Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat

The 'Greats' begin with compassion - the 'Great Compassion' - aspiring to get everybody's head above water, so they survive. It is followed by the 'Great Loving Kindness' - the very meaning of existe…

Our lives are saturated with desire for attainments of both a mundane and spiritual nature. While giving priority to a spiritual desire will aid our enthusiasm to practice, it may ultimately be fruit…

We should ask the simple question: "Why are we suffering at all?" The answer is twofold:
1. We are grasping onto which is not I as being I and that which is not truly mine as being really mine.
2. We…

Tonight we add depth to the practice of settling the mind in its natural state with two further modes of mindfulness: #3 absence of mindfulness, and #4 naturally luminous mindfulness. Alan speaks at …

We're at cruising attitude with settling the mind in its natural state. Tonight not many words about the practice. We're reminded of the metaphors of floating on an air mattress in Tahiti and a falco…

Alan shares his definitions of 'spiritual' and 'religious', and discusses 'Mahakaruna' or 'Great Compassion'. Then, we practice developing this aspiration and intention to help all sentient beings be…

Tonight we finish a set of mindfulness of breathing as we move our attention to focus on the sensations at the apertures of the nostrils. The practice has been explained fully in previous teachings s…

While maybe a specifically monastic theme, its implications are for everyone following this path: "Be satisfied with that what is merely adequate".

Mediation starts at 10:38

When developing loving kindness for the person, we must distinguish between the person and the mental afflictions that give rise to unwholesome behavior. It may even be appropriate to passionately co…

We restart the cycle in our teachings with a return to mindfulness of breathing. This practice has a strong analog with the meditation on loving kindness for oneself from this morning: both help esta…

We start a new cycle in the cultivation of loving kindness for ourselves. Alan emphasizes the significance of bringing a meaningful motivation to the practice.

Meditation starts at 14:29

After the …

Tonight's practice of awareness of awareness gives our sense of spaciousness a workout. Just as it's possible for one to be small-minded, where limited perception causes an imbalance in what we take …

If you bring that equal openness of heart to everyone who comes to mind and everyone who comes into the field of experience, than that will do it for all sentient beings.

Meditation starts at 05:54

Here we allow our favorable and unfavorable perceptions of others to arise, recognize these as fabrications, and then probe beneath them to the common ground from which to view other's desire to be t…

Tonight we begin with a primer on lucid dreaming with techniques from modern oneironaut Stephen LaBerge and dream yoga from the Indo-Tibetan tradition. Then we proceed deeper into the practice of awa…

Taking delight in virtue

Meditation begins 8:50

Awareness of awareness, the simplest of all shamatha practices, requires only the slightest instruction and yet its object can be elusive and indescribable. This evening, we proceed directly into the…