Alan Wallace Retreat

EXPLORING THE DEPTHS OF THE PSYCHE
23 – 29 June

"In this six day retreat, B Alan Wallace offered an oral commentary to the shamatha section of The Vajra Essence, which he received from his teacher, the Ven Gyatrul Rinpoche, who authorized him to teach this portion of the text to general audiences. The retreat also consisted of meditation sessions and periods of discussion.

The Vajra Essence by Dudjom Lingpa is a classic 19th century meditation manual in the Dzogchen tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Covering all stages of meditative practice up to the achievement of spiritual awakening, it begins with the extraordinary presentation of the practice of "setting the mind in its natural state" which entails the cultivation of discerning mindfulness of the space of the mind and all mental phenomena that arise from moment to moment.

The essence of this practice is to observe all these mental events without distraction and without grasping. In the process of sustained practice, the obsessive and compulsive activities of the mind gradually subside - like snowflakes settling in a snow globe - and one's awareness settles in the substrate consciousness (alayavijnana), characterized by bliss, luminosity and nonconceptuality. This is called the "relative ground state of the mind," not to be confused with nirvana, Buddha nature, or other transcendent states of awareness."