Spring 2011 Shamatha Retreat

Today's session begins with an inspiring and lucid twenty-minute dharma talk about the four noble truths, particularly the first three noble truths. This is followed by a guided meditation on the immeasurable of compassion, focusing on the suffering of change because of attachment to the way things are or are not. The guided meditation begins at 21:45 in the recording. Alan then answers these questions from the group: 1. In "The Attention Revolution" in chapter 7, you talk about, when settling the mind, looking at craving, hostility and delusion, and being able to see the bliss, luminosity, and non-conceptuality underlying those things. I don't know how to do that. 2. How should I use a dream journal when I'm waking up throughout the night and remembering dreams - as well as in the morning when I am supposed to keep still and relax back into the dream? 3. In your teachings, you often cite your source for a particular idea or practice. In the book "Destructive Emotions" by Daniel Goleman, Goleman says in