Fall 2011 Shamatha Retreat

In this session Alan introduces the practice of loving-kindness extended in all directions. The meditation starts at 9:34 QA starts at 34:40: 1. Why is the question "what would make us happy" instead of "what would make us happier"? 2. Meditating with eyes open vs eyes closed 3. How to overcome the "fuzzy" quality of attention 4. Can the meditator know the difference between the different degrees of laxity? 5. Perceiving one's heartbeat while meditating 6. If the large flame of effort depicted in the image of the stages of shamatha does not mean trying so hard, what does it actually represent? 7. Where do the pictures in my mind come from? 8. How do you spell "alaya"? 9. Images coming up just before falling asleep 10. If you dissolve your mind into the substrate, is there some similarity to schizophrenia or psychosis?