Taking the Mind as the Path, Part One
Shamatha Vipashyana in the Mahamudra and Dzogchen Traditions
Part One: Overview of Shamatha-Vipashyana, and Shamatha in Four Practice Traditions of Buddhism
Based upon the Writings and Translations of B. Alan Wallace
13 Tuesdays from March 1st thru May 24th, 2022, from 7-9:15 pm, via Zoom
“Those of the class with inferior faculties identify stillness and movement, and by taking the mind as the path, they are led to the absolute space of pristine awareness.”
Dudjom Lingpa, The Sharp Vajra of Conscious Awareness Tantra, translated by B. Alan Wallace
This course is Part One of a two-part exploration of the writings of B. Alan Wallace on shamatha vipashyana meditation. Shamatha is the focus of Part One, however we will begin with a general overview of the practice of meditation and the Buddhist version of this. Then we will review the general system of shamatha and vipashyana, the core meditation scheme in the Indian and Tibetan Sutrayana and Vajrayana traditions. Finally, we will go deeply into shamatha—its fundamentals, progression and how it is practiced in four major practice traditions: Theravada, Sutra based Mahayana, Tibetan Mahamudra and Tibetan Dzogchen. In each, the progress of meditation begins with the surface level of mind and then proceeds thru the many layers of samsaric mind to settle in the natural state of that mind, the alayavijnana (substrate consciousness), and then proceeding to break through that level to the very ground of reality, the primordial, enlightened nature of mind.
We will read a selection of writings from the many books of B. Alan Wallace, as well as sections of the root texts he has translated and basis his books upon. Our source texts will be Stilling the Mind: Shamatha Teachings from Dudjom Lingpa’s Vajra Essence, on the practice of shamatha in the Dzogchen tradition, and a compilation of many other readings collected into a digital sourcebook.
B. Alan Wallace has authored almost twenty books, translated another fifteen and edited a few more. While his works cover a vast range of material, his focus over and over again is on Buddhist meditation, including the four immeasurables, the lojong mind training system, and, in particular, shamatha and vipashyana. He also devotes an enormous amount of these works to the intersection of Buddhist meditation with science, especially neuroscience and to some extent physics. I have found his exploration and explication of Buddhist meditation to be the most wide-ranging, thorough, insightful and practical presentation available anywhere.