Probing the Ultimate Nature of Reality – September 2009

Description

This program chronicles the seven-day retreat “Probing the Ultimate Nature of Reality: A Vipashyana Retreat in the Great Perfection Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, presented on the basis of Dudjom Lingpa’s Mind Treasure, The Vajra Essence” in Santa Barbara, California from September 2009.

The Vajra Essence by Dudjom Lingpa is a classic, 19th century text in the Great Perfection (Dzogchen) tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Covering all stages of meditative practice up to the achievement of spiritual awakening, it beings with the shamahta practice of “settling the mind in it’s natural of mind and it’s relation to the whole of reality. Moveing beyond the substrate consciousness (alayavijanana), this practice is aimed at realizing the empty nature of the mind and the manner in which all phenomena arises as dependently related events, empty of their own inherent nature independent of conceptual designation. Such insight is widely held to be a necessary prerequisite for realizing pristine awareness (rigpa) and ascending along the path of the Great Perfection to the realization of the “rainbow body.”

In this week-long retreat, B. Alan Wallace offers an oral commentary on the vipashyana 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 consists of meditation session and period of discussion.

All seven days of this retreat are reproduced here in full, conveniently divided into teachings, meditations, and discussions. PDF files on the first disk include explanatory notes on the audio files, retreat handouts, and other pertinent information.

Pre-requisites: Part I  “Exploring the Depths of the Psyche: A Shamatha Retreat in the Great Perfection Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism“, presented on the basis of Dudjom Lingpa’s Mind Treasure, The Vajra Essence” in Santa Barbara, California from June 21 – 28, 2009.