2023 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 4, 28 Apr 2023, Crestone, Colorado and Online
Lama-la opens the session by adding a footnote regarding genuine happiness, the cultivation of which is Dharma, as opposed to genuine unhappiness, rooted in mental afflictions. After highlighting the characteristics of the four stages of practice, Lake Born Vajra warns that if someone makes big claims regarding their level of realizations, this in itself is nothing but a proof of self-grasping and delusion, revealing the falsity of such people who then become objects of great derision. Whether one is liberated or not can be assessed through objective examination and investigation, through peer review. And Lama-la discusses a number of useful examples. Furthermore, the measure of liberation can be understood through one’s dreams, and a thorough discussion regarding lucid dreaming, dream yoga and the bardo of death ensues. Individuals with superior progress’ dreams become thoroughly integrated with the clear light, and they will achieve liberation in dharmakaya. Those of middling progress are able to have lucid dreams, engage in emanation and transformation, and they will be liberated into sambhogakaya. And finally, those who have made little progress will have only good dreams and will find relief as a nirmanakaya. Lama-la reads further. Great erudition will not liberate, but only great meditative experiences, so striving in essential practice is indispensable. And so one must seek out for realized teachers who practice, not just good academics. But essentially our ultimate refuge must be the trust in ourselves and the three jewels. The meditation which start at 01:06:44 is on the Dzochen approach to mindfulness of breathing and the opportunity to choose peace over the stimuli. Lama la starts with the aural transmission at 00:05:44 ad covers the pages 209-211.
2021 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 2, 23 May 2021, Online-only
Returning to the Vajra Essence and the stage of generation practices, today we begin the section on Generating the Wrathful Mandala. But first, Lama invites us to the Dzogchen practice of non-meditation, our best approximation of resting in pristine awareness. He gives some preamble on the importance of remaining aware of what the pre-requisites for sustainable stage of generation practice are, whilst also encouraging us to dive into the practice with a confident commitment to do our best. Lama suggests that the key to this practice is seeing how fully and completely one can release the mind entirely. The meditation begins at 00:10:56. Then Lama Alan presents an extensive preface about the practice of generating the wrathful mandala before beginning this section in the text. He begins with asking - ‘How do we become free of the mental afflictions – especially the three root poisons of craving, hostility and delusion?’ He explores this question from the different perspectives of Śrāvakayāna and then Mahayana, where Shantideva refers to ‘recruiting’ and transmuting the mental afflictions of anger and ego-grasping to annihilate the other afflictions. From the Vajrayana perspective, where we take the fruition as the path, Lama explains that the generation of the peaceful mandala is designed to arouse imagery that would usually trigger the mental affliction of craving and attachment, but then one sublimates that, by transmuting it into the primordial consciousness of discernment. Similarly, with the generation of the wrathful mandala and arising as a wrathful deity, the deity’s ferocity targets our mental afflictions of anger, hatred, violence, and aggression, which then transmute into mirror-like primordial consciousness. Lama warns us that the imagery of the wrathful mandala is quite horrific, but he stresses that it is crucial to remember that the target of this ferocity is our own mental afflictions, the diseases of our minds that are the root of all suffering. He emphasises that this practice is as powerful as it is ferocious, and he asserts that here the power of enlightenment subdues the power of delusion; and the ferocity of enlightenment overwhelms the evil and hatred rooted in delusion. Lama highlights that, as with generating the peaceful mandala, the common denominator here is that of dissolving our ordinary sense of identity, and out of that primordial purity of the ground, one arises as a peaceful deity, or as a wrathful deity, an enlightened Buddha, and in so doing we are sublimating the mental affliction of ‘I am’ into divine pride, which helps us transmute this self-grasping into the primordial consciousness of the absolute space of phenomena. As Lama underscores, in these ways, we transfer the great power of the three poisons into fuel to propel us along the path to awakening. Returning to the text we cover the first three paragraphs in this section. As before, it begins with dissolving everything into emptiness, and resting in rigpa. Manifesting as luminous primordial consciousness, you “…visualize your pristine awareness as the blue- black flaming seed syllable Hūṃ which is an apparition of the primordial consciousness of great, all-pervasive compassion”. Lama Alan comments here that it is very important to remember that the wrathful appearances are manifested out of compassion, and that the wrath, is directed not at sentient beings, but at the afflictions that bring them so much suffering. Then the Lake-Born Vajra begins to elaborate on the dying process and how to transmute it into the path by dying lucidly. Lama Alan suggests that here, the text is giving the rationale for what is to follow in generating the wrathful mandala. Lama concludes his commentary with pointing out that if we train our minds to be lucid, it is possible to pass through the dying process being fearlessly lucid every step of the way, not identifying with people, the environment, or the mind, not overwhelmed by remorse or fear. Therefore, Lama suggests that it is also important to have a clear idea of what to expect when you die, so given that it has been well detailed in Vajrayana, he indicated that we will explore this more tomorrow.
Fall 2014 Shamatha, Vipashyana, Dream Yoga, 16 Sep 2014, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
In today’s meditation Alan went on with the pointing-out instructions from Natural Liberation. In the teachings Alan discussed the different levels of teacher-student relationship and how we can bring the Indo-Tibetan understanding of it into our modern world. In a way the relationship between teacher and student is completely symmetrical, and that regards the courtesy and respect between both sides. Where it is not symmetrical is on the level of knowledge, the student comes to the teachings to learn, the teacher to be of service, and the relationship is established totally for the sake of the student. In the Indian tradition the teacher is called guru, and that could be translated for us as spiritual mentor, somebody who has a great knowledge and leads us to true insight. The Tibetan understanding of lama is different from that, it is more a spiritual guide, somebody who is leading you along a path, so that you don’t fall into pitfalls or have to take detours or the like. But that means that you need trust in your spiritual guide, that he will actually be able to help you along the path. Then Alan gave some commentary to the pointing-out instructions from today’s meditation, and finally he ended on his rationale why he keeps giving us all these citations from philosophy, science and the like, in order to help us to respond to our non-Buddhist environment when we are asked what we actually do and why we are doing this. Meditation starts at 03:00 min
2020 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 1, 06 Apr 2020, Online-only
After reciting refuge, bodhicitta, and the seven-line prayer, Lama Alan introduces a new guidance to the practice of settling body, speech and mind in their natural state, based on the teachings of Tertön Lerab Lingpa. The first part of meditation is a pranayama technique developed to cleanse the nadis of stale prana.
Meditation starts at 6:00.
Following meditation Lama Alan talks about the base for the common preliminaries that Lerab Lingpa is setting through this practice. First the base for the spirit of emergence, which realizes the causes of suffering, but also the possibility of liberation, not only for oneself, but for all others as our own mothers. This is the base also for great compassion, which stirs the resolve of our own pristine awareness to bring every sentient being to enlightenment. In order to do so, we call for the blessings of all the awakened beings, to be guided through a path of swift liberation: The Great Perfection.
Lama Alan then discusses the causes and conditions for liberation: we are buddha nature, that is the core cause. But as sentient beings we need all the conditions that enable this nature to emerge, such as an authentic Guru, an authentic path, the cultivation of this path and its culmination. Blessings play the role of causes, which progressively propel us on this path, and this is the causal efficacy of the dharmakaya. Of course, from the perspective of pristine awareness dharmakaya is unchanging, unconditioned, does not move, moreover it transcends these categories; so blessings arising are merely the experience of sentient beings, the causal play of blessings is a play in the mind of sentient beings. Yet, these two perspectives do not negate each other, they are complementary.
[Keywords: pranayama, Lerab Lingpa, blessings, great compassion]
2022 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 3, 12 Apr 2022, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado, USA
Yangchen la begins this session by noting a subtle difference in how she and Lama Alan have been saying the refuge prayer. She then moves into giving commentary on the text beginning just before Tibetan page 276 with “Ultimately, accurately realizing and manifesting...” This passage is focused on the four empowerments and Yangchen reminds us of her most extensive commentary on the four empowerments which she gave in 2020 while teaching on the preliminaries. Speaking broadly to this type of practice, or really any practice that we need to do regularly or with frequency, Yangchen reminds us that the most important thing to keep in mind is to keep the practice fresh. She also encourages us to engage in the conceptual exercise of comparing language throughout the text in its ultimate meaning, even if the concepts seem over our heads, and directs us to the last paragraph from last year’s transmission on page 137. Yangchen begins the commentary (pages 152 to beginning of 153, approximately [276-278] in the Tibetan text) by giving more detail and background to the significance of the vase empowerment as it is meant in this text and also comparing with the New Translation schools and again looking to Lama Tsongkhapa. In summary, she instructs us to not be too narrow in our understanding of what the vase empowerment means. pg 152- beginning of 153; approximately [276-278] She concludes with an assertion that the “real” vase empowerment would be “actually perceiving the emptiness of myself and all phenomena so the sadhana can arise authentically.” She also highlights the association of the vase empowerment with the phrase “body isolation” in New Translation schools, which signifies how through the vase empowerment one’s mind is blessed to no longer see one’s body as an ordinary body. Thus, granting one the capacity to see this body itself being made of buddhas. Yangchen goes into detail on the significance of the phrase “precious spontaneously actualized” where the absence of inherent nature of all phenomena arises as pure appearances in the visions of the direct crossing over. Think tögal. And recognize that this implies that ultimate reality is manifesting as something that can be perceived by the eyes. She also goes into detail on the phrase “all seeing.” This is not simply the great wisdom that has realized emptiness. Rather it is approaching the omniscience of a Buddha that sees things in their individuality. Yangchen continues her commentary on the empowerments providing the meaning of “secret” and some foreshadowing of days to come and Stage of Completion practice. Through the following detailed dissection Yangchen shows how all these different referents and realities to which the empowerment refers are actually connected, arriving at the statement that “mastery of life force” actually equals breath, prana, speech. Enlightened mind is when visions aren’t even arising, “clear light, clear light.” The fourth empowerment is enlightenment itself. Yangchen comments briefly on visualizing deities as connected to this passage and instructs that whatever deity you’re visualizing, that is the primary deity you visualize in front. It’s your lama, your guru, in the form of the yidam, the personal deity, who is empowering you. Turning to the last paragraph on this page Yangchen picks out the phrase “rays of the dharmakaya” to show that the Lake-Born Vajra is reminding us that all of these verbal and physical spheres of activity included in the Stage of Generation as skillful means are actually rays of the dharmakaya. After pointing out what Tsongkhapa explains very clearly (that if you want to traverse the rapid path you need to be collecting both collections simultaneously and meditating on skillful means in the same state of consciousness as wisdom), Yangchen first draws our attention to what trekchö actually means and that resting in pristine awareness isn’t simply meditating on emptiness. Pristine awareness (where in so far as within the ground dharmakaya all kayas and facets of primordial consciousness are perfectly compete) becomes manifest—no contrivance, no effort—by not getting in the way and based on a deep conviction that all phenomena are empty of inherent existence. By resting in the pristine awareness one is allowing dharmakaya to actualize the rupakayas that are already manifest in it. This is a key point from this session. The connection of the word manifest with the concept that these kayas and sacred forms do NOT need to be created. They are already fully present within the ground dharmakaya, we need only manifest or discover them. The Stage of Generation and Stage of Completion are doing something to help our sentient being mind to catalyze the ability to recognize it. In the closing point of this session, Yangchen implores us to really investigate the fork in the road. If we are truly ripe and truly drawn to the unelaborated path, we can trust that is an authentic path. However, if we are “drawn” to the unelaborated path out of laziness or the belief that Stage of Generation is too hard or complicated or because ultimately we are not wanting to get over the ordinary view of ourselves, then it could be an obstacle for our trekchö practice without us even realizing it. It is true that some are ripe for the unelaborate path and Yangchen invites caution as we look into our hearts to decide, being careful to conclude we don’t need something (Stage of Generation and Completion) that so many adepts of the past have needed. We have just received the very long, full answer to the question posed at the start of phase , “What distinguishes this yana?” Yangchen closes with an excerpt from her time with Geshe Khedrup Norsang that connects directly to what has been addressed in this session (included in the notes). The final instructions before the meditation begins at 1:01:35, which is a continuation of the previous meditation with Yangchen, arising as the Tathāgatas, is: relax and let pristine awareness arise as the deity. Continuation of the previous meditation with Yangchen, arising as the Tathāgatas
2021 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 2, 11 May 2021, Online-only
Lama Alan starts by reviewing the four types of nirmanakayas. He continues with the text on the sentence: “These four types of nirmānakāyas are emanations of the sugatagarbha that arise naturally in the objective field of ego-grasping consciousness.” He comments on how nirmanakayas arise because of self-grasping in order to help us overcome the inner causes of suffering, and they cease as soon as that task is fulfilled. The text then turns to the explanation of the svabhāvakaya and vajrakaya, expounding on the seven qualities of the vajra and listing the four vajra promises. It then concludes the theme of the five kayas explaining how every jina is included within these five kayas, the ground from where they emerge is revealed as Samantabhadra and his creative expressions are established as the five buddha families. Then the five facets of primordial consciousness and the first two, of the five buddhafields are explained. Meditation starts at 01:12:24 and in on observing the afflictive nature of the coarse mind and tracing it back to primordial consciousness.
Fall 2014 Shamatha, Vipashyana, Dream Yoga, 23 Aug 2014, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
It is crucial for our progress to be able to distinguish the qualitative difference between the clarity of substrate consciousness and the lucidity of rigpa. In the practice of Mindfulness of Breathing, awareness illuminates the field and notices fluctuations in the field produced by the rhythm of the breath. The fluctuations become more and more subtle as continued practice produces a decreased volume of the breath. By following the simple instructions of the Buddha to maintain stillness of awareness while noting that the breath is long or shot and by attending to the entire field of the breath, the practice can lead to the the complete cessation of breathing at the singularity of the fourth jhana of the form realm. Meditation starts at 42:26
Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of Mindfulness, 04 Sep 2012, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Teaching: This practice of mindfulness on feelings using the space of the body is a nice prelude the settling the mind where we attend to the space of the mind. As in the latter, we need to distinguish between stillness and movement—i.e., the stillness of awareness and the movement of sensations or thoughts. Loose, present, and luminous, awareness can remain still if there is no grasping or preference. If we can release desire and aversion, appearances are just appearances.
Meditation: mindfulness of feelings. Let awareness clearly illuminate the space of the body, in particular the tactile sensations associated with the 4 elements. Closely apply mindfulness to the affective ways you experience those tactile sensations—i.e., 1) pleasant, 2) unpleasant, or 3) neutral. Examine whether pleasant/unpleasant is intrinsic to the experience or whether it is our mode of experiencing. Is feeling static and unchanging? Is the magnitude of feeling instrinsic to the feeling itself? Exercise: Visualize the part of the body associated with pain and lay on the rumination about the pain.
Q1. In this practice, most feelings appear to be neutral. Is this correct, or do we need to dig deeper?
Q2. In my meditation, I apply antidotes to sleepiness, but they don’t work, and I struggle. How should I deal with such situations?
Q3. I’ve always found working with pain difficult, but in this practice, I could not actually pinpoint the pain (though still present), so I concluded it must be in the mind.
Q4. In this practice, I try to locate the pain by going in closer and closer, but I can’t really find it, and it appears to pulsate and travel. Why can’t pain be an object of meditation?
Meditation starts 14:16
THE SCIENCE OF MIND, 15 Nov 2021, Online Retreat
Day Three, Session Two Q&A To maintain the privacy of the attendees some of the questions may not be heard, but in the video version of the Q&A the questions are shown on the screen. We apologize for this inconvenience.
2022 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 3, 20 May 2022, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado, USA
After invoking Guru Rinpoche and taking refuge in the way of the Lake-Born Vajra Sadhana we rest for a few minutes in silence. As there will be no formal meditation today, we continue to explore the sadhana with meditative awareness. Yangchen-la focuses today on the visualizations that come with the recitation of the verses and the mantra, thereby relying also on the text of the Vajra Essence, of Lama Tharchin Rinpoche's commentary and Gyatrul Rinpoche's commentary of The Generation Stage In Buddhist Tantra. Yangchen reminds us that Stage of Generation practice takes a lot of conceptual work in the beginning, which will later serve as a basis for deep practice. Yesterday we visualized ourselves as the Lake-Born Vajra in union with Mandarava, and then merged the jnanasattva with the samayasattva. Now we continue on page 8 of the sadhana text with homage. We as the Lake-Born Vajra make offerings in form of sentient beings to the deities of the mandala, and they respond in blessing and purifying the offerings — in this way a dance of primordial union unfolds. For a more elaborate form of the offering one can go to the Vajra Essence, Phase 4, page 131 [236]. Detailed explanations like this one can serve as a basis for visualizations during long mantra recitations. We also find an explanation on how to transform the joy of sensory experiences into offerings by way of visualizing deities dissolving delicious substances into our sense consciousnesses, so overcoming ordinary view. This is the inner offering. As for the secret offering, Yangchen reminds us that the depiction of the union of male and female deities has nothing to do with sensual pleasures, but is a skillful means pointing to the immutable great bliss of the union of emptiness and primordial consciousness, which is evoked by subtle energy practices. In the next verse, “The ecstatic union of great bliss… is the great freedom”, the offering of liberation takes place. Then we move on to the praises, where the holy being we have transformed into is praised by the deities of the mandala, and praises them back in a divine way. The first verse refers to the three kayas. Yangchen elaborates on the awe in which the lines of this praise have been spoken first by the king of Zahor, when he realized the divinity of Guru Rinpoche, who manifested the lake of Tso Pema instead of being burned by a bonfire. The second verse is praising the holy body, speech, and mind. The third verse is a praise on the three roots. Yangchen then reads and explains the first verse of the Quintessential Yoga of Recitation. We visualize our body as of light in a subtle red glow. The jnanasattva in the heart is depicted as a golden vajra, we as the samadhisattva in the form of the letter Hrih in its center. The root mantra circles around it, and depending on our level of practice and visual abilities, we can imagine the circling mantra syllable by syllable, or as a ring of fire. Yangchen-la elaborates on the advantages of Tibetan or Sanskrit spelling of the mantra for the visualization. Yangchen explains that the recitation of mantras tones our pranic systems as a preparation for the Stage of Completion practices. Finally Yangchen reminds us that "to fully integrate the Dzogchen view within this sadhana we know that even the mantra recitation is revealing that which is already the case, it's not approaching in order to accomplish. There is no meditation with this teaching.
Shamatha, Vipashyana, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen, 27 Apr 2016, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Italy
The theme for this session comes from the pith instructions that we’ve recently covered from the Panchen Rinpoche’s text (stanzas 16 to 23), which are prevalent in the Mahamudra lineage. Alan’s prelude to the meditation returns to the question concerning whether the space of the mind is either a sheer absence of appearances or whether it does have characteristics that can be ascertained i.e. it is transparent and 3-D. We will continue investigating the nature of consciousness through the practice of awareness of awareness, withdrawing from all appearances and then tightly focusing on the affirmative qualities of cognizance and clarity of awareness. Another element of consciousness that we are seeking to enter into or unveil is that which is free of conceptualisation. Alan therefore suggests that the quality of the awareness that we are seeking to access is a complex negation as there are two affirmative qualities (cognisance, luminosity) and an absence of a quality (non-conceptuality). The tightly focused part of the practice is on the affirmative qualities and then the loosely relaxing part is releasing the awareness into non-conceptuality. Alan also speaks briefly on his new interpretation of the phrase “taking the impure mind as the path”, and similar phrases, where a more literal translation from the Tibetan on his opinion could be “taking the mind as my ride on the path”. The meditation is guided on awareness of awareness, oscillating the awareness from being tightly focused to loosely relaxed. Following meditation, Alan resumes the Panchen Rinpoche’s text transmission including some comments that: what we are reading we are immediately integrating into our current practice; the achievement of shamatha leads to mental pliancy and physical well-being due to the shift of the whole subtle energy system; and the ultimate reality of the mind cannot be apprehended conceptually. At the end of the session, Alan says he has received requests for instructions on dream yoga (night-time vipashyana) which he will occasionally provide. His first instruction is to commit to prospective memory: upon awakening from sleep anytime, (1) recognise that you are waking up without further conceptualisation and (2) stay still physically and mentally. Then direct the attention backwards in time, and check: what is the last image you recall? If it was the last image of a dream, pursue it, see if you can recall your dream. This is the first step in the practice of lucid dreaming, and in this way the dream recall will gradually increase. Meditation starts at 12:35 ___ Please contribute to make these, and future podcasts freely available.
THE SCIENCE OF MIND, 15 Nov 2021, Online Retreat
Day Three, Session One Q&A To maintain the privacy of the attendees some of the questions may not be heard, but in the video version of the Q&A the questions are shown on the screen. We apologize for this inconvenience.
2022 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 3, 07 Apr 2022, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado, USA
After opening prayers, Eva la goes onto commentary and explanation of two versions of the dissolution mantra, which precedes the emergence of pure phenomena in any sadhana. These versions are the one we are more familiar with (Om svabhava shuddha sarva dharma svabhava shuddho-haṃ) and the one she has been reciting lately (Om shunyata jnana vajra svabhava atmako-haṃ). In terms of their essence and core meaning they are equal, as Tsongkhapa states. She chooses to go into a detailed explanation of each word in the "Om shunyata jnana vajra svabhava atmako-haṃ" mantra, as taught by Tsongkhapa, and highlights how in this case his teachings touch the Vajrayana in peculiar ways, unusual to his style within the Gelugpa tradition. The meditation focuses on the peaceful mandala, primarily on the self generation as the deity (Vairocana), going into its details, qualities and symbolism. It starts at 23:25. Regarding the commentary of the text (pages 141-144), Yangchen first brings to our attention that there are similarities between the practice of liberation and a ganachakra ritual. After this, she goes back to the paragraph that begins with "For the restoration of the rudra[s ...]" and delves on the way we represent our enemies or maras to ourselves. She also comments on the fact that any representation stands not only for our own rudras, but for any rudra causing harm to any sentient being; hence this practice aims at freeing all sentient beings simultaneously of their rudras. She goes then into the paragraphs of the following two pages, interpolating here and there with small comments. About the practice itself, Yangchen comments that while visualisation can happen instantaneously, actualisation can take eons from a sentient being's perspective. Emptiness of time allows this time to shift to an instant from a highly realised being's point of reference. Blessings and liberation are in fact flowing from the dharmakaya, while we plant the seeds to be able to grant those things to sentient beings at some point in our path. Yangchen continues with small interpolations and ends the commentary of the text with a further analogy to the ganachakra ritual, to finalise with dedication prayers."
2021 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 2, 18 Apr 2021, Online-only
This final teaching of Phase 3, opens with the text “In general, devouring demons are so called because they consume the fruits of omniscience” (pg. 88). Lama Alan highlights that these demons are the maras of mental afflictions, our only true enemies. They cut off our vitality for dharma; they keep us cycling in samsara; they torment us lifetime after lifetime; and they steal our collections of merit and knowledge. Lama alerts us to once again recognise that in so far as there are people, places, entities in our lives, that we view as enemies / demons, such appearances only arise because we have those karmic seeds. If in our past lives we had not accumulated any non-virtuous karmic seeds to manifest as enemies in this lifetime, we wouldn’t have any, so no such appearances would arise. All appearances arising to us, be they good/bad, pleasant/unpleasant, are manifestations of our own karma. The appearances themselves are empty, they have no owner, they are not already appropriated. So just how these appearances are actualised for us, depends on how we conceptually designate them. If we don’t appropriate them, they can’t inflict benefit or harm, but they can when we do so. Therefore, these appearances are of demons/enemies because we designate them as such. Come what may, as Lama Alan reminds us, no-one does samsara to us, we do it all to ourselves. Referring to a host of delusive malevolent spirits, Lama suggests that by severing the bases of related mental afflictions, these spirits don’t have a leg to stand on. Taking inspiration from a Shakespearean worldview, Lama reflects that if “All the world’s a stage …”, then as an actor on that stage, as soon as you appropriate any of the mental processes of the heroes or villains sharing that stage, then you completely lose yourself in the character you are playing. Instead, be mindful, and recognize that this stage is one where all the actors are emerging from your own mind. To counteract all craving and grasping, the Lake-Born Vajra mentors us to “recognize the sublime importance of dedicating yourself to giving away your body”, sentiments highlighted by Śantideva as an indispensable foundation for developing Bodhicitta (Bodhisattva Way of Life - Chapter 8). Lama Alan emphasises that a vital first step in this process is to recognize that this body is illusory. However, even though it is nowhere to be found, independent from appearances, we have appropriated it, and latched onto it so strongly that it is the very basis for the self-centeredness that contaminates our minds. As a result of this, we get trapped in the rut of delusive reification, mindlessly allowing ourselves to be caught in the grip of every mental affliction that pops into our mind stream. In this way, our suffering is perpetuated. What does Lama suggest? Move to a new neighbourhood! If we can stop the appropriation of our body, feelings, mental processes, and all phenomena, that results from identifying them as ‘I’ or ’mine’, then we can move our minds out of this matrix of delusive appearances. To do this, Lama recommends the Four Close Applications of Mindfulness, powerful practices that focus on cutting through what he terms, our ‘cognitive hyperactivity disorder’. As such, he advises that they are a very valuable foundation for everything in this text, including fathoming how things exist, fathoming deceptive reality and ultimate existence – emptiness. The text then outlines the details of the severance practice of Chö, which first requires us to “correctly establish and realize the profound nature of existence of emptiness.” With the focus of this practice being to sever the inner poison of self-grasping, the root of our karmic imprints from non-virtuous actions in this and past lifetimes, Lama Alan emphasises the vital importance of purifying karma before it germinates. In conclusion, we are reminded of the wisdom of Lojong practices, and Lama references the teachings of Jikmé Tenpé Nyima - Transforming Felicity and Adversity into the Spiritual Path, who encourages us to pledge that ‘From now on, whatever kind of adversity arises, I shall not quail’. Lama Alan notes that the Lake-Born Vajra has encouraged us to practice tonglen, therefore, this session concludes with the meditation - resting in awareness, practice tonglen for everyone who spontaneously comes to mind, which begins at 01:05:41.
2022 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 3, 25 Apr 2022, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado, USA
Eva begins by saying that the meditation will be as Amoghasiddi. This is the family that brings everything together, encompasses all, and is an appropriate theme for today. Meditating as Amoghasiddi starts at 01:06:44 We return to the text on pages 164-166 transmitted on Saturday looking at the etymology of the Tibetan terms to more fully understand these names. These are all names for the Sugatagarbha with each emphasizing something different. Eva responds to a question she received regarding the different sets of five. It is important to note that from one group of five to another, they do not always match in sequence. Eva reads a paragraph from earlier in the text at the end of the peaceful mandala (pg. 124 just before Tibetan page 224) "Regardless of which of these deities you take as your primary one to be actualized, all five are complete in each one." This is support for doing the different Buddha meditations as we have been doing. Brief discussion of shamatha as the deity. Eva returns to two passages from the last few days with some clarification. The first is from Je Tsongkhapa's commentary on blessing oneself and regards the winds. The second is from Je Tsultrim Zangpo regarding the luminous manifest nature.
2023 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 4, 26 May 2023, Crestone, Colorado and Online
Lama-la starts by commenting again on the excellent last question posed in this retreat, emphasising the fact that Buddhadharma offers us choices on how to die well, and having such choices gives us freedom. A few minor corrections follow regarding the text read the day before. Back to the text, from the last paragraph on page 272, there is a detailed explanation pertaining to practices in which we could engage once we are well trained, as spiritual friends helping a dying person’s substrate consciousness to be transferred through Phowa, to the pure land of Sukhavati. This completes the transmission of the main body of the text. The Lake Born Vajra concludes by explaining the reason for which this Tantra was revealed. It is precisely for such degenerate times as ours, when authentic teachers are very rare, and there are hardly any people practicing, that these teachings are needed. Lama-la uses the analogy of an adrenalin injection administered to a person in imminent cardiac arrest. By practicing these teachings, we may liberate ourselves through realization, we liberate others through compassion, and we awake non-duality as youthful vase kayas. He is calling on powerful Dharma protectors, to provide disciples with conducive conditions to practice, and the treasure of teachings is sealed. Lama-la reads the colophon which includes a beautiful prayer for the perfect enlightenment of those of us fortunate enough to practice correctly. The meditation begins at 00:54:56 and continues the series of Padmasambhava's pith instructions for identifying pristina awareness. The aural transmission begins at 00:04:00 and covers pages 272-276.
Shamatha, Vipashyana, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen, 22 Apr 2016, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Italy
We're going to return to the practice of taking the mind as the path. When we are attending closely to the space of the mind, do we have a sense of just a sheer emptiness, nothing, and then something happens in it, or in that vacuity, is there something happening? Isn't it more like a "background radiation", a fizz, a foaming, a shimmering in space itself that has a mood of dynamism, of pregnancy, of potential, ready to display as an appearance, a thought, or as a dream? And, considering the practice as a whole, as we spend more hours practicing, and as overall we never know what is coming next, this ongoing novelty arouses the mind; so the nature of this practice is one of bracing. And it's fine to have more and more clarity, but the higher the pyramid, the stronger the base - we'll need to deepen the sense of relaxation, otherwise the pyramid is going to fall over. So for this silent session, Alan recommends that we go back to settling the body in its natural state for maybe the first half of the meditation. And during this practice, we can pose simple questions like, can we perceive the space of the body? Does that have borders? What is like to be embodied from a first-person perspective? As it is said in the book "The Embodied Mind", by Francisco Varela, Eva Thompson and Eleanor Rosch, the body is the only physical entity in the universe that we can view from the inside out. So what is the space of the body? Does it have contours, color, is it black, transparent, does it have a shape? Of course we're not questioning the body, but the space. Final point - observe the stillness of the space of the body itself and the motion of sensations and feelings arising in that space. And then, observe not only the stillness of awareness and the movement of appearances coming and going in the space of the mind, but the relative stillness of the space of the mind itself - relatively speaking, the space is stillness and the events are motion. And then, further down the road, when we take dharmata as the path, in the domain of the Heart Sutra, we'll see that emptiness is stillness, form is motion. And finally, in the deepest level, rigpa is timelessly beyond coming and going, rising and passing, beyond all conceptual frameworks, primordially still, and yet constantly manifesting in all manners of displays. Stillness and motion - big topic, all the way through. After the meditation, we come back to Karma Chagmé presentation of shamatha, in which he strongly emphasizes that the role of shamatha is to enable us to transcend the configurations, the constructs of thought; it is the technology to enable us to get enough thrust to be able to cut through all conceptual designations, and penetrate the domain of reality beyond the scope of intellect - that's what we do with vipashyana, that can not be sustained without shamatha. So Alan starts reading and commenting on the Aṣṭasahasrikāprajñāpāramitā excerpt onwards. After the Vairocanābhisaṃbodhi excerpt, Alan pauses to comment on the theme of transcendence. All people have, explicitly or implicitly, a yearning for transcendence and there are so many ways of trying to get beyond your skin - joining political parties, becoming Buddhists, becoming a monk, a yogi and so forth. Galileo, through very sophisticated measurements of appearances and using Mathematics, tried to leap beyond the anthropocentricity and "think the thoughts of God". That is one strategy and it's being extremely productive for hedonic well being, technology and so forth. But as long as you're embedded in thoughts you do not transcend to the ultimate. The contemplative approach for this is not by looking outwards, but by transcending thoughts and subjective appearances of the five senses entirely; then you transcend the anthropocentric bubble and you tap into ultimate reality. This is a different and complementary strategy that leads to eudaimonia. Then Alan continues reading and commenting on Karma Chagmé’s text and when he gets to the sessions "Flawed Meditation" and "Flawless Meditation", he starts to unpack the text much more. He said his own comments, in the footnotes #63 and #64, are wrong; his latest interpretation of the first paragraph of this "Flawed Meditation" session is that Karma Chagmé is referring to the fourth mental state out of nine preceding access to the first dhyāna (the achievement of shamatha). At this point, the challenge is complacency, because you've reached a very peaceful, calm, stabilized state of mind and you may think you don't need introspection, and you get drowsier and drowsier... and go into a trance. You do not exercise intelligence, expressed as introspection. Intelligence: use it or lose it! You may get into stupor and that is an unclear state of mind. This is flawed. We move to "Flawless Meditation" and Alan says emphatically that this is interesting if and only if one is really interested in reaching and proceeding along the path to enlightenment. Alan states that in the footnote #65, he does not reject only the first phrase, which is from Gyatrul Rinpoche: "Whereas in the flawed meditation the senses are totally withdrawn, in flawless meditation sensory objects do appear to the senses, but they are not apprehended." The crucial point here is that in flawed meditation, the senses are withdrawn because you're so dull, halfway asleep. But when you've achieved shamatha and you rest in self-illuminating mindfulness, there is nothing unclear about that. And then, Alan pauses before the second paragraph of this session with a question: when Karma Chagmé says shamatha, as he states that the eight collections of consciousness do not cease, is he referring to the access to the first dhyāna or to something less, like the eighth stage? Now please refer to Alan's notes, Friday 22 April 2016, where he gathered many quotes to help us clarify this issue, by clearly defining what both access to and full achievement of the first dhyāna mean. Based on all these authors, including the Buddha himself, Alan concludes that when Karma Chagmé says shamatha, he is actually referring to the eighth stage (single-pointed attention) and not to the access to the first dhyāna. Alan's interpretation is that what all these great Kagyu masters are saying is that you can achieve the eighth stage of shamatha, apply this superbly stable mind to vipashyana practice and then, sooner or later, achieve shamatha focused on emptiness. As a final comment, Alan said that Gen Lamrimpa, great yogi who meditated from 5AM to 1AM (not from 1AM to 5AM!), said: within straight shamatha, achieve just the stage five; at that point, you're free of coarse excitation and coarse laxity. Then you go to the stage of generation; and then, if you really proceed along the path, you will achieve shamatha within the stage of generation. Or, from this fifth stage of shamatha, you can proceed and achieve shamatha within vipashyana, or Mahamudra, or Dzogchen. These are techniques, but none of them says - just skip shamatha! Meditation is silent (not recorded). ___ Please contribute to make these, and future podcasts freely available.
Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of Mindfulness, 11 Sep 2012, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Teaching: Alan discusses causality and the relationship between cause and effect within the context of mindfulness of the mind. According to the Sautantrika, both cause and effect are considered real. According to William James, the relationship (relata) is also considered real. In order to perceive any causal relationship, you need to observe phenomena with a wide angle over time and connect the dots.
When experiencing pleasure, enquire whether it is stimulus driven or not. Genuine happiness (sukkha) arises from the substrate when unimpeded. There are five obscurations which obscure the natural qualities of the substrate: 1) sensual craving, 2) ill will, 3) laxity/dullness, excitation/anxiety, 5) debilitating doubt.
Unlike the 5 senses, there is no physical faculty corresponding to mental consciousness. In other words, mental consciousness arises from mental consciousness. All appearances arise from and manifest within the space of the mind (alaya).
Meditation: mindfulness of the mind. Direct mindfulness to the space of the mind and the objective appearances and subjective responses therein. Identify whether pleasure or displeasure is stimulus driven. Observe closely and recognize coherent patterns. Distinguish between thoughts and emotions you generated versus those that arose spontaneously. Identify cooperative conditions and substantial cause for the discursive thought or mental image. If caught up in rumination, return to the shamatha practice of settling the mind.
Q1. Please comment on the substrate, substrate consciousness, lucid dreaming, and the death process.
Meditation starts at 46:07
2020 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 1, 08 May 2020, Online-only
Lama Alan starts saying that in times of great suffering is even more necessary that there are people emanating the light of their own awakening, in this very lifetime. This is why it is so important to create environments – like the one in Crestone, Colorado – in which yogis can achieve realizations like the one taught by Padmasambhava in this text and manifest the full human potential. The second phase of The Vajra Essence teaches how to cut through and realize Pristine Awareness. In this phase, Lama says, you might wonder: “Where are the pointing-out instructions?” But this is not the only way to cut through. Lama Alan exemplifies the multiplicity of ways to achieve realization with the example of Je Tsongkhapa, who realized emptiness while reading a text by Buddhapalita. In the same way, while studying and taking refuge in The Vajra Essence, the text itself is the speech embodiment of Padmasambhava. The text itself can be the Lake-Born Vajra right in front of us. Asking for the origin, location, and destination of the mind might be sufficient to realize the emptiness of essential nature of the mind and even that it transcends the categories of existence and non-existence, to cut through the substrate consciousness. So the pointing-out instructions have already been granted. And even if you don’t cut through to pristine awareness, like the ones with superior faculties do, the three-missile assault on connate delusion at least helps to realize the emptiness of origin, location, and destination of everything that the mind throws at us. That has a protective power, is a vajra armor. Meditation is “Padmasambhava’s Guidance” and starts at 29:25. Keywords: pointing-out instructions, Padmasambhava
2021 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 2, 16 Apr 2021, Online-only
Lama Alan begins by saying that the upcoming vipasyana meditation will be foundational, practical, tangibly helpful, guided by the Buddha’s own pith instructions on the close application of mindfulness to the mind: sustaining mindfulness in a spirit of inquiry. While resting in awareness, we’re directing our attention, sustaining it with mindfulness, on the mind – not as one monolithic entity but the whole array of mental processes – and with discerning intelligence (not just bare attention). We don’t have the word klesha in European languages. It’s crucial to remember that afflictions don’t always feel bad, some feel good. The distinction between mental afflictions and states that are not afflictive is not a matter of magnitude but of quality. A mental affliction disrupts the equilibrium of the mind and warps the perception of reality; it’s contagious and gives rise to behaviour that’s harmful to our own and others’ wellbeing. Afflictions will harm us whether or not we recognise them as such. In this meditation we’ll be focusing on the delusion of “I am” (reifying oneself) especially when it manifests as pride, a sense of superiority, craving, hostility, in order to know these afflictions by their characteristics. Mental afflictions can catalyse other people’s mental afflictions. We need to explore their factors of origination and of dissolution. When we recognise that our mind is caught in the grip of some emotion, desire, other afflictive states, the key advice is not to act. This could be more damaging to human society, the ecosphere, other species, than Covid. We need to recognise which mental processes are wholesome as they give rise to benevolent results by way of our behaviour, and which are toxic, detrimental. Which are worth expressing and which are not. Meditation begins at 00:10:00. While resting in awareness, notice which mental processes have a calming and balancing effect on your mind, and examine how they arise, how they are present, and how they vanish. Observe the mind and note the factors of origination and of dissolution of the five poisons: delusion, attachment, hostility, pride and envy. After the meditation we return to the text (“In this way…” p. 85) and to ‘when emanating these sensory objects as a treasure of space”. Lama Alan explains that three ingredients are needed when making offerings in this contect: 1. samadhi: a laser of attention. 2. mantra: a technology that modifies and configures, conditions the power of samadhi so something specific happens (this is not magic). 3. a physical substance. Samadhi is the crucial element. Just reciting mantra (possibly with the mind wandering) will not have an effect. If you have the laser of samadhi, remarkable things can happen. Samadhi is the key for understanding the mind. Lama Alan stresses that the insight into emptiness is indispensable for any Vajrayana practice, otherwise we’re just pretending. The “samadhi of ultimate reality manifesting as illusions” is not just a product of samadhi, a substance and a mantra but rooted in knowing the actual nature of reality. This is immeasurably more powerful, transformative, liberative. “The causal collection of merit is accumulated by the mind” – Lama-la stresses that whether a physical act or speech are virtuous always depends on the mind, our intentions, motivation. The accumulation of merit then facilitates the accumulation of knowledge. If one is only performing rituals this will not eradicate suffering from its source. If you have realisation of emptiness and samadhi, what will flow out of that will be virtuous. Lama then turns to the next section in the text, “The Profound Practice of the Severance of Maras”. The severance of maras is the real chö. It has to be practised in the context of emptiness to be effective. Lama comments on our deluded appropriation of and identification with the body as our own identity. Beings such as maras, vighnas, demons and grahas are invoked and actualised on the basis of our own mental afflictions. Our mindset manifests and is thus actualised in our physical environment. This is essential to note if we want to practise chö effectively. We can’t be materialists, identifying with the body, reifying the body as this is a practice for cutting through maras. The two classes of maras mentioned in the text are the “higher maras of hope for the positive” and the “lower maras of fear of the negative”. Cutting through hope and fear is a central theme in taking the mind as the path. Lama mentions that Santideva deals with this theme of shifting our view of our own body at length in the 8th Chapter on samadhi, leading up to cultivation of bodhicitta – if you want to cultivate bodhicitta in a sustained, radically transformative way, you have to give up the attachment to the body, the clinging to your own and others’ bodies. This attachment is the basis of self-centredness and completely antithetical to bodhicitta.
Fall 2014 Shamatha, Vipashyana, Dream Yoga, 26 Aug 2014, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
The Tibeten term ‘nyam’ has no similar term in English. It is a class of experience that is part of the journey. Alan described a nyam as “an anomalous, transient, psychosomatic experience that is catalyzed by authentic meditative experience” and went on to describe various nyam that have arisen or may arise. You cannot tell what kind of nyam may arise, no one has plain sailing. The point is to be with it and not reify it, and the analogy to a lucid dream was given (when you are non lucid in a dream you reify it as being real). Recognize it for what it is. In the second part of the session, Alan continued the reading from Dudjom Lingpa’s “The Vajra Essence” on the bardo of living, and providing a commentary that ranged from Milarepa, to lucid dreaming, shopping ’til you drop to the great transference rainbow body and everything in between. One question was asked - on moving from the desire to form realm on the breath This session began with a silent meditation that is not included in this podcast
2022 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 3, 28 Apr 2022, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado, USA
Lama La starts with an introduction to the meditation on the unreal nature of the mind, which is a teaching from Atisha. The meditation begins at 15:20 After the meditation he continues with the transmission of the text at 43:00 on pages [302] - [305] together with the commentary.
2023 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 4, 21 Apr 2023, Crestone, Colorado and Online
In this Q&A session, Lama-la answers and discusses a few primarily experiential questions and comments. 1. The first one is theoretical, pertaining to the phenomenological nature of awareness/ consciousness, which is not in fact a continuous stream, but rather consists of a number of finite pulses (moments). Their duration is considered to be of just under 2 milliseconds per pulse. They are finite, with no gaps and not inherently existent. This refers to human consciousness, and definitely not to pristine awareness which is atemporal, transcending and yet pervading past, present and future. 2. A question regarding the definition of vipasyana as given in page 25 of the text is asked, which in fact refers to mundane vipasyana associated with single-pointed mindfulness. The 2 types of mundane and supramundane vipasyana are discussed, experiential versus conceptual enquiry. There is still a helpful dualistic grasping in the practice of taking the mind as the path, while subsequently, in phases 2 and 3, we are taught Great Emptiness. But we have to be able to develop first the good technology of shamatha, like an astronomer using his telescope. In phase 1 we observe the mind- the enslaver, with enquiry. 3. An experiential question is asked pertaining psychosomatic experiences arising during meditation. Lama-la’s advice is to focus on observing the illusory nature of these, their lack of inherent existence, rather than their referent. The key is to not appropriate and /or reify them, and a detailed explanation ensues on the first and second turning of the wheel of dharma, as well as the 4 applications of mindfulness to body, mind, feelings and phenomena. There is no “I”, ’‘my’ or ‘mine’, these are the root of suffering. By not moving and not doing, nyams dissolve naturally, without any effort, as they are all empty. This is Dzogchen shamatha. 4. Asking for blessings and release from obstacles is essential, but not during the actual shamatha practice. It is a matter of timing, as they are different practices. In shamatha we release all conceptions, projections, desires, and just remain present with whatever arises. 5. A student expresses her frustration with people who don’t practice dharma. This is a good sign, Lama-la says, as we are going against the grain. A question refers to nyams occurring post meditation and the value of lo-jong is re-emphasised. Meditative experiences are catalyzed by authentic meditation practice. 6. Despite not paying attention to the referent of thoughts, impulses and emotions may still arise ‘through the back door’ one student remarks. But while resting in non-conceptional, deep stillness, distilled awareness, there is no motion, so the arising of any events cannot get a grip, despite us being unaware of them simultaneously. 7. A discussion ensues regarding emotions associated with meditation. The Four Immeasurables are not emotions, not feelings, but aspirations, they are in the domain of conation and caring. Their cultivation is a different kind of practice, and is not part of the formal shamatha practice, but rather suffuse it with motivation. And the need for soothing one’s emotions is part of lo-jong, 7-point mind training, not of shamatha. 8. A question arises regarding dealing with other people’s emotions in retreat. Empathy is not part of the shamatha meditation sessions, but of course positive in between. Being tense and rigid between sessions is not condusive, but rather adopting a relaxed, spacious and caring open-heartedness. 9. A short discussion regarding the persistence in meditation of subtle conceptual mentation veils, such as craving, ill-will/enmity, laxity and dullness, concludes the session.
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.
Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of Mindfulness, 05 Oct 2012, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Teaching pt1. Alan begins a new cycle on the 4 greats. While the 4 immeasurables don’t require a particular world view, the 4 greats are firmly rooted in the buddhist world view. “With meditative equipoise, one sees reality as it is. When on sees reality as it is, the bodhisattva develops great compassion.” The liturgy contains four lines. 1) Why couldn’t we all be free from suffering and its causes? It is helpful to consider all sentient beings as referring to all those we encounter. 2) May we be free from suffering and its causes. There is no time limit on this aspiration. 3) May I free us from suffering and its causes. This intention is realistic only from the perspective of rigpa. 4) May the gurus and buddhas bless me, so that I may be enabled.
Meditation. Great compassion. Establish meditative equipoise by settling body, speech, and mind and mindfulness of breathing. Dissolve your ordinary identity by reflecting on the emptiness of your own body. In its place, your primordial consciousness crystalizes into an energy body. 1) Why couldn’t we all be free from suffering and its causes? Reflect on the whole world and specific people who come to mind. Draw the conclusion that freedom is possible because all sentient beings have buddhanature. 2) May we be free from suffering and its causes. 3) May I free us from suffering and its causes. Imagine your own buddhanature as a small white orb of light at your heart chakra. With every in breath, make resolve to free self and others and imagine others’ suffering in the form of darkness converging at and extinguished within the white orb. 4) May the gurus and buddhas bless me, so that I may be enabled. With every in breath, light from all enlightened beings come in from all directions and fills your body and mind. With every out breath, light flows out to all sentient beings, relieving their suffering and its causes.
Teaching pt2. Nothing can be said to be inherently virtuous. Motivation is key, and coupled with great compassion, the shamatha practices we’re doing here can also be quite virtuous.
Meditation starts at: 24:33
Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of Mindfulness, 21 Sep 2012, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Teaching: Continuing from Asanga’s Shravakabhumi, Alan introduces the 4th thorough training by way of the 16 phases: 1) breathing in, 2) breathing out, 3) the whole body, 4) tranquilising the bodily activities, 5) joy, 6) happiness, 7) formations of the mind, 8) tranquilising formations of the mind, 9) experiencing the mind, 10) gladdening the mind, 11) concentrating the mind, 12) liberating the mind, 13) impermanence, 14) eradication of obscurations, 15) freedom from attachment, 16) cessation of the aggregates.
Alan elaborates more on sukkha and joy which may arise from engaging in the practice.
Alan addresses the sudden enlightenment of the Buddha’s disciples.
Meditation: mindfulness of breathing per Asanga followed by mindfulness of phenomena (aggregates).
I) Mindfulness of breathing per Asanga. Know exactly when the out breath ends, how long the interim out breath is, when the in breath starts, when the in breath ends, how long the interim in breath is, and when the out breath starts.
II) Mindfulness of phenomena (aggregates). 1) recognize form as form (pure perception), 2) observe feelings as feelings arising in the body and mind, 3) with recognition, not that you are discerning, 4) direct attention to the mental formations in the space of the mind, 5) draw awareness to consciousness itself. Release awareness into all 6 sense fields and the events arising therein.
Q1. Does prana have the same quality in the in and out breaths?
Q2. Because body and brain decline with age, is age a factor to consider in achieving shamatha?
Q3. In Asanga’s mindfulness of breathing, I’m not sure what to do with the awareness of all 6 sense fields? It seems so busy.
Q4. In Asanga’s text, why is there so much emphasis on breathing?
Q5. In awareness of the body, there’s a sense of bliss. What insight is there to be derived from bliss pervading the body?
Q6. In Asanga’s text, these 16 phases which include shamatha and vipasyana may offer a bridge to Tibetan lamas who don’t seem to place much importance on practicing shamatha.
Q7. Asanga explains the causes of breathing as being propelling karma and space. Is this the cause for our involuntary breathing or is that caused by something biological?
Q8. Why are men more prominent in buddhism? Women multi-task better, so perhaps that’s a disadvantage to achieving shamatha?
Meditation starts at 20:53
2023 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 4, 12 May 2023, Crestone, Colorado and Online
There are many questions posed to Lama-la today regarding a variety of topics which include: - Propensity to mentation, as a constant company post meditation sessions. This is the most serious impediment to progressing on the path and achieving shamatha. A homogeneity of constant mindfulness has to be applied as much as possible in order to work against the entropy of the mind, by sustaining lo-jong unwaiveringly. - In the practice of mindfulness of breathing at the nostrils, awareness of the coolness of the breath is not a problem. - Appearances. They are not created by us, but simply arise through the catalyzing of habitual propensities present in our substrate consciousness, and on this basis we construct concepts. The desire realm originates from the form realm, which originates from the formless realm, in cycles of generation and dissolution. Some phenomena may be explained by karma, but others are simply chunye, ‘the way things are’. Some questions simply have no answers within our frame of cognition. - Acquiring confidence and certainty in practice is achieved through knowledge, not through the gaining of stability, which is simply a quality of attention. - Appearances are experienced independent of conceptualisation. - Resting in the unfindability of the mind beyond any reasonable doubt, with certainty, is realizing nirvana. - The characteristic of luminosity of the mind is that which makes appearances manifest. - The addiction to rumination and conceptualisation is connate, deeper than any motivation or preference, similar to mental afflictions. - Along the path to shamatha, we attend to the movements of the mind meta-cognitively, and while vividness and stability increase gradually, lucidly and discerningly we avert falling into the darkness of the substrate.
2022 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 3, 02 May 2022, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado, USA
The meditation today is putting the third wheel on the tricycle where the object is awareness itself, shamatha without a sign which Lama Alan says is a prime instance of taking the fruition as the path, where we are emulating the end game. It is very important that the awareness of which we are aware is not a created concept as that would be slipping back into dualistic grasping with a referent. Rather, that awareness is effortless. He explains the crucial nature of the mostly overlooked first foundational phase of settling body, speech and mind and the need to be comfortable in meditation. He encourages us to learn to meditate vigilantly in the savasana posture with whatever props are needed and to take ample time in the process of relaxation, remembering that only a Buddha has perfected relaxation. Leading into meditation, Lama Alan goes through detailed explanation of settling the respiration in its natural rhythm and then awareness of awareness. The meditation is on shamatha without a sign with special emphasis on the foundational phases for sustainability. It begins at 50:40 After the meditation at 1:14:43 Lama Alan returns to the text of phase 5 on page 173 and 174 and describes this way of viewing reality, that all appearances are simultaneously emerging and vanishing in an instant brings on this spirit of emergence from insight because it is seen that nothing can be grasped. We are reminded that everything we experience is arising in our own substrate, all appearances are arising from the germination of our individual karma and great suffering arises when that is not known. Lama Alan concludes by discussing all that we are seeing now in the world with so many things that are beyond our control and the news spreading so much fear. How could we not be oscillating between hope and fear of what will happen to us and we wonder how do we escape? He says that there is a very practical way that you can actually master and thereby acquire confidence – cultivate genuine wellbeing. What enormous hope and potential fearlessness Dharma gives us that nothing else gives. Dharma gives everything and all it asks from us is everything.
2023 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 4, 20 Apr 2023, Crestone, Colorado and Online
This talk starts off with a discussion of the very recent parinirvana of Dhomang Gyatrul Rinpoche and the way his holy body is being cared for, and it is contrasted with the parinirvana of Lama Zopa Rinpoche who also very recently passed into his parinirvana. Each are being treated with reverence and with different outcomes. Lama Zopa Rinpoche is being embalmed for the benefit of all of his worldwide sangha and will be displayed. Dhomang Gyatrul Rinpoche had a different vision for his body. He wanted it fed to the fishes. As to his body it became apparent to his attendants and to high lamas that he was shrinking and cancelled the sea burial for now. Lama la explains the different decisions and passings of Dudjom Lingpa and his mind emanation, Khyabje Dudjom Rinpoche. This led to a discussion about the teachings on seeing Dharmakaya in everything. Lama la then compares the ordinary mind to a morning talk show. Just talking for talking/entertainments’ sake. A very amusing comparison to that of our relentless minds babbling. Then he compares the proximity of the ordinary mind and pristine awareness with a Japanese house where the walls are made of paper. The discussion is very pointed to the concept of the whole theme of the three pure appearances, all appearances being manifestations of nirmanakaya, all sounds being mantra, the speech of the Buddha, and then all thoughts, all activities of the mind as dharmakaya. Then the teaching turns to upheavals and how we deal with them. We think of upheavals as inherently real. So settling the mind in its natural state is an absolute prerequisite for taking the mind as the path. Lama la then turns to the Seven Point Mind Training which is a preliminary to Settling the Mind in its Natural State, in order to advance on the path, to turn all adversity and felicity into the path and emphasizes its importance Returning to the text, first are some clarifications and translation changes shared for pages 199 and 200 at 52:00, and are included in the notes for this day. Then the text transmission starts at 54:30 on page 211. There is a deep discussion regarding this section with regard to why things disappear in Dzogchen samadhi. In resting in awareness of awareness there is no reference in the teachings to monitoring with introspection, so even less to do. The meditation which starts at 1:05:50 is on settling and letting go. Then there is a very inspiring story about Drupon Lama Karma who achieved shamatha and the task that is lama gave him was not going into vipassana but to be a scribe for another great terton who was giving mind termas (not from a text)
Fall 2012 Shamatha and the Four Applications of Mindfulness, 20 Sep 2012, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Teaching: Continuing from Asanga’s Shravakabhumi, Alan introduces the 3rd thorough training by way of dependent origination. Asanga begins by attending to the breath which is dependent upon the body and mind which are in turn conditioned by the life faculty (subtle continuum of mental consciousness and prana) which is in turn dependent on previous compositional factors (samskara) which are in turn dependent on ignorance. The antidote to ignorance is wisdom which leads to the cessation of ignorance and so forth. Alan briefly sketches the 3rd thorough training by way of the 4 Noble Truths which involves contemplating them repeatedly.
Meditation: mindfulness of breathing per Asanga followed by mindfulness of phenomena (aggregates).
I) Mindfulness of breathing per Asanga. Let awareness rest at the space of the navel, and observe sensations of prana coming to fill that space and flowing out again like at a train station. Observe the body breathing without inhibiting the exhalation or pulling in the inhalation.
II) Mindfulness of phenomena (aggregates). For each of the aggregates, view them as being impermanent, devoid of self, and having no owner: 1) see form as form, 2) feelings arising in the body and mind, 3) observe recognition of the space of the mind, 4) observe the compositional factors in the space of the mind, 5) direct awareness to the experience of being conscious. Open awareness to the realm of all phenomena.
Q1. What stage of shamatha can we reasonably expect to achieve while living in the modern world?
Q2. At times, part of the mind is wandering while part of the mind is still on the object. What should I do? Should I multi-task?
Meditation starts at 26:55
Shamatha, Vipashyana, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen, 13 May 2016, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Italy
Alan starts by saying that this retreat has been embedded in the Buddhist teachings. It would be meaningless to teach Mahamudra in a secular way. It’s been wonderful to be totally immersed in a way of viewing reality and a way of practicing and leading our lives that have these three elements, profoundly integrated: the pursuit of happiness, the pursuit of virtue and the pursuit of understanding or knowledge. In the Medieval period, the pursuit of genuine happiness, eudaimonia, was not conceivable without virtue; and the highest virtue is knowing reality – these were completely integrated. In Modernity, this integration was shattered – natural philosophy became science, religion became a matter of faith and the pursuit of happiness became more hedonic. Then Alan pointed that nowadays, for many people, achieving and sustaining emotional balance is very difficult to. As many of us know, Alan has been championing a mental balance model based on four balances – conative, attentional, cognitive and finally emotional balance. Alan briefly addressed emotional balance before coming back to the Four Immeasurables. His way of presenting these balances is describing all types of imbalances. The hyperactivity in terms of emotional balance is overreacting, oversensitivity, lacking stability, ungrounded. Emotional deficit is being dead within, out of touch with emotions. And emotional dysfunction is responding in a way entirely inappropriate, harmful to the situations. In terms of practices, modern psychology has contributed with many ideas, theories and interventions, and some of them has been incorporated in the “Cultivating Emotional Balance” Program, as advised by Paul Ekman. Alan has contributed with the Four Immeasurables as emotional balance practices, and he has been criticized because some of them - Loving Kindness, Compassion and Equanimity - are not emotions (well, at least, Empathetic Joy is an emotion!). These practices could be included among conative balance practices. But he gave us a metaphor: if someone drops a stone in a cup of water, and if you are a little insect on the surface, that would feel like a tsunami, the end of the world. In a swimming pool, the same stone would only make a ripple; in a lake or in the ocean, the same stone would make a ripple that wouldn’t even be noticeable – the same liquid, the same stone. We are deeply habituated to having thoughts, desires, emotions, anticipations and all mental activities – I, me , mine – swirling around , like bees swirling around the hive. During the course of one day, “I, me, mine” thoughts are far more frequent than “the other person” or “all sentient beings”. “I, me mine” is one cup. If all we’re attending to is only this little world, than when adversity strikes, in other words, life happens… “Oh, I can’t handle this”, “I can’t meditate today”, “I can’t believe it – someone criticized me!” It´s big deal! Emotional balance will never happen, because reality was never meant to be user friendly. So, what can be done? Get a bigger cup, trade it for a lake, and then, trade it for an ocean. And to do that, you just have to attend closely to all those around you - in their sorrows, their disappointments, their fears, their struggles – with your heart and your mind, with your eyes and your wisdom. If you attend closely to their suffering, inevitably you feel it and you care – and your cup gets bigger. As all the suffering we watch on the news becomes real for us, empathy and compassion start to break down the barriers. This can be overwhelming! Then, to balance it, we have to be more attentive to the joys and virtues of others, and let them become real for us. Thus, our hearts become larger. When we go to the Four Greats, then we can view the suffering of sentient beings from the perspective of rigpa, and the resolve “I shall liberate all sentient beings from suffering and the causes of suffering” makes sense. But as long as we view all the suffering of the world from the perspective of a sentient being, the only hope is collaboration, networking, sharing vision and encouraging each other – a kind of “Sangha” restoring the balance on the planet, serving humanity and all sentient beings. Meditation is on Empathetic Joy and it starts at 24:00 ___ Please contribute to make these, and future podcasts freely available.
Alan gave a talk about the result of the US election , 09 Nov 2016, Sakya Foundation, Spain
Discussions
2020 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 1, 20 Apr 2020, Online-only
Lama Alan gives a short preamble on the practice of Merging Mind with Space.
Meditation starts at 2:17. Merging Mind with Space.
Lama Alan returns to the text on the section: How Individuals with Specific Faculties May Enter the Path, explaining that categories change by engaging with practice and talks about the differences on the path between persons of superior, middling, and inferior faculties.
He explains what is meant by external space on the instruction, “first merge this mind with external space”. Then he covers the other practices listed in the text: fixing attention on a visual object and visualizing a bindu at the heart (he warns this last practice can be dangerous and should be done with close guidance).
He comments on the method for individuals with superior faculties from the advice given in The Enlightened View of Samantabhadra.
Shamatha, Vipashyana, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen, 18 May 2016, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Italy
Alan continues the teaching on the four greats by venturing into Maha Mudita, Great Empathetic Joy. In the Mahayana Buddhist context, reaching the path of accumulation entails the achievement of shamatha and bodhicitta, and then sealing it with insight into emptiness – there is no going back from there. Alan comments that Buddhism is not evangelical. Moreover, there are many paths from all wisdom traditions, and the book by Aldous Huxley’s entitled “The Perennial Philosophy” he read many years ago, provides the idea that all these paths point in a similar direction to the ultimate ground of reality. Consummate scholars of comparative religion such as Huston Smith and Ninian Smart endorse the idea of the perennial philosophy. Maha Mudita then becomes the wish and the resolve that all people of all wisdom traditions find the path within their own tradition. Alan continues that also science could become a genuine path for which we can express the resolve of Maha Mudita. Alan quotes William James to suggest that philosophy can also be a path itself, where philosophy and science complement each other as when knowledge becomes consensual it moves from the discipline of philosophy to science. In each case, as demonstrated by the Galilean revolution, a strategy for developing and entering the path of inquiry is needed. This is evident in the modern ‘philosophy of mind’ where the nature of consciousness is not being properly addressed due to the path being the prevailing burying of heads in the sands of scientific materialism. An authentic path is thus critical, and we can express the aspiration that all people enter the path of their own wisdom tradition. Alan also comments on the power and blessings of devotion to Amitābha and the aspiration to enter Sukhāvatī. Alan continues commenting with examples on the lack of consensus in philosophy after more than 2000 years, and the dominance of modern science, and says there is a need for a revolution in the mind sciences to overcome the prevailing paradigm of scientific materialism to promote genuine well-being for all. Alan says the Tuscany retreat and potential Contemplative Observatory is in the right neighborhood for such a revolution, given the scientific revolution began in Galileo’s Pisa and the Renaissance in Florence. A renaissance in contemplative inquiry of all the paths of world religions is necessary so that all beings may never be parted from genuine happiness free of sorrow. For any of these to be a path, we need to explore the nature of the mind and the observer. We need to achieve shamatha, which is pure technology. The meditation is on Great Empathetic Joy. Following the meditation, Alan comments on the current prominence of movements throughout the world of religious fundamentalism and scientific materialism. The meditation starts at 1:00:00 ___ Please contribute to make these, and future podcasts freely available.
2021 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 2, 28 Apr 2021, Online-only
From the Discourse on the Four Close Applications of Mindfulness or Satipatthana Sutta, Lama Alan comments on the Buddha’s instructions for mindfulness of breathing and then on that basis bringing in an inquiry to the body. He describes mindfulness of breathing as a simple, subtle and profound practice. Lama Alan explains how the practice purifies the mind to bring peace, wellbeing and joy, as described by the Buddha. Through allowing the breath to flow naturally and not trying to control it, which we could, the sense of “I” as an autonomous agent who possesses and controls the body is released. Lama Alan reads the first tetrad from the Satipatthana Sutta on practising mindfulness of breathing. This is a complete instruction for achieving shamatha and proceeding to the fourth dhyana. He emphasises the importance of mastering the ‘sign of the mind’, reaching the substrate consciousness, as a prerequisite for the four close applications of mindfulness. He explains that in the sixteen phases of the Anapanasati Sutta, mindfulness of breathing is a method for both shamatha and vipashyana, with the first four phases concerning the development of shamatha and the next twelve concerning vipashyana, culminating in arhatship. With the explanation for achieving shamatha complete, we turn to vipashyana and the refrain from the Satipatthana Sutta on viewing the body. Lama Alan explains that having refined our awareness with shamatha, we are now ready to examine and pose questions to our own experience. Firstly, we attend to the sensations of the breath in our body, then we expand our awareness externally to the breathing and body of others, seeing the body as ‘just a body’ and not equating it with the person. Then we review both together as we engage with others and investigate the dynamic interactions, laying the foundation for empathy, which is the foundation for all the four immeasurables. We witness the myriad sensations that arise and pass away in the body, observing the manner in which the body is coming into being and passing away moment to moment and thereby examine impermanence and causality. So, with mindfulness we know the nature of the body from the inside out. Lama Alan ends by reflecting on how viewing the body in this way removes our dependence upon outside stimuli for our gratification and therefore releases us from fixation from the allures of the desire realm, the first obscuration. If we can release clinging to the body, then how much easier to release anything outside of the body. This is a big step towards releasing our delusional tendencies of latching onto anything or anyone else. Meditation starts at 00:35:58 and is on bringing awareness out into the space in front of you and maintaining awareness on the rhythm of the respiration, allowing the respiration to settle in its natural state.
Outer preliminaries for Dzogchen from Lama Alan, 09 Apr 2020, Online - Originally part of 2020 8-week retreat
09 Apr 2020 Make the Best of This Human Birth Lama Alan begins by reading the next lines of the text, which refer to the initial instructions for mind training of the disciples –who maintain the samayas–, when encountering the entrance to the path. This pertains training in the four outer and seven inner preliminaries. Lama Alan talks about the four outer, four revolutions in outlook, these are questioning our preconceptions, habitual way of seeing the world we inhabit. He compares this to the Galilean revolution, Darwinian, modern cosmology, and other such shifts in human history. The first of the four revolutions directly shifts the way we regard this human life, from regarding us as a unitary individual, which in the materialistic view comes from nothing and turns into nothing at birth and death, to realizing that each of us is endowed with this inconceivably precious opportunity, as rare as a star in the daytime, to achieve awakening. So our way of engaging with the world radically changes. Wether this is true or not, can be put to the test. Do we have the potential to be forever freed from Samsara? If it turns out to be true, then what do we do with this wish-fulfilling jewel? Then the lake born Vajra lays the first step for seeking the path: merge your mind with your Guru’s mind, rest there for a little while. Our Lama clears out that in the sessions it is assumed that we have already done our dharma practices by ourselves in the morning, so recitations will be done just once (sometimes English sometimes Tibetan), and we will go straight into the main practice. Today’s practice is about precious human rebirth, in the particular context we face today. Meditation starts at 19:10 We close the session with dedication prayer.
2020 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 1, 09 Apr 2020, Online-only
Lama Alan begins by reading the next lines of the text, which refer to the initial instructions for mind training of the disciples –who maintain the samayas–, when encountering the entrance to the path. This pertains training in the four outer and seven inner preliminaries.
Lama Alan talks about the four outer, four revolutions in outlook, these are questioning our preconceptions, habitual way of seeing the world we inhabit. He compares this to the Galilean revolution, Darwinian, modern cosmology, and other such shifts in human history. The first of the four revolutions directly shifts the way we regard this human life, from regarding us as a unitary individual, which in the materialistic view comes from nothing and turns into nothing at birth and death, to realizing that each of us is endowed with this inconceivably precious opportunity, as rare as a star in the daytime, to achieve awakening. So our way of engaging with the world radically changes. Wether this is true or not, can be put to the test. Do we have the potential to be forever freed from Samsara? If it turns out to be true, then what do we do with this wish-fulfilling jewel?
Then the lake born Vajra lays the first step for seeking the path: merge your mind with your Guru's mind, rest there for a little while.
Our Lama clears out that in the sessions it is assumed that we have already done our dharma practices by ourselves in the morning, so recitations will be done just once (sometimes English sometimes Tibetan), and we will go straight into the main practice. Today’s practice is about precious human rebirth, in the particular context we face today.
Meditation starts at 19:10
We close the session with dedication prayer.
[Keywords: precious human rebirth, four outer preliminaries, revolutions in outlook]
Fall 2014 Shamatha, Vipashyana, Dream Yoga, 02 Sep 2014, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Padmasambhava’s first vipashyana meditation is found on page 115 of Natural Liberation. Alan invites those listening to hear these words as the actual speech of Padmasambhava. To examine consciousness we need first to improve the signal to noise ratio with shamatha practice so that we can identify clearly the object of our investigation. It is important to immerse ourselves first in the examination and then afterward find the words to report our discoveries to our teacher. It is vitally important to do this practice with the eyes open. There is a discussion in Dzogchen practice of the hollow crystal kati channel. This channel is different from the central and side channels described in other tantras. It originates at the heart and terminates at the pupils of the eyes. Inside the hollow crystal kati channel at the heart is the bindu of internal space which manifests as external appearances to visual awareness. The hollow crystal kati channel becomes central to the later stages of Dzogchen practice. Meditation starts at 8:23
Fall 2014 Shamatha, Vipashyana, Dream Yoga, 25 Aug 2014, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
Alan starts off talking about shamatha as a contemplative technology. It is about making the mind serviceable and refining our mental awareness. Shamatha is healing and it becomes a path to exceptional health and mental balance. For the first time, Alan gives instructions of a different technique to use before the shamatha meditation. It has been used by many yogis in the past and also has spread widely nowadays. It is called the nine fold expulsion of the residual prana. After the meditation, Alan emphasizes the importance of ‘mindfulness of breathing’ by quoting the Perfection of Wisdom sutras in 10.000 stanzas. Alan elaborates on the meaning of the last sentence “…by dwelling with introspection and with mindfulness, eliminates avarice and disappointment towards the world by means of non-objectification...”. Alan reflects on sukkha and the genuine sources of happiness versus hedonic pleasure. It follows by two questions from the participants: - Clarification of the answer Gyatrul Rinpoche gave once to Alan regarding the practice of Dzogchen: “view it”. - A retreatant comments on her preference to short breathing. Meditation starts at 23:35
2021 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 2, 15 Apr 2021, Online-only
Lama la gives the second part of his commentary on the following sentence that appears on page 81 of the text: “In this way, with pride as the cause and the contributing conditions created and meditated upon by the mind, with a continuous stream of consciousness, you actualize quickly what had not existed before.” How is it that it can be said that something exists conventionally? And how can we identify when errors in identification occur? Something isn’t true because someone said it, or it is a matter of tradition, or it appears in religious texts or it is merely logical. Consider what you are attending to and what your fundamental assumptions are. Don’t take appearances at face value, or merely rely on intuition or speculative opinions. Don’t believe something just because you like it. Or accept it to be true because it is a seeming possibility or an assertion of your Guru. Be skeptical but not agnostic or complacent. Seek reality as it is in response to the (pragmatic) Buddhist question “What are the root causes of suffering?” Lama Alan says that Buddhism focuses on ethics for the answer as assessed by our internal assessment of what is right and wrong. Watch the consequences of our actions (in body speech and mind), in doing so refine our intelligence and make choices – accept and follow what is right and give up what is wrong. Our “eyes of wisdom” can assess this (our ethical responsibility may be met and our valid cognition developed) by paying attention to whether: 1. our experience of reality/perception has become warped; and whether 2. the balance of our mind has become upset or is in equilibrium. Also known phenomena must not be invalidated by ultimate analysis. That all that appears in this world is provisional truth and that nothing inherently exists, independently of any perspective. Lama Alan refers to aspects of science, religion and philosophy and says that scientific materialism has won out because it is objectively verifiable. Lama la concludes by saying that it is time for a revolution, to bring all three worlds together (via Buddhism). The meditation starts at 00:44:25 and is about resting in awareness, ientifying which mental processes are calming and which are disruptive, being aware of what is wholesome and what is unwholesome.
2020 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 1, 01 Apr 2020, Online-only
After welcoming everyone, Lama Alan referred to the text that we will begin to study over the next 8 weeks, “The Vajra Essence” a mind terma revealed by Dudjom Lingpa taught by Samantabhadra.
The Coronavirus pandemic while a time of turbulence and immense suffering is also a time of extraordinary opportunity - to find stillness in the midst of the storm. To shamelessly withdraw for a while (to a place of fearlessness, not escapism) to transform and re-envision, so that when we emerge (from this time of powerful inner service) we can offer our best to others.
Adversity isn’t dished up to us. It is experienced because we have conceptually designated it as such. Ill-health, death and financial difficulties are in and of themselves (intrinsically) empty of adversity. Today, we address our motivation for embarking on this retreat. A clear choice is Bodhicitta.
This is a Dzogchen retreat - a practice where the stillness of awareness (a place of deep refuge) is fathomed. Take the retreat at your own pace.
Pith instructions are not to cringe from adversity as if it is abhorrent, but to take hold of it, to embrace it. You don’t have to love it. Deal with it by asking, “How do I need to transform to meet it?” In this context Lama Alan refers to the importance of firstly, renunciation (the Spirit of Definite Emergence), when one turns away from the superficial (that which will never provide satisfaction) to something (primordial consciousness) which is stable and enduring. And secondly, to cutting through the notion that there is really anything that is ours.
Lama Alan said that none of us is alone - we are all loved (watched over and cared for …) and that we didn’t need to do something to earn that and we don’t need to do something to keep it. We (as powerful agents in this world) can embrace it, rejoice in it and refract it to others (say, by the practice of Tonglen, sending loving kindness to others and maintaining the aspiration of compassion).
There is nothing more fundamental in this world than consciousness and the mind plays an enormously powerful role in the way things actually are. Meditation starts at 47.50.
Lama Alan then refers to the preface of the text by referring to the qualities of the treasure revealer and teacher. Ultimately self teaching self. And the oral lineage of the teachings from Padmasambhava to Lama Alan and his authority to give the oral transmission from the teacher from whom he received it, Gyatrul Rinpoche. Further, that for the part of the text to be taught in this retreat, there was no need for an empowerment.
An overview of the anticipated teachings from Glen Svennson and Yangchen was also given. [Keywords: Motivation, Inner Service, Dudjom Lingpa, Samantabhadra, Coronavirus, Adversity, Dzogchen, Awareness, Cutting Through, Tonglen]
2020 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 1, 10 Apr 2020, Online-only
“O Boundless Great Emptiness, among your body, speech, and mind, which is most important? Which is the main agent?”
Bringing these questions, we set on the path of taking the mind as the path and entering into the Great Perfection.
Meditation starts at 3:4.
The practice begins with refuge, bodhicitta, invoking blessings and then letting awareness rest, knowing itself. Then we pose a question: between body, speech and mind which is most important, which is the agent? It is here where the investigations starts…
Lama Alan returns to the answer in the text: among body, speech and mind; mind is the most important, mind is the agent. Then elucidates on the relationship between body and mind, explaining the Buddhist view: body is created by the mind.
2020 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 1, 24 Apr 2020, Online-only
Meditation was at 10 minutes and is "Returning to Dzogchen Mindfulness of Breathing"
2022 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 3, 17 May 2022, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado, USA
Today Yangchen began the session with the 7-line prayer followed by the full opening refuge and bodhicitta prayers from the Sadhana then continued with a recitation/meditation of the Sadhana until „The Main Yogas“. Yangchen then talked about blessing the offerings in the beginning of the Sadhana in order to establish the sublime space early on. She then started discussing further the „Blessing the Outer and Inner Offerings“ starting with letting us know that the secret offering, which doesn’t need to be blessed in advance, and the essence of which is the four forms of ecstasy. “What would the four forms of ecstasy in the mindstream of a a Buddha look like, feel like, be experienced as, and then you offer that.” Yangchen then spoke about how wondrous it is to offer your own deep experiences as your secret offering. Yangchen then referred us back to English page 118 in the Vajra Essence for more detailed commentary that can be applied to the offering verses in this section of the Sadhana. She also noted that there is a break from the „Blessing of the Offerings“ in the Sadhana before „The Main Yogas“, and compared that to what was discussed in the commentary on English page 119 in the Vajra Essence. She then discussed in detail relevant sangha questions starting with “How do you bridge the space between using the conceptual mind to understand what’s not there to eliminate the thing to be refuted and how to transition into the sublime and effortless state beyond cognition that we are intuiting within a Dzogchen Sadhana?” Yangchen sums this initial discussion up by sharing that there is an enormous step, or gap, between simply recognizing the absence of the inherent existence of an object or even one’s own mind and unveiling the very subtle energy mind which is beyond cognition in which realization of the clear mind arises. She reminds us that the stage of generation is all about approximating and anticipating so we can train the mind to be ready to dissolve. All of these practices are actually preparing our energies to dissolve into the central channel. Yangchen continued discussing subtle energies with regard to this practice and the empowerment and asking us to notice what might be happening within ourselves with these practices. Yangchen reminds us again that working with subtle energies cannot be forced or rushed. Yangchen then concludes this discussion on the „Samadhi of Suchness“ and quotes from The Vajra Essence Tibetan [214] “The actual Samadhi of Suchness is only within the realm of experience of Yogins who have realized the view of emptiness.” She leaves us with knowing that we can now relax into the knowledge of that which is being approximated and assures us that the withdrawal of the energies will start to happen. Yangchen then returns to the first verse in „The Main Yoga“s and discusses it line-by-line and reminds us not to rush through these verses while doing the Sadhana, especially by resting in meditation on each section, taking as much time as you can or need. Returning to the Vajra Essence again, here Yangchen shares relevant details pertaining to the causal seed syllable Om, but says we can take the instruction verbatim for this Sadhana with the seed syllable hrīh. Yangchen then continues with commentary on the second verse of „The Main Yogas“ and refers us again back to The Vajra Essence for an elaborate description of the peaceful mandala. Yangchen closes the session by encouraging us to take this into our own meditation and actually see the hrīh hovering above the lotus, sun and moon disk in the center of the celestial palace (not in an abstract space) and not to rush it to meditate at our own pace. She finishes by speaking the dedication prayer from the Sadhana. There is no meditation with this teaching.
2022 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 3, 30 Apr 2022, Online from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado, USA
The session begins with a preamble to the meditation. This meditation which begins at 00:21:15 is part 2 of the “Shamatha Trilogy” that Lama Alan began in Session 52. In part 1, the emphasis was on relaxation. In part 2, the emphasis is on stability. The challenge in this practice is to maintain stability in the midst of motion. Lama Alan comments that for any meditation it is essential to know with confidence and certainty what the object of mindfulness is. In this practice, the object of mindfulness is the space of the mind and the activities of the mind. Introspection is used to monitor the flow of mindfulness and to peripherally note the sensations of the body and the breath. After the meditation, Lama Alan returns to the text on page 173 at 00:45:48. We are now on Phase 5 of the text, which is entitled: Determining Secret Dualistic Grasping and Revealing the Way of Natural Liberation. First, a description of the process of becoming deluded in impure samsara is provided. The next section of the text (which is not covered in today’s transmission) addresses the way out of samsara by revealing the way of natural liberation. The text enumerates various causes for our becoming deluded in samsara, including reification, believing appearances and the bases of designations to be real, and striving after virtue with body and speech alone. Lama Alan expounds upon various passages in the text, including an explanation of the 3 criteria that can be used to verify that something exists relatively (based on commentaries by HH the Dalai Lama and Je Tsongkhapa). Lama Alan emphasizes that reality is not by majority rule: ie. this analysis does not support subjective relativism. Lama Alan comments that there is probably not much new information in the passages of the text covered in this session. After having heard these passages, Lama Alan encourages us to reflect on and saturate our minds with them, and then to view existence from this perspective. This will engender both compassion and a spirit of definite emergence (renunciation).
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.
Shamatha, Vipashyana, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen, 02 Apr 2016, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Italy
Alan continues on the topic of the four immeasurables, now turning to the third one, Empathetic Joy. He explains that each of the four immeasurables serves as an antidote when another of the four immeasurables goes astray. First, loving-kindness turns into an antibody to empathetic joy, in case the latter becomes hedonic fixation. Alan adds that hedonia never turns well, it is all about acquiring, whereas loving kindness is all about a vision, a vision of what would truly makes us happy. Second, compassion becomes an antidote when equanimity goes aloof. This happens for example, when we see all the suffering surrounding us and we become dispirited. So, compassion is the antidote for the apathy of cold indifference. Third, empathetic joy is the antidote when compassion goes astray and falls into despair. We may think: “I’m so ordinary, what can I do?” Alan traces a parallel of one’s achieving shamatha, as it may look so out of our reach at first. But then, if we only achieve stage two, it is already worth it. He explains that is not about turning low self esteem into high self esteem, we should instead see that there is a lot to take satisfaction and reflect upon the good things we brought to the world. Alan then recalls Tsong Khapa, which says that the easiest way for us to accrue merit is to rejoice in our own virtue. We can then extend this to other people's virtue, for example that of the Dalai Lama and other great beings who brought so much goodness to the world. Meditation is on Empathetic Joy. After meditation, Alan returns to the text (page 26 of Naked Awareness) and gives comment on the “Generation of the Mahayana Aspiration”. He elaborates on the first two of the twenty-two stages of bodhicitta and the importance of having a sane mind, achieved by way of shamatha, as a basis for that. He finishes expanding on the three types of bodhicitta, that differ on whether one achieves liberation before liberating others, together with all sentient beings or after all sentient beings have achieved awakening – the highest one. Meditation starts at 23:47 ___ Please contribute to make these, and future podcasts freely available.
2021 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 2, 04 May 2021, Online-only
We come back to the Satipatthāna Sutta, on the instructions of mindfulness of breathing. Lama Alan elaborates on how the practice of mindfulness of breathing can lead us to the cultivation of peace of mind and a sense of well-being. He comments on how long de we need to practice to develop and achieve Dhyana through this practice. Lama Alan goes to the next part of the Sutta, highlighting the importance of maintaining constant mindfulness and introspection and the different postures for the practice. The Meditation begins at 37:00 with maintain awareness of the rhythm of the respiration, applying mindfulness to the body and introspectively noting if any of the five obscurations appear.
2020 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 1, 17 May 2020, Online-only
Lama Alan begins by introducing the meditation practice as an approximation of resting in the substrate consciousness, simply awareness of awareness, and observing how the various levels of the mind bring our perceived reality into being through the various steps from avidya (the substrate), "I-sense" (klishta manas), to the reification of appearances as "other," and so on. In this way, we can approximate the process as actually witnessed by yogis like Lama Karma who can go in and out of samadhi, and also fall asleep into dreamless sleep and dream state lucidly and observe the way the mind constructs our perceived reality. In this meditation, we observe the connate "I sense" and see if we can spot delusions sprouting up and beginning to reify things. "The Murmuring Glowering Sense of Me" meditation begins at 24:27. After the meditation Lama Alan returns to the text, reminding us of the key point that the "I" is not equivalent to the basis of designation for it, and is also not equivalent to its parts or the collection of its parts. Next, the Lake-Born Vajra turns to an analysis of the emptiness of others parts of the body, beginning with the nose. From the body parts, the text turns to persons, and then to various objects, followed by the elements, and then even to the names of objects themselves, as well as the various nominal descriptions of the nature of reality such as like an "illusion." Lama Alan emphasizes that with each of these examples, they each stand for all other realities like them, such that if we realize the emptiness of a house, we can also realize the emptiness of all other phenomena like a house, and so on. Lama Alan relates the presentation of emptiness in the text to the developments in science from the time of Democritus up to the current discoveries of Quantum Cosmology. He then cites Nagarjuna and Tsonkhapa on the nature of emptiness as it pertains to the emptiness of even names. Finally, he mentions that HH The Dalai Lama spoke to the connection between Madhyamika and Quantum Physics many times in his recent talks. One question raised is whether the insights made in Quantum Physics, which are arrived at from an external and conceptual perspective, have the same purifying effect on the mind as the contemplative Madhyamika investigation of reality. Lama Alan sees this as an amazing time in history when all of these various streams of knowledge are coming together to create what might be a revolution in the way we understand reality.
2020 8-Week Retreat: The Vajra Essence – Part 1, 20 Apr 2020, Online-only
Lama Alan said this morning we're returning to the meditation theme of enhancing stability -our ability to sustain voluntary attention without losing our original clarity. He then spoke of the benefits of sustaining voluntary, focused attention outside of meditation, speaking of the correlation between geniuses and the ability to maintain sustained voluntary focused attention. We may not become geniuses, yet the ability to bring total unification of attention, imbued with ease will help each of us to offer our unique gift to the world.
Meditation starts at 6.31
After the meditation, Lama Alan returned to the theme of integrating our meditation into daily life. He reminds us of how Yangthang Rinpoche counseled on conduct between sessions: once one cuts through pristine awareness while in meditative equipoise, then one smoothly transitions to post-meditative states, whatever thought comes up then one simply lets it be. Then thoughts simply release themselves.
How do we do this when we've a 9-5 job or our with our kids or driving busy in other ways? Is it really practical? Well if one has reached shamatha, realized emptiness, broken through to pristine awareness, and are resting in pristine awareness, then yes. Because, as a Vidhyadhara, one is resting in one's best approximation of non-conceptual pristine awareness while being vividly aware of appearances that arise in the environment, along with activities of the mind. This is the supreme form of Lojong, where we can transforms all afflictions into the path.
Lama Alan then says, what about for us, where we are in our practice? We need to make sure where we're getting practical benefits. Our minds need to become dharma. He says that there are other Lojong texts that are very practical. These excellent for purification of our minds, for suffusing our mind with dharma, etc. And they are doable. Lama Alan then quotes again from Master Shantideva and elucidates practical practice for integration of our meditative/dharma practice with daily life.
