Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of Mindfulness, 17 Oct 2012, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Teaching: Awareness of awareness is also known as shamatha without a sign. Sign refers to a target, so there’s no vector of attention. During the meditation, when you do the warm-up exercise of directing awareness in the 4 directions, don’t meditate or visualize the 4 directions. Just send out your antenna, or expand the space of awareness.
Meditation: Awareness of awareness. With your eyes open, evenly rest your gaze in the space before you. Simply be present in the present moment. Accentuate your awareness of being aware. A) Do the following oscillation at your own pace (coupling with the breath if helpful). Withdrawing from all appearances and really focusing with effort, invert your awareness on being aware. Utterly relaxing, release your awareness into space with no object. Invert on your sense of being the meditator, the agent doing the inversion. Invert on your sense of being the observer or subject experiencing your own awareness, and observe closely. If there’s an appearance of self, what’s aware of that appearance? B) Direct your attention straight up into space as far as you can. Let it come to rest in its own place. Direct your attention to your right as far as you can. Let your awareness come back to the center. Direct your attention to your left as far as you can. Let your awareness come back to the center. Direct your attention straight down into the space below you as far as you can. Let your awareness come back to the center. With closed eyes, rest your awareness at the heart chakra. With open eyes, release awareness into boundless space. Rest your awareness in the sheer luminosity and sheer cognizance of awareness.
Q1. In awareness of awareness, what’s the distinction between awareness in space and awareness holding its own ground?
Q2 In awareness of awareness, I’ve heard 2 terms used. When I hear awareness of awareness, I think of awareness of awareness of awareness, etc… You’ve also mentioned sheer awareness.
Q3. In awareness of awareness, is this supposed to be like a Zen koan because of the conceptual impossibility of knowing that I’m aware?
Q4. In awareness of awareness, if awareness is still, how can I move it?
Q5. What’s the distinction between letting your awareness descend into the body and letting your awareness illuminate the space of the body?
Meditation starts at 06:15
2023 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 4, 07 Apr 2023, Crestone, Colorado and Online
In this morning session there are four pages of questions presented to Lama-la, who endeavours to answer them all. They pertain to a number of topics, including : - Deity and mantra practices as well as guru yoga should be practiced apart from and interspersed with shamatha sessions, with the recommendation to spend as much time as possible in settling body, speech and mind in natural state as a solid foundation for what is yet to come. For the time being he advises a rounded practice, not strictly shamatha, as this is not a shamatha retreat per se. - The distinction between resting in non-conceptual awareness and the subtle conceptual grid of doing so. The veils of reification and grasping will be gradually released along the Path. If we are introduced too soon to rigpa, we are likely to turn the experience into an object of conceptual mind. Resting in awareness is not a false facsimile, but as good an approximation as we can muster for the time being, a valid one. - View, meditation and conduct are all three equally important, like the wheels of a tricycle. - Parallels between the process of dissolution at death, sleep and shamatha, with the opportunity of dying lucidly, especially if achieved. - Sustainability of shamatha once achieved due to the radical shift of the prana system which occurs at that time, without being lost throughout one’s lifetime. - Tukdam is a real phenomenon which has been observed repeatedly and not related to pure vision of disciples. - Achieving shamatha directly via the awareness of awareness practice (shamatha without a sign). Because it is so subtle, it is not easy to sustain this kind of practice, and there is the danger of loosing cognisance and falling into stupor or stagnating. Lama-la recommends that we should rather follow the sequence of mindfulness of breathing—settling body,speech and mind—followed by taking the mind as the path, simultaneously becoming aware of stillness and movement, which over time practice increases qualitative and temporal vividness. - While shamatha may be achieved swiftly by a few individuals, this is very rare. - Practising under the guidance of a teacher is indispensable. Due to the urgency of the degenerate times that we live in, we should practice with great urgency and not just settle for rebirth in Sukhavati. We should strive to achieve rainbow body in this lifetime, as the greater is our knowledge, the greater is our responsibility. - All mantras and recitations are to be released while practicing settling body, speech and mind in the natural state. There is no meditation with this session
Fall 2014 Shamatha, Vipashyana, Dream Yoga, 18 Sep 2014, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Alan begins with a clarification of how the practice of silence at a Mahayana retreat is different from that at a Sravakayana retreat. The meditation is on cultivating the aspiration that we ourselves and others be free of the suffering of change and the mental afflictions of craving and attachment that give rise to it. Meditation starts at 24:30
Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of Mindfulness, 12 Oct 2012, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Teaching. Alan continues the series on the 4 greats with great empathetic joy. When you become lucid in a dream, happiness arises from knowing reality as it is. As long as you remain lucid, nothing in the dream can cause suffering. Therefore, the instruction is to stay lucid by not losing the recognition of the dream as a dream. Shamatha helps you sustain lucidity. Vipasyana counters our ingrained tendency to reify everything. When you break through the substrate consciousness to primordial consciousness, the instruction is similar: don’t lose the recognition by sustaining the view of rigpa. There is nothing else to do.
Meditation. Great empathetic joy. Let your awareness permeate the space of the body and come to rest in the immediacy of the present moment. In the space before you, visualize Samantabhadra, the personification of your own primordial awareness, deep blue in color and radiating a sapphire light. Take refuge in the primordial buddha Samantabhadra, the dharma of all the buddhas, and the sangha of vidyadharas. Samantabhadra comes to the crown of your head, dissolves into indigo light, flows the your central channel, and reforms at your heart chakra. Your own body, speech, and mind become indivisible with Samantabhadra. Light permeates the space of your body and your empty mind. From this perspective, inquire 1) why couldn’t all sentient beings never be parted from happiness free of suffering? Arouse the aspiration 2) may we never be parted from such well-being. Arouse the intention 3) as long as space remains, as long as time remains, I shall do whatever is needed to bring this about. 4) May I receive blessings from the guru Samantabhadra and all the enlightened ones to carry through. With every in breath, light from all the buddhas flow in from all directions, saturating your being and purifying all negativities. With every out breath, light flows out in all directions, dispelling all negativities and doing whatever is needed to bring all sentient beings to lasting happiness without suffering.
Meditation starts at 13:21
Shamatha, Vipashyana, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen, 01 Apr 2016, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Italy
Alan invites us to move day by day through each of the Four Immeasurables in sequence and we´ve already started with Loving Kindness. Alan´s interpretation is that this is a good place to start, especially nowadays, when religion is completely gone from popular media, as if the secular world is the only reality. It is very easy to lose sight of what could be, of possibilities, and this may be very depressing. But reality is comprised of actuality and also of possibilities. Loving Kindness acknowledges what is already taking place but the aspiration here is for what could be for oneself, for others, for all sentient beings. But as we envision greater well-being, freedom from all suffering for all sentient beings, we may start to love this practice too much, become unbalanced and addicted to this “metta narcotic”. We can even lose grounding, lose touch with actuality. Then compassion brings us back - we start paying close attention to the suffering which is already actual, everywhere. The meditation on compassion starts toward ourselves and then we let the aspiration flow outwards .We can practice toward anyone that comes to mind, look into their eyes in our meditation and say “may you be free from mental afflictions you´re suffering from”. Alan returns to the chapter on Mahayana Refuge and bodhicitta. But before that, he started recalling a story about Khunu Lama Rinpoche, one of the great beings of 20th century whose primary practice was the cultivation of bodhicitta. In a public setting, when the Dalai Lama first saw him and knowing who he was, he walked up to him and offered three prostrations. So on the one hand, we cultivate compassion, Karuna Bhavana, from the perspective of a sentient being's mind. But on the other hand, from the perspective of primordial consciousness, there is nothing to be cultivated. As Düdjom Lingpa said, when you tap into rigpa, that is ultimate bodhicitta – don´t look elsewhere for relative bodhicitta. We cultivate it to unveil the inner resources of compassion that were already there. Regarding refuge, if one takes the vows to heart, offering their meals, all possessions, all to Dharma, until enlightenment, releasing all attachment, that can be revolutionary. Alan discussed the eight benefits of going for refuge and then we finally moved to the generation of Mahayana. He first explained that Hinayana and Mahayana aspirations for enlightenment are not related to a specific school but to the motivation. If your intention is all about you becoming free, this will obstruct the emergence of an aspiration that embraces all sentient beings into your motivation and it prevents you from achieving ultimate enlightenment. So if you want to become a buddha, you will have to generate the Mahayana aspiration. These first chapter on Refuge and Bodhicitta is maybe the most important to all of us, since cultivating Bodhicitta is a way of really transform our lives into Dharma. Meditation is on the cultivation of Compassion. Meditation starts at: 27:47 ___ Please contribute to make these, and future podcasts freely available.
Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of Mindfulness, 18 Sep 2012, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Teaching: Alan introduces some points from his translation of Asanga’s comprehensive explanations for mindfulness of breathing. While Asanga does not mentions following the breath at the tip of the nostril, he does mention following the flow of vital energies from nostril to navel, noting 4 stages: 1) inhalation, 2) pause at the end of inhalation, 3) exhalation, 4) pause at the end of exhalation. Asanga also presents several counting methods as support when needed: 1) counting each inhalation/exhalation, 2) counting each complete breath cycle, 3) counting forwards, and 4) counting backwards.
Meditation: mindfulness of breathing per Asanga. Set the mind at ease, without concerns of the 3 times. Let your awareness be still, illuminating the space of the body and in particular, the flow of the breath from nostril to navel. Note the energies at 1) inhalation, 2) the pause at the end of inhalation, 3) exhalation, 4) the pause at the end of exhalation. With each out breath, relax and release any rumination. Experiment with counting if you wish, but keep it very staccato.
Meditation starts at: 6:04
Fall 2014 Shamatha, Vipashyana, Dream Yoga, 15 Sep 2014, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Alan announces that from now on we will spend the morning sessions cultivating the 4 immeasurables. Whereas mindfulness, attention and intelligence are not intrinsically virtuous but can be afflictive, the 4 immeasurables - loving-kindness, compassion, empathetic joy and equanimity - directly lead to the cultivation of virtues. Meditation starts at 14:29
2021 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 2, 12 May 2021, Online-only
Lama Alan turns to the third close application of mindfulness, which is mindfulness of the mind. He draws our attention to how the four close applications can be correlated with the four noble truths. The reality of the cessation of suffering and its causes correlates with the close application of mindfulness of the mind. He comments on the direct link between this vipasyana matrix of practices in the Satipatthana Sutta and the foundational practice of taking the mind as the path. With the close application of mindfulness to the mind we view the mind as the mind without appropriating it as ‘I am’ or ‘mine’. In the samatha practice, taking the mind as the path, we observe states of mind as if from afar and not enmeshed in them. In this way we recognise non-conceptually that there is nothing in the mind that can harm us, regardless of whether thoughts have ceased. Lama Alan describes Bodhicitta and the five Mahayana Paths of Accumulation, explaining the importance of the four close applications of mindfulness within this context, and how this leads to freedom from suffering. Discussing the three marks of existence, Lama Alan explains how through the realisation of impermanence, dissatisfaction and non-self, fortified with samatha, one is free from suffering due to appropriating the mind as “I” or “mine”. He emphasises that to realise the actual nature of the mind it is essential to first fathom the nature of the phenomenological mind and closely apply mindfulness to know what are the referents of the term mind. Lama Alan reads the Buddha’s pith instructions for the close application of mindfulness to the mind from the Satipatthana Sutta and explains the importance of knowing the terms used, conceptually and experientially. He explains the definitions of each of the Buddha’s terms. He asks whether we can find these mental afflictions in our own mindstream when they come up and can we notice when they are absent. Meditation starts at 00:36:57 and is about observing the presence of attachment, hostility, delusion, laxity and excitation and the corresponding absence of these.
2020 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 1, 19 Apr 2020, Online-only
Emphasis on Stability in Mindfulness of Breathing
Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of Mindfulness, 17 Sep 2012, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Teaching: Alan introduces the 4th application of mindfulness to phenomena (dharmas). Whereas the first 3 applications of mindfulness are microscopic, the mindfulness of phenomena takes a step back to understand how it all fits together and their inter-relationships—i.e., dependent origination. While dependent origination applies to all phenomena, the focus here is understanding causes and conditions leading to suffering and happiness. All the different lists of phenomena in this section are presented so that we can become free. Within the 5 obscurations, the first one is sensual craving which means fixating on an appearance and believing therein lies my happiness. Its antidote is single-pointed attention, and we can see how this can be in settling the mind. Lama Zöpa Rinpoche has said that renunciation is a prerequisite for shamatha. Renunciation itself can be cultivated by 1) discursive meditations of the lamrim, 2) devotion, or 3) shamatha.
Meditation: silent session on either mindfulness of the breath as this morning or open presence (without dzogchen). In this proto-shamatha practice, let your awareness settle in the present moment, lighting all the sense fields. Maintain flow of knowing. Keep either mindfulness of the breath or open presence as the baseline, and make forays into other practices from there.
Q1. In settling the mind, is the space of the mind for this practice the same as the substrate which is also referred to as the space of the mind? If so, how can we attend to the substrate as beginners?
Q2. I want to report a strange meditative experience. When I’m very relaxed in the supine position, there is prana pounding at the solarplexes like a heartbeat reverberating through the whole body. It’s not in sync with the heartbeat, and it doesn’t occur when I meditate in a seated posture.
Q3. In settling the mind, how can we recognize subtle excitation and apply the corresponding antidote?
Meditation starts at 41:25
Shamatha, Vipashyana, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen, 02 May 2016, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Italy
In this morning’s teaching Alan elaborates on the notion that rigpa is right where we are looking when observing the mind. But do we see it? We are looking right at it but not seeing it clearly due to the thick layers of obscurations. However, one crucial theme that pervades all levels of observing the mind, from the coarse to the most subtle, is the non-duality of luminosity and emptiness (seltong in Tibetan). Alan explains that we can see it already at our level of practice. As we observe our mind carefully we can see that it is clear (clarity and luminosity being synonymous) in the sense of being clear of materiality. Alan remarks that this is also corroborated by the fact that consciousness cannot be measured by any scientific means. In our practice we can also see the second facet of consciousness: cognisance. Being aware, knowing - this is something we experience more indubitably than anything in our practice. So in this context, at this level of practice, clarity means empty of materiality while cognisance corresponds to knowing, seeing clearly. Now imagine - says Alan - that you have come to the culmination of the practice of shamatha and you are resting in the substrate consciousness. What you experience is the fourth type of mindfulness - self-illuminating mindfulness. Now you can really experience luminosity! At the same time you are aware of the sheer vacuity of the substrate and of the luminosity of the substrate consciousness. Then - continues Alan - imagine that you take dharmata as your vehicle onto the path, you become an arya bodhisattva and you have an unmediated non-conceptual realisation of shunyata, of emptiness. Now that’s emptiness! But you are still aware of something else, too. You are also aware of being aware - of awareness itself. Hence, you are simultaneously experiencing emptiness and luminosity of your awareness and these are non-dual. Finally, imagine that you take rigpa onto the path and with pointing out instructions you cut through conditioned consciousness. Now you lucidly apprehend the emptiness of all phenomena. You realise dharmadhatu from the perspective of rigpa, of dharmakaya. It is the same emptiness you saw as arya bodhisattva, but instead of realising it with a subtle mind which is still conditioned, you realise it with rigpa which is unconditioned and primordial. That’s the true union of luminosity and emptiness. Having taken us through the entire sequence, Alan once again emphasises that although now our minds are obscured we can still see both luminosity and emptiness, but as if looking through three layers of clouds. Alan concludes this part of the session by citing the famous line from the Heart Sutra “form is emptiness, emptiness is form” (explaining that in this context form corresponds to luminosity). The meditation is on shamatha without a sign (awareness of awareness, directing awareness into space). It is a guided meditation with Padmasambhava’s instructions from the book “Natural Liberation”. Meditation starts at 18:18 ___ Please contribute to make these, and future podcasts freely available.
2020 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 1, 26 Apr 2020, Online-only
Lama Alan begins by commenting on the challenges of taking the mind as the path as it is a shamatha practice "without a buffer" between our awareness and the arisings of the mind. In this practice we let our minds and hearts be open to anything that comes up in the mind, which leaves us open to the possibility of being disturbed my inner upheavals. As Lama explains, this is not always pleasant. He then turns to the five obscurations (hedonic fixation, ill-will, laxity and dullness, excitation and anxiety, and afflictive uncertainty) as that which blocks us from the experience of bliss, luminosity, and non-conceptuality (achievement of shamatha). As Lama explains, there is no way "around" these obscurations, even if it sometimes seems that we have overcome them when we are somewhat advanced in our shamatha practice. Therefore, Lama Alan begins to offer some remedies for these obscurations, beginning with loving-kindness as a remedy for the first obscuration of hedonic fixation, referring to it as the "gentle" remedy. He explains that when we are caught up in hedonic fixation we are actually not exercising our conative intelligence, which will ultimately lead to suffering and dissatisfaction. Therefore, we can see practicing conative intelligence, which reminds us of the true sources of wellbeing, as a practice of loving-kindness for ourselves.
In this context of using specific remedies for the obscurations (rather than relying solely on shamatha), Lama Alan cautions against the "reductionist" view and practice of Dharma through which we limit ourselves to only shamatha. This, he reminds us, can lead to a very dry practice and can leave us somewhat helpless when obscurations and other obstacles come up that we cannot deal with simply through shamatha. It is for this reason, he says, that the Lake-Born Vajra gives us such rich analysis of the mind prior to introducing the practice of shamatha. This "drying up" of practice reveals the danger of trying to extract "just sitting" or "open presence" from a broader contextual understanding of Dharma practice. As the Buddha said, wisdom without compassion and skillful means is bondage.
Meditation on self-directed loving-kindness begins at 18:42.
After the meditation, Lama Alan returns to his discussion of the six root mental afflictions. After reviewing craving-attachment and relating it to some of our cultural definitions of "love," Lama turns to the next affliction of hatred. Lama Alan explains that it is when self-centered craving-attachment is frustrated that hatred arises directed towards that which we see as the source of our unhappiness or problems. This looking to outer objects as the source of our problems is, of course, rooted in delusion and ignorance. Lama Alan ends with the message of hope that we receive from the Buddhist reminding us that it is possible to be totally free from mental afflictions when we become an Arhat or Buddha. It is not simply that "everyone is this way," and that there is nothing to be done to change it.
Shamatha, Vipashyana, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen, 27 Apr 2016, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Italy
Alan says he is starting with a bang this morning and explains that an Arhat is a foe destroyer of mental afflictions (klesha) in that they have completely annihilated all mental afflictions and all their progeny – the vasana, or mental imprints or seeds. A Jina is beyond that of an Arhat in the next step towards becoming a Buddha because a Jina, (a conqueror or victorious one), has extinguished both mental and cognitive obscurations. The cognitive obscurations stand between an eighth stage Bodhisattva and a Buddha, so eliminating them is the final step. Alan says that in his various condemnations of materialism, misrepresentation of Buddhism, or of fundamentalism and dogmatism, it is important to take a clean shot and target the delusion of what is asserted, rather than target the person making the assertion, to ensure there is no collateral damage as people have Buddha nature and can change their view. In this holy war, Alan says there is a tendency to first bring out the elite troops of vipashyana or other advanced practice methods (Zen, Vajrayana, Dzogchen, Mahamudra, etc.). However, this is bad strategy as the machine gunners of coarse conceptualisation just mow down these methods. In order to wipe out our obsessive, compulsive ideation it is necessary to cultivate shamatha as it is the military analogy of grunt troops using machine guns to wipe out the obsessive, compulsive ideation associated with mental affliction. Panchen Rinpoche suggests the strategy of cutting the obsessive thoughts off as soon as they arise. For the meditation of this session, Alan offers an extremely useful insight coming from the Dzogchen tradition. We start with mindfulness of breathing, and then we invert awareness right in upon itself, which is like the mouth from which all thoughts, desires, etc. emerge. If we observe the manifest nature of the mental affliction of attachment-craving for example, we will find that we get entangled in the story - it has a referent (we are craving something). While if we observe its essential nature, the hypothesis is that we may find pleasure, enjoyment (bliss). When actual anger arises, if we observe its essential nature we may find that it is bright, sharp (it is luminosity). When delusion, confusion, dullness, ignorance, stupor, bewilderment come up, if we cut through it we may find non conceptuality. These are the three qualities of the substrate consciousness, and in doing this coarse cutting-through, we de-toxify the mental afflictions. Note that unlike our everyday modes of knowing which are always embedded in concepts, non-conceptuality has to be imbued with cognizance, otherwise we fall back to misapprehension and delusion. The Dharma taught by the Buddha - the Conqueror of all obscurations – provides a strategy that begins with ethics and then continues with cultivating samadhi. Once the five obscurations have been calmed thanks to shamatha practice, then we bring in the troops aimed at eradicating the reification of oneself and of all phenomena, thus realizing the identitylessness of both self and phenomena (the wisdom practices). Finally, thanks to the Dzogchen practices of cutting-through and direct crossing-over we rest in rigpa until we become fully-enlightened Buddhas. Meditation is silent and not recorded. ___ Please contribute to make these, and future podcasts freely available.
2020 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 1, 15 May 2020, Online-only
Looking with the Eyes of Unconditional Love
2020 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 1, 13 May 2020, Online-only
Revisiting our Friend Bahiya
2022 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 3, 22 Apr 2022, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado, USA
Lama Alan continues to lay the foundation for the teachings Yangchen is giving on the stages of generation and completion as we move towards the chapter on Trekchö, focusing on pristine awareness. We will return to the same practice as yesterday, probing into the actual nature of the mind. Lama uses the example of depression which is the leading illness on the planet despite the plethora of antidepressants. How can we see that the things catalysing our mental afflictions are not inherently existent? For this we can return to the fundamental theme of Mahayana where we first grasp to the reification of the self and then, as an echo, we reify everything else. By way of frontloading the meditation Lama-la quotes from three sutras from Santideva’s Compendium of Practices to act as skillful means. In the excerpt from the Dharmasangīti Sūtra the Buddha invites us to explore who experiences our feelings. Lama-la explains that we experience our feelings because we have minds. If we find in our own experience that the mind that is experiencing the feelings is unfindable, how can an unreal mind experience a real feeling? If we see the emptiness of that which is experiencing the depression, what will happen to the depression? In the Ratnacūda Sūtra, regarding the close application of mindfulness to the mind (ontologically, rather than phenomenologically) we are invited to ask, what is the mind that is experiencing the attachment, hatred and delusion? Lama-la invites us to use this as a launching pad to dive into our own experience and seek out the mind that is experiencing our feelings and mental afflictions. Lama Alan then quotes from the Ārya Akśayamati Sūtra “Giving everything away is called the ‘actual nature of the mind.“ This is the Madhyamaka-Dzogchen approach to cut through the root of the mind that is experiencing the mental afflictions, etc. The mind is as illusory as the rainbow. If you can see the emptiness of your mind then how can it harm you? If it’s space experiencing feelings then feelings cannot be anything other than configurations of space – how can that harm anybody? If you don’t reify the mind that experiences depression then the reification of depression will dissolve away and you’ll end up with space which is naturally free. The meditation which starts at 31:00 and is on probing into the agent of feelings. After the meditation Lama Alan stresses that these meditations provide the indispensable foundation for the teachings and practices encountered in the next phase. At 56:15 we return to where we left off in the text (p.162 “These teachings, far more secret than any secret“) where the Lake-Born Vajra comments on the list of what kind of people would not be a “suitable vessel” for Dzogchen which takes the “nature of existence” (i.e. reality) as the path: 1. People who are drawn to the Hinayana 2. People who have no spirit of emergence (renunciation) 3. People with many opinions, coarse minds… 4. People who prioritise the eight mundane concerns (“riches, fame, profit”) and devious conduct in this life 5. People repulsed by Dharma 6. People holding false views 7. People who regard the words of the Dharma as misleading lies 8. Hypocrites 9. People who revile and slander their guru 10. Evil enemies of the teachings 11. Those who trust nothing except their own ideas In terms of the last point Lama Alan refers to the 5 faculties we all have (faith, intelligence, samadhi, enthusiasm, mindfulness) which through cultivation we can transform into the five powers. He stresses the importance of balancing the faith and intelligence, as well as samadhi and enthusiasm. Through balancing them they turn into powers.
2020 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 1, 07 Apr 2020, Online-only
Lerab Lingpa's Motivation and Guru Devotion
2022 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 3, 14 Apr 2022, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado, USA
Yangchen la begins by emphasising the skill of being able to correct oneself in the middle of a meditation, sticking to the instructions, until the meditation arises naturally, where it might bring in details different from the given instructions. She then comments on the way in which these meditations are cumulative, regarding the importance of having set the central channel, cakras along it, and side channels properly, before going into further work with prana. About having the symbolism in mind while meditating, Yangchen says it is not something we would be bringing up conceptually during practice. She talks about the importance of releasing the aim to control, and let the meditation take us along. Emptiness of the forms being manifest takes us to a natural occurrence of this release, regarding, for example, mental afflictions that might and will come up during the practice. In summary, the experience is more important than all the conceptuality and knowledge we could bring to it. Yangchen la talks about the different instructions and traditions around nine-fold breathing practice, and says that we will in particular focus most on the visualisation itself. She talks about pranayama practices, and where they might take us with respect to the natural flow of our breath: we will focus primarily on allowing the rhythm of the breath to guide us. She then gives some details around the position of the torso, legs, pelvis, yoga processes that could accompany our practice of subtle energies. Yangchen goes onto a description of the structure of the channels, how the "amniotic sack" metaphor applies to them, how the side channels twist at the cakras, and how to relate this structure to the body of a buddha, in which all this structure is absent. She further highlights the importance of releasing the straight flow of energy, instead of focusing on the knots, as this practice aims at the release of the pure forms of all energies stored in the cakras. The text discussed covers the pages 153-156. The meditation is on deep nine fold cleansing of the channels through visualisation and begins at 40:10. Yangchen ends today's session with a brief instruction on postmeditation practice
2023 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 4, 25 Apr 2023, Crestone, Colorado and Online
Today’s session begins with a continuation of the topic of the distinction between mastering the ground and reducing it to an ethically neutral state (the transmission of the text on page 205, begins at 00:00:05). Lama la points out striking parallels between the Dzogchen teachings on ultimate reality with those of modern cosmology. He comments that the physicists “have everything in place...but no theory of consciousness.” One of the missions of Miyo Samten Ling is to bring together the two great traditions of Buddhism and physics, and thus provide a forum for a synthesis that would be “utterly globally significant.” Lama la then takes a step back, and provides an outline of Phase 6 of the text, which lists all of the distinctions that are discussed. Such an outline provides a framework that helps to contextualize each topic. Knowing these distinctions helps to prevent us from conflating the “higher” with the “lower,” for example, mastering the ground (the “higher”) with an “ethically neutral state” (the “lower”) or liberation (the “higher”) with delusion (the “lower). By pointing out the nature of what we are already experiencing (eg. delusion, the mind, conditioned consciousness), the Lake Born Vajra helps us to clearly recognize these, thus enabling us to in distinguish them from that which is truly liberating. Following this, Lama la returns to the text to the distinction between delusion and liberation (the transmission of the text on pages 205-206, begins at 00:30:10). The text states that “if you do not know how to distinguish between delusion and liberation, you will go astray by presumptuously supposing delusion to be liberation, and you will not attain the great state of liberation...There are three types of delusion: delusion in one’s mindstream, delusion with respect to the path, and the delusion of going astray.” Understanding and recognizing these common delusions can prevent you from being seduced by errant paths that perpetuate samsara and prevent you from reaching liberation. Delusions that are discussed include: 1) not seeking the authentic path, 2) getting stuck in bliss, luminosity, and nonconceptuality, thinking that these are supreme, 3) taking meditations involving objectification (e.g. stage of generation practices) as the “pinnacle of meditation” and getting stuck there (e.g. by engaging in dualistic grasping). Lama la points out that regarding one’s own practice and view as supreme is a root delusion. The discussion of the delusions will continue in tomorrow’s teachings. The meditation which consists of pointing out instructions from Yanthang Rinpoche on Dzogchen meditation from his “View, Meditation and Conduct” teachings starts at 01:07:01. After the meditation Lama la emphasizes that the theme of not letting your attention stray back to the past, to the future, or present, and just resting in space, (the subject of today’s meditation), is a recurrent theme in Mahamudra, Dzogchen, and other traditions. This theme can also be found in the foundational teachings of the Buddha, such as the Majjhima Nikaya and the Dhammapada.
Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of Mindfulness, 17 Oct 2012, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Teaching: Alan shares the conclusion of phase 1 of the Dudjom Lingpa’s Sharp Vajra of Conscious Awareness Tantra. Phase 1 covers taking the impure mind as the path aka settling the mind. You identify the impure mind that is dissolved into substrate consciousness. How never to be separated from the experience of the practical instructions when distant from sublime spiritual friends. A sublime spiritual friend reveals the path. It is important to distinguish between path and not path. We need to practice diligently in this phase, as shamatha is indispensable when we venture into practice. We know the taste of luminosity and cognizance of awareness. We know substrate and substrate consciousness. But shamatha is just a preliminary to the path. If we just stay put, we don’t actually get on the freeway to liberation. Whether or not we’ve recognized rigpa, if our mind still gets distracted or dull, we need to mount conceptual mind like a cripple onto the blind stallion of the breath. Tethering the mind with attention, uncontrived, primordially present consciousness will manifest, and it will be easy for the guru’s introduction to pristine awareness to strike home. Alan concludes with some suggestions for further reading/study/practice.
Q1. In awareness of awareness, I don’t understand the instruction to forcefully withdraw attention. Is it correct to contract back towards me when inverting?
Q2 What does o laso mean?
Q3. Can we still have emotions in a lucid dream?
Q4. When I practice emptiness of awareness, there’s an open feeling that’s not there when I practice awareness of awareness.
Shamatha, Vipashyana, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen, 10 Apr 2016, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Italy
Alan now goes beyond the sequence of The Four Greats (Great Compassion, Great Loving-kindness, Great Joy and Great Equanimity), to the Extraordinary Thought (tib. Lhag Sam), which expands on the momentum coming from these. It means "a resolve to free all sentient beings from suffering and bring them to to their fulfilment". He points out that this is actually not yet bodhicitta, because the aspiration to achieve enlightenment is missing. Recalling Padmasambhava, he reminds us the importance of combining the View and Way of Life. Nevertheless, we should not let one overwhelm the other. View here means viewing reality from the perspective of rigpa, and conduct relates to what needs to be done. Our conduct should be in accord with our highest view. He highlights that this brings a tension, but a sacred one, to this reality. Alan then addresses the point that the process of engaging with people will always be by way of our own appearances. In this way we are like artists or novelists, painting reality with the colours of our own mind. Here, as long as there is aversion or attachment, our heart will not be at ease. He recalls the words of the Buddha that, “So long as these five obscurations are not abandoned, one considers himself as indebted, sick, in bonds, enslaved and lost in a desert track” (Sāmaññaphala Sutta). This relates to the point that, in the Dzogchen view, we are the all-creating monarchs in our own mandala. If we can then attend to everyone with this extraordinary thought to free all sentient beings, we bring that unconditional benevolence. This process is very healing, and at the same time, until all sentient beings are free, you are not at rest. Meditation is on Developing the Resolve to Free all Sentient Beings. After meditation, Alan returns to the text "Lamp so Bright” (page 6), and gives oral transmission and brief commentary to the section 2.2 - the main practice (of Mahamudra). Meditation starts at 20:00 ___ Please contribute to make these, and future podcasts freely available.
2021 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 2, 24 May 2021, Online-only
Buddha: “Bāhiya, you should train yourself thus: In the seen let there be only the seen; in the heard, let there be only the heard, in the sensed let there be only the sensed, in the cognized let there be only the cognized. Thus, Bāhiya, you should train yourself. When, for you, Bāhiya, in the seen there is only the seen; in the heard, there is only the heard, in the sensed there is only the sensed, in the cognized there is only the cognized, then you, Bāhiya, are not [found] by way of that. When you, Bāhiya, are not [found] by way of that, then you, Bāhiya, are not over there. When you, Bāhiya, are not over there, then you, Bāhiya, are neither here nor there, nor in between the two. This is itself the ending of suffering.” [Udāna I, 10]
Fall 2015 Stage of Generation, 03 Aug 2015, Araluen Retreat Center, Queensland, Australia
While maintaining relaxation with clarity in our practice of mindfulness of breathing, Alan encouraged us to cultivate a further emphasis of enhancing stability without losing one's sense of ease. To achieve this, one of Vashubandu's recommendations on technique in his six phases of mindfulness of breathing is to continually repeat counting from 1 to 10, with the count occurring on each inhalation. Do no more, nor less, and if one messes up, start again at one. However be playful with this technique. Keep continuously counting in blocks of 10 until you achieve samadhi! Alan commented on resting in the substrate consciousness, whereby its light illuminates all appearances but does not enter into, merge or fuse with them. This resting is effortless and the technique of counting during Mindfulness of Breathing should be from that restfulness by just letting the mind do the counting. Prior to meditation practice, we commenced our daily devotion by reciting once in Tibetan, once in English and then once silently, the prayers of going for refuge and of bodhichitta, and the seven line prayers and mantras (see separate post on Mahamudra Retreat Notes for these). The meditation is on Mindfulness of Breathing Following meditation, Alan spoke of finding balance in our meditation effort and referred to the familiar Tibetan drawing of the elephant, monkey, rabbit etc on the path of nine stages of shamatha meditation each with diminishing effort. The technique of counting during Mindfulness of Breathing can assist to balance the effort. Whilst 3 hours daily meditation practice is a good effort, the real catch is that the rest of our daily life also has to be one of contemplative effort. Alan said that we need to be cheerfully relentless in maintaining our flow of mindfulness, attentiveness and bodhicitta in everything we do. Meditation starts at 31:03 ___ 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.
2022 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 3, 27 Apr 2022, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado, USA
Following the 7 line prayer Yangchen guides a guru yoga visualisation with the lama entering the central cannel and settling in the heart chakra. The teaching starts at 7’55’’ with a new question on guru yoga on how this practice helps us on the path of Dzogchen. Do we have the extraordinary merits of meeting an omniscient being like the Guru? We will perceive the teacher in a gradually finer way from nirmanakaya to sambkogakaya to dharmakaya until our perceptions will be so pure we’ll be in Akaniśta paradise. The same we should do with ourselves because we don’t turn ourselves (as a sentient being) into a “dharmakaya being”: dharmakaya is already there. When we identify the Guru we identify our own higher Path. Once we have sufficient confidence we can ask our selves, will he ever leave us? Will we have at one point to walk on our own? Of course not, only some of his appearances determined by our own karma will disappear. By focusing on the purity of what has been thought we’ll see the human appearances of the teacher as symbols. By asking ourselves questions like “why I see him this way? Why I notice that detail of his behaviour?” etc. and turning the questions inward, we may reveal our own karmic propensities, our expectations, our grasping which ignite that particular, reified view of the Lama and/or his teachings. Getting answers to these questions will positively change our mind, will bring us out of the box, and it will produce even more faith. We’ll get more freedom from our conceptual mind, from our cultural framework, making us more efficient recipients of blessings. It’s important not to idolise but the middle way offers us a pathway to pay reverence without making it idolatry. Fine Gurus will do whatever they can to brake through our idolatry. One should be so loose to be able to see the “dance of guru Padmasambhava displays”. Preparing from the coming of the Empowerment by our Lama, when we (re)establish our samayas with this particular Guru here in this lineage, we need to understand these precepts as guidelines which are not culturally bound (in spite some could appear to us like that). Those guidelines train us to live in the “Copper-Colored-Mountain culture”, which is neither Western nor Asian. We shouldn’t block ourselves by a “normalisation” of the samayas to our own specific cultural frameworks, roots and needs: igniting our behavioural/verbal changes by sticking to the precepts of the empowerment is indispensable. Yanchen then moves to Lama Alan comments on habitual propensities (Skt. vāsanā; Tib. bakchak) which are not a state of mind nor are conscious but rather the underlying karmic energies feeding our states of mind. Yanchen offer the example of an image traveling from one smartphone to another appearing the same on both sides but traveling through intangible electromagnetic fields. In analogy to the transmission of information between mobile phones she quotes Asangha (mind only school): “Suppose you ask: How habitual propensities that are neither separate nor diverse can be the cause for the multitude of diverse, separate phenomena? Take this as an example: cloth treated of extracts of diverse separate plants does not appear as variegated, but when is thrust into the vase of dye the variegated appearances show up on the cloth. In the same way… although the substrate consciousness is infused with a variety of habitual propensities, as long as they’re habitual propensities they are not diverse, but when they are made manifest in the dying vase they will actualise the result and an immeasurable number of the variegated phenomena shows up. This is the subtle and supreme meaning of dependent origination in the mahayana”. Then Yangchen explains the dying process of cloths in ancient India by which the chemicals imbuing the cloth turn into a specific color by interacting with external causes (oxygen, etc.). the potency was there, but the interaction was necessary to show the result. Sentient beings karma is the same of cloth dying: the potentiality of habitual propensities hits an “external” catalyser and manifest in a karmic result. Guru yoga reconfigures our habitual propensities even at a substrate consciousness level, until we reach the critical mass which will redirect our karma in a powerful positive direction, until one day pristine awareness will fully manifests “…so we have to do something with karma to manifest that”. The meditation which begins at 1:08:20 is on: (1) Experiencing the transparency of one’s own body and skin, with no definite border between inside and outside. Yangchen leads us away to the conception of a self, of a person with an history encased in a conceptual framework, releasing it all into empty space. (2) Actualising the primordial pristine awareness, visualising in space the syllable Vam, Vajrayogini. After the meditation Yangchen reminds us “how karma is planted sometimes especially when we dedicate…”
Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of Mindfulness, 09 Oct 2012, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Teaching pt1: Alan continues with verses 104-105 of Ch. 9 of Shantideva’s Bodhicaryavatara. Since awareness cannot precede, co-occur, nor follow the object of awareness, awareness is not inherently real. Similarly, no phenomenon comes into (inherent) existence. Inherently existent phenomena cannot causally interact with anything. Only conventionally does awareness arise in dependence on an object.
Alan talks about the entry point of the 5 paths and 10 bhumis as outlined in Asanga’s Abisamaya Alankara and summarized into the 4 yogas of Mahamudra in Karma Chagme’s Union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen.
Shamatha is the first step on the yoga of single-pointedness. The 4 applications of mindfulness brings you from earth-like bodhicitta to gold-like bodhicitta. Shamatha is the on-ramp to the bodhisattvayana.
Meditation: Mindfulnes of the mind preceded by awareness of awareness.
1) awareness of awareness. Settle the mind in the immediacy of the present moment. With every out breath, release awareness into space without an object. With every in breath, awareness converges on itself for an unelaborated experience of being aware. There is nothing to think about. Just taste it continually.
2) mindfulness of the mind. While you may have the sense that mind is empty, how about awareness which seems really there? Does awareness have attributes? Is it static? Does it have the quality of knowing? Luminosity and clarity? Is awareness still? What is the nature of awareness with these attributes? What is the distinction between awareness and non-awareness? Awareness and appearances? Rest non-conceptually in knowing emptiness of awareness—emptiness by nature luminous, luminosity by nature empty.
Teaching pt2: Alan describes the development of ESP and other paranormal abilities. In the Theravada, paranormal abilities require realizing the dhyanas for each element. In the Mahayana, paranormal abilities appear in the first two paths through the union of shamatha and vipasyana on the nature of awareness.
meditation starts at: 55:00
Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of Mindfulness, 14 Sep 2012, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Teaching: Awareness of awareness is the most subtle and profound of all the shamatha practices. From the dzogchen perspective, we suffer because 1) we grasp onto that which is not I and mine as being I and mine and 2) we fail to recognize who we are. Normally, we grasp at gross manifestations of body and mind as being I and mine. Shamatha takes us past all that down to the substrate. From there, there are two paths: 1) break through the substrate to rigpa or 2) realize the empty nature of the substrate.
In short, we probe the nature of everything we thought we were and were ours in order to totally release grasping. Just as we must first know the conventional nature of mind in order to realize the ultimate nature of mind, we must first find the substrate in order to break through to rigpa. This is the direct path.
Meditation: awareness of awareness. Let eyes be open, and rest gaze evenly. For a while, just be present, without doing anything or focusing on any object. Be aware of what’s left over, resting in the luminosity and cognizance of awareness knowing itself. When thoughts arise, either sever them immediately or let them dissolve naturally into the space of the mind. For the oscillation, 1) inversion – arouse attention and withdraw from all appearances into the sheer luminosity and cognizance of awareness and 2) release – utterly release awareness into objectless, empty space. Gently sustain the flow of awareness of awareness throughout the oscillation. As an aid, you can couple the oscillation with the in and out breaths. Let the oscillation come to rest in the center, with awareness being still, luminous, cognizant, knowing itself.
Meditation starts at 18:58
Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of Mindfulness, 15 Sep 2012, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Teaching pt1: Empathetic joy is taking delight in others’ virtues. As the only one of the 4 immeasurables which involves cultivating an emotion, empathetic joy also serves as the antidote to the near enemy of compassion, grief and despair. Given the prevalence of low self-esteem and guilt, it is also useful for many of us to take delight in our own virtues which is considered virtuous in buddhist teachings.
Meditation: empathetic joy. Moving along the timeline from childhood to the present day, recall the kindness others have shown you. With each out breath, light emanates gratitude and rejoicing. Moving along the timeline from childhood to the present day, recall the kindness you have shown others and your cultivation of heart and mind. With each breath, light emanates gratitude and rejoicing, filling body and mind. Direct your attention to someone in particular or whoever comes up, and take delight in his/her virtues. With each out breath, light emanates gratitude and rejoicing.
Teaching pt2: Discouragement and depression may come in two forms: 1) those which arise from a cause, spike, and fade out or 2) those which you are just bringing to the world. The same goes for gratitude. Over the years, Alan has seen that for people living in the spirit of gratitude, their practice always goes well whereas for people who complain a lot or are just plain grumpy, their practice seldom goes well, regardless of their intelligence or renunciation. As the Dalai Lama said, “It is better to find one fault in yourself than a thousand faults in another.” Why is this so? It is possible for us to fix that one fault in ourselves and that is cause for rejoicing.
Meditation starts at 6:56
2022 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 3, 04 Apr 2022, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado, USA
Yangchen goes right into a brief meditation on settling body, speech and mind as there is much to discuss about generating the mandala. The meditation is on settling body, speech and mind with a little added reflection and accessing the subtle body. It starts at 00:52 After the meditation, Yangchen describes the importance of being able to access the subtle body as we just did in the meditation without visualizing, tapping into this tactile, sensory experience first to avoid just superimposing visualizations and they wouldn't quite be in the right place. In coming to the practice that Lama Alan just transmitted to us, Yangchen explains that the blessing of the inner offering is the most universal way of referring to this practice in its many different forms and variations and that it is a representation of what will happen to the constituents of the human body before total enlightenment. Also know that if we are to reach total enlightenment through the path of the highest Anuttarayoga tantra, it will be in a human body. Yangchen speaks to an important point in response to questions that have come up - in terms of lineage transmission, oral transmission and commentary, we shall receive later in the retreat, the Lake Born Vajra empowerment. The Vajra Essence Stage of Generation presented here is not an actual sadhana with mantras and verses, but a unique Vajra Essence transmission which is in the form of a commentary and meditation focusing primarily on what is the ultimate meaning of each part. Yangchen then returns to where we stopped last time in the visualization, combining the teachings on blessing the inner offering that come with the ganacakra with the inner offering that one would make during the sadhana. She ends by discussing the suspension of disbelief in terms of this practice where one cannot be judging it from the outside and to surrender to the experience as Lama Alan said, with faith and without asking too many questions. The sections covered from the Tibetan are pages 237; 251; 252
Shamatha, Vipashyana, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen, 25 Apr 2016, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Italy
Alan introduces the afternoon meditation by making a few comments about space. Our most primal space is the substrate. In dreamless non-lucid sleep, in anaesthesia and at the point of dying the substrate consciousness dissolves into the substrate. Even at this point, however, a sentient being still has consciousness, as opposed to e.g. a glass of water. The essential nature of the substrate is ‘avidya’ - ‘not knowing’. The substrate is obscuring the deeper reality, i.e. dharmadhatu. It does not mean that dharmadhatu is somewhere else than the substrate. Right where the substrate is there is dharmadhatu - explains Alan. As if hidden in plain sight. When the karmic seeds stir the substrate, consciousness emerges from it. And from the substrate consciousness there arises mentation. First the subtle ‘manas’, subtle mentation is catalysed. The sense of ‘me here’ as opposed to ‘object there’. Then coarse mentation arises. Alan explains that in a manner of speaking the mentation “refracts” the primal space of substrate into six spaces: the mental space and the five domains of physical senses. Similarly, the substrate consciousness gets “refracted” into six consciousnesses: the mental one and the five physical ones. In the process of falling asleep the same is happening in reverse order. After this introduction, Alan “front-loads” the meditation. He instructs us to focus for the first half of the session on the space of the body by directing the mental consciousness onto the somatic field. In this way the two spaces - relative dharmadhatu (mental space) and the field of tactile sensations operate together, are superimposed. Let the dharmadhatu merge with the space of the body - advises Alan. Let the space of the mind be filled with non-conceptual sensations of the somatic field in order to empty the mind of conceptual thinking, of chatter. Then, in the second part of the session, direct your attention to the space of the mind. In this way you have better chances not to get caught up in the “waterfall” of thoughts, images, memories etc. Alan calls this meditation “Balancing Earth and Wind”. The meditation is on observing first the space of the body and then the space of the mind, and it is silent. After the meditation, we return to the text of Panchen Lama, starting from verse 15 of the root text. It describes the preliminary practices one should undertake before launching into the main practice. Alan notes that the shamatha practice itself (e.g. awareness of awareness) is ethically neutral and may even be used for negative, unwholesome purposes. That’s why we need to precede the practice by taking refuge and generating the motivation of bodhicitta. When practicing shamatha one ventures into unknown territory. Contemplatives are often surprised by what comes up. Sometimes there are demons in there. So go there with a sense of security - advises Alan. That’s what refuge is for. Refuge and bodhicitta make the mind spacious. Further in the same verse there is mention of making hundreds of supplications to one’s guru. Why hundreds of supplications? - asks Alan. Surely not because the Buddha or Guru Rinpoche or our own guru cannot hear us. It is actually for us. Because we have many desires coming up. So, if the desire to practice shamatha is only one of many, it may easily get lost. Therefore hundreds of supplications are made in order to crowd out the other desires. As we know, one of the prerequisites of practicing shamatha is having few desires. Next, Alan comments on the line “Your guru dissolves into you”, explaining that in order for this practice to be effective one needs to release reification of oneself and of the guru. The mindstream of every sentient being is already saturated with dharmakaya. So where you are there is your guru. Your identity is not replaced by the guru but you are indivisible from your guru. Alan also explains how helpful it is to adopt the perspective of the guru when your mind seems very small, when you are overwhelmed by what comes up in the practice. Try to view it from the perspective of the guru, of the Buddha. How would these thoughts be viewed by the guru, by the Buddha? Commenting on verse 16, Alan reminds us that the practice of settling the mind in its natural state does not entail modification of anything. One does not take the developmental approach adopted in many other practices but instead releases whatever appearances arise and lets the mind heal itself. Verse 17 of the root text gives a very succinct Mahamudra description of the practice of awareness of awareness. The object of the practice is consciousness itself, identified by its two defining characteristics: luminosity and cognisance. Alan notes that many of us have doubts about doing this practice correctly. He suggests to ask the following questions: Do you still know? Are you continually aware that you are conscious? Are you continually aware of consciousness? Next, Alan presents Tsongkhapa’s descriptions of this practice - one found in “Medium Lam-rim” (the quote is available in Alan’s translation in his book “Balancing the Mind”) and another one in the “Great Exposition”. Alan notes that most of us, while doing the practice, in the background have the sense of ego, of “I” meditating: “I’m watching my awareness”. Hence there is a clear sense of a subject and an object (even though the practice of awareness of awareness is considered shamatha without an object). Alan mentions that Tsoknyi Rinpoche, when asked about the difference between this shamatha practice and the Dzogchen meditation, answered that the difference was in grasping. The grasping to the sense of “I”, the bifurcation of subject and object. We cannot simply turn it off - says Alan. But this shamatha practice is an important step on the path. So that when we cut through to rigpa we will be able to sustain it. For those who are supremely gifted it may be possible to go from shamatha straight to rigpa and from the perspective of rigpa realise the emptiness of the mind. But for those who are not so gifted the path is shamatha and then vipashyana on the nature of the mind. Only when one has realised the purely nominal status of “I am a sentient being” can one realise rigpa. But if you are convinced that you are a sentient being, rigpa remains only a potential and it will take three countless eons before your realisation - warns Alan. The last passage from Panchen Lama’s root text read today is verse 18 on taking mind as the path. Very briefly two methods are described here: one is simply observing thoughts and the other is cutting them off as soon as they arise. Again, Alan presents a possible early source of this presentation in a quote from Karma Chagme’s text in the “Spacious Path to Freedom” where a description of the same two methods comes from mahasiddha Maitripa. Meditation is silent and not recorded. ___ Please contribute to make these, and future podcasts freely available.
2022 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 3, 19 Apr 2022, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado, USA
Yangchen la begins and ends this session addressing the same question. She emphasizes that we need to be pondering this question as we devote ourselves to these practices. „How far reaching are the actual effects of our individual and collective practices?” Yangchen la’s response invites us into a deeper understanding of emptiness, dependent origination (as it unfolds in our minds as well as on a collective level), karma, and ultimate and deceptive bodhicitta. She then moves into commentary on the text beginning on page 159 and terminating at the end of page 160, completing commentary on the Stage of Completion section. We are reminded, again, through these practices we are “cultivating” that which will become manifest. The last sentence of the text in this section is an ultimate answer to the question raised at the beginning of the session. If we believe the Lake-Born Vajra, we have to believe that our practice, in any given place, will eventually dredge all of samsara from its depths. It is limitless. Yangchen la leads us into the meditation with this reminder: “Space, time, elements have no inherent nature. Thus, because we are manifesting the nature of this body at every moment given a particular state of consciousness, we can manifest this body encompassing all of the elements…” This meditation is more spacious and open, closer to the state of mind that we are practicing in shamatha and Dzogchen and is marvelous preparation for Dzogchen practice. The meditation begins at 59:00 and takes us through the process of gulping/drinking in each of the five elements. Yangchen la closes with an invitation to practice between sessions. When eating and drinking we can let the experience of the substance entering our body remind us of this meditation and then hold it, in the body, which is hollow and made of light.
Shamatha, Vipashyana, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen, 04 Apr 2016, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Italy
This morning, Alan returns to the theme of parallels between the practice of settling the mind in its natural state and the mindfulness of breathing as taught by Asanga. He begins by making a crucial point: when the practice is going well, it is never smooth. Unpleasant bodily and mental sensations (nyam) are bound to arise. In fact, in the book “Stilling the Mind” (containing the shamatha part of Dudjom Lingpa’s Vajra Essence) there is a two-page long shortlist of the nyams. Even though some are truly awful (like paranoia), if they arise during authentic practice, they are actually signs of progress. However, one may ask why we have to go through all these meditative experiences. In response Alan reads a passage from “Stilling the Mind” where it is explained that even if people identify rigpa but do not continue practicing, they will succumb to spiritual sloth. In short: shamatha is indispensable for entering the path. Back to the topic of parallels between mindfulness of breathing and settling the mind in its natural state, Alan underlines the importance of the body (here: of the prana) which is often overlooked, but needs to be incorporated into the practice. In the method we follow, Asanga clearly indicates that the object of awareness is the prana (not the air, for example) circling from the nostrils down to the navel chakra. Some traditions recommend becoming one with the breath, fusing with it, but this is not the practice we follow. Alan stresses that in this tradition the awareness rests in stillness and does not fuse with the object of meditation. Alan draws a parallel with the substrate consciousness which illuminates the appearances but does not enter into them. So as in settling the mind in its natural state the mind attends to appearances but does not go after them, likewise in the practice of mindfulness of breathing we simply attend to the sensations in the somatic field without grasping at them (without cognitive fusion, without noting “this is my body, I’m breathing etc.”). Here Alan reminds us of the Buddha’s instructions: “In the mentally perceived let there just be the mentally perceived”. And accordingly: “In the felt let there just be the felt” etc. Going back to the topic of nyam, Alan stresses that if all we do is experience them, then we are back to our old habits. Instead, when resting in the stillness of our awareness, whatever comes up in the field of the body, we ought to try to attend to it without preference, without aversion, hope or expectation. In this way, we let the body take care of these sensations and heal itself. The meditation is on Mindfulness of Breathing as taught by Asanga. The meditation starts at 28:30 ___ Please contribute to make these, and future podcasts freely available.
2023 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 4, 04 Apr 2023, Crestone, Colorado and Online
Lama Alan continues with his commentary on Padmasambhava’s teachings on the practice of settling the body, speech and mind in their natural states. This practice is a foot-ladder that can enable you to reach the bottom rung of the teachings in the Vajra Essence. These practices are sequential, with each one being essential. You must first establish the foundation, in which your body is settled in its natural state. This is followed by settling the speech in its natural state. Only on this basis can you settle the mind. Settling the body, speech and mind in their natural states makes the mind serviceable for the practice of shamatha. Lama Alan emphasizes that special attention needs to be given to settling of the speech-respiration. He notes that although the Buddha taught mindfulness of breathing in the Satipatthana Sutta, the Anapanasati Sutta, and in the Discourse on Mindfulness of Breathing, he did not teach pranayama. However, Lama Alan comments that the Buddha’s teachings on mindfulness of breathing are a natural pranayama. Lama Alan next returns to the topic of the importance of posture and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the sitting and shavasana postures. Lama Alan encourages us to master the shavasana even if we are able to sit cross-legged. The shavasana posture is extremely useful for promoting relaxation and stability. Given that most people in the modern world are prone to prana disorders, and are very strong in vikalpa (conceptualization), the shavasana posture can be very helpful. When you have settled the body and speech in their natural state, and are comfortable resting in stillness you are “ready to meditate,” for example, by practicing taking the mind as the path. Since your mind has been stilled, you won’t be hijacked by mental arisings, and you won’t be frustrated or bored. Through this practice you can become lucid in the waking state. Yangthang Rinpoche encouraged us to spend as much time as needed to master this. Padmasambhava instructs us to continue this practice until we have achieved it. The mediation is on Settling Body, Speech, and Mind in their Natural States, and begins at 01:03:55. After the meditation, Lama Alan provides a preview of tomorrow’s talk. The same topic of settling body, speech, and mind in their natural states will be discussed, but will focus on the writings of Terton Lerab Lingpa (which stem from teachings of Vimalamitra). These teachings provide a skillful means approach to settling body, speech, and mind in their natural states, in contrast to the teachings of Padmasambhava, which provide a wisdom approach.
2023 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 4, 10 May 2023, Crestone, Colorado and Online
Lama la gave the Oral Transmission of "Taking Consciousness as the Path—A Synthesis of Pith Instructions from Our Lineage Gurus" with commentary throughout. The text includes quotes from the "Vajra Essence" and Guyatrul’s commentary on "Natural Liberation" and Karma Chakmé’s "Great Commentary to Mingyur Dorjé’s Buddhadhood in the Palm of Your Hand." The Essay reminds us not to judge our practice, just be sure you are doing the best according to your ability. The meditation starting at 1:02:00 in on settling body, speech and mind and then engaging in the practice of searching for the mind. After the meditation Lama la just had a few comments about the scientific community and the "list"of unsolved problems, and one "mystery" that remains on the list is consciousness in the short time left after the meditation.
Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of Mindfulness, 10 Oct 2012, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Teaching pt1: Alan begins his commentary on the section on mindfulness of the mind in Ch. 13 of Shantideva’s Compendium of Practices. Where is the mind that becomes attached, hateful, or deluded? It has no location, basis, or form. The mind is not seen by any of the buddhas. The mind is like an illusion because it apprehends events with unreal projections. Even though one looks for the mind everywhere, it is not to be found. This means it is unobservable which means it doesn’t arise in the 3 times which means it transcends the 3 times which means it is neither existent nor non-existent. The same holds for rigpa which is beyond conceptualization.
Meditation: Mindfulness of the mind preceded by settling the mind.
1) settling the mind. Let your eyes be open with a vacant gaze. Turning away from the 5 sensory domains, direct your attention to the mental domain. Observe the space of the mind and all mental events arising therein illuminated by awareness holding its own ground. Sustain the flow of mindfulness without distraction, without grasping.
2) mindfulness of the mind. Is there any stable or unchanging? Are mental events intrisically the source of happiness or suffering? Is there anything here which is intrinsically mine? Is there anything here that is really mind? Is it anywhere to be found? Mind that is nowhere to be found nor has any attributes is empty. Rest in the emptiness of your own mind.
Teaching pt2: Paranormal abilities are cited as the 4 legs of miraculous activity attained within the first yoga of single-pointedness.
Q1. What is the difference between the space of the mind when it’s still and awareness of awareness? There is nothing there in either, so can we speak of vacuity? Is it transparent and spacious?
Q2. How long does it take to get to each stage in shamatha and maintain it? Once shamatha has been attained, how to maintain it?
Q3. In awareness of awareness, do the eyes focus on the space before us?
Q4. How can we relate to others experiencing the wrath of samsara?
Q5. In the 4 immeasurables, the visualization and aspiration require effort and don’t work when I’m relaxed.
Meditation starts at 31:15
2021 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 2, 05 May 2021, Online-only
This teaching marks a “fork in the road” as we arrive at the practice of the stage of generation in the section 'The Purpose and Nature of the Path of skillful Means'. Lama Alan explains that all the vehicles of practices are for the one purpose - to reveal one’s own face as Samantabadhra. Before picking up where he left off, Lama Alan reviews a question in the text - does non-virtue turn into virtue by having good intentions? Lama Alan discusses this in terms of the Bodhisattva Vows. He then explains the question on whether there is any difference in how good and bad deeds obscure pristine awareness. The text describes how pleasant appearances and also experiences of suffering do not last. They are like dreams. Karma does not last either - whether good or bad. Lama Alan comments that beings are moving in one round of samsara to another. The text concludes that when virtue is tainted with self-grasping there is no difference in the obscuration from virtue or evil. Lama Alan explains that it is important to sustain the commitment to practice to free oneself from samsara. He explains the journey of authentic meditation, such as taking the mind as the path, and how this will catalyse painful and pleasant sensations, but if you know how to transmute adversity and felicity into the path you will not be held hostage by external circumstances. This is called 'turning around'. He describes the turning around of mental afflictions in the substrate consciousness, then the turning around of nyams and the transformations that take place in their ultimate ground. We now come to the "fork in the road”. Lama Alan explains that once one has ascertained the view of emptiness of all phenomena then one must realise one’s own buddha-nature. There are two possibilities, directly identifying Samantabadhra within your own being, cutting right through to pristine awareness or identifying it in dependence upon the path of skillful means, the stage of generation. Meditation starts at 01:04:42 and is taking the impure mind as the path.
2020 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 1, 21 May 2020, Online-only
Increasing Acuity
2019 8-Week Retreat, 04 Apr 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Lama Alan begins by talking about the preciousness of the opportunity to have eight weeks entirely for dharma practice. He continues with a discussion of the lineage of the text and his having received the oral transmission from Tulku Orgyen in Santa Barbara. Lama Alan then provides the introductory comments regarding the retreat schedule and how we relate to each other. He discusses how Dzogchen can not be taken out of the Buddhist context and the need to cultivate pure vision. He then turns to the practice of settling body, speech, and mind in their natural state and how it can take us all the way to Buddhahood. We continue to suffer because we identify our bodies and mind as I and mine. Doing this we fail to recognize who we really are. Doing this meditation is a continuous release of grasping. When we move, that deepens the sense that it's **my** body. Staying still helps to release the identification with the body. Likewise as soon as the mind is distracted we identify with the thoughts, resting the mind is an antidote. Settling the respiration in its natural state allows us to witness the respiration with non grasping. We continue to release grasping of even bliss, luminosity and non conceptuality. This one meditation should be enough and one can eventually cut through to _Rigpa_. Meditation is on Settling the Body, Speech, and Mind After the meditation, Fabio talked about the practice of dharma sharing and its benefits. Lama Alan encouraged this to be adapted for those spread out across the world who may not have a sangha close by. The meditation starts at 34:28
2021 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 2, 18 May 2021, Online-only
Coming back to the four applications of mindfulness to the mind, Lama Alan expounds on the topic of mind; how does mind emerges and dissolves from the bhavanga. He comes back to the mind-body problem from the Madhyamika point of view; categories of “mind” and “matter” and “name” and form” are constructed by mentation based on appearances. He comments: to fathom the nature of the mind is to comprehend not only its relative origin, nature, and dissolution, but also its ultimate nature, which is nirvāna. Then Lama Alan talks about nirvana, following the Buddha´s teachings in the Pali canon. Meditation starts at 00:37:45 and is about observing the movements of javana with and without identifying with them, examining the consequences in our mind and behavior of “appropriated” and “unappropriated” mental processes and the impact of the observation on the observed.
2022 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 3, 30 Apr 2022, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado, USA
After a brief commentary on the question of emanation, Yangchen picks up where we left off in Session 51, with Jé Tsultrim Zangpo’s explanation of the nature of all pervasive compassion in Open Mind, pp. 175–78. We are reminded that the previous section concluded with making the distinction between mind that fuses with its objects and the aspects of cognizance, which is a ray of pristine awareness. Yangchen points out that we are now asking, how does one get from the very subtle energies of primordial consciousness, to the countless nirmankaya, which are the expression of the Buddha’s compassion? The text provides us with an ultimate explanation of nirmankaya, detailing the distinctions between ground pristine awareness, cognizance, and mind. Acknowledging their single essential nature, their ‘different perspectives’ include the mind being luminosity and cognizance that are contaminated by contact with the winds of karmic energies, and the aspect of cognizance being the luminosity and cognizance that are not contaminated. Then we see the distinction that the “indwelling consciousness, self-emergent pristine awareness, which does not come in contact with fluctuating energies, is called pristine awareness, and that which does come into such contact is called cognizance, although it “… does not fuse by grasping to various impure appearances”. Yangchen draws our attention to a section of the text that refers to “all manner of fluctuating thoughts”, virtuous and non-virtuous, as being “pervaded by the radiance … of pristine awareness”. Given that many of us may find this statement challenging, she provides further commentary and urges us to investigate it deeply for ourselves. With reference to the concluding lines of the text where “pristine awareness of all-pervasive compassion” is referred to as the “all-pervasive nirmāṇakāya of compassion”, Yangchen highlights how the rays of pristine awareness that are the aspect of cognizance, are all pervasive compassion. She then challenges us to bring this level of understanding to our practice of settling the mind in its natural state, with that awareness that is witnessing and knowing, already being a ray of pristine awareness, the nirmanakaya of the Buddha, right there. Yangchen concludes with asking us to reflect deeply on our Guru Yoga, and underscores that we need to get to the place that when we hear the guru’s speech that we actually have the sense that this is Buddha Shakyamuni, or Guru Rinpoche, or Lama Tsongkhapa talking to us, and so long as the mind that is fusing with conceptualisation doesn’t get in the way, pure interaction can take place. The meditation, Preparing for the Fire of Wisdom to Blaze, starts at 1:04:46. After the meditation, Yangchen briefly points out that these practices are now taking us through the patterns in our subtle bodies, so that the visualisations start to manifest by themselves. She reminds us that we can stay with these practices for weeks or months, constantly cultivating pure vision and allowing it to be a generation and completion stage practice at the same time. The session concludes with Yangchen inviting us to dedicate toward the clarity of our own path unfolding, that we may see that and follow it.
2020 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 1, 17 Apr 2020, Online-only
Buddha's Instructions to Bahiya
Shamatha, Vipashyana, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen, 29 Mar 2016, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Italy
Alan begins the retreat by thanking all the staff at ILTK, starting from the Director Filippo, his wife and everyone else who has been helping to offer such a wonderfully conducive environment. We will have teachings from the Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra – Alan has received the oral transmission of this text from Geshe Rabten. Alan also received the oral transmission of the other text he will be teaching on from Gyatrul Rinpoche, which highlights the union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen (Naked Awareness). Alan also said that he will show how the various traditions are complementary. Before the meditation, Alan then gives some brief instructions about the retreat structure. The meditation is on Settling the Body, Speech and Mind in their natural states. Meditation starts at 31:00 After the meditation, Alan touches on the differences between practicing Dharma and reaching an irreversible path. When we reach the path, we have set out in such a way that we will never fall back. He also gives a brief update about the wonderful property nearby which could soon become a place where people can achieve shamatha. ___ Please contribute to make these, and future podcasts freely available.
2020 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 1, 10 May 2020, Online-only
Retreat into the Stream of Consciousness
2023 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 4, 05 Apr 2023, Crestone, Colorado and Online
Lama Alan explains the common basis between the practices of taking the mind as a path and settling body, speech and mind in their natural states and gives detailed explanation and commentary on the teachings of Lerab Lingpa as presented in the text: “Settling the Body, Speech, and Mind in Their Natural State” in The Vital Essence of Primordial Consciousness in Open Mind: View and Meditation in the Lineage of Lerab Lingpa At this point, strong emphasis is placed on the importance, while in retreat, of: - Getting sufficient food and sleep, - Avoiding distractions in the periods between meditation sessions and having strong motivation and confidence rather than “Faking Dharma” when doing recitations and visualizations with a distracted mind. - The practice of self-empowerment as a means of dealing with obstacles to the practice, - The practice of the 9-fold expulsion of breaths mentioned in the teachings of His Holiness The Dalai Lama giving pith instructions and demonstration. Lama Alan reminds us of the connection between breath, conceptual mind and prana explaining the role of the out-breath in calming the breath and releasing thoughts. He explains how effortless subtle breathing helps to sustain mindfulness and remain still while thoughts, emotions and mental afflictions arise, and in this way, how breathing in its natural rhythm and resting in internal silence, helps settling the speech in the natural state. At this point Lama Alan states that it is necessary to choose between different methods of practicing mindfulness of breathing—the methods as taught by the Buddha in Shravakayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana: - Asanga’s method, - Buddhaghosa’s method, - and Dzogchen method, focusing on attending to the rhythm of the respiration, experiencing the whole body authentically. Recognizing the nature of the body as space, experiencing the body as not inherently existent, as a matrix of appearances. And, in this way, practicing mindfulness of breathing imbued with the insight into emptiness. From this point Lama Alan speaks about sentient beings vulnerability to suffering as a result of appropriating appearances as “I” or “mine”. Lama Alan tells a story heard from Gyatrul Rinpoche about how one of his root gurus, who was a Vidyadhara, faced torture without experiencing suffering during the invasion of Tibet. At this point he is explaining how is it possible for us to experience the ripening of karma, with no suffering, when we stop appropriating and reifying the body and the mind and how samsara and its nature of suffering has never had a beginning in the past, but instead, restarts every moment by reifying of and identification with appearances as „I“ and „mine“. Lama Alan also advices combing the teachings of Lerab Lingpa with Padmasambhava’s teachings on settling body, speech and mind in their natural states in “Natural Liberation” may be a way of being superbly prepared to practice and attain shamata, and then cutting the roots of samsara with vipasyana and proceed along the path to Rigpa. The guided meditation which starts at 1:02:55 is on choosing between different approaches of mindfulness of breathing and the Dzogchen practice of taking the mind as a path. After the meditation Lama la closes the session with an advice given to the yognis in retreat that cause of not achieving shamata even after practicing correctly for some months in retreat with the correct view, meditation, ethics and motivation, is probably related to the conduct, and to what is done in between sessions. He also comments on teachings of Düdjom Rinpoche about shamata practice and the importance of making a smooth transition at the end of the formal meditation session, and about sustaining the view and Bodhicitta as mentioned in Atisha’s, Seven-Point Mind Training.
Shamatha, Vipashyana, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen, 02 Apr 2016, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Italy
Alan starts with an announcement regarding the practice on Sundays which has no schedule. There will be a shift of the day off from Sunday to Saturday, starting next week, to allow us to do some shopping in the village nearby. Settling the mind in its natural state is taught as a practice to take the mind as the path until it dissolves into the substrate consciousness. Thanks to this profound practice, insight may arise into the nature of the mind. The practitioner may note that all phenomena are like pulses; all is fizzing, changing from moment to moment, nothing is static. When the mind dissolves into the substrate consciousness the three qualities of shamatha arise: bliss, luminosity and non conceptuality. They arise from our awareness with no external stimulus. Alan then explains the three dimensions of suffering: the “suffering of suffering”, the “suffering of change” and the existential suffering. He then explains the three marks of existence: impermanence, dukkha and non self. As we go deeper and deeper into the practice of Settling the Mind in its Natural State with discerning awareness, as emotions, aversion and anger come up, insofar as we can rest there we see that none of these nasty stuff are “mine”, they are just events arising in the space of awareness which is also not “mine”. And by being present when all these upheavals come up we allow the mind to heal itself. By remaining there with that quality of awareness, they will release themselves and you may have insight into impermanence, dukkha and non self. The meditation is on Mindfulness of Breathing, combined with the theme of stillness and motion. Meditation starts at 26:00 ___ Please contribute to make these, and future podcasts freely available.
2020 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 1, 01 May 2020, Online-only
Lama Alan answered some questions on thoughts generated by mental afflictions. He says do not modify anything that appears to the mind, just witness the thoughts, desires, images, and so far as you do not engage with the thoughts, but just watch how they affect the mind, then you are not afflicted by them. Lama Alan then asked, what about when you are not meditating and you are out in the world? Lama Alan’s response to this question of how to view negative thoughts is firstly not to use the word ‘negative’ as this is not specific enough for those who are deluded may think a vengeful thought is positive. He advises us to call them mental afflictions and they just come up from our habitual propensities and you can’t be responsible for these thoughts because they just came up, you didn’t intend to think them. So be precise with terminology. Lama Alan continued to say that if your compassionate thoughts are inconsistent in your mindstreams, that is ok. Mind-wandering is not anyone’s intention it just happens to us. This is why this practice is not to let a single thought by without noticing them. He said a common habit is that the moment one identifies with the thought and then reify the object of the anger, that is when our mind is afflicted. Further, Lama Alan says that he can’t see how one could accrue negative karma for having a harmful thought alone. However, if you generate an intention for revenge or harm then you accrue negative karma. He says this is very important because otherwise we could not do this practice of just watching thoughts. Your task is to simply witness the thoughts without aversion, craving or any modification. This practice moves you towards insight where the most toxic thoughts cannot harm you. He says watch them be dispelled by your pristine awareness. Lama Alan extends his response to a student question to what to do when we are out in the world and a mental affliction arises and we get caught by it and it disturbs our mind’s equilibrium. He suggests to not act on it. Back off, withdraw and do not express whatever is in your mind. Do damage control and quarantine your mind which is now afflicted and more contagious than any other virus. Then, withdrawn, watch your mind, look for the ego response. When your ego does that, look at it. Apply any of the many antidotes for these. There are 84,000 afflictions and there are remedies for each one taught by so many like Buddah and Shantideva. Lama Alan then discusses a technique of how to look at the base of mental afflictions to see the qualities of the substrate and later pristine awareness. This was shown to him by Gyatral Rinpoche and he gives the example of craving. Lama Alan outlined that when craving arises, look straight at it. How does it afflict your mind? Look for the eagerness of craving for the object and when you have the object look at the glee once obtained, like Gollum ‘my precious’ with The Ring [Lord of the Rings]. Look at the experience of the mind, do you see bliss? Same with anger, do you see a sharpness of luminosity? These aren’t mental afflictions. He said look also through dullness, aversion and when you are spaced out, when you look at the root of this affliction is it not peaceful? So, when you penetrate the nature of the mind within which the three poisons arise you find the three qualities of pristine awareness luminosity, bliss, non-conceptual. Lama Alan also makes a plea to translators everywhere to stop translating ‘klesha’s’ as positive or negative emotions. He argues that most of the kleshas are not emotions and this is a mistranslation that can lead to confusion. He welcomes debate on this and he will demolish any protagonist! Lama Alan also clarified the question that if one does not act on a bad idea does one purify negative karma? He said that you don’t purify anything because there is nothing to purify if it is just a thought that you do not act on. However, when you rest in rigpa, that heals the mind. After the meditation Lama Alan returned to the text, p.22 to discuss the list of vast meditative experiences presented possible in The Vajra Essence, including pre-cognition that comes from the luminosity of the substrate. He also refers to scientific research in the area of pre-cognition and remote viewing. Meditation starts at: 32:34 minutes [Keywords: karma, mental afflictions, meditative experiences (nyam), pre-cognition, remote-viewing]
2021 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 2, 05 May 2021, Online-only
While resting in awareness and peripherally maintaining mindfulness of breathing, observe the arising and passing of the four elements of earth, water, fire, and air within the body, noting that they are not “I” or “mine,” and are empty of “I.”
2022 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 3, 12 May 2022, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado, USA
Today's teachings are on the topic of conduct, following the discussions on view and mediation in previous sessions. The transmission starts at 0:17:14 on page 178, last paragraph, and continues until page 179, end of first paragraph. The Lakeborn Vajra used very few words on view and meditation while discussing conduct at length. Lama-la explains how view and meditation can be regarded as preliminary practices for conduct, the latter being the culmination of spiritual practice. Most of us will be able to personally relate: When coming out of a time of retreat into an active way of life, where we have very little control over our environment, we then have to apply to our conduct the skills trained during retreat. Lama-la refers to the ethical intelligence that arises from the Dzogchen view as encompassing all ethical worldviews, no matter if they stem from a religion or a worldly view, and reminds us that Dzogchen is also called the Great Encompassment. Dzogchen conduct means to never waver from the view of "the nonduality of samsara and nirvana" in the midst of all the challenges and activities of an engaged life. Fully aware of the fact that most of us will not be able to live up to this grand task, Lama Alan kindly offers two other approaches: By way of Stage of Generation practice we train to see all appearances, no matter how challenging, as divine expressions of primordial consciousness. Since that too is difficult in the world of ours, we might approach this from the Middle Way view of emptiness. Lama-la describes vividly how compassion for those who create mischief would naturally arise, if one would see all the causes and conditions as well as the karmic repercussions of harmful behavior. As the third option of how to conduct ourselves ethically Lama Alan suggests the practice of taking one's mind as the path, where we rest in awareness and renounce grasping at the appearances of our minds and reifying them. The text continues with describing the appropriate physical, verbal and mental conduct. As a criteria of success we can use a measurement from the Lojong training - the imperturbability of our mind. The meditation which begins at 1:21:53 is on training our minds to gain stability by settling it in its natural state.
THE SCIENCE OF MIND, 13 Nov 2021, Online Retreat
The Science of Mind - Day One, Session Two, Meditation Only Fourfold Vision Quest
2022 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 3, 31 Mar 2022, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado, USA
The session begins with Lama Alan opening the doors of the Vajrayana vehicle so that we all hop in, and arise as suitable vessels for receiving these teachings. Once we are there, the journey can start. First we go through an overview of the steps that took us here: samata, vipassana, identification of rigpa, understanding of emptiness of all phenomena, and finally a fork on the road, related to the beginning of Phase 4. Our Lama reads a passage around the purpose of the complex structure of stage of generation practice, within the unelaborated nature of ultimate reality. Why bother with all this imagery? – he delves a bit into this question. Lama la briefly gives an account of how the retreat structure will play out on the following weeks, then starts the aural transmission and commentary of the text on page 138, first paragraph, at minute 41:40. The topic of the lines read today pertains to the reification process of our universes. Lama la's commentary is around the importance of confessing this fault, and of purifying the deed, ultimately by resting in buddha nature which realises emptiness. After the commentary, our Vajrayana Guru signals the necessity of bringing all the teachings down to experience, and of having a sound foundation for that. He provides a preamble on the practice of settling the mind in its natural state, then we go into a 20 minute session particularly focused on the first step: releasing the body of its contractions and knots. The meditation focus is to deeply and gently settle the body in its natural state. It starts at 1:29:10
Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of Mindfulness, 06 Sep 2012, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Note: This recording is of minor quality since we had to recover it from another device. Thank you for understanding.
Teaching: This practice shines a bright light on feelings by attending to feelings internally (our own), externally (someone else’s), and both internally and externally (in ourself and others in interaction). Alan introduces an alternative translation for a key line in the Sattipathana sutta. Instead of the common translation “One views the body in the body,” Alan proposes the following based on the Tibetan “One views the body as the body. One views feelings as feelings. One views the mind as the mind.”
Mental consciousness is unique because in addition to its own domain, it can also piggyback on each of the 5 sense consciousnesses. We must learn that mental feelings are not enslaved by physical sensations. During the practice, we should know that we know feelings as feelings until the insight shifts our view of reality.
Meditation: mindfulness of feelings. Let the light of awareness permeate the body. Keeping in touch with the breath as baseline, closely apply mindfulness to the feelings associated with tactile sensations. Introspection monitors the flow of mindfulness, posture, and flow of the breath. 1) Observe feelings as feelings. 2) Focus on the origination and dissolution. 3) Observe the 3 marks of existence. Settle back into mindfulness of breathing as needed.
Q1-2. Are there two kinds of direct realization of emptiness: 1) the direct realization of emptiness through the 4 applications of mindfulness and 2) the wisdom teachings on the Middle Way by Nagarjuna?
Q3. According to the Sautantrika view, we can see glasses directly, so they are real. Their ownership is a social convention, so it is unreal. According to social science, items have their own history (e.g., people made the glasses), and things also have a relational aspect. What does the Sautantrika view say about this?
Q4. Is it possible to have non-conceptual loving-kindness without the verse, “May you find happiness and its causes”? I don’t have words for that feeling, and I find that words can get in the way. Do we need the words or even the term itself?
Q5. When meditating on the domain of the mind, how can we be certain that we focusing on the right place, especially when there is no mental object?
Q6. A lucid dream is happening in the substrate just as settling the mind leads us to the substrate. If we change something consciously during the practice, are we lost? How can we maintain clarity?
Meditation starts: 19:05
