← B. Alan Wallace

Transform Your Mind & Change Your Life Retreat - 7-Point Mind Training from Atisha (part 6)

B. Alan Wallace · 1 h 3 min · Vajrayana Institute via Internet Archive

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  • 1:37

    And so the term maitri in Sanskrit, maitri, or mettā in Pāli, you may be more familiar with, which we commonly translate, and I think it's very well translated as loving kindness, is an aspiration. So first of all, unlike love, which many people would say is an emotion, or feeling, or something like that, In the Buddha Dharma, this term Maitri is not an emotion. It's not to say that it's devoid of emotion. There's no feeling associated with it. But loving kindness is an aspiration.

  • 4:02

    May it be so. May you find such happiness and well-being and the causes. Then compassion is just the flip side of the same coin. Compassion also in Buddhism is not an emotion. It's more than sympathy, more than empathy. It is not a feeling or emotion. It too is an aspiration. It's very simple. May we, may you, may I, may we all be free of suffering and the causes of suffering. And so it's an aspiration.

  • 19:11

    And so this Westerner was telling the Dalai Lama this, that it seems like the age of realization is finished. And the Dalai Lama's response was a one-liner, or maybe it's two. He said, well, what you're saying is true, these are very degenerate times. However... If nowadays people practice like Milarepa, they will realize like Milarepa.

  • 29:10

    It's just crude thinking. And so we can spur them in action to take a fresh look at the mind and introduce rigorous Sophisticated ways of investigating the mind itself and not limiting ourselves to studying brain and behavior. So among others, the Buddhists may come and help the scientists be better scientists. Not convert them to Buddhism. That's never in my mind. If they want to convert, that's their business. But that's not why I engaged in all these dialogues and written so many books on Buddhism and science, but to get them to be more scientific and question their own assumptions.

  • 32:55

    With your insights, with what you've shared with us, do you have people who have achieved stage of generation? Who have achieved shamatha? Who have achieved profound insight into the four applications of mindfulness? Do you have such people? Because we, then they would be your scientists, and we have our scientists, and we'd like to bring our scientists with your scientists. But this is not just people who can talk the good talk. This is people who actually know what they're talking about, from their own experience. And many scientists like him do.

0:11 So we have about 45 minutes until the formal end of the session, according to the schedule. But there's no law saying we have to stay here. But I think I would like to not give any more Dharma talk for the day. I have something to start with this afternoon. So anything you'd like to discuss? I'm here at your service. Okay, that's no dirt. I thought maybe I'd get off. Report an error

0:34 So please. And we don't have a massive number of people here, so I will try to learn as many names as I can. I'm a bit slow on names. But if you could just tell me, each of you, your first name, I'll do my best to remember it. Probably need to hear it two or three times. But we'll start here. Start here. Yeah. Chris Ma. Hi, Chris. I just wanted to know about, you know when you do meditation, like that, compassion or loving kindness for others, I'm not quite sure what the difference is between those in terms of the... Report an error

1:03 felt sense I have, or how I think about that meditation I'm doing, both loving kindness or compassion for themselves there. Yeah, what a lovely question. This will come up a bit more explicitly, so I will return to this later on when we come to relative bodhicitta. Report an error

1:23 But there's a very simple distinction. And it's good to know precisely what the terms mean, because if we don't, then if the words are wrong, the concepts will be wrong, if the concepts will be wrong, it's kind of like we go off in a different direction. And so the term maitri in Sanskrit, maitri, or mettā in Pāli, you may be more familiar with, which we commonly translate, and I think it's very well translated as loving kindness, is an aspiration. Report an error

1:50 So first of all, unlike love, which many people would say is an emotion, or feeling, or something like that, In the Buddha Dharma, this term Maitri is not an emotion. It's not to say that it's devoid of emotion. There's no feeling associated with it. But loving kindness is an aspiration. It's a wish. And it's inclusive. So this is very clear in the Pāli Canon, in the Theravāda tradition. The loving kindness starts at home, developing a loving, caring, affectionate view, a way of viewing ourselves. Report an error

2:20 So wishing ourselves well, and it is aspiration, self-directed. May I be well and happy? Or more specifically, may I find happiness and cultivate the causes of happiness? So it's looking at both the cause and the fruition. But then, of course, it starts in the classical tradition in Theravāda. It starts with oneself and then extends out gently to where it's easiest. Report an error

2:42 So for many Tibetans, frankly, as I've lived with them for years, the whole notion of having an affectionate and accepting a warm feeling towards oneself is very normal. And the notion of low self-esteem, self-contempt, self-hatred and all of that seemed to have been extremely rare to the point of vanishingly so, according to conversations I had with the Dalai Lama and I was participating in years ago. Report an error

3:11 And so it's all the more important for people the likes of us for whom these terms were very familiar with the terms. We cultivate it towards the self, towards loved ones, where it's very easy, ones that people are very dear to already. Report an error

3:24 Attending to them with aspiration, may you find happiness in the causes of happiness. And then the whole idea here, the core essential instruction or theme of it, is to break down the barriers. So that we break down the barriers in terms of the people that we truly care about, for whom we have affection and loving kindness, then other people for whom we may feel rather indifference, and then other people out there in the periphery who have worked against us, they're out there maybe, they feel... Report an error

3:53 Maybe have very negative feelings about us and so forth. So it has this positive valence. I don't want to run on too much. A positive valence. It is aspiring for something. May it be so. May you find such happiness and well-being and the causes. Then compassion is just the flip side of the same coin. Compassion also in Buddhism is not an emotion. Report an error

4:14 It's more than sympathy, more than empathy. It is not a feeling or emotion. It too is an aspiration. It's very simple. May we, may you, may I, may we all be free of suffering and the causes of suffering. And so it's an aspiration. And so these both stem from the same root. And it's what the Dalai Lama once commented on as being our most fundamental impulse. Report an error

4:38 I thought it was a very interesting but a very simple insight that he was expressing. I never heard from anybody before him. It was back in 1990. He made a deep impression on me. And he said our most fundamental impulse. It's not survival. It's not libido. It's not death wish. It's not competition. It's caring. Report an error

5:00 Caring. He felt that was the deepest. And we care about, I would say, so that's what he said. And here's my commentary. That we care about ourselves and everyone we identify with. Report an error

5:14 And if there are those that we don't identify with, then the flow of caring kind of melts into the sand. If we just feel a total radical alien-ness. Like I feel, for example, I feel no caring. I have no love or compassion or any kind of caring at all in terms of I wish you well towards a cell phone. I mean, it's just a thing and I'm taking care of it so I can use it more. I have what Martin Wilber called an I-it relationship with my cell phone. I'm a person, you're not. Report an error

5:44 So I'm going to take care of you, but only because it helps me and the people I might be able to help with the phone, but that's it. So if you expect any sympathy, forget it. Not happening, Siri. I don't care about you at all. There's nobody there, right? And so I don't identify with the cell phone as someone's looking back. Report an error

6:01 But when I look at dogs, I do. I was raised with dogs. I always had dogs. So dogs have joy, they have sorrow. I was a very avid bird watcher for a long time. I relate to, identify with birds. And so for anyone we identify with, a sense of caring will come up. But I don't really, again, robots, computers, toothbrushes, cell phones and so forth, there's no sense of caring in that way. Report an error

6:28 And so caring when it has the positive valence, something positive, then may you find happiness, may you find the satisfaction, the joy, the well-being that you seek. And may you find the causes that lead to that. And then we attend and recognize, well, actually this is a notion of suffering here. There's a lot of suffering to which we're vulnerable. Report an error

6:47 And that's just the flip side. But it's kind of like one stem comes up and bifurcates in two branches as compassion, loving kindness, the twin. Report an error

6:58 We'll return to it. Yes. So there were at least two other hands up. Yes, please. We'll go here first, to the right. No, go ahead. You're on the left-hand side. We'll go back. There'll be time for both for sure. Report an error

7:18 Your name is? Mark. Mark, okay. Maybe just the first name I have a better chance of remembering. Mark, hi. The discussion on the public is this afternoon. Thank you. It really provoked a lot of emotion for me and a great sense of urgency. The comments that you made about the 20th century being the worst ever for the Buddha Dalai and the 21st century which is in a pretty bad situation now. Report an error

7:45 I was wondering if you could comment on where we're at time-wise with that sense of urgency and we're 500 years into the third age. I just missed that phrase. Oh, right, right. Indeed. I miss that also. Report an error

8:20 Yeah, I think we should be concerned. I wouldn't be worried. I think, at one stage, I think I've heard I don't appreciate your comment that we only have like 300 years left. What's, know, get the urgency out there. Where are I'm already married. Yeah. Report an error

8:27 But concerned, yes. Where are we? Report an error

8:35 Well, I look at it on two different levels. And that is on the coarse macro level, what you can read about every day in the newspaper, or if you go for looking at the current situation, for example in Tibet, there's really not much good. Except it's good for the people who are invading, occupying, exploiting the country and treating Tibetans as second-class citizens. So it's good for them. Report an error

8:28 right. Report an error

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8:59 It's just one more place to make money. But the Tibetan people itself over the last, well, frankly, since 1950, when they were first invaded, there's not much good news. I mean, there's almost like none. So it looks pretty bleak. So on the coarse level, the macro level, the bulky level, in so many ways, it looks like we're just digging ourselves a deeper and deeper hole. Report an error

9:24 And in so many ways, and then within this larger framework. The global economy, the global ecosphere and all of that kind of issue. It's looking grim. It's looking like we're definitely slipping down, down, down. Report an error

9:41 And for Buddhadharma also, very tough, very tough. In so many ways. On the macro level. And then on the micro level. I'm specific, finding a little community here, a person there and a person there. And it starts up, and as you look, you find more and more micro of individuals here, individuals there, things that are unprecedented, that are magnificent. Report an error

10:06 If we broaden back out of Buddhadharma and just look more broadly speaking at spiritual traditions worldwide, they have a pretty grim history of how they related to each other. It was by and large, because I'm a little bit of a religious studies scholar, either ignore each other, exploit each other, convert each other or annihilate each other. Report an error

10:27 Pretty much that. So ignore, okay, we'll live side by side, but you don't bug me, I don't bug you, and then we'll have peaceful coexistence by ignoring each other. Or you're a potential convert. Or I'll just try to subjugate you so you know your place. Or maybe I can just kill you. And then my life has become a lot similar. Report an error

10:48 So those are the four modes. And you look at the history of religion overall, how they relate to each other, and even sects within religions. It's often that way. That's pretty much the name of the game. And now in the 20th century, we've had, I think, unprecedented ecumenical movements by people at the top, people like the Dalai Lama, meeting with Muslims and Jews and listening, and meeting with Christians and listening and learning, and meeting with Hindus and listening. Report an error

11:18 And he's not the only one. If he was the only one, I would just say, well, our hope is placed in one man. But you read so many of the statements by the current Pope, and pretty much whenever I read something by him, it just makes my heart filled with joy. There's so much goodness there, so much openness there. And he's the head of the whole church. Hallelujah. Really. Praise the Lord. And we see this, you know, I find this among Jewish communities. Report an error

11:42 I find it in some... Wonderful, I mean, I heard the King of Jordan speak before the European Parliament, the King of Jordan. It was one of the best Dharma talks I've ever heard in my life. And he was speaking, of course, as a devout Muslim. And he was just articulating, as far as I know, general, not the deepest insights of Sufi tradition, which I think are quite awesome. Report an error

12:03 But I don't think he is a Sufi, but he's a very devout Muslim. And speaking and just highlighting the splendors of his own tradition. And I thought, boy, if all Muslims were like you, we'd just be all living in harmony. There'd be no war anywhere. I was so impressed. And Jordan itself is taking 1.5 million Syrian refugees. Report an error

12:24 And they're a little bitty country. He commented on this and said, it would be like France absorbing the entire population of Belgium. Yeah. And it's awesome. But the way he spoke of other religions also, that mutual respect, that we can learn from each other and so forth. I said, whoa, you know. And so this, even though it's a kind of small fraction, nevertheless Christians, I've led multiple workshops with Lawrence Freeman, one of my dearest Dharma friends, Benedictine monk. Report an error

12:54 We always come with mutual respect, we always come with a sense of learning from each other, which is two people, nothing special there. But it's happening here and there, these points of light of people who are very devoted to their own spiritual traditions, coming together with others to learn from each other, to share with each other, you know? Report an error

13:12 That just hasn't happened much throughout history. And it's happening recently. That's really very promising. And then if we look at the much more recent tendency between religion and science, religion and science. I mean, it kind of started with Copernicus, who was afraid to publish his work until after he was dead. He would not let his works, his heliocentric theory with the mathematics behind it. Report an error

13:36 He was petrified. That if he published it while he was still alive, he could be excommunicated and then burned. And that means burned for hell. He's in hell forever, according to excommunication. They didn't want to risk it. He made sure he died first, so they couldn't get at him. And then he allowed his work to be published. He was terrible. Report an error

13:55 It was the Inquisition. Very tough time. Report an error

14:01 Galileo got off relatively lightly. He was just told, go to your room and stay there. Really, it was. It was exactly what it was, house arrest. So that was kind of a slap on the hands. But since then, generally speaking, between science and the nearest religion, which is Christianity, it's been uneasy. Report an error

14:19 And it looks like one's winning and is winning, winning more and more and more. The other one's being discredited more and more. But then this creates a backlash from the hardcore conservative religious fundamentalists. And they come out and then just want to push science back into the ocean. Really. Report an error

14:36 And as I mentioned, I think before, that 42 % of Americans believe the universe was created less than 10,000 years ago. And they throw Darwin out the window and say, who needs that bozo? They just throw it out lock, stock and barrel and think that dinosaurs and human beings coexist at the same time. You know, like the Flintstones. Your pet dinosaur. Report an error

14:58 And these are not unintelligent people. If they're all retarded, then one would simply have sympathy for them. A lot of them are very educated, and this is the backlash. So that's on the bulky level. But then, that's the bulky level. They seem at odds with each other, and they either ignore each other. So the scientists, not scientists, because 40 % of American scientists believe in God, who listen to prayers. Report an error

15:26 That doesn't come up in the press much. But that's according to Scientific American. 40%. And it hasn't changed over the last century. Which one would think it would have, but it hasn't. But they don't hit the press. What comes in the press is always materialistic science, virtually every single time, which would suggest that all the scientists are materialists, atheists and anti-religious. Report an error

15:48 And that's just not true at all. But that's how they appear in the popular media. But so it's generally between science and religion. Okay, we can just ignore each other. So the fundamentalists go into their corner and the materialists go into their corner. And they were just going to don't look in that direction. Or it's like, you know, the religion bashers, you know, I don't even need to mention names, but, you know, the scientific side come out and just kind of try to beat the pulp out of religion. Report an error

16:18 And then we get to religious beating the pulp out of, like, so then it's aggression. Then it's convert. Convert or subjugate or annihilate. And so that's what's going on there on the bulky level to a very large extent. But then we see again and again, and the Dalai Lama is really again kind of very prominent here, but scientists also, I mean it's hundreds of them now, coming to learn not only what happens in the brain and behavior when people meditate, but really trying to understand meditation. Report an error

16:49 And listening to people like Dalai Lama, listening to other deeply spiritual people. And then we have deeply religious people learning from science and trying to learn from each other so that science is imbued with more value, more ethics, more compassion. The theme of eudaimonia, which has generally been owned by the religious and the philosophical, that's coming into positive psychology. Report an error

17:15 But then... The Dalai Lama was very keen to get Paul Ackman's map of emotions to enrich Buddhist understanding of the mind drawing from Western sources. So this interface, this very constructive, mutually respective, collaborative type of engagement between very, very competent scientists and people who really know their Dharma well, whether it's Hindu, Buddhist or whatever it may be, this is unprecedented. Report an error

17:41 This is unprecedented. But I'll make a final, final note on this. I think it's one of the most important to me. And that is, it was about 1973 or so that a Westerner, and I didn't know him very well. I think he was German. And I heard this from him, so I wasn't there for the conversation, but it was a German fellow. We were all young back then, like 23, 24. Report an error

18:04 Very narrow bandwidth of age. 30 was over the hill. We were all kind of more mid-20s or late teens. But this fellow was in her early 20s. He had an audience with His Holiness. And I can't remember his name now, but I didn't know him very well. But he had an audience. He told me what came up. And he raised this issue with His Holiness. And Your Holiness, well, we're living in such degenerate times in so many ways, ethically, morally. Report an error

18:32 Economy, environmentally and so forth. This was already true back in 1973. And he commented, knowing the timeline, the 500 years and all of that, and after 2,500 years, this kind of theme, he said, well, and this Western, this German guy, said, well, it seems like things are so degenerate now, probably, it's impossible to get any real realization anymore. Report an error

18:53 And I've heard that stated by a number of Buddhists. You know, the age of realization is finished. Now the most you can hope for is, well, try to learn Dharma well, be ethical, be good, and then pass it on, you know, pass it on. But don't think that you can actually gain profound realization. And so this Westerner was telling the Dalai Lama this, that it seems like the age of realization is finished. And the Dalai Lama's response was a one-liner, or maybe it's two. Report an error

19:22 He said, well, what you're saying is true, these are very degenerate times. However... If nowadays people practice like Milarepa, they will realize like Milarepa. Report an error

19:35 So I took that to heart. I heard that a long time ago, and I've taken that heart ever since, that the mere fact that other people around one, or society at large, or this group, that group, are degenerate, that doesn't mean that any one of us individually has to be degenerate. The Dalai Lama is not degenerate. Report an error

19:55 And Dingo Kensei Rinpoche wasn't degenerate. So I was like Kensei Rinpoche. I just read an article by him. Outstanding. Really clear. Incisive. He's a fine teacher. And then I can just go on and on and on. A list of people who are teachers or they're practitioners. A Westerner I always love to mention is Jetsu Matenzenpamo. Report an error

20:13 She's a Westerner. Oh, she's radiant. I know her rather well. I have only deep respect for her. And whether she's an English woman or a Bhutanese or Tibetan makes no difference to me. But it's kind of cool she's English, because she's so straight, such a fine practitioner. And there are others, she's not the only one. But here's one point that I think also comes up in my mind a lot. And that is, we as human beings, it's very easy for us to be complacent, to kind of settle into our routine. Report an error

20:46 And mental routines as well, to take our assumptions as true and to kind of believe like the people around us. It's just a natural thing. Report an error

20:56 And so in science this can happen, where the views of belief, the assumptions of materialism, for example, come in. And the people you meet with in the laboratory and on campus, they're all singing that song. And they're not even questioning it. Not even questioning it. Well, after all, all my friends believe, and that's what they write in their articles and so forth, that the mind is the brain, and the only real evidence is physical evidence, and the universe is kind of physical nature, and so forth. Report an error

21:28 And then never even getting around to questioning that, or questioning any of the anomalies that are completely left unexplained within the materialist paradigm. And so when nobody around you is asking the question, there's no funding for pursuing the question. Nobody's encouraging you to question, so it's more like a fundamentalist church, where you just kind of go through the motions and you do everything within that paradigm, where all the money is, but you never question the paradigm itself. Report an error

21:55 It's very easy, because they're human beings. And now, coming over wearing my Buddhist Dharma robes here, it's easy for Buddhists, especially when you have very strong faith, if you've met and come to appreciate people of the stature of the Dalai Lama. Or other fine teachers out there teaching nowadays, outstanding, you know, that one can be filled with such reverence, such faith and admiration. Report an error

22:23 And then we look back at the past of Tsongkhapa, Padmasambhava, Lama Mipama Rinpoche, Sakya Pandita, Sakya Pandita. So really, if you start studying their lives and their works and you really go into it, the amount of appreciation, of reverence and awe can rise. It can be kind of overwhelming, like, whoa, I'm looking at the peaks of the MLA is here, and I'm here a little anthill. And so then it can give rise to another kind of complacency. Report an error

22:51 They hang out with Buddhists, and we all simply accept, well, you know, there's reincarnation, there's karma, and the great beings of the past achieved Shama, Devipassana preceded. Of course, we schmucks nowadays probably can't do that, but at least we can really admire the great ones, and we can just fall into complacency. Report an error

23:09 And never consider maybe we can actually do that now. And if we don't do it, who are we expecting to do that? The young tukus? You know Tibetan tukus? My wife sent me this article just a couple of days ago. He was pretty intense about raising a generation of spoiled brats that are called tukus by treating them like little Lord Fontlorois and surrounding them with luxury. Report an error

23:36 And pampering them and treating them like His Holiness, His Holiness. And as an eight-year-old kid, he said the Christians would start laughing at us. They have a pope they call His Holiness and he's a really truly holy man. So calling Him His Holiness, why not? He's really quite an extraordinary individual it seems. But turning to an eight-year-old, and I don't care what eight-year-old, and you're saying His Holiness is His Holiness. Really? Report an error

23:59 So he was very critical there. And so it's easy on both sides. Pointing up two communities here, the scientific community, there are obviously many others, but the Buddhist community, the one I care much about, it's very easy to fall into complacency and to not questioning, doing exactly the opposite of what the Buddha said, do not accept my teachings out of faith for me, but rather put them to the test, and that means not only analytically, intellectually, but also experientially, and see for yourself whether it's true or false. It's very easy. Report an error

24:32 Not to completely neglect that. And not just by Westerners, but by Tibetans. They may go through 15, 20 years to become a Geshe, earn top-notch degree, they can debate anybody under the ground. And do they ever get around to stop debating, stop teaching, stop, stop, and just sit down and practice. And go on for a year, 5 years, 10 years, 15 years. Report an error

24:57 Hardly any of them do. So then what was all that drum roll about? All those 15, 20 years, you got, okay, so you're number one Geshe for the year. Swell. Now what? You're just going to make more number one Geshes? And you're never going to put any of this to the test? Report an error

25:13 So it's a real issue. But now, I'm not just complaining, I'm saying, wait a minute. The Buddhists, Buddhism is not materialist. I mean, it is not compatible with materialism. No school is. The Buddhists can come along and say, well, wait a minute, you're just assuming that the mind is the brain, but look at all this evidence here. And what's the basis? I'll give you one very specific example I saw recently, watching a documentary on sleep. Report an error

25:38 And when I saw it, it just said, well, that's so typical. There was a fellow in the documentary that took an actual brain. of somebody who donated it, cut it in half, and then he pointed to an area in the interior of the brain, about as big as his fingertip, he said, and it's right here, he said, this is the part of the brain that's responsible for REM sleep. Report an error

25:58 This generates REM sleep. And you're looking at it, you think this would go in soup. Really, it's a chunk of meat, for heaven's sakes. You know, people eat brains, you know, and they don't get smarter in the process. And so he's pointing this little chunk of dead flesh. And he said, this is what creates REM sleep, rapid eye movement or dreaming sleep. And then he gave his reason, why are you saying that little chunk of meat creates dreams? Report an error

26:23 And then he says, well, and why? Because if this is damaged, you don't have REM sleep, but if you activate it, you do. As if, see, I just proved it, now let's move on. Report an error

26:35 I'm actually astonished at the naivety, naivete, the gullibility and the crude thinking that takes place here. If that's true, would you like me to explain a computer to you? I can. You have the keyboard. The keyboard actually makes the keyboard, those keys, make those images appear on the screen. It's amazing. Those little pieces of plastic, because if you hit it, M appears. And so the M actually is produced by that key. Report an error

27:04 It's amazing. And damage that key, M doesn't happen anymore. No M. So I think we're finished here. That the keys on the keyboard actually produce the images on the screen. Report an error

27:17 It's exactly the same thinking. Really. That's it. And all they've seen is a causal relationship. The notion that since if this is damaged, that doesn't happen. If you trigger this one, that does happen. There's something called a hard drive. I hate to break it to you. Report an error

27:36 And for the scientific study of the mind, there's something called the mind. And that they don't allude to at all, except as a function of the brain, as if the hard drive is a function of the keyboard. Report an error

27:49 This is the naivety. But none of them seem to be asking this question. Because about 50 years ago, the neuroscientist community just pretended as if the mind-body problem had been solved. They just swept it all under the rug and said, from now on, we'll just say the mind is what the brain does. We'll just say that and see if other people don't notice that we have no evidence for this at all. Report an error

28:11 And lo and behold, it worked. It's one of the biggest scams in the history of science. They had no evidence or reasoning. The problem had been very clearly illustrated that this is unresolved. How do they relate back and forth? And they just swept it under the rug and they just started saying this. And now it's everywhere. The brain does this, the brain does that, the brain does that. That's exactly like saying the keyboard does this. The keyboard now can win chess tournaments. Report an error

28:38 The keyboard can, you know, solve big problems. The keyboard does everything that a computer does. Because after all, look, click, click, it happens. And damage, click, click, it doesn't happen. Keyboard. And imagine computer science suddenly saying keyboard does everything. I mean, everybody started laughing. But the neuroscientist community did exactly that and nobody laughed. Report an error

29:00 That's the part. So this is where the Buddhists come in. Not to denigrate, to ridicule or something, but say, have you noticed that what you're saying actually did not follow from any evidence at all? It's just crude thinking. And so we can spur them in action to take a fresh look at the mind and introduce rigorous Sophisticated ways of investigating the mind itself and not limiting ourselves to studying brain and behavior. So among others, the Buddhists may come and help the scientists be better scientists. Report an error

29:32 Not convert them to Buddhism. That's never in my mind. If they want to convert, that's their business. But that's not why I engaged in all these dialogues and written so many books on Buddhism and science, but to get them to be more scientific and question their own assumptions. Which they generally, among themselves, they don't. Not the deeper ones. And so the Buddhists may come along and help the scientists be better scientists by questioning assumptions, adopting a wider range of empirical, sophisticated methods of investigation. Report an error

30:02 But then the scientists may come along and say, you Buddhists, you believe in reincarnation. Why do you believe that? Because Dharmakirti said so? Because the Buddhists said so? Do any of you know whether it's true? Do you have any means of testing your hypothesis? Report an error

30:16 I'll end on this note. We had a wonderful meeting in 2003, a Minor Life meeting. It was the first public one. And it was at MIT. It was a big deal. And it sold out in about, I don't know, two minutes. And they put it on. I still remember it was at Kresge Auditorium. They put it online and all the seats were gone. Report an error

30:35 And it turned out to be just a marvelous meeting. It was really outstanding. We had excellent Buddhist speakers. I won't give all the list of them, but they're really, really good. And then the scientists were very, very good. And I think my favorite one among them was a world-class geneticist by the name of Eric Lander. Report an error

30:52 And he's an MIT geneticist. He's in charge of the Whitehead Institute for Genetic Research, something called something like that. And I got to know him a bit. We had dinner and we've kept in touch ever since then. Report an error

31:04 And he gave one of the closing talks. The Dalai Lama was in the center, and Jim and I are on his right and left. We're translating for him. Then the Buddhists were over here, and the scientists were over there, and we had, I think it was two days of conversation. It's outstanding. But then we had closing remarks. And Eric Lander, this wonderful scientist, so sensitive, thoughtful, insightful, humble, and brilliant. Report an error

31:27 And just, by the way, he's a science advisor for Obama. Obama chose very well to choose him. So, but he made his closing comments and he gave just one of the best talks on this type, this theme I've ever heard in my life. And he made this comment, though, that really stuck with me. He had heard me speak about shamatha. I gave a talk on that. And Matthew Ricard spoke of stage regeneration. And George Dreyfus spoke on the mind and mental factors. Report an error

31:52 Bhuko Amaro spoke about satipaṭṭhāna, vipassanā practice in the Theravata tradition. So, it's a pretty good lineup. And then Eric Lander, having heard of all of this, and of course his Holiness speaking and sharing his insights and so forth, then Eric Lander turned to the Buddhists in his closing comments and he said, the topic you've addressed I find really, really interesting. Report an error

32:12 The theories, the insights, discoveries you claim that have been made, such as, for example, shamatha, you achieve shamatha, such, such happens. And I found this really, really interesting. Just open, welcome, very interesting what you've said. Report an error

32:31 And not but, but and. We scientists deal with empirical evidence. This is what keeps us moving ahead. It's not just coming up with cool ideas, but then we put those to the test and we make empirical discoveries by sophisticated research. And then we have evidence and we build on that and go for more evidence. And so you Buddhists, you've really tantalized, you've really intrigued us, or me anyway, he said. Report an error

32:55 With your insights, with what you've shared with us, do you have people who have achieved stage of generation? Who have achieved shamatha? Who have achieved profound insight into the four applications of mindfulness? Do you have such people? Because we, then they would be your scientists, and we have our scientists, and we'd like to bring our scientists with your scientists. Report an error

33:15 But this is not just people who can talk the good talk. This is people who actually know what they're talking about, from their own experience. And many scientists like him do. They're doing the research. They know about double helix and all the things from genetics and DNA and so forth. They really know what they're talking about and they can show you the evidence. Report an error

33:34 And so we would love to see your contemplatives and meet with them. So we're speaking experience to experience. Could you mind such people? And so you open the door 13 years ago. It hasn't happened. And they keep on studying the brains of meditators. But this type of open-minded coming together, where the contemplatives, you have two or three people who have achieved shamatha, and have achieved dummu, and have achieved this and achieved that. Report an error

34:07 And they are sharing their insights from their experience. As the scientists share their insights from their experience, and then we learn from each other. So I think this is where the great promise is. That on the macro level, things look pretty bleak. This is a very long answer. But when we find individuals here and there, a single individual can make a terrific impact. And the fact that the Dalai Lama came from a tiny little country with no real clout at all. Report an error

34:35 He was a king of nowhere, you know, in exile, and had virtually no money, and had no Western education, and didn't speak English. Report an error

34:45 The fact that he's become a world figure shows what one person can do. And it's through just who he is. His practice is so deep that even people who have no interest in religion whatsoever, most, in my experience, come away very deeply moved by him and his words of wisdom and of compassion. And the most important thing, he's not unique. He's not the only one. And throughout history there have been individuals that just turned the course of history. Report an error

35:18 Gandhi is another one. It could have been massively bloody. If we really consider it, if it had been another scenario, and a person not preaching non-violence, but rather we outnumber these bloody English, let's kill them all. They could have, but it doesn't take that much to kill somebody. And so, this point of intersection, where science can help Buddhists be better Buddhists, and the Buddhists can help scientists be better scientists, and we can all go much deeper into our experience with open minds and question underlying assumptions, I think that's tremendous promise. Report an error

35:54 So it said, I'll continue a little bit more, it said, now, I've heard this in multiple contexts, but one I'm very familiar with is Dzogchen, because that's been the primary focus of my study and practice, above all, for the last 26 years. And that it made this statement, but it's been around for a long time, it's a prophecy, but it has been around a long time. And the prophecy is that when times are very degenerate, in multiple ways, very degenerate. Report an error

36:21 That this is a time when Dzogchen will prove especially powerful and transformative. And I won't pretend that I know why that would be the case. I have some intuition, some sense of why that might be the case. But my own sense is that, number one, it's true. And I have reasons to back it up, but I won't. Report an error

36:42 But I think we're really at a crossroads right now, or a fork in the road. Where if we take the right step now, and I'm not speaking about millions and millions, I'm speaking about dozens and dozens of people going to great depth. I'm speaking now in the Buddhist context. Of going to great depth, making every sacrifice, if it feels like a sacrifice, but just doing what needs to be done to go to great depth and follow in the footsteps of the greatest masters of the past. Report an error

37:14 And under their guidance, I say if we Australians or we Californians or whatever, we're going to do it right now, actually in the footsteps and following the guidance of our teachers. But I think we're poised right now. It's like a knife edge or a balance. I think if there's a critical mass, and critical mass can be a small number, of people who are going to great depth in this period right now, I'm looking at the next 10 years, if this happens. Report an error

37:42 And we do have, I won't say Westerners, I'll say moderners. Because moderners, I was just in Ulaanbaatar shortly, they're modern. Then I was in Singapore, I was in Hong Kong, they're modern. Then I was in Singapore, they're modern. And then Cairns and Brisbane and Melbourne and now here. Moderners all over the place, but people raised in modern society. Report an error

38:03 A few places I've ever been to are more modern than Singapore. It's really super modern, you know. But people, in other words, like us, raised in modernity, immersed in the modern worldview, and with all the ups and downs of that, if people like us, who are not born as tukus, not living in a mountaintop in a hermitage from the time we're five years old, not born with a Dharma silver spoon in the mouth, born where we were, if people like us can dedicate ourselves, as the Dalai Lama said, Two Dharma in the same way, with the same integrity, purity and total focus of Melarepa. My strong conviction is that a very small number of people could have a very, very large impact. Report an error

38:47 And that's happened repeatedly throughout history. That's not a pipe dream. It's a very small number of people who have a vision, and in this case a sublime vision. There's no downside, there's no losers here. We're not trying to conquer anybody. Not anybody, not communists, not scientists, not anybody. Report an error

39:06 Not person, but conquer ignorance, overcome mental afflictions, and really tap deeply into the wealth. I think a very small number of people could change history. I do that. With benefit for everybody. Benefit with the scientific community, benefit the Buddhists, but then on and on the ripple effect goes out. Report an error

39:26 So, deep down, I guess I have two levels of my perspective. Deep down, I'm very deeply optimistic, because I think this really can happen. And then when I look at what's actually happening on the course manifest level, it's mostly bad news. And we follow that trajectory, then we're just flushing ourselves down the toilet. Report an error

39:44 That's my sense. Oh, yeah. Then there was an... here? Yes, please. Report an error

39:59 Lee. I've been listening to your teachings from your Dinty retreat. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. a wonderful retreat. Yeah, you're very welcome. Report an error

40:09 you keep repeating something every time you start a meditation or a teaching. Oh, that's over. Oh, please, what does it mean? Report an error

40:19 I gave the oral transmission on this in Melbourne just a few days ago. I'm not sure whether this group is sufficiently ripe. I might have to test you because this is something very special. The Olaso transmission. Report an error

40:40 Okay, I will. Joking aside. Yeah, I do it a lot. I do it a lot. But all I'm doing is, because I've heard this thousands of times from my own teachers, Tibetan teachers, very, very often, they're just about to start a Dharma talk and they say, Ola So. And then at the very end, often, Ola So. Good night. Have a good night's day. Ola So. And then they're off, you know? And so, number one, here's the reason we're saying it. Report an error

41:06 It just sounds nice. Ola So. Would you rather hear, Ola So, or Kinky Kinky Donk? I'm going to choose Oh La So anytime over Kinky Kinky Donk. And that kind of like, you know, gravel in the ear. Whereas Oh La So is more like a massage. Oh La So. Report an error

41:25 So that's for starters. It sounds nice. And then secondly, okay, now I'll give you the straight scoop. What does it mean? Oh La So. Report an error

41:41 It means, and the English equivalent would be, well then. Which part of that was the meaning? Well or then? But if I say, well then. Then you pay attention, right? Well then? Or we don't quite say at the end, but well then? Good night. So it's kind of like well then, which means nothing at all. It doesn't mean well, it doesn't mean then. It's just two syllables to start and finish. And that's what olasso is. Three syllables, olasso. Report an error

42:17 I'm not going to stop though, because it always raises such a fascinating conversation. But you know, it's a habit I've found no reason to break. Because it's just Ola So. I got very used to it. So now you have the oral transmission. And now you too may say Ola So. Because you've received the permission and the transmission from me. Report an error

42:42 Ola So. See how easily it just rolls off the lips. Rolls off the trunk. Yeah, yeah. So we have better... Maybe one more? Another quickie? Anything coming up? And then we'll head off to another. Yes, please. Mel, yes? Yes. Yes. The microphone is almost there. The microphone is just behind you to preserve for posterity. Report an error

43:24 He's gorgeous, he's a beautiful young man. Report an error

43:29 He's not on the severe side, but his pediatrician wants him to take Ritalin. So I get the scripts, I get them filled, I put them in the drawer, but I don't give them to him. Report an error

43:48 What I've noticed, he's in year 6 now and he's at a year 3 grade level and he's 11 coming on 12 years old in the next fortnight. I'm having difficulties with him on concentration and just with grammar and basic words. Report an error

44:12 I'm uncertain on how I can help him. Sure. Report an error

44:18 have a better focus of mind. I thought maybe you might have some ideas or tips on go ahead and do it. The Report an error

44:32 first true statement for me is that I've had no experience myself at teaching children or anyone else with autism. I Report an error

44:49 have very little experience teaching meditation to children. It's enormously important in the amount of time. And I haven't been invited to really. So that's a major reason, not because it's less important. However, I'm very happy to say that I know two people spring to mind, and I think they both might be very relevant to your question. Report an error

45:11 They have expertise that I don't have. And that's one of my joys. I love being 66. I don't really want to be younger, but I don't want to be older either. But I really love being 66. Because one of the Report an error

45:27 really interesting things, I have so many people. The two of them spring to mind. Excuse me. A Report an error

45:41 lot of experience is in about 15 years. Full-time focus. Report an error

45:50 Attention skills. It's a bit rusty right now. Teaching attention skills, mindfulness, empathy to young children. Five-year-old, six, seven-year-old. Her name is Susan Kaiser Greenland. Greenland. I know her rather well. She runs an organization called InnerKids, innerkids.org. And she's very bright. She was a very successful attorney. And then in the peak of her career, when she was about maybe, I don't know, She just stopped doing that. Her husband made a very good living to what he was doing so she could stop earning money and doing what she would love to do. And what she wanted to do really was to learn how to teach children meditation, but specifically attention, mindfulness and the like. Report an error

46:41 She's gotten very good at it. She has lots of experience. She knows Buddhism well. She's very well motivated. She's not doing it for money. She never needed money out of this. And so several years back she wrote an excellent book. It's called The Mindful Child. Very, very good. It's not specifically for autistic children, but I'll get to that. But it is for children, small children, and how can you make mindfulness fun, engaging and helpful for them. Report an error

47:10 And so she has done that. She's just coming out with a new book that I've already endorsed because I trust her work and it's good. It's called Mindful Games. Game, Mindful Games. And so she's co-authored this with someone else. And the book is about what it says. I begin turning the cultivation of mindfulness into something that's clearly fun for children, which it has to be if you want them to stick with it. Report an error

47:34 So that would not be a bullseye, but it would be one ring outside of the bullseye for the question you raised. Because there's a lot of wisdom, practical advice, techniques and so forth for teaching five-year-olds. Report an error

47:47 Then the other person that I would recommend is the man who is the principal investigator. For a scientific study that I initiated, but he was the man with all the muscle from the scientific side, for the shamatha project. And this is the largest study still ever done on meditation. It's a price tag of about three and a half million dollars now for data collection, but especially data analysis. It was enormous, coming out with one paper after another. Report an error

48:12 And they collected the data nine years ago. So his name is Clifford Sarin. Clifford, obvious spelling, and Sarin is S-A-R-O-N. Report an error

48:22 And if you Google Saron Lab, S-A-R-O-N, lab as in laboratory, of course, then I just checked out his website. He has a very good S-A-R-O-N, lab, lab as in laboratory, yeah. He's now, just over the last year or so, made a website which chronicles the study itself and then paper after paper they've published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, tells about the study. Report an error

48:50 He's made it a major part of his life's work, and it's all about training attention. And so for the study, I was a meditation teacher, and I taught shamatha, a range of meditative practices for attention, but also the four measurables. So what Chris was commenting, loving kindness, compassion, and two more empathetic joy and equanimity, they're not irrelevant to this. The cultivation of the heart, so to speak, is very closely correlated with the cultivation of attention. Report an error

49:16 But why Cliff would be my... My second person to recommend to you is that he's employed as a researcher at the University of California at Davis, D-A-V-I-S. And they're very strong, that branch of the University of California is very strong for the cognitive sciences. And they have a whole institute called the MIND, the MIND Institute, but it's an acronym. Report an error

49:42 I can't remember what it's an acronym for, but it's well-funded. I think maybe $20 million funding for that one institute. And it's all about autism. It's all about autism. And Cliff Saron, he's been employed there. I think he still is. And when he and I were working very closely together 10 years ago, that was his primary source of income, because the Shamatha Project was very much on the side. Report an error

50:07 And so he'll know pretty much everything there is to know about autism. But he also, as a scientist, he knows a lot about shamatha because he was doing the data collection. He and I have been friends for a long time. He did measurements on 70 people who were practicing shamatha, 5, 6, 7, 8 hours a day. Report an error

50:25 So he's familiar with the material. He knows really what the training of shamatha is about. And he knows a lot about autism. And he's also a father of two. Report an error

50:36 And I won't say anything more than that. I don't want to invade his private life. But he would be a good person. He's very easy to find. You know academics. They can run, but they cannot hide. In terms of email. And so it's Clifford Seren, University of California, Davis. Well, they're obliged. I think they're all obliged to have their email list, their email address up on the website. So I would write to him. And you're very welcome to tell him that I referred you to him. Report an error

51:01 And he's got a good heart. He's got a very good heart. Very caring, loving man. And even though we're world views apart, he's... Quite a committed materialist, and I'm quite committed not materialism. We found so much common ground that we just didn't talk about that much. We didn't talk about the mind-brain issues and so forth. Report an error

51:20 I didn't really see much point in doing so. But we had so much common ground that we entered into this study where I was the contemplative principal investigator, he was a scientific, because we wanted to help people. We wanted to help shed a brighter light on attention, whether it can be trained, how can it be trained, if it's trained, how can you measure it. Report an error

51:39 And what are the benefits? Well, our study proved a lot of very cool things. It was all positive. Every paper came out with really positive news. And so we remain good friends. And he's a very good man. He's also wonderfully articulate, really articulate. So I was thinking about the contemporary in Melbourne, the creating. Report an error

52:00 You just might mention, remember this, because I know you're closely working with Charles Potter. If you were invited to Australia, He's not a contemplative, he's not a Buddhist, but he knows his neuroscience very well. And he's very articulate, very good speaker, and knows his shamatha project inside and out. Report an error

52:20 So I'd write to him, you're very welcome to say Alan Wallace referred you to him, and then the thing is all you really need to know is one person. And that one person will know three people, and they'll know four people each, and then pretty soon you'll know everybody who knows anything about it. Just by referral. And then I think you'll find very practical things. And between him, who knows a lot about autism, and scientifically knows about shamatha, and the many benefits from practicing shamatha, he's probably maybe the best in the world, he does so much research there. Report an error

52:51 Between him and Susan Kaiser Greenland, with a wealth of experience of teaching children, he'll put something together there. And only good will come from that. Okay, welcome. Report an error

53:05 You know that means we're coming to an end here. And what I'll be doing for each of the nights is just inviting you to make a very smooth segue from our activities during the day of Dharma teaching, discussion, group meditation, continuing in your own practice between sessions in your own way, but then also to end the day on a very smooth segue or transition from the waking state to the sleeping state. Report an error

53:34 And in this documentary I saw on sleep, one of the little statistics that popped out is one out of six people in America, it's an American documentary, but one out of six people in the United States suffers from insomnia on a chronic basis, which means they're probably sleep deprived. And actually more people are sleep deprived than one out of six, more like 70%. But one out of six have insomnia. And then the medical practitioner said, Well, if you have really severe insomnia, then... And he did this whole fancy footwork that, well, the only thing you can do is take drugs. Report an error

54:10 And it's not like drug addiction, it's just that you need to take it for the rest of your life. And I thought, wow, did you hear yourself? You're now drug dependent. What you're encouraging is be drug dependent for the rest of your life, but that's not like addiction. And not even asking the question. Report an error

54:27 This is where Buddhists might help them out a bit. Really? That's your best shot? It's to suppress the symptoms of insomnia. And everybody they interviewed about insomnia all said, without exception, stress, stress and stress. So what he's implying is, don't question your worldview. Don't question your priorities, your values. Don't question your way of life. Let's not touch that. That's a sacred cow. Report an error

54:52 If you can't sleep and you can't sleep on a regular basis, then just open up and say yes. And take the drug. And just get used to it. He gave the example, if you have diabetes, you have to take insulin. And I think that's profoundly different. That insulin, you will die. I'm so glad you have that drug that can keep you alive. That's wonderful. I'm not against drugs. That's fantastic. But to know that they have a drug that can knock you out and say, problem solved, as if you have diabetes and treating with insulin, I'm just thinking, what's wrong with you people? Report an error

55:29 Have you not even asked why one out of six Americans are suffering from insomnia? That it might have to do with the way they're using their minds, their lifestyle, the level of stress that they're tolerating? And so I was flabbergasted at the non-scientific way of addressing the symptoms without even asking the question about what's the underlying problem. Report an error

55:52 Since they had a drug that can hit it, then they were satisfied. As if they're working for the pharmaceutical industry. Really, as if they were just marketers, pharmaceutical, and now we have it. So just keep on paying your money, paying your money. I've done my work, where's my commission? Report an error

56:10 And so to not be stressed out and therefore not need stress reduction and to live a way of life that is so grounded and so free of wear and tear and so free of internal agitation, turbulence and chaos. That when you're happily sleepy at the end of the day, then you sleep. And so what I'll be offering over these six days is not a quick fix. Report an error

56:39 I don't have the silver bullet. Just take this and now your problems are over. Because I said the seven point mind training is a whole, it's a whole like a seven course meal. So there's no gimmicks here. It's just a whole way of shifting your view of reality, your values, your way of life and introducing specific meditative techniques. Report an error

56:57 But it's the whole package. It's very rounded and integrative. And so as part of that, what I'd like to suggest is homework. I'll do this each night, kind of in a playful way. There's no tests or anything like that. But when you're finished with the day, everything you wanted to do in the day, you're finished, brushing teeth, whatever else. Report an error

57:15 And so then it's lights out and there's nothing for you to do now but just fall asleep and hopefully get a good night's sleep. Don't try to fall asleep. Report an error

57:25 Number one, that's an oxymoron, you already know that. Relax! Try harder to relax. Come on. Snappy. Right now. It's one of those things you can't do that. You can't try to fall asleep. Because if you're trying, then you're keeping yourself awake. And so as soon as you get into bed, what I would suggest is don't try to fall asleep, but rather just get under the covers with your nice pillow under your head, go into the Shavasana, the supaya position, arms out, if you have enough space on the bed, out 30 degrees, palms up. Report an error

57:57 I'm following my teacher, Iyengar. From when I learned yoga. And then body straight as an arrow, letting your feet just drop to the side, a nice straight line you could draw between your heels, your navel, your sternum and your nose. Out like that, close your eyes and go into total meltdown in terms of relaxation of the body. Relax every muscle of the body. You're emulating a corpse, they're very relaxed. Report an error

58:20 And so go into total relaxation physically. And then bring your awareness down out of the head, down into the torso, to the hips, even down to the soles of the feet. Bring it down this way, from the head down to the feet and into the body. But then also bring it down vertically. And that is bring your awareness, let your awareness rest in the earth element. And that's the tactile sensations. Report an error

58:44 Point at where your heels touch the bed, your calves, your thighs, your buttocks, your back, the back of your head. Bring your awareness down that way. To these sensations of being held or supported by the bed. And so just bring it down into this non-conceptual field. Because the body doesn't talk. There are no conversations taking place in your belly or your arms and so forth. It's a non-conceptual field. So let your awareness just melt into or permeate, enter into and fill this non-conceptual space, somatic field. Report an error

59:18 And grounding in these tactile sensations of the so-called earth element. And then, having settled your body, released your body into a state of just melting, just total relaxation, then very gently throughout the body just attend to the sensations of the in and out breathing and making a point with every out breath as if every exhalation is as if a sigh of relief, like the day's over. Report an error

59:52 I'm exaggerating, of course, but that mood of just releasing in every breath, kind of just feeling like I'm going to melt right through the mattress and be a little puddle of you beneath the bed. You know, just total meltdown like that. And that releasing, that letting go of tension, releasing the breath all the way to the end, just, I won't do it, but it's like having a glass and just tipping it over on its side. Report an error

1:00:15 So you know exactly what would happen. No need to show it. But just tipping it over, and then you don't have to shake the glass, you don't have to push it. You just tip it over and it all flows out. And don't bring it up, let it all flow out. Just like that. Just like the glass of your breath is just tipped over and then just... until there's nothing left. Report an error

1:00:38 And then, as you're breathing out, just release any thoughts. Thoughts about tomorrow, happily in a retreat, so you don't really have to plan anything for tomorrow. And then thoughts about the past, just release it all, every out-breath. Again, like a sigh of relief, just releasing any thoughts, imagery, anticipation or memories, just release every time. Report an error

1:00:58 And just release and release and release. And at some point, if your mind works at all like mine, at some point you'll just feel a sense of, it's called drowsiness. Just kind of like... Report an error

1:01:14 I don't need to explain drowsiness to you. You just feel kind of the waves of drowsiness coming in. And when you see you're really losing clarity, then do something symbolic, like turn your hands over, or anything just to tell yourself, sending a little message, this is the end of the meditation session. Report an error

1:01:33 You can mentally say, oh la so, if you like. But some kind of little symbolic something, you say, alright, I was meditating, and now I'm not. And if you like to fall asleep on your back, then just lie there, but do something like that. And then slip right into sleep. Or if you like to fall asleep on your side, then that's the time to turn over. Report an error

1:01:53 And for some people who fall asleep easily, you might be doing this for one minute and you're already kind of spacing, you know, fading out. Fine. It's good. But other people, vata people, people with a lot of energy, a lot of activity in the mind, it might be 10 minutes, 20, 30 minutes. But very gently, not trying to fall asleep. Just releasing, releasing, releasing with every out-breath. Releasing until there's very pleasant waves of drowsiness come in. Report an error

1:02:20 And then, get a good night's sleep. I think it's much better than drugs. And no side effects. No side effects. The side effect is to get a good night's sleep. So, have a good night's sleep. Very important. I'll see you tomorrow at night. Report an error

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Talk by B. Alan Wallace. Original at Vajrayana Institute via Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/retreatmindtraining. Licensed CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. Transcript generated automatically and may contain errors; the audio is the authoritative version.

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