Spring 2011 Shamatha Retreat

This afternoon's teaching is presented by Michelle Seaver, guest teacher and student of Alan Wallace, while Alan is out of town for 24 hours. Alan will return to his regular teaching during the next podcast. Michelle Seaver attended one of the first 100-day shamatha retreats with Alan, continued on in a private 18-month retreat, and is now responsible for bringing mindfulness-based education to the Phuket International Academy School (currently K-8, with plans to be PreK-12). The guided meditation is on the practice of empathetic joy, the first phase, focusing on the effusion of empathetic joy and gratitude, first for oneself, and then out to others. The guided meditation begins at 0:38 in the recording. Michelle then answers this question: During the mindfulness of breathing practice, I find it easy to maintain a balance of relaxation, stability, and vividness. However, during the practices of settling the mind and awareness of awareness, I find it easy to be distracted and lose by balance. How should I

This morning's teaching is presented by Michelle Seaver, guest teacher and student of Alan Wallace, while Alan is out of town for 24 hours. Alan will return to his regular teaching schedule Saturday morning. Michelle Seaver attended one of the first 100-day shamatha retreats with Alan, continued on in a private 18-month retreat, and is now responsible for bringing mindfulness-based education to the Phuket International Academy School (currently K-8, with plans to be PreK-12). The guided meditation is on awareness of awareness, focusing on the process of inverting awareness upon itself and then releasing this awareness into space. Editor's Note: The first 90 seconds of the guided meditation are missing due to a recording error. During this time, an emphasis was placed on settling the body in its natural state, allowing the breath to be uncontrived and relaxing in this state.

Today's teaching is presented by Michelle Seaver, guest teacher and student of Alan Wallace, while Alan is out of town for 24 hours. Alan will return to his regular teaching schedule Saturday morning. Michelle Seaver attended one of the first 100-day shamatha retreats with Alan, continued on in a private 18-month retreat, and is now responsible for bringing mindfulness-based education to the Phuket International Academy School (currently K-8, with plans to be PreK-12). The guided meditation is on compassion at the deepest level - the aspiration to be free of suffering caused by grasping. The meditation begins at 1:00 in the recording. Following the guided meditation, Michelle and Nick Seaver, her husband and CEO of the Phuket International Academy who also attended one of Alan's first 100-day shamatha retreats and followed it with an 18-month retreat, field these questions from the group: 1. Can you tell us about your experience on a long-term shamatha retreat? 2. About the meditation on awareness of awa

We explore the practice that Alan Wallace considers analogous in terms of understanding the mind to the telescope in terms of understanding what is in the heavens. We will focus on the relative dharmadatu, or the domain in which mental events take place, with mental consciousness, working towards refining this consciousness. Guided meditation begins at 7:50 in the recording.

Alan Wallace guides us in a 24-minute meditation on compassion, furthering this aspiration to recognize a deeper dimension of suffering -- the suffering of change. This type of suffering is brought about by attachment and craving. The meditation begins at 17:45 in the recording and is followed by a brief, silent meditation. Alan then speaks freely for a short while and then answers these questions: 1. What are the minimum requirements to teach shamatha? 2. At what point is the secularization of Buddhism skillful and useful? 3. When you say that craving is always a seed of suffering, and I look at my own experience to examine this statement, while it is true often, sometimes it is not true. Can you help explain this?

During this 24-minute guided meditation, Alan guides us in the practice of settling the mind in its natural state, beginning with the space of the body and moving to the space of the mind. The guided meditation begins at 10:10.

Alan Wallace guides a 24-minute meditation on compassion, asking the question, "How can we be free from suffering?" He teaches the use of a visualization of a radiant orb of light at one's heart, metaphorically representing one's own Buddhanature, into which one draws in one's own or others' suffering, and then observes its incineration in the blazing brilliance of the orb of light. The guided meditation begins at 19:40. After the meditation, Alan speaks freely for a while, then answers the following two questions: 1. After hearing your story about the yogi who was totally supported in his pursuit of dharma, despite having no financial resources of his own, I am curious about the circumstances in which students of yours have been able to go into solitary retreat. How does one live a life of solitude in retreat? 2. What is really happening in the practice we did today? Does it have any measurable effect outside of my mind? How do thoughts, feelings, and aspiration differ in their effects?

In this 24-minute guided meditation, Alan Wallace teaches us to view our own minds, including the whole space of the mind and all of the events that arise within that, from the perspective of the substrate consciousness, as opposed to observing the conceptual mind from the perspective of the conceptual mind.

In this 24-minute guided meditation on loving-kindness, Alan Wallace focuses on sending this aspiration spatially, or through space in all directions, beginning with ourselves, and then out to those physically closest to us, and then further and further away. After the 24-minute meditation, a silent 10-minute meditation is shared by the group. Alan then answers the following question: If the substrate mind dissolves into rigpa -- which is non-conceptual -- how is the continuity of consciousness maintained through the bardo, etc., if the continuity is conceptual? Editor's Note: A brief (2-second) pause occurs in the beginning of the recording, due to a recording disk error.

Alan Wallace guides a 24-minute meditation on mindfulness of breathing, focusing on the balance between increasing vividness and maintaining the stability of the mind, also without the loss of relaxation.

Alan Wallace guides a 24-minute meditation on loving-kindness, first for oneself, and then ultimately in all directions without barriers. He discusses the catalyst for the aspiration of loving-kindness and the importance of living a life of virtue. He then answers the following questions from the group: 1. While doing awareness of awareness practice, I don't see a difference between awareness and mind. What is the relationship between awareness and mind? 2. Is it possible to achieve shamatha with the four immeasurable practices? 3. In Dudjom Lingpa's "Vajra Essence", there is a shamatha practice in which you visualize a bindu at the heart center. Can you talk about that?

This 24-minute guided meditation on mindfulness of breathing focuses on the tactile sensation of the breath in the abdomen, balancing stability and relaxation.

The immeasurable of loving-kindness is guided through a 24-minute meditation which focuses on envisioning the causes and conditions for one's own happiness, achieving this happiness, and then sharing this happiness with others. Alan then answers the following questions: 1. How do we decide what length breaks to take between sessions? Also, I am getting sleepy after a few sessions - am I doing it wrong? 2. How do you say awareness in Tibetan? 3. When settling the mind in its natural state, where is awareness when I am thinking? 4. Is it possible to think without awareness? 5. A comment on diet and vegetarianism. 6. I noticed that when practicing the stretching exercise during awareness of awareness, I sensed my whole energetic body was stretching out. What was that? 7. What are your reasons for not using a Buddha image [a visualization practice] as a focus for meditation? 8. Please point out if and how agitation [excitation] and dullness [laxity] differ for the three shamatha practices. 9. In so far

We return to the beginning of our 10-day cycle, starting again with mindfulness of breathing. Going to what Alan Wallace refers to as 'the infirmary,' this 24-minute guided meditation on the breath encourages deep relaxation and a gentle but attentive letting go.

In this afternoon session, Alan Wallace guides a 24-minute meditation on equanimity, focusing on the expression of equanimity for oneself and other sentient beings, including a dear friend, neutral person, and enemy. During the following question and answer period, Alan answers these questions: 1. What is the thing shooting out of the head of the Buddhas here? 2. When doing shamatha without a sign I tend to tense up and close my eyes. How can I release this tension? 3. Regarding the four applications of mindfulness, how do they vary among the different schools of Buddhism? 4. On what basis should I choose my main practice for the retreat? 5. Should loving-kindness practice lead us to be vegetarians? 6. What is happening with the energies in the body during shamatha, and what types of natural healing take place? 7. During the meditation of settling the mind, we are supposed to meditate without distraction and attachment -- but why not without aversion? 8. In awareness of awareness practice, is the po

In this morning session, Alan Wallace guides us in a 24-mintute meditation on shamatha without a sign, or awareness of awareness, focusing on stretching this awareness in different directions: left, right, up, down, and to the heart center.

Alan Wallace teaches on the immeasurable of equanimity, or uppekha, focusing on a Theravaden perspective. This can be described as even-mindedness or emotional equilibrium. During the following question and answer period, Alan answers these questions: 1. When and how should I begin to lengthen my meditation sessions? 2. Sometimes I seem to make progress in my practice, but almost inevitably what follows this is a fresh wave of distractions. Is this something in the early stages of shamatha practice? Why does this happen? 3. I am having trouble sleeping through the night while on retreat - how to deal with this challenge? 4. During awareness of awareness practice, I find that while inverting awareness I create a subtle tension in my mind. How can I release this tension? 5. Must I first achieve shamatha before moving on to vipassana or other practices? 6. When I'm practicing awareness of awareness, my awareness is going out to some space in front of me... 7. Can you speak about the differences and simil

In this morning session, Alan Wallace guides a 24-minute session of shamatha without a sign, or the awareness of awareness. During the introduction, he speaks about the clear light of death, the bardos, and the clear light of conception.

In this afternoon session, Alan Wallace guides us in a 24-minute meditation on mudita, or empathetic joy, from the perspective of mudita as an aspiration that all sentient beings never be parted from happiness free of suffering. During the following question and answer, Alan addresses these questions: 1. I wonder why the monks at the dharma center where I teach a version of shamatha do not come to my teachings. 2. How has the Shamatha Project study been received by the scientific community? 3. Where to from here, now that the Shamatha Project is over? 4. What is the definition of sentient beings?

In this morning session, Alan Wallace guides a 24-minute meditation on shamatha without a sign, focusing on probing into the nature of the mind and looking for the referent of the mind.