Practice Library

Dreaming of Reality: Sleeping, Dreaming & Dying in Tibetan Buddhism

D3S1 - Free Will, and the Three Qualities of a Student

Lama Alan · 107 minutes · recorded January 1, 2019

In a detailed preamble Lama Alan Wallace argues that the dispute over free will is the wrong question, and offers Shantideva's counsel to remain like a piece of wood when the mind comes under a mental affliction. The practice that follows is a fourth approach to mindfulness of breathing, from the Dzogchen side: we rest awareness in its own place, knowing itself while the breath is noticed peripherally. He names the three qualities that make a suitable vessel: open-minded, perceptive, eager to practise.

Death and dying Dreams and sleep Sleep and rest Compassion (karuna) Dzogchen Mindfulness of breathing Open presence Shantideva

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