Four Applications Of Mindfulness Retreat 2013 with B. Alan Wallace (part 47)

0:03 This method sometimes taught more elaborately, sometimes as in the case of Tsongkhapa, taught very succinctly of the awareness of awareness as a shamatha method. Report an error in the passage at 0:03 Highlight the passage at 0:03

0:15 It's taught by great adepts from all of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It's taught by Buddha Shakyamuni himself. But two very prominent teachers of this method are Padmasambhava. And this is a book that I translated under the guidance of my teacher, Gyacharya Rinpoche, called Natural Liberation. So the full exposition of it is there, you can find it. Report an error in the passage at 0:15 Highlight the passage at 0:15

0:40 But he makes a very telling comment, I find very inspiring actually. And he said there are two approaches to theory and practice. And one is to first learn the view, the theory, the teaching, the doctrine. And on the basis of that, then go into meditation. So you've been well equipped, well prepared, and then you go into meditation. Report an error in the passage at 0:40 Highlight the passage at 0:40

1:00 So there's one approach. You learn the view first and then meditation. And he's referring very specifically to shamatha. You know it by context. And he said there's another approach and that is first you enter into the meditative state and by way of your meditative experience through shamatha and then what follows from shamatha, from your meditative practice then emerges the view. Report an error in the passage at 1:00 Highlight the passage at 1:00

1:20 So it's from the outside in versus inside out approach. He said between those two approaches, my approach is... The one of inside out, that is meditation first and let the view emerge from your meditation. In other words, that's radically empirical. What else do you call it? It's radically empirical. That doesn't, in any way, he was not discounting the other approach. And the other approach is absolutely typical in scientific training. Report an error in the passage at 1:20 Highlight the passage at 1:20

1:45 And that is not a criticism at all. I'll criticize other things, but not this. I was trained in physics. Well, you learn a lot of physics. You're really hitting the books. And learning about this theory and mathematics and this and this and this. And then you get around to doing the experiments. But you know the experiments are to confirm what you've already been studying. Report an error in the passage at 1:45 Highlight the passage at 1:45

2:02 Because that's what it is to be an undergraduate. Maybe you'll get to original experimentation and research when you're a graduate student. There's nothing wrong with that. But what Padmasambhava was saying, my approach is go right for the experience and let the view emerge from your experience. In other words, you really have a sense of making discoveries yourself and not simply corroborating other people's discoveries. Which, in fact, you are. Report an error in the passage at 2:02 Highlight the passage at 2:02

2:22 But it doesn't feel like it. And then we have this great teacher in the Galupa tradition. So we have the old tradition of Nyingma, started by Padma Zimbabha. We have the new tradition started by Tsongkhapa. And one of the greatest lamas in that tradition is Penchen Urmache. And it's the Penchen Urmache, Penchen Losan Chukki Gyanzen, big name, 17th century. Report an error in the passage at 2:22 Highlight the passage at 2:22

2:41 He was the tutor, the guru of the fifth Dalai Lama, the great fifth, who created the Potala, the great palace and so forth. He was universally... Considered in the Galupa tradition to be one of the great, great scholar, contemplative bodhisattvas, adepts. He also taught this method in his text on Mahamudra. Report an error in the passage at 2:41 Highlight the passage at 2:41

3:01 Classic text and he wrote his own commentary to it. He teaches the same method, slight variation, but the same method. And he said there are two approaches. There's the approach of theory first and then the meditation second. And on the other hand there's meditation first and let the theory emerge from the meditation. And he said my approach is the latter one. Report an error in the passage at 3:01 Highlight the passage at 3:01

3:19 And that is meditation first and theory second. It's quite interesting because hardly any galupas follow that. But he was a galupa, a very good one. And so we know, it's good to know there are options. Even within the galupa tradition, there's not just one galupa way. There is a way where you're really going right for the shamatha, right for meditative experience, and let the view of the nature of the mind, of innate mind of clear light and so forth and so on, let that emerge right out of your experience. Report an error in the passage at 3:19 Highlight the passage at 3:19

3:43 And that's what Pinjana Bacchae taught, that's what Padmas Baba taught. Report an error in the passage at 3:43 Highlight the passage at 3:43

3:49 And so that's what we're doing here. We're taking this approach. We're going to go to the final phase of this practice as taught by Padmasambhava. That'll be our final session for today. That is guided meditation. And as a little preliminary for that, a very short exercise, I'd like to pause. Let me see. Report an error in the passage at 3:49 Highlight the passage at 3:49

4:06 I'm just going to check. Report an error in the passage at 4:06 Highlight the passage at 4:06

4:13 Okay. I'd like to, even though there's a bit of traffic noise out there, don't worry about that. But listen very closely, if you will, behind me, directly in this direction, way back there. Listen very closely, if you can. Way back, it's a long ways back there. Listen if you can hear a very faint sound directly behind me, that direction. Report an error in the passage at 4:13 Highlight the passage at 4:13

4:32 Now let's be very quiet and listen very closely. I won't describe it, just see if you can pick up a very faint sound. Report an error in the passage at 4:32 Highlight the passage at 4:32

4:51 Did you hear a very faint sound? I didn't either. We could have. But when I gave that instruction, if you can follow or not follow as you wish, but when I suggested that, I don't think any of you thought, What's he talking about? How can you do that? You can't do that. No, it was very straightforward. You know exactly what to do, right? No problem. Were you visualizing anything? Like a truck or a bumblebee? Report an error in the passage at 4:51 Highlight the passage at 4:51

5:19 No, why would you? I mean, I didn't tell you what kind of sound. So you wouldn't even know what to visualize. So there probably no visualization. But you weren't listening for a sound right behind my head, were you? Because I said it's way back there. So you're directing your attention way back in the space, the auditory space, way behind me. Report an error in the passage at 5:19 Highlight the passage at 5:19

5:36 And it was just kind of like an open feeler. Picking up anything, he didn't tell me what kind of sound, he just said it's faint. So maybe some of you heard something. Why not? You could have. And others like me didn't really. But we all did something. And none of us had any perplexity about how to do it. Report an error in the passage at 5:36 Highlight the passage at 5:36

5:54 It did not entail visualization. It did entail directing attention far away. And in a particular domain, I wasn't saying, try to pick up some smell behind me. Report an error in the passage at 5:54 Highlight the passage at 5:54

6:06 It's a sound. And so analogously, we're about to do a practice in which I'll invite you, following the teachings of Padmasambhava, to direct your attention straight up into space. Not into auditory field, you're not feeling for some sound up there, but just direct your attention, your mental awareness, directly up into space in front of you, as far as you can go, but not visualizing anything, just launch it up there like a rocket, open, but with no object, but far up. Report an error in the passage at 6:06 Highlight the passage at 6:06

6:35 And then we'll go to the right, we'll go to the left, and so on. But it's in that mode. It's in that mode. We're directing afar, way up, into a space, but we don't have to visualize something. Just direct it way up, like that. And so, because people say, but how do you do it? How do you do it? Well, you already did it. You already did it. When you were directing your attention way behind me, in an auditory space, you had no problem doing that at all. Report an error in the passage at 6:35 Highlight the passage at 6:35

7:02 And then you knew, whether you heard something or didn't, some distant sound. Which is interesting, because of course the sound is arising independent upon your auditory cortex. If you did hear a sound, it wasn't coming to you from a long, it wasn't, here I come, here I come, here I come, here I come. It was just sound waves, right? And so the sound is actually generated locally, independent upon auditory cortex. Report an error in the passage at 7:02 Highlight the passage at 7:02

7:23 But it's a wonderful thing about the brain and mind. We actually know whether a sound is coming from a distant place or nearby. Quite cool. So let's do this practice. Please find a comfortable position and we will explore the space of the mind and how big it is. The Report an error in the passage at 7:23 Highlight the passage at 7:23

8:07 brighter, the more vivid, the more acute we would like our attention to be, the more deeply we should relax. So set your body, speech and mind at ease, relaxed, loose and yet clear. Report an error in the passage at 8:07 Highlight the passage at 8:07

8:25 Settle all in the natural state and for just a couple of minutes calm the discursive mind with mindfulness of breathing. Report an error in the passage at 8:25 Highlight the passage at 8:25

· · · silence, 2 minutes

10:06 And now let your eyes be at least partially open. But simply rest your awareness in space without even looking at space. Just be present, totally loose, resting in the present moment with no object. Report an error in the passage at 10:06 Highlight the passage at 10:06

· · · silence, 1 minute

11:19 And now direct your attention, your mental awareness up into the space, directly above your head, Report an error in the passage at 11:19 Highlight the passage at 11:19

11:31 as far as your mind can reach, with no object. Report an error in the passage at 11:31 Highlight the passage at 11:31

· · · silence, 1 minute

12:10 And then rest. Let your awareness rest right where it is, without extension, without effort. Resting in its own place, either inside or outside. Report an error in the passage at 12:10 Highlight the passage at 12:10

12:25 Simply present. Report an error in the passage at 12:25 Highlight the passage at 12:25

· · · silence, 1 minute

13:11 And now direct your mental awareness way out into the space to your right, as far as your awareness can reach, Report an error in the passage at 13:11 Highlight the passage at 13:11

13:21 while sustaining the flow of awareness of awareness itself. Report an error in the passage at 13:21 Highlight the passage at 13:21

· · · silence, 1 minute

14:19 And then let your awareness come to rest again, effortlessly. Report an error in the passage at 14:19 Highlight the passage at 14:19

· · · silence, 1 minute

15:19 And direct your awareness way out to the left, into deep space. No need to visualize, just send it out there without an object. Report an error in the passage at 15:19 Highlight the passage at 15:19

· · · silence, 1 minute

16:57 And then relax, resting in its own place. Report an error in the passage at 16:57 Highlight the passage at 16:57

· · · silence, 2 minutes

18:45 Then send your awareness downwards. It's not into the earth element, not into the earth of course, but into the space of the mind, directly beneath you as far as your attention can reach. Report an error in the passage at 18:45 Highlight the passage at 18:45

· · · silence, 2 minutes

21:17 Awareness once again resting in its own place, utterly at ease, naturally luminous. Report an error in the passage at 21:17 Highlight the passage at 21:17

· · · silence, 1 minute

22:24 Now let your eyes close, and insofar as you have a sense of your awareness, your mental awareness being located inside your head, some of you may have that sense, some may not, Report an error in the passage at 22:24 Highlight the passage at 22:24

22:43 but insofar as that habit still persists, Now see if you can so deeply relax, so let go of all grasping, that it's as if you step into an elevator and you descend from your head right down to your heart. Report an error in the passage at 22:43 Highlight the passage at 22:43

23:08 So let your awareness, the locus of your awareness, Report an error in the passage at 23:08 Highlight the passage at 23:08

23:15 descend to the center of your chest, the heart chakra, and be present there. It Report an error in the passage at 23:15 Highlight the passage at 23:15

23:23 comes not by effort, not by visualization, by utterly letting go and letting your awareness descend. Report an error in the passage at 23:23 Highlight the passage at 23:23

· · · silence, 1 minute

24:43 Relax once again. Just let your awareness be where it is, without moving, without putting it anyplace or directing it to anything. Report an error in the passage at 24:43 Highlight the passage at 24:43

· · · silence, 1 minute

25:53 And once again let your eyes be at least partially open, but again not focusing on any visual object or even visual space. Report an error in the passage at 25:53 Highlight the passage at 25:53

26:09 And now simply release your awareness into the space of the mind with no object. Utterly release, totally relax, while ever so gently sustaining the flow of awareness of awareness. Let Report an error in the passage at 26:09 Highlight the passage at 26:09

· · · silence, 1 minute

27:05 your awareness of that awareness be co-extensive. Totally permeate the space in which you release your awareness. Again, not taking space as an object, but simply releasing your awareness into that space. Report an error in the passage at 27:05 Highlight the passage at 27:05

· · · silence, 1 minute

28:35 Whatever thoughts arise, just let them naturally release of themselves without doing anything to them or about them, without letting them catch your attention. Report an error in the passage at 28:35 Highlight the passage at 28:35

28:45 Just like cloud formations that come and dissolve of their own accord, Report an error in the passage at 28:45 Highlight the passage at 28:45

28:52 let the thoughts come and go as you remain in space. Report an error in the passage at 28:52 Highlight the passage at 28:52