50 Attachment and Compassion

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 the introduction that you attended a retreat with S. N. Goenka, which inspired your devotion to practice. Can you tell us about the sources of Goenka's teachings? Is it based on the four applications of mindfulness? Is it a shamatha practice?