01 May 2017, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
The guided meditation is a vipashyana practice for cutting through to rigpa by resting in the middle ground of interdependently arising awareness and appearances and then watching the mind designate objects and subjects on bases that are nonexistent.
Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat, 08 May 2012, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Over time, why couldn't all sentient beings find the genuine happiness that stems from the cultivation of the heart and mind? May it be so. We practice arousing this aspiration of loving-kindness, "may we all experience such wellbeing".
Meditation starts at 6:37
2023 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 4, 17 May 2023, Crestone, Colorado and Online
Lama la continues to give the transmission of the pith instructions from Padmasambhava on Identifying Pristine Awareness with commentary from Gyatrul Rinpoche (see the notes) beginning with a leisurely settling body, speech and mind.
Shamatha Teachings Presented by Glen Svensson, 24 Apr 2020, Originally part of 2020 8-week retreat
Session 7: Observing the Mind 1. Review 2. The actual practice 4. Review of stages one to four 5. Stages five to nine 6. Q&A Glen begins with a brief introduction on how to meditate with the mind as the object. Meditation starts at 8:40 After a quick review of the first four stages of shamatha, we continue learning about the final stages leading to the achievement of shamatha. Stage 5, Tamed Attention: One takes satisfaction in samadhi through the power of introspection. Stage 6, Pacified Attention: One no longer has any resistance to training the attention, achieved through the power of introspection. Stage 7, Fully Pacified Attention: Pacification of melancholy, attachment and lethargy through the power of enthusiasm. Stage 8, Single-pointed Attention: One can sustain samadhi without any excitation or laxity through the power of enthusiasm. Stage 9, Attentional Balance: One can sustain flawless samadhi effortlessly through the power of familiarity. Q & A: Glen speaks about the importance of recognizing subtle excitation and laxity after Stage 4, as without that it could lead to a sense of complacency.
The Wisdom of Atisha and Knowing Our Own Minds, 13 Sep 2021, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, CO
After explaining the reasons for skipping the meditation during the first session, Lama-la explains the symbol of snapping with his fingers each time after his prostrations to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha at the beginning of each session. He then points out the importance of being a suitable vessel with its three characteristcs before he moves to the meditation session which is about settling body, speech and mind in the natural state. The meditation starts at minute 07:04 and is followed by a brief anecdote from Tibet to indicate the importance of overcoming the dualism of teaching and practice. Then Lama-la continues with the dialogue and explains the 12 links of dependent origination form the Dzogchen perspective. He compares this with the advances and understanding in life-sciences, which still has no understanding of how life emerged. They are also unable to explain how to overcome or roll Samsara backwards. Finally Lama-la reminds us to maintain the continuity of mindfulness of awareness during the breaks and after we come out of the meditations and to continue coming back to settling body speech and mind or to rest in the stillness of awareness and watch the illusory appearance of movement arise.
Fall 2011 Shamatha Retreat, 02 Sep 2011, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
In this session Alan introduces the practice of full body awareness (aka the infirmary), starting by settling the body, speech and mind in their natural state.
The meditation starts at 4:51
Spring 2011 Shamatha Retreat, 03 May 2011, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
We return again to the beginning of the 10-session cycle of guided meditations on shamatha with settling the body, speech and mind in their natural state.
Guided meditation begins at 10:50 in the recording.
The 4 Yogas of Mahamudra 2019 Retreat, 19 Jun 2019, Shambhala Mountain Center
Lama Alan starts by commenting on how in the small stage of the first yoga, mind wandering can still occur in between sessions. In the same way, in the second yoga the tendencies of reification can still occur in between sessions. He also comments on the sensitivity one develops as one progresses on the path. The same mental affliction that can seem harmless for an ordinary being would be unbearable for an arya bodhisattva. We don't even have an English word for the term klesha, and most popular translations fail to properly represent the term. After the meditation Lama comments on the implications of realizing the emptiness of this sense of "I am". If one severs the root of dualistic grasping, in between sessions mental afflictions become like a chicken with its head cut off, they have a very short longevity. We then move on to the texts: The Four Yogas of Mahamudra * Yoga of Freedom from Conceptual Elaborations * Medium stage * Great stage Twelve Stages of the Four Yogas of Mahamudra: * Yoga free of elaboration * Medium stage * Great stage **Meditation** Vipashyana: Origin, location and destination of the mind that is observing. Meditation starts at 10:45
Fall 2011 Shamatha Retreat, 07 Sep 2011, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
What does the preparatory practice of settling the body, speech and mind have to do with rats, fleas and the Black Plague? Why are we in modernity actually still living in the Dark Ages? All is revealed in this edition of Alan’s shamatha expedition.
Meditation starts at 13:58
2017 8-Week Retreat, 26 Apr 2017, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
In this meditation, we bring to mind suffering we have experienced in our lives, and ask whether the root of this suffering is attributable to the three poisons. We generate the wish to be free of suffering, and then extend this wish to others.
Fall 2011 Shamatha Retreat, 05 Oct 2011, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
“Give up attachment to this life and let your mind become Dharma” Alan explains how to approach the suffering of change and elaborates on the role of shamatha in dealing with this particular kind of suffering.
Meditation starts at 14:31
Fall 2013 Shamatha and the Seven-Point Mind Training, 22 Oct 2013, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
As you merge the mind with space, maintain a flow of knowing of the sheer absence of thought. It is a knowing of emptiness that can lead to an open expanse.
Meditation starts at: 6:40 (silent, not recorded)
2019 8-Week Retreat, 10 May 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
We turn again to the second preliminary regarding the certainty of death and impermanence. If we really assimilate any one of the preliminaries into our way of viewing it brings about a profound shift in our view and behavior. Lama Alan talks about the 32 major marks and 80 minor marks of the Buddha’s body and tells the story of the monk who saw these and asked him if he was a God. The Buddha answered no to each of his inquiries finally just saying he is awake. If we don’t identify with our body and mind there is no impermanence and death. Lama Alan goes back to page 189 of the text in which the Lake Born Vajra states that my disciples, having specific qualities, are emanations of me and describes the meaning behind this. He also talks about the Tibetan State oracle and how this is not like that. The Dharmakaya is inseparable from the mind stream of every sentient being. Alan describes how intuition can be the connection to that wisdom. He describes the process of asking a very specific question and seeing what comes up and then using your intelligence to determine if it is false gold or a manifestation of wisdom. The meditation is from a passage by Mandarava requesting of her parents to be able to follow the Dharma rather than be a queen. Lama Alan says he is tossing pebbles into the ponds of our minds to see what comes up. The meditation begins at 35:52
Fall 2011 Shamatha Retreat, 02 Sep 2011, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
In this session we continue with the practice of settling the mind in its natural state, now starting by focusing on the space of the body and whatever tactile sensations arise within it, to then proceed to the actual practice.
The meditation starts at 9:44
Fall 2015 Stage of Generation, 19 Aug 2015, Araluen Retreat Center, Queensland, Australia
Before the meditation, Alan explains that the reason for teaching many different meditation techniques is to cater for individual preferences. The key test is whether the method results in ease, stability and clarity of awareness. The magic word is enjoyment not progress! The meditation is in two parts - to balance "earth and wind". First is settling the mind in its natural state and then giving full attention to the space of the mind from this grounded state. After the meditation, Alan returns to Chapter Three of the text, starting on page 66. He explains more fully the qualities of the four dhyānas and highlights that the gold standard for Shamatha is to reach the threshold of the first dhyāna where the meditator can rest effortlessly in samadhi for four hours or more. Alan draws a link between the siddhis or paranormal activities that are attained in the fourth dhyāna with those attained through dream yoga training. Alan then provides detailed commentary on the nine dhyānas that are referred to by Tsuglak Trengwa (page 67). The nine dhyānas proceeded from the first four to progressively subtler states culminating in the ninth dhyāna of cessation. Alan offers us an interpretation of these dhyānas by way of analogy to the four stages of mindfulness in achieving shamatha identified by Dudjom Lingpa. The fourth stage described by Dudjom Lingpa is characterised by deep stillness and an absence of appearances which can seem like death. Similarly at cessation, even the subtle mind becomes dormant and in Alan's words you are in deep cosmic sleep. Alan provides interesting examples of siddhis found in other contemplative traditions as well as out of body experiences in non-contemplative states. He concludes by stressing the point that Shamatha and meditative stabilisations are not ends in themselves, they are the means to insight. The meditation starts at 9:42
Fall 2015 Stage of Generation, 07 Sep 2015, Araluen Retreat Center, Queensland, Australia
Alan says for this morning’s meditation practice we will return to the cultivation or unveiling of the immeasurable of Loving Kindness. He indicates that Loving Kindness derives from the more basic drive or impulse of caring. We can’t stop caring, with the variation experienced in caring being a matter of the way we care and its extent. Alan then describes “small mindedness” where the space of the mind collapses down into a small volume when we are caught in a thought or fixated on a person or an idea. When this occurs we are “between the fangs of mental afflictions” as Shantideva says, and the all-creating sovereign of the mind has been de-throned. This wandering state of the mind is never voluntary. Yet we care about what captures our attention. We are born with caring for ourselves and those we rely upon. However this biology of caring only goes so far as it keeps us in the ocean of samsara. We need to complement it with the practice of Dharma which is about expanding our sphere of caring outwards to, well – every sentient being in every circumstance everywhere! Drawing from a thread through the history of human thought, Alan quotes Hermes Trismegistus idea of ‘as above, so below’, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s book ‘The Universe In A Single Atom’, to reinforce the notion that understanding within creates understanding without – understanding the microcosm (ourselves) is also understanding the macrocosm (the universe). Alan finishes with a quote from the Buddha on this theme. The meditation is on Loving Kindness by expanding the field of caring. The meditation starts at 27:02. ___ 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. The meditation starts at 27:02.
2017 8-Week Retreat, 27 Apr 2017, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
The guided meditation begins as a shamatha practice of Settling the Mind in Its Natural State and that shifts to a vipashyana practice exploring the relationship between awareness and appearances and examining the findability of the basis of designation for “I.”
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 11 May 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
The meditation is an oral transmission from Sera Khandro's Garland for the Delight of the Fortunate (Vol 2, Buddhahood Without Meditation), extracted from a. The Concise Teachings of Pith Instructions on the Vital Points of Methods for Placing the Mind.
2020 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 1, 12 May 2020, Online-only
Session 12: Resting in Awareness 1. Review 2. Shamatha without a sign 3. The actual practice 4. Meditation - resting in awareness 5. Gelug Mahamudra 6. Q&A In this session we focus on shamatha without a sign, or awareness of awareness. Shamatha without a sign means we do not have a object to observe such as the breath. In this practice, we withdraw from all sensory and mental appearances, and place our attention in its own natural state just as it is. It is recommended to alternate between the release of tension and the sharpening of concentration in order to overcome laxity and excitation. Meditation starts at 17:55 Glen reads a text on shamatha from the Gelug Mahamudra tradition. It states how we should focus on the very nature of cognizance, observing it nakedly. “Cut off” thoughts from their root, i.e. don’t pay any attention to them. By relaxing completely the mind, the mind will naturally untangle itself and remain steadfast. By practicing, a clear vacuity-like space that is vividly awake will arise, cutting through to the substrate. Q & A: Glen speaks about involuntary spasms during shamatha practice, and how the shavasana posture can be helpful for dealing with that issue. The most important thing in our practice is to be without hope or fear.
Shamatha Teachings Presented by Glen Svensson, 12 May 2020, Originally part of 2020 8-week retreat
Session 12: Resting in Awareness 1. Review 2. Shamatha without a sign 3. The actual practice 4. Meditation - resting in awareness 5. Gelug Mahamudra 6. Q&A In this session we focus on shamatha without a sign, or awareness of awareness. Shamatha without a sign means we do not have a object to observe such as the breath. In this practice, we withdraw from all sensory and mental appearances, and place our attention in its own natural state just as it is. It is recommended to alternate between the release of tension and the sharpening of concentration in order to overcome laxity and excitation. Meditation starts at 17:55 Glen reads a text on shamatha from the Gelug Mahamudra tradition. It states how we should focus on the very nature of cognizance, observing it nakedly. “Cut off” thoughts from their root, i.e. don’t pay any attention to them. By relaxing completely the mind, the mind will naturally untangle itself and remain steadfast. By practicing, a clear vacuity-like space that is vividly awake will arise, cutting through to the substrate. Q & A: Glen speaks about involuntary spasms during shamatha practice, and how the shavasana posture can be helpful for dealing with that issue. The most important thing in our practice is to be without hope or fear.
Sadhana Class with Yangchen (Eva Natanya), 24 May 2022, Online, Recorded at Miyo Samten Ling, Crestone, CO
Yangchen begins by going back to the “Quintessential Yoga of Recitation” to recite two verses in their entirety, adding some commentary and then reciting the instructions from the Sadhana which she says comes from multiple sources. She then clarified instructions about distraction during mantra recitations in regards to motivation and virtue. The practice of shamatha is ultimately to overcome distraction, but in terms of bringing our state of mind to the best state of virtue, if we fall under the influence of distraction doesn’t make the recitation “not count”. We strive to keep the mind as concentrated as possible while doing any recitation, keeping our mind on the visualization so that we don’t get distracted. Yangchen then reminds us just to do our best. Yangchen then spoke a little bit about silent retreats, discovering what is our optimal balance between silence and conversations about clarification that’s needed, possibly from our Guru. Returning to the Sadhana verses in the section “Receiving Siddhis Upon Seeing Signs,” she recites the three verses with some commentary and then finishes this section with the 100 syllable Vajrasattva mantra which is at this point in the Sadhana to purify any mistakes we may have made. Yangchen then begins “The Concluding Stage” with a detailed discussion about the essentials for the alter, including the inner and outer offerings. When to set up the substances and what to include. Yangchen then answered a question about what to do with the Tsok after the Sadhana is finished, by suggesting that it can be suitable to offer the same Torma more than once (keeping in refrigerator). Leftovers can be taken outside that won’t be walked over, like a pathway. You can place it in a tree or stream. Yangchen continues by reciting the first few verses with commentary and suggestions for contemplation, then at 1:20:00 concludes with a short mediation on the first verse of the "Concluding Stage. After the mediation she points out that the last part of the meditation was about the actual last offering, then offers the suggestion that we spend time in this meditation, expanding upon the Oṃ āḥ hūṃ, she suggests we spend time with this until it becomes familiar.
2017 8-Week Retreat, 14 May 2017, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
It is time to dive into deeper waters. The previous teachings received by Düdjom Lingpa were all about non-existence, for us to see how things are delusive, how they do not exist. Now the question is how they do exist. Prior to meditation, Alan provides a very useful theoretical model, purely phenomenological, to enrich our conceptual investigation of how things exist. He explains the essential nature of the mind as an indivisible triad consisting of substrate (space), substrate consciousness (awareness), and prana (energy). In this model, the substantial cause of all objective and subjective mental events is the crystallization of the subtle energy of prana, which takes the form of images, memories, impulses, desires and so on. The coarse mind is in a constant flux of crystallizations and dissolutions of prana. In this meditation, Alan guides us through an alternative to the conceptual examination. Here, we settle the mind in its natural state, as taught by Yangthang Rinpoche, and then investigate the origin, location, and destination of mental appearances by observing them directly. Simply see what you see. The main goal of this practice is cultivating lucidity in the waking state - knowing mental appearances to be only mental appearances - in the same way that a lucid dreamer knows dream appearances to be only dream appearances. The relative truth of the dreamer and the ultimate truth of the lucidly awake being do not negate each other. There are always two perspectives - one of a sentient being and one of a buddha. We pick up the text again on page 24, moving to the Teachings of Dorjé Drölo on how things exist. This is a concise commentary on his Hūm Hūm song in Mud and Feathers. How do things exist? “The physical world and its sentient inhabitants are none other than space.” Alan promises that a quantum commentary on that statement is coming tomorrow. Guided meditation starts at 21:37
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 26 Apr 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
Since we are returning in this session to the practice of non-meditation, it is good to know the border between coarse/subtle mind and pristine awareness. The former two exists in space and time whereas the latter is beyond time and transcends all conceptual categories. Another way to differentiate between the two is the openness or spaciousness of our experience. The conditioned space of our mind can be very open and spacious when we are relaxed. On the other hand, when we are entangled in reification and mental afflictions it can collapse. Reification, identification and mental afflictions warp the space of the mind like a star warps the space around it. In contrast to the mind, pristine awareness doesn't change, doesn't move and doesn't warp - it is unborn and unceasing, utterly transcending conditioned space. In the practice of non-meditation, one clear indicator to know whether one is on the right track is the sense of utter ease and spaciousness. When thoughts and images arise, they don't distort the space in which they're occurring and they don't move your awareness. In a similar way as a rainbow doesn't warp the sky, thoughts appear yet they do not warp our awareness. Moreover, great yogis of the past commonly describe the experience as being fresh and naked; it's not a continuation of something from the past. As soon as a thought or image arise, in that very first instant, if you recognise it right there, in that first instant of recognition if you can not only note that it occurred, but note that it's an empty appearance and more profoundly a creative expression of the power of your own pristine awareness, that's how you go deeper in the practice. If you are aware of it only in the second instant, if you reify it or see it as something other, you are not doing the practice at all. So rest utterly relaxed, your awareness being spacious, never contracted and moving, precisely hovering in the utter immediacy of the present moment, so that as soon as whatever appearances arise, they are immediately noted without objectification and dualistic grasping. The meditation is on Non-meditation. After the meditation, Alan highlights the importance of recognizing the first instance of an appearance arising, for this is the time when we stay awake or fall into samsara. When we don't recognize them for what they are, seeing them as other, then reification sets in and so samsara continues. At the very end, in terms of practices Alan encourages us to continue with everything that has been presented so far; therefore we should practice non-meditation every day in addition to shamatha and vipashyana. Then we return to the text on page 61 finishing paragraph 2'', before we finally enter into paragraph 3'' How to Perfect the Qualities Of the Path and Fruition. The meditation starts at 29:22 Text p.61-62
Fall 2013 Shamatha and the Seven-Point Mind Training, 25 Sep 2013, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Straight into Tong Len meditation.
Begin on the 3rd point of Atisha's 7 point mind training.
A story about Dontonpa - 'give up all attachment to this life, and make you mind Dharma'.
From the text 'When the physical world and its sentient inhabitants are enslaved by vices, transform adversities into the path of spiritual awakening'. See adversity as fruition of past karma. Personal story about Tibetan refugee.
Geshe Chen-ngawa: If you have the will to practice in the face of physical and mental suffering, they become blessings from the objects of refuge; so apply all suffering to the two types of Bodhicitta. Something to cultivate with sincere, dedicated practice like His Holiness Dalai Lama.
The true enemies are self centredness and self grasping. Once identified they can be overcome. A strategy to overcome self centredness - not following the 8 mundane concerns (includes pursuit of wealth, power and fame).
Alan poses a question - Can we trust that their is some power in the universe that will bring us what we need if we don't grasp after it with self cherishing?
Questions:
The arhart the commits suicide as mentioned yesterday, do they have self centredness?
How does one display rainbow body?
Meditation starts at: 00:35
2023 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 4, 16 Apr 2023, Crestone, Colorado and Online
1. Review 2. Mind as baseless and rootless 3. How to enter the path 4. Meditative experiences 5. Why practice meditation? 6. Meditation – Vajra Essence review 7. Q&A
2017 8-Week Retreat, 24 May 2017, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
In this session Alan explores the ninth stage of shamatha, Attentional Balance. This is the stage just prior to achieving shamatha. Alan likens shamatha to a deep retreat in which one retreats from somathic sensations, mental appearances, and the desire realm itself to the form and formless realms. At the end of the ninth stage, flawless samadhi is achieved. Samadhi is not unique to Buddhism. However, Indian adepts at the time of the Buddha considered samadhi to be the final step of their path. The Buddha’s main insight was to use samadhi as a tool to further explore the nature of reality through use of the four applications of mindfulness. In Buddhism, samadhi is a temporary retreat that is used to make the mind serviceable prior to coming out in an “expedition” to probe the nature of reality. Alan mentions the relevance of this expedition to our impending re-engagement with the non-retreat world with a mind that has been rebalanced and better able to interact in a non-toxic way. On the Ninth stage of shamatha introspection is no longer needed because attentional imbalances are no longer present (although they are still latent). There is an effortless engagement with the object of meditation. The flawless samadhi that is achieved can be sustained easily for at least four hours. Of the four stages of mindfulness, this stage of shamatha is analogous to absence of mindfulness. The metaphor given for this stage is that the mind is still like Mount Meru. Alan emphasizes that there is wide agreement within Buddhism on what characterizes the ninth stage of shamatha, and he cites various sources within the Pali cannon and Mahayana sutras that describe this stage. In the silent meditation we simulate what occurs on the ninth stage of shamatha by withdrawing from all appearances and retreating inwardly so far that our minds dissolves into the substrate consciousness and then into the substrate. The silent meditation session starting at 12:36 was not recorded.
Fall 2011 Shamatha Retreat, 21 Oct 2011, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
We come to the last day of the retreat, where Alan invites us to reboot our mind by way of shamatha.
Silent meditation starts at 01:16
Afterwards Alan shares a story and shows us how through shamatha, for a moment everything can be ok
Fall 2014 Shamatha, Vipashyana, Dream Yoga, 30 Aug 2014, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
In this session we are finishing off the instructions of Padmasambhava. Alan goes right into meditation and the central theme is releasing the mind into space. After the meditation session Alan finishes reading and explaining the section on shamatha from Natural Liberation. He continues giving advice on how to practice in between sessions by way of maintaining awareness of space. Alan quotes Shantideva and illustrates how his thoughts resonate with dzogchen. In this practice we are giving up everything for the sake of nirvana. We are giving up everything we are attached to and everything that we identify with. We surrender all at once by releasing the mind into space! Alan goes back to the book Vajra Essence and explains the procedure to be followed by the three types of beings according to their capacities: great, middling and inferior with regards the practices of the Great Perfection. To conclude the session Alan comments on what Dudjom Lingpa said regarding people encountering these profound teachings. He said that these people had already a vast contact and engaging with Buddha-Dharma in past lives. These teachings only come with a lot of previous momentum. Therefore, do not let yourself be intimidated by these profound teachings. If inspiration arises while listening the teachings, that’s all you need to have in order to be ready for these practices. Meditation starts at 00:50
Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat, 20 Apr 2012, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Metta Bhavana allowing the mind rove as it will from person to person and aspiring for each that they find happiness and the causes of happiness.
Meditation starts 5:25
Closing remarks start 29:50
Fall 2011 Shamatha Retreat, 03 Sep 2011, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
In this session we continue with the practice of settling the mind in its natural state. In shamatha, one must maintain constant flow of knowing at all times. When there is no mental object in the foreground to ascertain, know 1) the absence of thought or 2) presence of space in the background.
The meditation starts at 8:10
2023 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 4, 24 May 2023, Crestone, Colorado and Online
The meditation sessions continue with further instructions from Padmasambhava after we settle Body, Speech and Mind. The session concluded with a silent meditation, allowing the words of Padmasambhava and the imprints to sink into us.
Spring 2010 Shamatha Retreat, 18 May 2010, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Alan starts this afternoon by detailing some of the possible "side effects" that could happen during intense practice of Shamatha, in the sense that when we are trying to make our mind so focused an unified, it can sometimes become quite small. He also talks about how sometimes we keep hurting ourselves with our own memories of unpleasant events (making them real again) even dozens or hundreds of times after the original event. The Empathetic Joy practice we do afterwards is a remedy to both of the above condition.
After the bright and uplifting practice, Alan adds some footnotes from this morning, focusing on Galileo and making a very interesting and sharply plausible hypothesis as to why the start of probing into the mind in the west took 300 years. We then continue yesterday's question of death and continuity of conciousness in the period between lifes (bardo), relating it to dream yoga. We have two more very brief questions afterwards and end with two minutes to spare!
This photo (by Malcolm) is of our Buddha statue in the teaching hall, happy to see us undertaking this long overdue adventure into the mind with such a wise and ideal guide (to his left, not in the picture)!
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 09 May 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
The first part of the meditation began with taking the mind as the path, culminating in our best approximation of lucidly resting in the substrate (3rd mindfulness) and self-illuminating mindfulness (the 4th one); in the second half of the session, we start inquiring, probing into our own sense of identity, the observer, the one who is meditating.
2019 8-Week Retreat, 10 May 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Lama Alan starts the session by talking about the retreat center and His Holiness’ wish that it be secular. Secular in this context means open to people of any religion who want to practice these methods but within their own religious context. Lama Alan describes how individuals in the Bön tradition have achieved rainbow body. He discusses similarities of experience within other contemplative traditions. Lama Alan gives instructions for the meditation. Let the mind have a free reign to do whatever it does. Let the pointing out instructions drop into the mind. Don’t think about them but also don’t suppress thoughts. Meditation is Padmasambhava’s pointing out instructions and resting in non meditation After the meditation Lama Alan returns to the text at the top of page 196. Merit is what provides for fortunate circumstances for practicing dharma such as having an authentic teacher, spiritual friends, and a conducive environment. Prayers are the steering wheel for merit. Our motivation and dedication determine how the merit will come to fruition. Lama Alan then discusses dream yoga and the different levels of attainment as described in the text. Lama Alan also talks about how we evaluate our meditative practice. If we just talk about how the meditation is going it is a hedonic evaluation. The way to evaluate your meditative practice is not what comes up but how you respond to what comes up. Meditation begins at 24:12
2017 8-Week Retreat, 27 Apr 2017, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Alan begins the session with a brief point on lojong, and the importance of being able to integrate whatever comes up in our lives into our dharma practice. Otherwise, when life goes well we’ll have little incentive to practice, and when difficulties arise, we won’t have time for practice. He emphasize that while practicing lojong, we should be specific about the practices we’re doing and know that we are doing them. With this in mind, Alan advises all participants in the retreat to know, at every moment of the day, which practice they are doing, and to know also that they are doing it. The guided meditation begins as a shamatha practice of Settling the Mind in Its Natural State and that shifts to a vipashyana practice exploring the relationship between awareness and appearances and examining the findability of the basis of designation for “I.” After the meditation, Alan explores some foundational points on emptiness, namely that all phenomena (internal or external) exist only in dependence upon a conceptual frame of reference. We then return to Buddhahood Without Meditation, picking up at the section beginning with Teachings of Avalokiteśvara. Here Dudjom Lingpa discusses how personal identity arises and Alan concisely reviews how the symmetry of substrate is perturbed when we wake from deep dreamless sleep. This sets in motion a chain of increasingly coarse perceptions that leads to dualistic grasping of “I” and “Not-I,” the primal sense of self that is shared by all sentient beings. Guided meditation starts at 21:54
Fall 2015 Stage of Generation, 17 Aug 2015, Araluen Retreat Center, Queensland, Australia
Before the meditation, Alan comments that shamatha practice includes going into "unexplored territory" resulting in eruptions in one's environment, body and mind. To manage this, both Karma Chagme and Dudjom Lingpa in their own ways advise on the need to create sacred space by orienting one's view with the preliminary practices discussed over the last two weeks including the Avalokiteshvara practice. The core armour against these eruptions is to be lucid in recognising the lack of inherent nature of mind if only by comparison with dream states where if lucid we do not reify what is presented in the mind. The guided meditation is on resting awareness on the sense and mental perceptions as they arise, flow and dissolve, and observing what conceptualisation or reification occurs. Alan then conducts us intelligently and playfully through a summary of one of the themes of the last week, namely the human propensity for reification of the personal, historical, religious, psychological, philosophical and the scientific. The reification that is the bull of the idol of materialism appears throughout, from the Bible's golden calf allegory to the New York Stock Exchange's 3 tonne bull statue. Alan suggests the ordained Sangha should use their reddish robes to fight the bull of all forms of reification! The clear message is that all such closely held attachments to conceptualisation and reification of conventional reality must be renounced on the Dharma path. The Buddha said "you are your own refuge." The meditation starts at 10:14. ___ 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, 22 Sep 2015, Araluen Retreat Center, Queensland, Australia
Alan starts with a metaphor from the Pali Canon describing how, in the last month of the hot season when the dust is swirling, a great rain cloud comes and settles the dust just as the peaceful and sublime state of Samadhi disperses and quells unwholesome states of mind. He reminds us that it’s easy to think that when we venture into Vajrayana that we’re at a higher elevation than the teachings in the Pali canon, like the most common teaching on mindfulness of the breath. Dudjom Lingpa in the Sharp Vajra of Conscious Awareness Tantra also reminds us at the very end of the text that whether or not people have identified their primordial nature, whose who become muddled due to excitation and lethargy should mount their discursive mind on their breath ... and eventually all coarse and subtle thoughts will be purified. So it’s back to the beginning! Meditation is silent mindfulness of breath. ___ 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, 15 May 2017, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
In this session Alan focuses on a crucial point that will determine whether our practice of shamatha and vipashyana will actually lead us onto the path. To explain this, he quotes and explains a few lines from Yangthang Rinpoche’s Synthesis of the View, Meditation, and Conduct that describe cutting through the reification of a knower that remains even after the attainment of shamatha. Alan says that while resting in the third kind of mindfulness (mindfulness which is devoid of mindfulness) a lack of objective clarity may lead to drowsiness or laxity. If we then invert our awareness on awareness itself, the fourth kind of mindfulness (self-illuminating mindfulness) will manifest. Alan describes the veils of rigpa as being like two layers of clouds that obscure the moon. The lowest layer of clouds is The Five Obscurations. Even after those disappear with the achievement of shamatha, rigpa is still veiled by a layer of clouds that has two aspects. One is the reification of the substrate consciousness itself. The more subtle veil, however, is identifying oneself even nominally as a sentient being who is seeking to reach enlightenment. The notion that we are sentient beings is not wrong, but incomplete. Dzogchen asks us to cut through even that subtle grasping to reach a perspective from which no sentient being exists at all. It is not simply the realization of the empty nature of the substrate. It is the awakened realization that even substrate consciousness is part of a non-lucid dream and has no more reality than a dream image. The guided meditation follows the concise outline of Yangthang Rinpoche’s lines probing the nature of the mind itself. Does awareness, the knower, have any qualities by which it can be identified? The unfindability of any defining qualities may lead to the realization that this mind appears but does not exist at all. The experience may propel you right out of the subtle mind and into the perspective of rigpa, the empty nature of which is Dharmakaya, and the luminous nature of which is Sambhogakaya, inseparable from each other . The guided meditation starts at 29:39
2020 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 1, 10 May 2020, Online-only
Vajra Essence Review (week 6) 1. Review 2. How meditative experiences and realizations arise 3. Why we should practice meditation 4. Q&A In this session Glen reviews the subject of how meditative experiences and realizations arise and why we should practice meditation. Glen elaborates on the different types of bodily constitutions and how they can influence your meditative experiences. There are four types of mindfulness related to the practice of settling the mind in its natural state: single-pointed mindfulness, manifest mindfulness, absence of mindfulness, and self-illuminating mindfulness. Glen also speaks about simply letting thoughts be, i.e recognizing thoughts as thoughts. By doing this, thoughts lose the power to harm us. This is illustrated through the four stages of release, which are: naked release, appearance & release, self release, and primordial release. Each stage is progressively subtler and effortless, with the four types of mindfulness directly related to the stages of release. Glen ends his review by speaking about why we should practice meditation, and how the process of realizing the (conventional) essential nature of the mind would unfold. Meditation begins at 35:20 Q & A: Glen speaks briefly about tong len and excitation and laxity.
2023 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 4, 28 Apr 2023, Crestone, Colorado and Online
We choose silence versus stimulation by releasing the noise of the mind through practicing mindfulness of the in-and-out breath. Every out-breath is an opportunity for letting go, every in-breath is a gift which we receive gratefully, effortlessly. And we remain content in deepening the experience which is a birthright joy.
Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat, 02 May 2012, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
When developing loving kindness for the person, we must distinguish between the person and the mental afflictions that give rise to unwholesome behavior. It may even be appropriate to passionately condemn harmful behavior, but bearing in mind this wish for their happiness.
Meditation begins 25:22
Spring 2011 Shamatha Retreat, 08 May 2011, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Alan Wallace guides a 24-minute guided meditation on settling the mind in its natural state. He first introduces the practice of applying this quality of awareness to our experiences engaging with others.
The guided meditation begins at 14:17 in the recording.
2017 8-Week Retreat, 05 May 2017, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
The guided meditation is a vipashyana practice that begins with developing the balance stillness and motion. Then, while watching appearances arise between inner mind and outer bases of designation, watch as well the conceptual designation applied to those bases.
2019 8-Week Retreat, 10 Apr 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Lama Alan begins by remarking on the ease with which samsara is perpetuated, and likewise how simple it is to turn one's back on samsara to abide in nirvana once that becomes accessible. However, in contrast to those two opposite states, the state of straddling both worlds with non-abiding nirvana is rather complex. This is the state of a Buddha, inconceivably apprehending nirvana and samsara at once. This is the motivation with which we engage in the practice of shamatha on the space of the mind, specifically focused on identifying the stillness of awareness in the midst of the motion of the mind. Lama Alan then explains the importance of the practice as it relates to dealing with the challenge of practicing dharma on as well as off the cushion. People make excuses of being busy, but there is a way. Simply being mindful moment to moment all day long is not enough; in order for mindfulness to be transformative, it must be imbued with wisdom (bodhicitta, four noble truths, etc). The practice is to know the stillness of awareness in the midst of mental motion. He quotes HH The Dalai Lama in saying that the mind’s very nature is nirvana (cittata); it stands revealed as a result of practice. This practice in particular is not easy, but “taking the mind as the path” is something we can take with us in all kinds of practical off-cushion situations, so that we don’t slip into the non-lucid dream of “the real world”. This keeps us on the trajectory of gradually increasing lucidity between sessions. “Taking appearances and awareness as the path” / “settling the mind in its natural state” / “stillness meeting motion”(synonymous), is a skill that can be cultivated. Lama Alan strongly encourages bearing through the difficult beginner stage to reap its immeasurable reward. Lama Alan concludes the prelude to the meditation by mentioning that for those of us inclined to do so, it’s ok to go back to the practice of “merging mind with space”, which itself is the next stage of practice that we graduate to irrespective of all the various shamatha techniques that we might use to get there. It can be taken as a Dzogchen placement exam to diagnose where we stand in terms of faculties (superior, middling, and inferior). However, he mentions that although it can result in glimpses of rigpa, it won’t be sustainable unless it involves elements of both shamatha and vipashyana. Final point about merging mind with space: this practice could degenerate from its intended objective if it doesn’t culminate in shamatha but rather spins in circles, and this can happen if we don’t maintain crystal clear awareness while releasing the coarse mind. If we simply “space out” without maintaining vividness and stability, in this manner we lose our coarse mind without the benefit of cultivating the subtle mind. “Merging the mind with space” is not an invitation to space out like a marmot. This is a centuries old warning given by all the Dzogchen adepts. When we release the coarse mind (mind 1.0), we do so while simultaneously cultivating subtle mind (upgraded mind 2.0). Meditation is on taking the mind as the path (stillness and motion). After the meditation, Lama Alan takes questions from the audience. First question: Why did Śāntarakṣita create a monastic college that practiced the development of dhyana? Answer: Alan mentions that the Fifth Perfection is that of dhyana. The achievement of access to the first dhyana (access concentration) is indispensable to the development of an Arhat or Buddha. Second question: Regarding mindfulness of breathing, 1) how do we tell when we’re interfering with breath modulation? Answer: it’s an ongoing challenge, the skill gets finer gradually. The greater he vividness of awareness, the better the detection of any manipulation. 2) When releasing the breath, it feels like there’s still more to release at the end. Should it be left alone? Answer: just leave it alone. Lama Alan also recommends the supine position for mindfulness of breathing as it relaxes the diaphragm and makes it easier to release control of the breath. For the sitting position, the posture can be fine-tuned with slight elevation of the diaphragm such that the sternum becomes open and the belly loose and relaxed. Third question: regarding the practice of observing thoughts arise in the space of the mind. Some thoughts seem to arise on their own accord like spontaneous phenomena while others seem to be conceived of conceptually. Is there a difference? Answer: Lama Alan appreciates the question. He quotes Lerab Lingpa: “one is non-conceptually aware of thoughts”. Tactile sensations are non-conceptual appearances, whereas thoughts involve concepts. It is possible to be perceptually aware of thoughts as concepts when enmeshed with them, but when resting in stillness the thoughts emerge as though they were non-conceptual sensations similar to tactile sensations of the breath. They appear less and less conceptual as we develop vividness of awareness. Moreover, when observing thoughts, there should be no sense of agency, like watching a bird fly by, and this is non-conceptual. But when grasping sets in (having preference), the thought appears in a more conceptual way. The goal is to relax more and more deeply and thereby enhance the vividness of our thought perception so that it becomes less and less conceptual on the gradient from completely enmeshed conceptuality to completely non-conceptual awareness. This is not a binary skill but something to be improved over time. There’s no upper end to the degree of vividness that can be cultivated. Lama Alan concludes the session with the encouragement for those of us on retreat to take advantage of the opportunity and practice all day, and to cut the samsaric habit of rumination. The meditation starts at 18:40
Fall 2011 Shamatha Retreat, 02 Sep 2011, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
In this session Alan introduces the practice of the cultivation of compassion, focused on alleviating pain, especially the one caused by behavior.
The meditation starts at 32:52
QA starts at 57:50:
1. Center of attention for settling the mind during stages 5 and 6
2. How to make best use of the personal interview time
3. How to know the right amount of effort
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 26 May 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
Lama Alan begins by saying that when all else fails, we have Dharma. And all else WILL fail: there is no way to tweak samsara. There is no way samsara is going to work out well. Giving up samsara is giving up something that doesn't work! This is the last day of deep retreat, and this meditation will be the retreat of retreat: withdrawing our attention from all the movement, the comings and goings, the appearances and so forth. We withdraw our attention and, as Je Tsongkhapa said, we "attend just to the luminosity and cognizance of our own awareness." It is like a great magnet of awareness that sucks everything into self-illuminating mindfulness. Doing so is going into deep retreat. Penetrating substrate right through to pristine awareness is deep retreat. The motivation for this can be bodhicitta. Tomorrow we'll continue to practice but the strict retreat will end. So we're ready for a half-way house, a transitional place, which will be in the mode of taking the mind as the path, as if watching your yaks while anchored in stillness. Meditation is awareness of awareness, stillness in the midst of motion & open presence. After meditation, we begin on page 122 with the 8 roots of conceptualisations: how the myriad activities of the mind become transmuted into primordial consciousness. It all melts down until ice is utterly gone. When this occurs you become an Arya, a holy being. You know your own awareness as dharmakaya, and you can never be deluded again. Lama Alan mentions an interesting asymmetry: we can think we're resting in rigpa when we're not. We can be mistaken, which is why we need the guidance of a knowledgeable mentor. Yet when we are actually resting in rigpa, we absolutely know that we are - you know who you are without question. The text then elucidates the 4 confidences, followed by the final nyams that are the last gasp of samsaric existence - very subtle appearances and mindsets that are characteristics of the samsaric mind - just prior to the extinction of all mindsets and appearances. At this point you're a Buddha. The text then describes the great transference rainbow body with its 9 characteristics. Lama Alan discusses Great Rainbow Body, Small Rainbow body, and the derivations of displays depending on superior, middle and inferior faculties. The meditation begins at 14:18 Text p. 122-126
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 22 May 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
Lama Alan Wallace begins with a "footnote" to yesterday's discussion on what happens to an arhat after death, describing how nirvana is beyond the extremes of existence (living forever in samsara) and non-existence (complete annihilation). His dialogue with Bhikkhu Bodhi is available here. As a prelude to the meditation, he refers to the text, where Dudjom Lingpa clarifies the distinction between sentient beings and Buddhas, emphasizing how we can move towards enlightenment by expanding the scope of caring (conative intelligence) and the space of awareness (cognitive intelligence). The guided meditation (taking the mind as the path followed by tonglen with each being that appears in the space of the mind) starts at 21:38. Then we go back to the text, covering "The Distinction between Understanding and Realization" and "The Need for Practice after Having Cut Through Misconceptions". Lama Alan highlights the importance of familiarization (having more and more experiences) to move from understanding to realization, and then to acquiring confidence. To conclude, he shares an analogy - from Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche (the junior tutor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama) - of how there are different gateways to the Dharma (one person has more devotion, others tend more to bodhicitta, or to shamatha and vipashyana, and so on) and they all get what they need. Text: p. 104-105
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 27 Apr 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
This afternoon Alan starts by saying that this Friday (and perhaps other Fridays) he would like to do a brief summary of the material we've covered and discuss how it relates to the upcoming material. He finishes the transmission and commentary on Phase 2 of the text with "The Greatness of Individuals Who Realize This" (bottom of page 62). Among other things, Alan discusses the fact that he believes that one will not be able to achieve Phase 1 if he/she hasn't achieved shamatha, and he briefly lists and explains the 5 obscurations. After front loading the meditation with a description of the different types of meditation that we have done so far in the retreat and that we will do in the upcoming session, we proceed on to the meditation. The meditation is a guided tour of the practices that we've covered in the retreat so far in Phase 1 and 2 (with the exception of the three-week placement test). After the meditation, Alan discusses the different types of emptiness and His Holiness the Dalai Lama's explanation that all objects, including anything that is an object of the mind, are self-empty, empty of inherent nature. He said, however, that Pristine Awareness is not ever an object of the mind. Pristine Awareness is empty of everything else. Alan also addresses one additional question where he reiterates how he feels we should deal with shamatha and the other practices in relation to the rest of the path so far, and he also discusses the 3 modes of guidance. The meditation starts at 58:43 Text p.62
Fall 2015 Stage of Generation, 14 Sep 2015, Araluen Retreat Center, Queensland, Australia
Alan says the text’s next chapter 6 “Practice” may be over our heads as it assumes we have broken through to Rigpa. Our practices to date should have ‘softened up’ our experience of mind and the previous chapter on “Identification”, or pointing-out instructions, should make it easier to cut through. Alan describes the view from the awareness of a lucid dream state as a parallel to the view from Rigpa of the mind. However, we can generate a facsimile of viewing this conventional reality from Rigpa. For those who have had a taste of Rigpa, the question arises how to sustain it and deepen or purify the experience. The next chapter 6 “Practice” chapter is about that, and of course it is useful to know even if we’re not quite there. We can purify by the practice of alternating Shamatha and Vipashyana. The guided meditation is on resting our awareness in the stillness, cognizance and luminosity of consciousness and observing the displays of Rigpa. After the meditation, Alan says the practice dredges the psyche that can catalyses outer, inner and secret upheavals. These are but expressions of your own awareness of appearances and emergences. It is the view from resting in Rigpa, or resting in our best approximation of Rigpa. All phenomena arising should be considered as part of the practice of resting in the view from Rigpa – we have to “let it be”. Alan starts Chapter 6 of the “Spacious Path to Freedom” text on page 125. He then returns to discussion of the scientific worldview since this is the dominant modern view of life, mind and the universe we are all subject to, providing an oral transmission (!) from one of his books (extract to be provided in weekly update of Retreat notes). He comments that this view of scientific materialism is toxic for what it does to us and our treatment of the environment. The meditation starts at 24:02. ___ 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.
