Four Immeasurables & Buddhist Mind Training – July 2008 – Audio Recordings

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has often commented that the essence of spiritual practice is cultivating a good heart. As important as meditative quiescence and insight meditation are within the Buddhist tradition, it is crucial to balance such practices with the cultivation of altruism. In this meditation seminar, Alan Wallace teaches a sequence of meditations for the cultivation of the “Four Immeasurables,” namely loving-kindness, compassion, empathetic joy, and impartiality.

These are followed by teachings and practice of Buddhist Mind-Training, or “Lojong.” While many teachings on Buddhist meditation fill us with a longing to spend more time in quiet, solitary meditation, these practices bring us back to life, to the active world of living with others. The optimal situation to apply these teachings on cultivating a good heart is active life, socially engaged with other people at home and about town, moving away from habitual self-centeredness to greater empathy and loving concern for the welfare for those around us.

This audio stream chronicles the seven-day retreat recorded July 19-26, 2008 at the Old Mission in Santa Barbara, CA and includes teachings, guided meditations, and discussions.