Stages Of Meditation: Book Club With Sarah Sati

This is the introduction to the third series of Book Club with Sarah Sati. During this session, Sarah reads from the translators preface and the prologue. This session sets the foundation for the future sessions. In the third series of Book Club, Sarah Sati works with the text Stages of Meditation by the Dalai Lama and Kamalashila. This text provides a pivotal teaching in buddhism in general and Tibetan Buddhism, in particular. In these session, listeners will have the opportunity to deepen their insight and practice of meditation as we move collectively towards the ultimate aim of the awakened mind of bodhichitta. Book Club is an opportunity to look deeply into a spiritual text using a Western perspective. Each session includes a practice opportunity, reading, synopsis of reading, and optional practice homework. It is not necessary to own the book yourself, just show up to the sessions and enjoy listening as you allow your mind and body to integrate what you hear at it's own pace.

Transcript

So welcome to this is the first session of my third edition of book club and I'm really excited to be bringing this back.

I love doing book club.

It's something that deeply moves me from my heart and I'll talk a little bit more about that today.

We're beginning a book and actually this is different than was originally announced.

We're beginning to work with the book stages of meditation and this is by His Holiness,

The Dalai Lama and Kamalashila.

It's a commentary on a text actually by Kamalashila.

So I chose this book because I felt like for a general audience who I don't really get to know very closely because of course we can't interact.

This was a more effective text for progressing your meditation practice.

So I think I'm right on that.

It's a book that's dear to my own heart and it's a very practical text.

So I'm looking forward to going through it together.

It's basically just following this text in the footsteps of Kamalashila's ancient teachings on the gradual path to enlightenment.

So if you're really active on social media,

Maybe you've heard about these two paths.

This is quite popular in the spiritual space on social media talking about the path,

The gradual path or the instantaneous path.

And this book is really detailing how a gradual approach to our meditation practice is a beneficial route to reaching enlightenment.

Kamalashila was a very groundbreaking figure in early Tibetan Buddhism.

And so I'll talk a little bit more about him,

But he really emphasized,

He was an Indian scholar and he really emphasized a structured step-by-step approach to meditation.

And that approach that he emphasized has been groundbreaking for the way the Tibetan Buddhist system has developed and advanced across the years.

So pretty exciting stuff and a really excellent book.

And I'm excited to share it with you today.

I'll give a little background.

This is our first session.

So it's really an introductory session and we'll do some reading and some traditional stuff that will allow us to see how the rest of the sessions will unfold.

But it's just a getting us settled session.

If you've never joined me for Book Club before,

Book Club is an opportunity to investigate a Buddhist text closely and apply a modern perspective to the teachings.

And so we really work together to integrate these teachings into our lives.

Each session,

I like to begin with a motivation setting exercise,

And then typically I'll cover either the content from the last session,

Kind of give us some context for the session ahead.

I'll read from the book,

So there's no need for you to own the book.

You can entirely participate without ever buying or looking at a copy of the text yourself.

I'll read from the book and then I will often offer some clarification or explanation of points that came out of the text.

And then I'll provide some optional practice homework.

And so this is just a way for us to begin to take these teachings out of the mind and into our lived experience.

And that is really valuable if we are authentically practicing the Buddhist path to enlightenment.

And we'll talk a little bit more about that,

Like what does that even mean?

When time permits in our session,

And if it's applicable,

Like today,

We'll kind of see how things go.

We'll often have an opportunity for some practice together during the session.

You can just anticipate that these sessions will be around an hour,

An hour and 15 minutes.

I'll never go over an hour and 15 minutes,

So we'll give or take on that.

And then I record all the sessions,

As I've mentioned already,

And these recordings I upload immediately afterwards to Insight Timer.

The thing is,

It takes about a week for Insight Timer to approve them,

So you may not see them right away,

Which is why joining live is so beneficial.

But the recordings are equally beneficial,

And I really encourage you to go back and review them.

If you're somebody who is really on the path to working with the mind,

And you're really Buddhist-curious,

Dharma-curious,

Or you're an authentic practitioner at this point,

Then going back and reviewing our sessions is going to add a lot of benefit.

It's been said that we don't need all of these texts.

One or two really sufficient Buddhist texts are enough to get us where we are looking to go.

So how can you prepare for these sessions and this process of our time together?

Let me just say it's a very easy process.

I want to frame your mind in two ways.

The first way is curiously,

Really thinking about having a very curious,

Open mind.

Just not having any expectations is the second aspect of that.

So really two sides of the same coin,

Being very open and curious,

And then dropping expectations of what you think will happen,

And just trusting the process,

And simply allowing whatever happens to happen,

Whatever that may be,

Even if it's more confusion than when you began.

What matters here is not that we have a particular goal.

It's that over time,

We're working as a community to understand the teachings of the Buddha in a way that we can then apply those teachings to our own unique life and our own unique journey.

That's really what this is.

This is our journey.

Although we have this shared experience at the end of the day,

Our experience is a highly unique one.

So we want to be able to put these teachings to the test in our own life.

I'll tell you a little bit about me,

Although it's not super important that you know too much about me.

My name is Sara Sati,

And I've been working in the wellness space for over two decades.

For a little over a decade now,

I've just been focused primarily on the merger between Eastern and Western psychology,

As it really applies to the healing journey.

I have a master's degree in experimental psychology,

And I spent all of that time in my academic life researching mindfulness and mindfulness-based practices and writing programming.

I use that now in my day-to-day life and in my professional work.

Currently,

I offer one-on-one coaching to women who have a history of trauma and its trauma integration work.

The foundation of all of that is a Buddhist psychology approach,

Where meditation is really the key aspect of that process.

So it really doesn't matter for book club if you know much about me or not.

It's really,

I'm a vehicle here right now for these teachings and for how you can integrate these teachings into your own life.

So hopefully I'm successful at that here,

At least for one or two people.

So in today's session,

Like I said,

This is an introductory session.

We're going to start with the translator's introduction,

And I'll be reading from the prologue.

And both of these give us a foundation and a context for what we're going to be working with.

We're really learning about like,

Okay,

Why did this book come into being?

And that will happen in the translator's introduction.

And then the prologue,

The Dalai Lama begins to talk to us about what the theme of this text is that he's commenting on.

And so the text specifically is Stages of Meditation by Kamala Sheila.

And that's really common.

And I talked about this if you joined me for the last book club.

It's really common that any text you read by any Buddhist scholar or guru in modern culture is simply an extrapolation of a previous text.

And so that's the same for this text today.

So that was the same for the text I read for the last book club and for the first book club and for this one.

One scholar and practitioner looks deeply into an ancient text and explains it to us.

And then from that vehicle,

I am reading that text,

That explanation,

And helping us clarify it together.

I'm a student just as much as a teacher.

In fact,

More.

I'd rather be a student than a teacher.

And I teach as an effort to expand my own knowledge.

So know that there may be times where I mess up or I don't read perfectly.

This is not an audible audio book.

So again,

Dropping that expectation of what this is going to be like and really just letting it be us here together in this shared space as a sangha who has maybe never met in person and maybe never will,

Coming together to deepen our understanding of the Buddhist teachings,

Which speaking personally have brought so much to my own life and are so meaningful and valuable to me.

Okay,

So let's begin.

We're going to begin each session with just a brief practice,

An introspective exercise and setting our intention.

So we can do that now together.

However you are is perfect.

Maybe you're listening to this in a space where you can find a meditative posture or not.

Maybe you're walking or on the bus or whatever,

And anything is really okay right now.

Just however you are,

I want you to practice turning your energy around a little bit.

So the eyes,

The ears,

The nose,

The mouth,

Everything is sort of directed outward.

And just for a moment,

Even though the eyes stay open,

Even though the ears are still hearing,

Just turn your lens around and begin to settle a little more deeply inward.

If it works and you can close your eyes,

Maybe you want to close your eyes,

But there's no need to.

Maybe take a few deeper breaths here,

More intentional breaths.

And with each exhalation,

Can you allow your mind to become more focused and clear?

And I'd like you to reflect for a moment on why you're here.

What's your intention for studying this text?

What are you hoping to learn or cultivate in your life through our time together?

Whether it's greater inner peace or wisdom,

Healing,

Or maybe no clear motivation arises at all,

Whatever happens is perfectly okay.

Just challenge yourself for a moment to be with whatever comes up for you with a sense of openness and allowing.

And then as a group,

Let's set a collective intention for our time together.

You can simply listen or repeat after me.

I'll say each sentence or each phrase twice in case you want to repeat along.

May our study and practice,

May our study and practice benefit not only ourselves,

But all beings.

Benefit not only ourselves,

But all beings.

May we approach these teachings with open hearts and open minds.

And may we be inspired to bring greater compassion and wisdom into our lives.

And may we be inspired to bring greater compassion and wisdom into our lives.

And just sit with that for a moment.

Sit with anything that comes up.

Bring your attention back to your breath,

Perhaps.

If the eyes have been closed,

Let them gently blink open.

And come back into our shared space.

As I said,

I'm going to be reading from the translator's introduction and the translator's introduction.

And I'm going to be reading from the translator's introduction.

And I'm going to be reading from the translator's introduction.

As I said,

I'm going to be reading from the translator's introduction and the prologue today.

The Dalai Lama will talk about this,

Like how best to listen to the teachings.

So I don't want to get too ahead of myself.

But I will say for our purposes here,

If you are really wanting to get something out of this,

Then you need to focus.

But that doesn't mean you need to be sitting in a meditative posture the whole time.

You can be lying down or perhaps on a slow walk,

But really not doing other activities.

When we work together in this way,

When we take teachings,

And I really,

I think,

Got the most from Chökyi Nyingma Rinpoche on retreat with him.

And he talked about this idea that this is not the teachings we're taking.

It's not a performance or a play.

It's not entertainment.

This is really the most important information in our lives in order to have a joyful life experience,

The most joyful life experience.

So we should treat it like that.

We should treat taking any teaching from anybody,

Even somebody like me who really knows nothing,

We should treat those moments as special moments because that's exactly what they are.

So whatever that means to you and however you interpret that,

Without judgment,

Just listen in the way that is right for you.

We are happy to be able to present here a translation of the Intermediate Stages of Meditation by Kamalashila with a commentary by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

When His Holiness gave this commentary at Manila in 1989,

Manali in 1989,

We were inspired by a strong wish to make it available as a book.

Since then,

We've worked on it when we could and are happy that it's now fully come to fruition.

Acharya Kamalashila was a great scholar-saint of the ninth century and a disciple of the great abbot Shantarakshita.

It was due to the compassionate activities of such great teachers as these that a complete and unmistaken form of the Buddhist teaching flourished in Tibet.

Kamalashila played a unique role in this because he was the first Indian scholar-saint to compose a significant text in Tibet with a view to the needs of the Tibetan people and with the intention of dispelling the misunderstandings then prevailing there.

Unfortunately,

Due to the turmoil of our times and particularly the tragedy that has befallen Tibet,

Serious students and practitioners have long been deprived of the opportunity of listening to,

Reading,

Thinking about,

Or meditating on such important texts.

Realizing this,

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has,

Despite the many pressing calls on his attention,

Made serious efforts to preserve this tradition which fosters studying and putting into practice the meaning of important and rare texts such as this.

Consequently,

He has taught stages of meditation on several occasions.

We are pleased to make available the commentary he gave in Manali,

The small town at the head of the Kulu Valley in Himachal Pradesh that has longstanding links with Tibetans and the people of the Indo-Tibetan border region.

It is our sincere wish that our humble efforts will continue to the preservation of the unblemished teachings of Acharya Kamalashila.

We hope that whatever positive imprints readers may derive from it may contribute to all sentient beings achieving the ultimate happiness of Buddhahood.

We dedicate whatever merit may be created through this work to the flourishing of the Buddhadharma,

To peace among sentient beings,

And to the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other great spiritual teachers and practitioners.

We are grateful to Susan Kaiser,

Our editor at Snowlion,

For her invaluable suggestions that have improved the final copy,

And to everyone who has directly or indirectly contributed to bringing this project to fulfillment.

And now the text,

Stages of Meditation.

Just a brief aside,

In this text we'll be working with Kamalashila's text coming first and then the Dalai Lama's commentary.

This will go quite often toggling back and forth,

So I'll do my best to indicate when that happens.

This is directly from the text.

In the Indian language,

Bhavana Krama,

And in the Tibetan language,

Gompai Rimpa.

Homage to the youthful Manjushri,

I shall briefly explain the stages of meditation for those who follow the system of Mahayana Sutras.

The intelligent who wish to actualize omniscience extremely quickly should make deliberate effort to fulfill its causes and conditions.

The Dalai Lama.

The great spiritual master Kamalashila composed this text called the Stages of Meditation in three parts.

The initial stages of meditation,

The intermediate stages of meditation,

And the last stages of meditation.

Here I am explaining the intermediate stages of meditation.

The essential subjects of this triti are the awakening mind of bodhicitta and the perfect view.

The spiritual paths that lead to the ultimate goal of Buddhahood are two,

Method and wisdom.

These two qualities produce the physical body or rupakaya and the wisdom body or dharmakaya respectively.

The first represents perfection of working for the welfare of other sentient beings,

And the second represents the perfection of one's own purposes.

The methods for generating bodhicitta and the wisdom realizing emptiness together form the foundation of the Buddhist teachings,

And this text provides a clear exposition of these two aspects of the Buddhist path to enlightenment.

When we take a closer look at these teachings,

We come to understand that compassionate thought is the root of bodhicitta or awakening mind.

This thought of enlightenment must be put into practice in conjunction with the wisdom that realizes the ultimate nature of all phenomena,

Emptiness.

This wisdom should be a union of special insight and a calmly abiding mind single-pointedly focused on its object,

Emptiness.

Most of you who are listening to this come from the land of Lahaul and Kanawar and Spiti regions of India,

And most of you have a certain amount of education.

However,

The teaching technique I shall employ here is primarily oriented to those who don't believe in religion.

In this process,

I want to show how one can generate interest in religion in general and Buddhism in particular.

There are many lines of reasoning that can help us develop interest in religion.

In this way,

We may realize that religion is not based on mere faith,

But that faith arises in conjunction with reason and logic.

Basically,

There are two types of faith,

That which is not based on any special reason and that which is backed by reason.

In the case of the second type of faith,

An individual examines the object of his or her belief and investigates its relevance to his or her needs and requirements.

Faith is generated after seeing the reasons why it is advantageous.

In Buddhism in general and in the Mahayana path in particular,

We examine the contents of the teachings and accept those that are logical and reasonable and reject those that are illogical.

As such,

There are occasions when teachings that are in the Buddha's own words should not be taken literally but need interpretation.

Scriptural teachings that cannot stand logical analysis should not be taken literally but require interpretation.

On the other hand,

Scriptural teachings that can stand logical analyses should be taken literally.

However,

If we search for another scriptural authority to distinguish those scriptures that are to be understood literally and those that are to be interpreted,

We will fall into the fallacy of infinite regress.

We must examine both types of scriptural teachings with logic.

Therefore,

We can see that in the study of Buddhist scriptures,

Logical analyses has a very important place.

Before you embark on your investigation,

It is essential that you study the techniques for testing the object of your analysis.

For people who want to follow the Buddhist teachings in practice,

Mere faith is not enough.

Faith should be backed by reason.

When you study,

Follow a logical method.

While I am teaching,

I want you to pay good attention,

Make notes,

Or use other means to be able to retain what I teach.

Let me begin by explaining what we mean by blessing when we talk about a Lama's blessing or the blessing of the Dharma in the Buddhist context.

Blessing must arise from within your own mind.

It is not something that comes from outside,

Even though we talk about a Lama's blessing or the blessing of the Three Objects of Refuge.

When the positive qualities of your mind increase and negativities decrease,

That is what blessing means.

The Tibetan word for blessing is pronounced chinlop,

And this can be broken down into two parts.

Chin means magnificent potential,

And lop means to transform.

So chinlop means transforming into magnificent potential.

Therefore,

Blessing refers to the development of virtuous qualities that you did not previously have and the improvement of those good qualities that you have already developed.

It also means decreasing the defilements of the mind that obstruct the generation of wholesome qualities.

So actual blessing is received when the mind's virtuous attributes gain strength and its defective characteristics weaken or deteriorate.

The text says,

The intelligent who wish to actualize omniscience extremely quickly should make deliberate effort to fulfill its causes and conditions.

What this means is that this book primarily deals with the procedures and practice of meditation rather than elaborate analysis of the objects that are refuted or presented in a more philosophical work.

It is not that there are two separate and unrelated sets of Buddhist treatises,

That some treatises are only the subject of discourse and others are only manuals of practice.

All scriptures contain teachings to help tame and control the mind.

Nevertheless,

There can definitely be different levels of emphasis.

Certain practices and texts are primarily suited to study and contemplation,

And there are other texts that are taught with special emphasis on meditational procedures.

This text is one of the latter.

Therefore,

In accordance with its content,

It is called Stages of Meditation.

And as this title suggests,

The text describes how a spiritual path can be developed in the mindstream of a meditator in a proper sequence and not in a scattered piecemeal fashion.

Among the three parts of the Stages of Meditation,

This is the middle part.

Acharya Kamalashila initially taught it in his own Indian language.

The text begins with its Sanskrit title,

Mentioned of which is intended to benefit the reader by creating an aptitude for the sacred language in her or his mind.

Citing the title in the literary language of India has a historical dimension as well.

Since the dawn of civilization in the snowy land of Tibet,

And with the gradual development of the Tibetan nation,

There has been a natural association with neighboring countries.

In retrospect,

It appears that Tibetans have adopted many good sociocultural elements from their neighbors.

For instance,

India,

Our neighbor to the south,

Was the source of religion and cultural systems and subjects that enriched the mind.

Similarly,

Other ancient cultures and sciences like medicine,

Buddhist philosophy,

Sanskrit,

Etc.

Were introduced from India,

Home of many great scholars.

Thus,

We Tibetans have a tradition of revering India as the holy land.

China was known for its good food and its great variety of vegetables.

In the Tibetan language,

We use the same word for vegetables as in Chinese,

And even today we continue to use Chinese words for many vegetables.

This is what we imported from China.

Similarly,

Because Mongolian garments are well suited to a cold climate,

Tibetans have copied some of their styles.

So over the centuries that Tibetans have been in contact with their neighbors,

We have imported many good things and developed our own distinctive sociocultural characteristics.

When the text begins with the phrase,

In the Indian language,

It indicates the authenticity of the text,

That it originated in the treatises of Indian masters.

Then the text says,

In the Tibetan language,

And the Tibetan title is provided.

This indicates that the text was translated into the language of another country,

Tibet.

The Tibetan language is rich enough to accurately express great treatises,

Including the sutras and their commentaries.

Over the centuries,

The Tibetan language has been a major medium,

Both for the discourse and the practice aspects of Buddhism.

Even today,

It appears that Tibetan is almost the only language in the world that can fully communicate the entire Buddhist teachings contained in the Hinayana,

Mahayana,

And Tantric canons.

Tibetan is therefore a very important language,

And it is especially valuable in relation to Buddhism.

Homage to the youthful Manjushri.

This is the verse of obeisance and supplication by the translator.

The translators start their work by paying homage so that they will be able to complete their work without facing any obstacles.

It also represents their aspiration to fulfill their temporary and ultimate purposes.

Supplication is made to Manjushri following a decree promulgated by the religious kings in the past.

The intention was to clearly indicate to which of the three divisions,

The pitakas or baskets,

Of the Buddha's teachings any sutra or commentary belongs.

Supplication is made to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas if a text belongs to the collection of discourses.

And if a text belongs to the collection of knowledge,

Supplication is made to Manjushri.

In order to indicate that a certain text belongs to the collection of discipline,

Supplication is made to the omniscient ones.

So the supplication by the translator conforms to traditional practice.

The main thesis of this treatise concerns establishing selflessness by relying on that single pointed concentration that is a union of special insight and a calmly abiding mind.

And as it belongs to the collection of knowledge,

Supplication is made to Manjushri.

With the phrase,

For those who follow the system of Mahayana sutras,

The author briefly reveals the process of meditation for those who study this treatise.

Now the question arises,

What is the ultimate goal of those who practice the Mahayana teachings?

And the answer is Buddhahood.

What does Buddhahood mean?

One who possesses a transcendental,

All-knowing wisdom is a Buddha,

And this state is referred to as Buddhahood.

Since the final goal of the Mahayana teachings is to attain this omniscient state,

The practitioner needs to investigate closely the means and methods that lead to this realization.

Through such investigation,

He or she must strive to pursue the correct and complete course for realizing the omniscient state.

This is a brief summary of the theme of this book.

Okay,

So these two very simple first readings are introducing us to what we have set out on here.

But more than that,

We're also being introduced to a process that is used in Buddhism,

And we're being introduced to the history of Tibetan Buddhism,

Like the roots of Tibetan Buddhism.

So there are quite a lot of things packed into these small and short chapters.

The first thing we want to recognize is that this text is a teaching.

So this is a translation of a teaching that the Dalai Lama gave at another point in time in the 80s to a group of people.

So it was intended for a particular audience.

And of course,

We are not that particular audience.

So there may be facets of the text that do or don't make sense or are or are not relevant to us.

So it's important to remember that this text is contextualized for a particular group of people.

But if you paid attention,

Then you recognize that the Dalai Lama is giving this discourse,

Giving this teaching in such a way that it will be interesting to people whether they are practitioners of Buddhism or not,

And that it may even incite inside of the mind of a non-practitioner a desire to become a practitioner.

So I set that point out clearly right now because I want us to really know and absorb that whether or not we are deeply practicing Buddhism or we are just curious about the Buddha's teachings,

Neither one of those things matters in terms of our capacity to take these teachings now together.

The other thing that I find really interesting about this sort of introduction to the theme of the text is that the Dalai Lama talks about the idea that Tibetan culture is actually a mixture of many other cultures that has come together to create its own unique path.

And that on top of that,

It seems the Tibetan culture and specifically the Tibetan language are really the best vehicles in the world to take these texts out of Indian culture and disseminate them into the world.

And so that's very exciting for those of you who know anything about Tibetan Buddhism or practice it.

It offers a very rich history and a very rich body of teachings that can help us no matter where we are in our own level of understanding at the moment.

So let's talk a little bit about Kamala Shila,

Who I find to be a very interesting figure in Buddhism in general.

So Kamala Shila actually is groundbreaking in Tibetan Buddhism.

He came to have a debate.

He was actually invited to this monastery,

Samye Monastery,

To have a debate with a Chinese Buddhist master,

A Zen master.

And when he was invited for this debate,

Everyone was really certain that he would lose the debate.

Debate is a heavily practiced activity in Buddhist monasteries.

It's a way for students to work with what they're learning in this back and forth method that allows them to find out if they truly understand the teachings or not and sort of pit that against someone else who's doing the same.

So Kamala Shila was invited to this debate and people were really sure he would lose.

And that's because this Zen master that he was up against was bringing to Tibet the idea of simplicity and immediacy in terms of the Buddha's teachings.

And this is by means of the direct path to realization.

So at the time,

There was a major emphasis on immediately recognizing the nature of mind or immediately recognizing the omniscient state of Buddhahood.

And as the Tibetans were just sort of developing their own method of working with the Buddha's teachings,

This was a very attractive offer that you could just immediately know the omniscient state of Buddhahood.

And I think this is especially relevant in our modern time because we are really at a place in time where it is the height of wanting things now.

I don't have to go into that.

I know you get it.

We are at the height of wanting things now.

We want it to be easy.

We want it to come now.

We want to Amazon it next day at the latest.

But if we can get it same day,

We want that.

If we are hungry,

We want to DoorDash or whatever these apps are where you can get your food immediately.

There has been a strong movement away from the gradual path,

A much slower and methodical method,

For instance,

The gradual path to cooking or the gradual path to shopping where you have to take steps leading up to it rather than the genie path I'm going to refer to it as where we just snap our fingers and immediately what we have is in front of us.

So this Zen master was coming to this debate really from that perspective that you could snap your fingers and immediately have direct realization.

But then in walks Kamalashila,

An Indian master,

And he is coming with a totally different perspective.

Kamalashila came rather with this step-by-step approach to the meditation practice,

And it was in a high contrast to this idea of sudden awakening.

Rather,

Kamalashila was saying through the unification of shamatha,

Calm abiding meditation,

And vipassana,

Insight meditation,

This is the gradual way to realize the omniscient state of Buddhahood.

And we'll next session really start talking about Buddhahood more and what does that mean and enlightenment and what does that mean.

So if you feel like you have those questions arising already,

That's great.

Come to the next session because this book is just going to keep sort of unfolding.

And that is a great kind of example for what we're doing here.

Our work together is also gradual.

It's not instantaneous.

This is not Blinkist or whatever this app is where they give you a hard text in 30 seconds and then you know it already.

This is not that.

The approach we're using here is very methodical.

It's slow and it's reason-based.

And so that's another thing that is really happening in these debate styles of Buddhism is that we're talking about logic.

And the Dalai Lama talks about this in this preface as well,

That we should be always applying logic and reasoning.

Buddhism is not about having blind faith.

It is never about blind faith.

It is always about faith with reason.

And so we have to have that a little bit.

So anyways,

Back to Kamalashila,

He argues again that shamatha and vipassana are necessary tools actually,

And the gradual path is necessary to reach enlightenment.

And that through this combination of calming the mind and gaining insight into the nature of reality,

That this is how we do that.

And this is what we're going to be working on throughout this text.

So we're really reminded in this preface,

In this early stage,

That meditation is not just a mental exercise.

It is a transformative practice.

And I love this phrase.

Let's see.

I'm going to go back and get it exactly so I don't mess it up.

Transforming our magnificent potential.

So we are transforming our minds to reach its magnificent potential.

And this is such a beautiful way to think about the teachings.

And as with anything,

What Kamalashila is suggesting is that to do this,

We have to be slow,

Titrate our approach.

It has to be unique to us,

And we must be logical and methodical.

And in that same vein,

We are coming at this from two different angles.

And this will unravel as we work together,

But you can imagine there is not much you're great at learning when your mind is not settled.

So the first stage is really the settling of the mind,

Calming the mind.

And then we start to invite in insight.

And these two together create the ultimate wisdom.

So for the modern reader,

These teachings are really inviting us to approach meditation with patience.

As I was saying,

We just live in this culture that wants all of the quick fixes,

Everything to be perfect and right now.

And stages of meditation is teaching us the value of gradual and sustained effort.

Meditation is a practice that builds slowly over time,

Layer by layer,

As we're working through these mental habits and all of our distractions and all of our misconceptions.

And as we do that,

We slowly begin to peel away the outer layers of reality and get deep into its core.

And that's what we'll be doing together.

So let's do a little practice today before we close our session,

If you're up for it,

And if you're in a space for it.

And we'll get more deeply into understanding these practices as we read the text.

But for now,

Just wherever you are at with understanding is great.

Maybe you have great understanding,

You've worked with these texts before,

Maybe you're brand new to these teachings,

And there are words and phrases that aren't making sense yet.

And I'm just inviting you to allow whatever is happening for you,

However,

It's arising to be perfectly okay,

And actually exactly what's necessary.

So find a meditative posture,

Whatever that means to you.

Eyes can be open or closed.

If you're a newer practitioner,

Closing the eyes can be a little bit more settling for the mind.

But maybe it doesn't feel safe to close the eyes and leaving them open is also okay.

Whatever you choose,

Relax the eyes,

Let them soften.

In this practice,

We're going to focus on the idea of resting the mind or shamatha or calm abiding as really the foundation of all of our meditation.

So once you find your seat,

Adjust yourself.

Let's bring our attention to the in and out breath.

Let this be very simple.

You can take your awareness right in front of the nose,

Just an inch or two centimeters or so in front of the nose.

And just notice as the breath moves in and out of the nostrils from the space.

As you observe your breath,

Perhaps you'll notice a little bit from the space.

As you observe your breath,

Perhaps you notice that there is a desire to breathe in a particular way to force the breath to change.

And if there is any of that,

Just release yourself from any job.

If the breath is flowing smooth and easily,

Great.

But if the breath isn't,

This is also fine.

We're just simply observing the breath in its natural state in and out.

If you find that the mind is very wild right now,

You can count the breath.

So with every exhale,

You count,

Inhaling and exhaling one,

And then simply count to 10 and start again each time you get to the number 10.

And if you lose your place,

Just start over.

It's no problem.

No need to count the breath,

But it's a tool there for you if you do desire it.

And otherwise,

Let's simply stay silent for the next two minutes or so,

Observing our breath and allowing the mind to settle and rest.

You can drop your focus of attention for a moment.

Just allow yourself to be with whatever is present for you.

If your eyes have been closed,

Maybe you want to gently open them.

Bring yourself back into the space.

Abiding is really a prerequisite for special insight or real,

Authentic wisdom to manifest.

And that's why the gradual path to Buddhahood,

We'll call it,

Just call it what they're calling it,

Is so crucial right now,

Is so relevant right now.

Because most of the minds of people on our planet in modern culture,

Most of them are filled,

Filled,

Filled,

Busy,

Busy,

Busy with tasks and jobs and relationships and so on and so forth.

And they're just not aware of tasks and jobs and relationships and the next thing to do and the next thing to do.

And when the mind is in this constant whirlwind of activity,

It is very hard for spontaneous insight to arise because there's really no space for it.

It's like if you have children or you work with children and when they're bored,

They do creative things.

They do imaginative things.

And over time in modern culture,

We've sort of lost that connection to the benefit of boredom.

And Samatha is sort of like reconnecting to the benefit of boredom,

To the benefit of doing absolutely nothing,

Of having absolutely no stimulation.

And what arises out of that naturally is creativity,

Curiosity,

And insight and wisdom.

So we're beginning already,

Even though we're just barely getting started to make space in our minds for what we really want,

Which is to understand these teachings at the deepest level,

To not just understand them,

But to begin to live them.

Is it true?

And actually,

We have to ask that question.

Is it true?

Are these teachings true?

If I practice in this way,

Is it true that my life circumstances improve?

Is it true that I will be able to benefit other beings on the planet?

And that's the logical side of things.

So nothing really special today for homework,

But I will say in between sessions,

It's of benefit.

If you do not already have a specifically defined meditation practice,

Start carving out a minimum of two or three minutes a day to simply do nothing,

But rest the mind while watching the breath.

So there's no other job here,

Really just giving yourself intentional opportunities for boredom.

What may happen is that may be very uncomfortable.

The mind doesn't immediately go into a restful state,

Just like a child doesn't immediately stop doing what you've asked them to do.

In fact,

Before the bad behavior stops in a child,

Often it ramps up.

And that's the truth for the mind as well.

Before the mind begins to calm,

It often ramps up.

This is referred to in the Buddhist teachings as the waterfall-like experience.

So it can be the case if you're new to meditation,

And I really want to suggest this,

It can be the case that in the beginning of our time together,

You find that things feel worse rather than better.

And I'm suggesting to you that this is just a matter of noticing what was already there with a finer attunement.

So what you may not have been noticing before,

But was already going on,

Creating a restlessness,

If you will.

So when we first stop to calm the mind,

It typically,

It feels more restless than before.

And I just want to assure you that that's totally normal.

Even if you're a really late stage practitioner,

That is totally normal.

So yeah,

However it's going is how we want it to go.

If you joined for the last book club,

We really worked with the idea of lojong,

The mind training technique of looking at suffering as a benefit.

And so we have no more enemies,

We have no more problems when we approach life this way.

Anything that happens is an extreme benefit to us in our lives.

All the negative experiences are not just good things to learn from,

They're actually necessary for our growth.

The negative experiences are necessary for our growth.

So I bring that teaching into this teaching to offer some just sort of preliminary stage for you to settle into things being good or bad or easy or hard or numb or not,

And all of that being perfectly okay.

So again,

The homework is very simple.

Just a three-minute breath practice one time a day,

Be specific,

Pick a specific time,

And be really intentional about that between sessions.

And our next session,

We're going to work with the introduction to the text and alongside chapter one.

So I'll just briefly introduce you to the name of the chapters so that you have an idea of what the contents are.

So we'll read from the,

As I said,

The introduction next time.

And then chapter one is what is mind.

Chapter two is training the mind.

Three,

Compassion.

Four,

Developing equanimity,

The root of loving-kindness.

Five,

Identifying the nature of suffering.

Six,

Wisdom.

Seven,

Common prerequisites for meditating on calm-abiding and special insight.

Eight,

The practice of calm-abiding.

Nine,

Actualizing special insight.

And then 10 is unifying method and wisdom.

So we're really going to be talking a lot about this unity between method and wisdom,

But the essence of everything we're doing is cultivating the mind of bodhicitta,

The mind of awakening,

Which is ultimately compassionate and which absolutely desires to help all beings be free from suffering and have more happiness in their lives.

So it's a big undertaking and I love that.

And I hope you're loving that too and that we are going to go on this journey together and really enjoy this journey.

So thank you for your time today.

We're ending the session a little bit early,

But hopefully it's enough for you to sort of prep your mind for what's to come.

I'm not sure how many sessions we'll end up having,

But every Thursday at 11,

Live on Insight Timer,

These sessions will be hosted and then the recordings will go up shortly after.

And I encourage you to re-watch and re-familiarize yourself in between sessions.

Let's close with a brief dedication.

We'll close every session with a brief dedication.

Again,

Just turning the mind inward slightly,

Not needing to change much else.

And you can just simply listen here,

Taking these words into your heart and letting them reverberate and echo from the inside out.

Whatever merit or understanding we've gained today,

May it benefit all beings.

May our practice serve to open our hearts and minds,

Allowing us to become more compassionate and wise in our daily lives.

Hey,

Well,

Thank you for joining.

Thank you very much for joining and I will hope to see you in our next session.

Reviews

Very nice intro for beginners