2019 8-Week Retreat, 23 May 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Lama Alan gives a wonderful and very inspiring talk during a visit to the land. He shares the history behind the place and how it came about, and the great vision for it.
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 08 May 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
Topics include: - review of outlines - dependent-arising (causes & conditions, parts, labelling/designation/conception) - terms (not findable, merely labelled, mere appearances) URL for Flipchart folder: https://imgur.com/a/FRfJj 
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 13 Apr 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
Topics include: - 3 aspects of ground dharmakaya (essential, manifest, compassionate activity) - 4 kayas - 3 doors of liberation - 8 extremes of conceptual elaboration - mind is primary (process of self-grasping) URL for Flipchart folder: https://imgur.com/a/FRfJj 
2019 8-Week Retreat, 12 Apr 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Topics include: - overview of the 5 texts from Dudjom Lingpa - 8 phases from the Sharp Vajra - 2 types of path (simultaneous, gradual) - 4 modes of mindfulness - 3 poisons, 3 humors, 3 qualities, 3 realms Flipchart URL: https://imgur.com/tNYhxjH 
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 18 May 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
Topics include: - overview of outlines - process of delusion in impure samsara - five lights & five elements - mentation (afflictive, non-conceptual, conceptual) - eons (created, abides, destroyed, emptied) URL for Flipchart folder: https://imgur.com/a/FRfJj 
2019 8-Week Retreat, 09 Apr 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Topics include: - overview of the 5 texts from Dudjom Lingpa - 8 phases from the Sharp Vajra - 4 main practices (shamatha, vipashyana, tekcho, togal) - 3 lineages (enlightened view, symbolic, aural) - 5 certainties & 5 perfections Flipchart URL: https://imgur.com/V6lYGme 
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 24 Apr 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
Topics include: - Overview of current outlines - Discussion of preliminaries - Mahamudra (4 common & 4 uncommon preliminaries) - Mud & Feathers (3 outer & 3 inner preliminaries) - Fine Path to Liberation (5 preliminaries) URL for Flipchart folder: https://imgur.com/a/FRfJj 
2019 8-Week Retreat, 03 May 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Topics include: - Phase 5: Determining Secret Dualistic Grasping and Revealing the Way to Natural Liberation - review of process of delusion in samsara - five obscurations - five facets, five lights, five elements & five poisons - apprehending mind & apprehended objects Flipchart URL: https://imgur.com/AVhaBdb 
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 11 May 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
Topics include: - 12 links of dependent origination - 12 links correlated to Dzogchen - 4 reliances (teaching, meaning, definitive meaning, primordial consciousness) - 3 criteria for conventional existence - overview of the current outlines URL for Flipchart folder: https://imgur.com/a/FRfJj 
2019 8-Week Retreat, 10 May 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Topics include: - Phase 6: Teachings on the Essential Points of Practice & Their Key Distinctions - 1. Substrate (alaya) & Dharmakaya - 2. Mentation (manas) & Wisdom (prajna) - 3. Conditioned consciousness (vijnana) & Primordial consciousness (jnana) - Four reliances Flipchart URL: https://imgur.com/B78hDDg 
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 15 May 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
Topics include: - summary of first four phases - nine yanas revisited - discerning primordial consciousness (knowing reality as it is, perceiving full range of phenomena) - 3 levels of practice (understanding, experience, realization, acquiring confidence) - 3 types of equanimity (feeling, immeasurable, mental factor) URL for Flipchart folder: https://imgur.com/a/FRfJj 
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 01 May 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
Topics include: - 3 types of guidance (explanatory, teach & practice, experiential) - 2 types of emptiness (rang stong, gzhan stong) - 4 types of meditation (placement, discursive, glance, non-meditation) - general Q&A URL for Flipchart folder: https://imgur.com/a/FRfJj 
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 27 May 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
Topics include: - glance meditation on selected verses from Sharp Vajra - great wisdom (essential nature, radiance, creative expressions, displays) - 4 Vidyadhara levels (matured, power over life, Mahamudra, spontaneously actualized) - Mahayana path (accumulation, preparation, seeing, meditation, no more learning) URL for Flipchart folder: https://imgur.com/a/FRfJj 
2019 8-Week Retreat, 16 Apr 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Topics include: - 7 phases from the Sharp Vajra - 7 synonyms for Dzogchen - 3 kayas (dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, nirmanakaya) - 3 aspects of the ground (essential nature, manifest nature, compassion) - 2 kinds of pristine awareness (path, ground) - 2 states (meditative equipoise, post-meditation) Flipchart URL: https://imgur.com/N5hXwsg 
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 20 Apr 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
Topics incude: - overview of outlines - superior, middling and inferior faculty individuals - 4 modes of mindfulness (single-pointed, manifest, absence of mindfulness, self-illuminating) - 2 substrates (actual, temporarily luminous) - 4 yogas of Mahamudra (single-pointedness, freedom from conceptual elaborations, one taste, non-meditation) URL for Flipchart folder: https://imgur.com/a/FRfJj 
2019 8-Week Retreat, 30 Apr 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Topics include: - review of Phase 1 to 4 - Phase 5: Determining Secret Dualistic Grasping and Revealing the Way to Natural Liberation - consciousness (conditioned & primordial) - 8 facets of consciousness (5 sense, mental consciousness, klishtamanas, substrate consciousness) - process of delusion in samsara - 12 links (correlated here) Flipchart URL: https://imgur.com/nicNTxG 
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 04 May 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
Topics include: - glance meditation of text - identitylessness (person, phenomena) - 4 philosophical systems (Vaibhasika, Sautrantika, Cittamatra, Madhyamaka) - inherent existence (true existence, existing from its own side, existing by way of its own characteristics) - 3 types of ignorance (causal, connate, speculative) - mentation (prior afflictive, subtle, coarse) URL for Flipchart folder: https://imgur.com/a/FRfJj 
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 17 Apr 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
Topics include: - Lake-Born Vajra short sadhana explanation - Refuge in Mahayana, Mahayoga, Anuyoga & Atiyoga - OM SVABHAVA SHUDDHA SARVA DHARMA SVABHAVA SHUDDHO HAM - 3 sattvas (samayasattva, jnanasattva, samadhisattva) - OM AH HUM VAJRA GURU PADMA TOTRENG TSEL VAJRA SAMAYA JAH SIDDHI PHALA HUM AH URL for Flipchart folder: https://imgur.com/a/FRfJj 
2019 8-Week Retreat, 07 May 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Topics include: - Phase 5: Determining Secret Dualistic Grasping and Revealing the Way to Natural Liberation - Mahayana path (5 paths) - Dzogchen path (4 Vidyadhara levels) - Phase 6: Teachings on the Essential Points of Practice & Their Key Distinctions - 1. Substrate (alaya) & Dharmakaya - Levels of samadhi (shamatha, dhyana, samapatti) Flipchart URL: https://imgur.com/PjcsLTC 
2019 8-Week Retreat, 14 May 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Topics include: - Phase 6: Teachings on the Essential Points of Practice & Their Key Distinctions - 1. Substrate (alaya) & Dharmakaya - 2. Mentation (manas) & Wisdom (prajna) - 3. Conditioned consciousness (vijnana) & Primordial consciousness (jnana) - 4. Mind (citta) & Pristine awareness (vidya) - 5. Understanding & Realization - The four stages (understanding, experience, realization, acquiring confidence) Flipchart URL: https://imgur.com/cafMgD8 
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 22 May 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
Topics include: - overview of the 8 phases - 6 distinctions (substrate & dharmakaya, mentation & wisdom, mind & pristine awareness, conditioned consciousness & primordial consciousness, deluded sentient beings & liberated Buddhas, understanding & realization) - 8 consciousnesses (5 sense consciousnesses, mental consciousness, afflictive mentation, substrate consciousness) URL for Flipchart folder: https://imgur.com/a/FRfJj 
2019 8-Week Retreat, 26 Apr 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Topics include: - review of Phase 1 to 4 (Taking the impure mind as the path, Revealing your own face as the sharp vajra of vipashyana, Revealing the ground dharmakaya, Determining the characteristics and qualities of the ground) - 4 philosophical systems (Vaibhasika, Sautrantika, Cittamatra, Madhyamaka) - 9 yanas - 4 classes of tantra (kriya, upaya, yoga, anuttarayoga) - Mahamudra (sutra, tantra, essence) Flipchart URL: https://imgur.com/J0C6YPC 
2019 8-Week Retreat, 21 May 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Topics include: - Phase 7: How to Follow the Path of the Great Clear Light, Direct Crossing Over - 2 ways of liberation (cutting through, direct crossing over) - 5 phases (understanding, experience, realization, acquiring confidence, liberation) - tekcho (pristine awareness, 5 paths correlation, liberation) - togal (4 Vidyadhara levels, 4 visions) - liberation (superior, middle, inferior) Flipchart URL: https://imgur.com/y7n4G3L 
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 27 Apr 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
Topics include: - 9 yanas (shravaka, pratyekabuddha, bodhisattva, kriya, upaya, yoga, mahayoga, anuyoga, atiyoga) - 4 classes of tantra (kriya, charya, yoga, anuttarayoga) - Mahamudra (sutra, tantra, essence) - All is mind. Mind is empty. Emptiness is spontaneous actualization. Spontaneous actualization is self-liberating. URL for Flipchart folder: https://imgur.com/a/FRfJj 
2019 8-Week Retreat, 19 Apr 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Topics include: - review of Phase 1: Taking the impure mind as the path - review of Phase 2: Revealing your own face as the sharp vajra of vipashyana - Phase 3: Revealing the ground dharmakaya - 2 types of identity (person, phenomena) - dependent-arising (causes & conditions, parts, conceptual designation) - seeking out the basis of designation of names - destroying grasping at the permanence of things Flipchart URL: https://imgur.com/aTRPYlk 
2019 8-Week Retreat, 17 May 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Topics include: - review of Phase 1 to 5 - Phase 6: Teachings on the Essential Points of Practice & Their Key Distinctions - review meditation (shar sgom) of the 7 key distinctions - 1. Substrate (alaya) & Dharmakaya - 2. Mentation (manas) & Wisdom (prajna) - 3. Conditioned consciousness (vijnana) & Primordial consciousness (jnana) - 4. Mind (citta) & Pristine awareness (vidya) - 5. Understanding & Realization - 6. Delusion & Liberation - 7. Sentient beings & Buddhas Flipchart URL: https://imgur.com/08O2WKz 
2019 8-Week Retreat, 23 Apr 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Topics include: - review of Phase 1: Taking the impure mind as the path - review of Phase 2: Revealing your own face as the sharp vajra of vipashyana - review of Phase 3: Revealing the ground dharmakaya - Phase 4: Determining the characteristics and qualities of the ground - free from 8 extremes - 3 doors of liberation (emptiness, signlessness, desirelessness) - 5 kayas (dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, nirmanakaya, svabhavikakaya, vajrakaya) - 8 names for sugatagarbha Flipchart URL: https://imgur.com/2JkAmQG 
2019 8-Week Retreat, 29 May 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Today we have our final session in this wonderful series. Eva shares a guided meditation based on Samantabhadra, where we get to incorporate all the elements we've been learning about. Also this is yet another option to help us keep our samayas. She invites us to continue to experiment with the practice and make it ours, be creative. We shouldn't practice as if we're just checking boxes. Eventually we'll get to the point where we can know if we've covered everything and when we've gone above and beyond. Eva shares some quotes, one from Tsongkhapa and one included in Pabongka Rinpoche's works. She briefly comes back to the Perfect Conduct text (on page 130), where it explains that if we avoid the 14 root downfalls then we are keeping the essence of the various other sets of vows as enumerated in the Old Translation School (Nyingma) tradition. We then go over the 4 problems and the 4 antidotes, with respecting to keeping the vows. Finally Eva covers the section on exceptions, that is special circumstances where we're not commiting a downfall. These are the resources that Eva shared with us: The Bodhisattva Vow https://www.amazon.com/Bodhisattva-Vow-Geshe-Sonam-Rinchen/dp/1559391502 The Fulfillment of All Hopes: Guru Devotion in Tibetan Buddhism https://www.amazon.com/Fulfillment-All-Hopes-Devotion-Buddhism/dp/086171153X Tantric Ethics: An Explanation of the Precepts for Buddhist Vajrayana Practice https://www.amazon.com/Tantric-Ethics-Explanation-Precepts-Vajrayana/dp/0861712900/ And a last one coming from the group: A series of teachings by Khandro Rinpoche on the 3 sets of vows https://www.khandrorinpoche.org/teachings/audio/jkr-three-vows-pratimoksha-2011-08-02/ The meditation starts at 13:28
2019 8-Week Retreat, 16 May 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Dharma Sister Eva begins - There have been three different Sadhana practices that were sent out by Sangay (short, medium and long). Today Eva will guide in the short augmented version which she describes as a great daily practice. She then responds to a question relating Mandarava with Vajrayogini describing locations for where to get more information recommending these resources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarava https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Mandarava/9 https://www.wisdompubs.org/book/lives-and-liberation-princess-mandarava http://www.rangjung.com/book_title/advice-from-the-lotus-born-2/ Eva continues with more in depth discussion of this topic including a description of the visualized color of Mandarava. She then moves to the subject of visualization of the mantra at the heart center, and provides a few different techniques for this visualization speaking specifically to how Lama Alan does the visualization. She emphasizes that we are to be relaxed and gentle around this visualization because we are drawing the energies to the heart center. She explains the specifics of the visualization of the vajra, bulb of the vajra, moon disk, Hrih symbol, and mantra. Later in the discussion, Eva speaks to how one uses the approach of Sadhana as preparation for death. She finishes with thoughts around how one is to approach these practices from the Dzogchen perspective, and seeing what comes up as the Dharmakaya. Meditation begins at: 21:58
Shamatha, Vipashyana, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen, 21 May 2016, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Italy
Dear Friends, Today the whole group made an historical visit with Alan to the site of potentially the first Contemplative Observatory - a land blessed by Khadro-la where people can achieve shamatha, as she commented. The podcast includes two parts: (1) Alan's summary of the current situation (the sound quality is reasonable, and just the first 3 minutes are missing, sorry for that) (2) Group recitation of the Shower of Blessings and further dedications from Alan (the sound quality is quite good), starting at: 53:20 May all the conditions come together to start the revolution!
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 08 Apr 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
This session began with Alan announcing that as Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drolma (Khadro-la) will visit Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa during our retreat (from May 22nd to 24th), he inquired whether the retreatants could join in on her teachings. We then moved on to a meditation on loving-kindness, as taught by the Buddha, in the Pali canon. After the practice, Alan made some brief comments ahead of this afternoon’s empowerment, mentioning that it would be best if, as a preparation, we could continuously practice Bodhicitta throughout the day, and also use our Shamatha practice to bear in mind whatever understanding we currently have of the view of emptiness. Meditation starts at: 7:17
Spring 2010 Shamatha Retreat, 21 Apr 2010, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
This afternoon lecture was about one very important but often overlooked aspect of the four immeasurables: Empathetic Joy. It starts with a very precise, relevant, and bright introduction about the guilt, self-loathing, and low self esteem that plagues modernity and the west. Afterwards there is a 24 minute meditation on equanimity, focused mainly on the Phuket retreatants but relevant anywhere in the world. To finish, there is a long Q&A session with many practical questions that have come up during the personal meditations.
This full moon picture was also provided by Malcolm!
Fall 2010 Shamatha Retreat, 18 Nov 2010, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
This morning we were honored with the visit of Klaus Hebben, founder and director of PIA. After expressing his gratitude to him, Alan gave an explanation of bala, which literally means power. Referring to the five powers (panchabalani), which are developed by strengthening the five roots or controlling faculties (indriya): faith or devotion (shraddha) which overcomes doubt and false beliefs; enthusiasm or zeal (vidya) which overcomes laziness; mindfulness (sati) which overcomes forgetfulness; perfect concentration (samadhi) which overcomes distractedness; and wisdom (prajña) which overcomes ignorance. He emphasized the balance between enthusiasm and zeal in the case of Vidya, the balance between wisdom and confidence in the case of Prajna and the importance of Sati or Mindfulness, which enables to balance all the other 4 elements. In this second round of meditations after having developed relaxation at the infirmary the day before; we continue today with the cultivation of stability in the practice of Mindfulness of Breathing, focusing on the tactile sensations of the abdomen.
Public Teachings from Lama Alan, 12 Oct 2024, Online
On Guru Rinpoche Day, October 12, 2024, Lama Alan emerged from retreat silence for a few hours to offer the sixth installment of his lecture series entitled "Believers, Contemplatives, and the Future of Human Civilization: A Buddhist Response to the Current Metacrisis." In this talk, Lama Alan focused on the theme of "The Cultivation of Emotional Intelligence." This public talk from Lama Alan coincided with the CCR's Ghatika Monthly event. It was a joyous gathering and the chapel was full with contemplatives-in-training, as well as our friends in the local community. If you would like to receive reminders from the CCR about future Gahtika Monthly events you can register [here](https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/jK9K2DI). The following is a description of this month's talk from Lama Alan: As long as we are primarily devoted to the pursuit of our own individual happiness by way of sensual pleasures and the pursuit of financial stability, influence, and reputation, our emotions will constantly fluctuate between elation and depression, hope and fear. The development of emotional intelligence is rooted in prioritizing genuine well-being over mundane happiness, where the former is cultivated from within and the latter is pursued outwards. Moreover, the sole focus on our own well-being as our highest priority destabilizes our emotions, whereas expanding our field of caring to all those around us is a direct path to ever-increasing emotional intelligence. In this lecture Lama Alan will address the theme of emotional intelligence by way of the cultivation of the “four immeasurables” of loving kindness, compassion, empathetic joy, and impartiality. These four virtues will be discussed within the contexts of the Pali canon, Mahayana Buddhism, and Dzogchen. They are foundational for all schools of Buddhism and are indeed so universal that they can be practiced by everyone, irrespective of their beliefs. To provide context for this lecture, we encourage you to listen to Parts 1–5 of this series. You will find the video recording [here](https://vimeo.com/showcase/10825217), as well as Lama Alan's prior talks. Lama Alan's notes for this public talk are indicated as "October Talk - The Cultivation of Emotional Intelligence" and "October Talk - The Four Immeasurables Chart." During Lama Alan's talk, he mentions the Fall 2010 Shamatha Retreat, where he offered detailed instructions on the cultivation of śamatha and the four immeasurables. This was the first 8-week retreat he offered in Phuket, Thailand. We invite you to register for this free 8-week retreat [here](https://sbinstitute.com/product/fall-2010-shamatha-retreat/).
Public Teachings from Lama Alan, 04 Apr 2024, Online
On Dakini Day, April 4, 2024, Lama Alan emerged from retreat silence for a few hours to offer Part One of his public talk, "Believers, Contemplatives, and the Future of Human Civilization,” intended as a response to a talk that Khandro la offered on March 25, 2024, "A Spontaneous Discussion on Material Science and Buddhist Science of Mind." You can listen to this talk from Khandro la [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-CeLjac5Xs).
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 23 May 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
Lama Alan began this afternoon session with the auspicious news that Khadro-la would join the group in a visit of the land expected to soon become the Center for Contemplative Research (CCR) at Castellina Marittima, a location close to where the retreat is currently taking place. Following the meditation, Lama Alan explored the dream analogy he has often used, to elucidate different strategies, either for going from (1) the manifest to the essential nature of pristine awareness, or alternatively, (2) to go from the essential, to the manifest nature of pristine awareness. He also shared a quote from his last book Open Mind, with more details about the Five Quintessences, as it was explored in the text some days ago. The meditation started with the Dzogchen approach to mindfulness of breathing, and culminated in resting in open presence. After the meditation, we returned to the oral transmission and commentary of the text, starting at the sentence before the section "The Closing Summary of Those Explanations". Lama Alan made a number of comments, namely about the challenges of the integration of the practices we've explored so far in daily life; also about how we can use our human intelligence to its highest potential, investigating the actual nature of reality; and finally, also on how the Dzogchen view and conduct can, and should, support each other. As we concluded Phase 6 of the text, Lama-la announced that from tomorrow we will begin focusing on selected parts of Phase 7, namely the description of the Fourth Vision, which happens just before enlightenment. As mentioned before, the remainder of the section will not be covered, but Lama mentioned it would be beneficial to detail what the end of this path, and the actual full achievement of Buddhahood actually entail. The meditation starts at 37:08 Text p. 105-106
2019 8-Week Retreat, 24 Apr 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
This is the first session on Samayas and Vows with Eva, who is very kindly offering teachings on these important topics. She covers quite a lot of topics, some of which include: - An overview of what will be covered in these sessions - An explanation of the terms Samaya and Vow (and other ways of translating them) - The meaning of the word Tantra (covering both Sanskrit and Tibetan) - An explanation for what an Empowerment actually is (since it's so relevant to this topic) - An overview of the text we'll be referring to (Perfect Conduct: Ascertaining the Three Vows by Ngari Panchen, Pema Wangyal, https://www.wisdompubs.org/book/perfect-conduct) - Some comments on the essence of these samayas and vows: what it means to take them and to uphold them. - An introduction to the Mahayana and Vajrayana vows (we'll be starting with the latter) - The great importance of the Guru
2019 8-Week Retreat, 05 May 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Note: Apologies, we had an issue with the main recorder and had to use a backup recording, so the quality may not be the same. We start with a brief meditation session to maintain the continuity of practice from the previous session with Lama Alan. Today we cover the vows and samayas related to the 5 buddha families. These are very practical ways of learning what it means to be a Buddha: how they act, speak, etc. There are different presentations of this topic depending on the perspective being covered, such as: - Mahayana - Outer tantras (all but the last of the yogas) - Ati yoga (for which we don't need to worry about for now) Eva reminds us that, just as it is mentioned in the Shower of Blessings sadhana, we also train ourselves according to our needs. Everything can be encapsulated in this practice. She explains that for each group there are two kinds of meanings: - General - Hidden (this is related to completion stage practices, and is also most likely beyond our current abilities) We go over each one of the families and their corresponding buddhas: - Buddha family: Vairocana - Vajra family: Akshobhya - Ratna family: Ratnasambhava (or Ratnakara) - Lotus family: Amitabha - Karma family: Amoghasiddhi For each one of them Eva covers things such as: - Etymology of the Buddha's name (and their associated color) - Mental affliction that is overcome by these practices - Associated aspect of primordial consciousness - The specific practices associated with the samaya (and why they're related) - Hidden meaning related to completion stage practice Eva has shared the link to her Master's Thesis, which she wrote for a degree in Christian Systematic Theology at the Graduate Theological Union, written on topics of the difficulty and possibility of Buddhist-Christian dialogue at a rigorous theological level: https://www.academia.edu/2562092/Why_Emptiness_Towards_A_Christian_Understanding_of_Madhyamika_Thought And here is the link to her PhD dissertation, where there is detailed analysis of the philosophical basis of Vajrayāna practice in the writings of Lama Tsongkhapa. For topics relevant to recent sessions on the different types of tantra, see especially in Chapter Three, "A Swifter Road". (Please be patient with the download; it is a large file, 150 MB, and requires stable internet connection for what can be at least 10 minutes of download time.): https://libraetd.lib.virginia.edu/public_view/b5644r691 She ends on a beautiful note, by reminding us that we're most likely already practicing these things many times (probably thousands of times) a day.
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 10 Apr 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
Topics include: - overview of the 5 texts from Dudjom Lingpa - 4 main practices (shamatha, vipashyana, tekcho, togal) - 8 phases of the Sharp Vajra (correlated to the Essence of Clear Meaning outlines) - Tantra (ground, path & fruition) URL for Flipchart folder: https://imgur.com/a/FRfJj  # Dudjom Lingpa’s Texts: ## 2017 - Foolish Dharma of an Idiot Clothed in Mud and Feathers. - Buddhahood without Meditation (vol 2) ## 2018 - Sharp Vajra of Conscious Awareness Tantra (vol 1) ## 2019 - Enlightened View of Samantabhadra (vol 1) ## 2020 -202? - Vajra Essence (Vol 3) ## Volumes - Vol 1 Heart of the Great Perfection - Vol 2 Buddhahood without Meditation - Vol 3 Vajra Essence ## 4 Main Topics 1. shamatha 2. vipashyana 3. cutting through (tekcho) 4. direct crossing over (togal) ## Sharp Vajra Steps 1. Taking impure mind as the path 2. Revealing your own face as the sharp vajra of vipashayana 3. Revealing the ground dharmakaya 4. Determining the characteristics to qualities of the ground 5. Determining secret dualistic grasping revealing the way of natural liberation 6. Teachings on the essential points of practice and their key distintions 7. How to follow the path of the great clear light, direct crossing over. 8. How to dwell in the ground of being ## Essence of Clear Meaning 1. Meaning of the Title 2. Meaning of the Text 1. Homage 2. Actual explanation 1. Cause of the Tantra 2. Contributing conditions 3. Resultant meaning 1. Path cutting through to original purity 2. Path of direct crossing over to spontaneous actualization 3. Manner in which fruition is actualized 3. Colophon ## Cutting through original purity - ka dag khregs chod - original purity completely cut ## Direct crossing over to spontaneous actualization - lhun grub thod rgal - spontaneous actualize upper cross over ## Tantra (continuum) 1. Ground 1. sugatagharba 2. delusive imputed 2. Path 1. Actual - self-aware primordial consciousness 2. Imputed -3 lineages of transmission 3. Fruition 1. Dharmakaya (own welfare) 2. Rupakaya (others welfare)
Lama Alan's Commentary on Lama Karma's Shamatha Teachings, 18 Nov 2020, Online - Originally recorded at CCR at Miyo Samten Ling
On November 18th, 2020 Lama Alan offered five hours of oral commentary to Drubpön Lama Karma’s experiential account of his own practice of shamatha and subsequent contemplative training. This was Lama Alan’s first teaching at The Center for Contemplative Research at Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, CO. The basis for this talk was a carefully translated transcript (a copy will be provided) of the teachings on shamatha given by Drubpön Lama Karma in Santa Barbara October, 2019. For anyone interested in shamatha this will be a very meaningful teaching. There is also an interesting story behind the translation, which Lama Alan shares during his oral commentary. The original teaching from Drubpön Lama Karma can be found [here](https://sbinstitute.com/product/shamatha-teachings-with-drup-la-lama-karma/)
Shamatha, Vipashyana, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen, 19 Apr 2016, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Italy
Alan starts off this morning's session with a story about a delightful interaction between physicist Anton Zeilinger and His Holiness the Dalai Lama that took place at the 1997 Mind and Life Conference. The story culminates a year later with discussion of physics and philosophy and a visit to Anton Zeilinger's lab, so that Anton could discuss his empirical evidence and show His Holiness how he made his discoveries. Aside from the fact that Alan likes telling stories, Alan loves the fact that Anton took them to his lab and His Holiness lept at the opportunity. Alan would have loved to have had His Holiness be able to say "Anton, would you like to come to our lab, and I'll show you the yogis... Would you like to see what's our research? What are our methodologies by which we've come to these conclusions..." Alan then goes through a list of some of the objections and scientific reservations about including introspection in the scientific study of the mind and shows how they are not insurmountable problems, especially with the appropriate mental training. The meditation is taking the impure mind as the path. With some guidance regarding making introspection a viable tool for discovery about the mind, we practice observing the mind (thoughts, images, emotions, desires, etc.) from the stillness of awareness, without distraction and without grasping. After the meditation Alan draws a parallel between this practice, where we are becoming lucid with respect to our minds during the waking state, and sustaining a lucid dream. During a lucid dream one wants to relax, maintain the stability - maintaining lucidity and the continuity of the dream, and eventually enhance the clarity, resolution, vividness and precision of the explorations of the dream reality. In a similar fashion, as we now go into non-formal practice, our practice off the cushion, experiences will arise that may cause excitation, agitation, craving, desire, etc. We should try to maintain the continuity of ease and relaxation without grasping. We should also try to maintain, with clarity and engagement, the flow of cognisance - the awareness of appearances as appearances, and not conflating them with an outside independent reality. So, now we have a full-time job... Meditation starts at 36:00 ___ Please contribute to make these, and future podcasts freely available.
Spring 2010 Shamatha Retreat, 02 May 2010, Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
No, it’s not a side effect of your intense daily meditation -- in this podcast the picture actually moves! That is to say, it’s a video!
With the help of David Cherniack, we were able to record Alan’s quick message.
As you can see, we have created a mailing list for information, news, and retreat information all regarding the Mind Centre here in Phuket. Please note that this is different from the podcast daily updates that you might have subscribed to. In other words, if you subscribe to the mailing list, you won’t be getting the daily podcast emails, so don’t worry! Some of you sharp-eyed folks may see that it looks a lot like the SBI mailing list registration, however please note the following message from SBI:
If you are already on SBI's mailing list, but wish to also be on the Phuket list, you may subscribe again and click on "Phuket Mind Centre News & Updates." That will put you on both lists. If you are not already on SBI's mailing list, you may subscribe and then choose to join General Interest or just the "Phuket Mind Centre News & Updates" list.
So if you want to join the mailing list (or view the video in its full HD glory) please visit the website, or for those of you reading this on the website feel free to click the following beautiful, stylish Web 2.0 button:
I should probably also add that David had nothing to do with the extremely cheesy introduction to the video. He is a great filmmaker (I highly recommend his film “The Oracle” about the Tibetan Oracles), and he will most likely frown at me when he sees the introduction to this video, of which I admit I am guilty! So don’t take that very seriously.
2019 8-Week Retreat, 13 May 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
NOTE: The Lake Born Vajra practice is restricted to those who took the empowerment, so all the materials (sadhanas, images and these recordings) are only meant for those people. Eva described us as wet from the womb of empowerment and invites to reflect on ourselves as newborns with all the opportunities that this brings. She invited attendees to consider the altar laid out for the empowerment and the significance of various objects on it. Eva then led the short Sadhana entitled “A synthesis of the Vital Essence: A Practice of the Profound Path of the Heart Essence of the Lake-Born Vajra” by Dudjom Rinpoche” in Tibetan with translation and commentary in English. Here again is the link to Eva's PhD dissertation, Sacred Illusion: On Purity and Creation in Je Tsongkhapa's Philosophy of Tantra, where there is detailed analysis of the philosophical basis for Vajrayāna practice in the writings of Lama Tsongkhapa. For topics directly relevant to sadhana practice, see especially in Chapters Four, Five and Six, and the translation in Appendix Two. (Please be patient with the download; it is a large file,150 MB, and requires stable internet connection for what can be at least 10 minutes of download time.): https://libraetd.lib.virginia.edu/public_view/b5644r691 Guided meditation starts at: 7:07
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 22 May 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
Lama Alan Wallace begins with a "footnote" to yesterday's discussion on what happens to an arhat after death, describing how nirvana is beyond the extremes of existence (living forever in samsara) and non-existence (complete annihilation). His dialogue with Bhikkhu Bodhi is available here. As a prelude to the meditation, he refers to the text, where Dudjom Lingpa clarifies the distinction between sentient beings and Buddhas, emphasizing how we can move towards enlightenment by expanding the scope of caring (conative intelligence) and the space of awareness (cognitive intelligence). The guided meditation (taking the mind as the path followed by tonglen with each being that appears in the space of the mind) starts at 21:38. Then we go back to the text, covering "The Distinction between Understanding and Realization" and "The Need for Practice after Having Cut Through Misconceptions". Lama Alan highlights the importance of familiarization (having more and more experiences) to move from understanding to realization, and then to acquiring confidence. To conclude, he shares an analogy - from Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche (the junior tutor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama) - of how there are different gateways to the Dharma (one person has more devotion, others tend more to bodhicitta, or to shamatha and vipashyana, and so on) and they all get what they need. Text: p. 104-105
Lama Alan's Commentary on Lama Karma's Shamatha Teachings, 18 Nov 2020, Online - Originally recorded at CCR at Miyo Samten Ling
[Esta versión sólo incluye el audio de la traducción] El 18 de noviembre del 2020, Lama Alan ofreció un comentario oral de cinco horas sobre el relato experiencial de Drubpön Lama Karma, acerca de su práctica de Shamatha y su posterior entrenamiento contemplativo. Esta fue la primera enseñanza de Lama Alan en el Centro para la Investigación Contemplativa en Miyo Samten Ling, en Crestone, Colorado. La base para esta charla, fue una transcripción, minuciosamente traducida, de las enseñanzas sobre Shamatha (este texto sólo esta disponible en inglés. Pendiente por traducir en español) que dio Drubpön Lama Karma en Santa Bárbara, en el mes de octubre del 2019. Para cualquier persona interesada en Shamatha, ésta será una enseñanza muy significativa. También se produjo una historia interesante tras la traducción, que Lama Alan comparte durante su comentario oral. La enseñanza original de Drubpön Lama Karma puede encontrarse [aquí](https://sbinstitute.com/product/shamatha-teachings-with-drup-la-lama-karma/) (sólo en inglés)
2019 8-Week Retreat, 23 May 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Olaso. Lama Alan begins with some light humor around being the dummy of the ventriloquist of his Lamas. Today he will be doing something a bit unusual and teaching in the third phase of the text on the six bardos at the end of the Vajra essence. Lama begins on Page 5. Today the meditation will be the practice of the Daytime dream yoga, released like a flock of doves! Turning to the text, the analogy is holding aloft a lamp in a dark room. He speaks of the parallel track of falling asleep. As we relax more and more, we go more into dullness. Lama speaks of two paths of deep realization speaking about those who don’t sleep at all, and those yogis who sleep every opportunity they get. Remember that the bardo of dreaming is an opportunity for enlightenment. Lama shares stories of His Holiness, Shantideva, among others. Lama Alan then moves to the description of the perpetuation of Samsara in the form of grasping. There is a grasping to ‘I’ and as a rebound there is a cooperative outer appearances. He talks about the oscillation of the daytime and nighttime appearances. There is a common acceptance that the waking state is ‘real’ and dream appearances are ‘not real’. Lama discusses this point around this dynamic. He refers to the Vajra Essence text and describes that we will be going into more depth of this subject in two years if things go as planned. He talks about the differences of the Mahayana and Dzogchen views on viewing the waking state. Lama discusses the practice of awareness holding its own ground, and taking the mind as the path. Don’t be distracted, and don’t grasp. There is an interesting point here about subjective and objective appearances to awareness and their relation to substrate and substrate consciousness. The encouragement is to develop this ability in order to release the friction and grasping in the our daily lives. The more grasping, the more we are exhausted. Remain firm and still when the mind is upset. Lama then speaks of lucidity in the dreams and then after one is dead. Dream yoga can prepare us for the bardo of becoming. Being lucid, stop interacting with the appearances, they will disappear, and you will go right into the substrate; and imbued with the view and realization, you can crash the doors of substrate to pristine awareness. This is how one becomes enlightened in the bardo of becoming. For the meditation, the pith instructions is try to bring the view that all these appearances are manifesting in the substrate, just like in a dream. Then rest in your own awareness holding this view. Lama releases the group to meditate wherever they like. Walking, sitting, lying, or standing. 30 minute meditation with no guidance. Lama Alan continues recommending that practicing daytime dream yoga will have more benefit for shifting the whole way we view reality. The Dzogchen view is that this is a dream, and there is a perspective from which that is true. There is also a relative truth that is also true where we are a human being and this is not a dream. Lama tells stories of interactions with Gyatrul Rinpoche, Zong Rinpoche, and the 6 Yogas of Naropa. He then gives advice on lucid dreaming by having anticipatory resolve. Alan refers to Alexander Berzin and Serkong Rinpoche to read some articles: https://studybuddhism.com/en/tibetan-buddhism/spiritual-teachers/tsenzhab-serkong-rinpoche https://studybuddhism.com/en/tibetan-buddhism/spiritual-teachers/tsenzhab-serkong-rinpoche/a-portrait-of-tsenzhab-serkong-rinpoche Lama Alan continues with speaking on lucid dreaming and fathoming the dream and practicing emanation and transformation. Then he moves to how classic dream yoga once can change anything you like in the dream. Just as in practicing shamatha will dredge your psyche, so too will the practice of dream yoga catalyze your worst nightmares. When you are thoroughly lucid, you just release yourself into that dream. Once you are there, then you can travel to purelands in a dream, and receive teachings. Your intelligence is the judge of the teachings. Lama finishes by stating how one can achieve enlightenment in the dream transitional phase. Silent meditation begins at: 45:35
2018 8-week retreat- The Essence of Clear Meaning, 24 Apr 2018, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy
Before the meditation, Lama Alan reviews not only the practice of Maha Karuna, but the entire path we have explored up to now. He begins with the blatant suffering that everyone sees (suffering of pain), moves to the suffering of looking in the wrong place for happiness and becoming attached to it (suffering of change) and then lays down the fundamental causes of the all-pervasive suffering, as discovered by Gautama, probably for the first time in human history. In the first turning of the Wheel of Dharma, the deepest root of suffering is grasping onto that which is not I or mine as I or mine. In the second turning, all the suffering is seen to be derived from grasping to the inherent existence of everything. And, finally, in the third turning, liberation of suffering is seen as our birthright: perfect Buddha nature is already here waiting to be discovered. There is a perspective from which we are already enlightened - we have never been a sentient being. Then Alan does a rich summary of the whole path to achieve liberation in one lifetime, from the preliminaries (to get our priorities straight) up to the point of the end of Phase 1 in Dudjom Lingpa's teaching, when we get a taste of pristine awareness. Alan uses a classical analogy to awaken us to the preciousness of this human rebirth and a second powerful metaphor for the joy and the confidence that comes when we have everything we need to end suffering forever and for all. "Imagine the relief of finding a path!" After the meditation, Lama Alan emphasizes the importance of reading the biographies of great masters. He mentions how Yangthang Rinpoche was imprisoned for 18 years and strongly recommends that we read about Khenpo Munsel Rinpoche, who managed to practice and teach Dzogchen for 22 years while imprisoned in a Chinese labour camp. These examples of the majesty of human spirit place our adversities in context - "Our worst day would be their best day!" The meditation starts at 27:25
2019 8-Week Retreat, 26 May 2019, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
Eva begins the session by commenting on the Tetragrammaton, the unspeakable name of God (YHWH) revealed to Moses. It is usually translated as either one of: I am who am I am that I am I am what I am Eva compares it to something Lama Alan recently said, as the description of what it is to anchor ourselves in the identity of pristine awareness: I am what I am. What is this divine "I am" that is beyond all categories? She comes back to the theme of the Trinity. She explains that from a Christian point of view, the ineffable, unnameable ground of being is never just one in the sense of a self-existing one that could not be seen from different perspectives. From a Christian perspective, there is no oneness of God without the Trinity. There is no Trinity without the oneness. She comments on the original sin and the non-inherent nature of ignorance. She also offers a much deeper interpretation of the Second Coming. Eva shares a quote from the Letter to the Hebrews (Hebrews 10.14): "For by a single offering, he has forever perfected those who are being sanctified." Eva explains how the concept of sacrifice is a totally pure offering, not something bloody or violent. Another quote from the Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians (2 Cor 3.18): "And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image, from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit." Eva explains the concept of Beatitude as seeing the divine face directly, a love that has no end. She also talks about a passage she translated into Tibetan to see what would happen. She later translated it back into English, and she shares the translation with us. Just before the meditation she shares another reading from the time after the Resurrection, after Easter, once Christ has already been seen risen and appears to some of his disciples who are fishing. She uses this as a starting point for the meditation. The meditation starts at 30:10 The two scriptural quotations Eva was evoking at the close of the meditation are as follows: "Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is." (1 Jn 3.2) and "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known." (1 Cor 13.12) Eva would also like to share the following link to a magnificent prayer by Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, known as The Mass on the World: https://d2wldr9tsuuj1b.cloudfront.net/5520/documents/2016/10/The%20Mass%20On%20The%20World.pdf
Shamatha, Vipashyana, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen, 24 Apr 2016, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Italy
Alan begins the session with a brief introduction to meditation that will follow, instructing us to meditate on the Shamatha method that we find most useful, and not to be worried if the method is advanced or not. We then move to a silent meditation. After meditation, Alan concludes the commentary and the oral transmission of the text 'The Cultivation of Śamatha', by Karma Chagmé (page 23). This section explores the highest stages of Shamatha, including the Form realm and the Formless realm. Alan adds that for a long time, the Indians thought this more rarefied states were the pinnacle, the irreversible freedom. But then came Gautama Buddha and discovered that these high levels of Samadhi were not enough, you were still left in samsara. Later on Alan again warns about the perils of people thinking that they have achieved dhyana, having being told by their “teachers”, without even showing the basic signs and characteristics of each level of dhyana. Alan thinks that this is like giving false medicine and leads people to not move forward on the path. He further comments on Buddhadharma becoming global and not falling on the view of being in a degenerate era that nobody can achieve shamatha or liberation anymore. Those who think that way will naturally be poised not to move in the high stages of the path and, on the other hand, the only people who will reach the path are those who believe that it is possible. On the last ten minutes of the session, we move back to Panchen Rinpoche Text (page 19), on the serenity (shamatha) section. Alan also gives a short comment on the role of beauty in Dharma and being in a pleasant environment and finishes listing the Six Preparatory Practices and conditions that give rise to serenity (available as supplementary resource and listed below). Meditation is silent and not recorded. Note: Six Preparatory Practices
Shamatha, Vipashyana, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen, 17 Apr 2016, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Italy
Alan opens the afternoon session quoting professor Paul Davies and the emphasis that is commonly given in science to search for meaning outside ourselves:
"Whatever strategy is used, searching for ET is still a huge shot in the dark. There may be no intelligent life out there, or even life of any sort. But to not even try would be hugely disappointing. Part of what makes us human is our sense of curiosity and adventure, and even the act of looking is a valuable exercise. As Frank Drake, the astronomer who began SETI on a shoestring budget in 1960, expresses it, SETI is really a search for ourselves, who we are and how we fit into the great cosmic scheme of things.” – Time Magazine, July 23, 2015Inspired by our retreat environment, he reminds us that we should do more like Galileo: if we want to understand a phenomena, then we should look the phenomena itself, and not outside it. That was the approach taken by William James and his emphasis on introspection. Unfortunately, as he points out, the introspection movement died and one of the reasons for it is that people had no means of training attention or introspection. Besides that, even the scientists themselves did not practice. After a short commentary about dealing with impediments in the Shamatha practice, he returns to the topic of objectivity – as of being free of subjective bias – in science. He recalls that this is as important in Buddhism as in science. As in the example above from the SETI project, the point here is that we would need to know (phenomena) objectively, independent of the system of measurement. As far as the study of the mind is concerned from the Buddhist perspective, there is no way to do this objectively, because there is no mind there objectively. Alan explores this topic further in the book The Taboo of Subjectivity. To overcome the problems related to understanding the nature mind, Alan starts drawing on a vision and common practices used for example in the Shamatha Project, like developing a common vocabulary, common observations to then arrive at a "consensual body of Insight", a similar approach to that used by mathematicians. This would be a way to overcome the problem of the subjectivity. Meditation is on Settling the Mind in the Natural State. After meditation, Alan returns to the text by Karma Chagme on shamatha (page 3) and moves back on to explore again the section on the development of paranormal abilities or siddhis by way of shamatha – presented yesterday. Many of these abilities, he states, can be similarly explored in the dream state, the perfect lab for the mind he says. He finishes further exploring the topic of making objective observations about the mind and recalling that all these siddhis described in the text are a form of "technology" (of the dhyānas), and not to be seen as something "supernatural". He adds that this is greatly described in the works of Buddhaghosa. The Podcast ends with a brief celebration for Alan's birthday. Meditation starts at 27:50 ___ Please contribute to make these, and future podcasts freely available.
