82 Scientific Materialism on its Deathbed, or the Scent of a Revolution

https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Podcasts113/v4/e5/12/1c/e5121c29-8334-1f6e-aeb4-ed619f10758c/mza_2853008983130053088.jpg/600x600bb.jpg

Fall 2014 Shamatha, Vipashyana, Dream Yoga

B. Alan Wallace

93 episodes

9 months ago

This eight-week retreat will focus on three of the six transitional processes, namely:

the Transitional Process of Living, with teachings on śamatha and vipaśyanā,
the Transitional Process of Dreaming, with teachings on dream yoga, and
the Transitional Process of Meditation with teachings on Dzogchen meditation.

All these teachings will be based on the text The Profound Dharma of The Natural Emergence of the Peaceful and Wrathful from Enlightened Awareness Stage of Completion Instructions on the Six Transitional Processes, an “earth terma” of teachings by Padmasambhava, revealed by Karma Lingpa in the fourteen century.

The English translation of this text has been published under the title Natural Liberation: Padmasambhava’s Teachings on the Six Bardos, with commentary by Gyatrul Rinpoche and translated by B. Alan Wallace.

Buddhism

Religion & Spirituality,

All content for Fall 2014 Shamatha, Vipashyana, Dream Yoga is the property of B. Alan Wallace and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

This eight-week retreat will focus on three of the six transitional processes, namely:

the Transitional Process of Living, with teachings on śamatha and vipaśyanā,
the Transitional Process of Dreaming, with teachings on dream yoga, and
the Transitional Process of Meditation with teachings on Dzogchen meditation.

Buddhism

Religion & Spirituality,

Society & Culture,

Philosophy,

Natural Sciences

https://media.sbinstitute.com/_db/course_images/8/Fall2014Cover.jpg

82 Scientific Materialism on its Deathbed, or the Scent of a Revolution

Fall 2014 Shamatha, Vipashyana, Dream Yoga

11 years ago

82 Scientific Materialism on its Deathbed, or the Scent of a Revolution

Alan reminds us that the text by Padmasambhava strikes one as religious and mystical if viewed from a eurocentric perspective. However, it is utterly important to acknowledge that while eurocentric concepts have been of great value in certain areas, these are CONCEPTS - not truths. Thus, if one steps outside the domain of eurocentric culture one has to be careful with applying the same concepts and frameworks. In a buddhist context, the text appears and presents itself as sound science, providing knowledge as well as specific techniques to reproduce the knowledge. Alan then shows just how eurocentric media and science are when he quotes at length an article about a scientific study that “for the first time” proves that people can be aware of their surroundings up to 3 minutes after the heart has stopped beating and the brain has shut down, which means after clinical death. To many cultures, this is not exactly breaking news… However, despite the flaws in the article it shows how some scientists are willing to probe into such issues and with each study done the framework of scientific materialism crumbles ever more. The dominoes have started falling. Alan then gives a short update on how creating a contemplative observatory in Europe might actually be realized. After the silent meditation Alan goes back to the text which deals with the questions of what to do when you come out of meditation. Silent meditation cut out at 49:37