Meditation, Stability, Clarity: Experiencing the Liberating Power of Full Attention
D3S2 - Letting Thoughts Dissolve, or Cutting Them Off
Lama Alan · 86 minutes · recorded June 5, 2025
Two ways of working with thoughts in shamatha: the soft approach of watching them dissolve, shown through the raven that finds no land and returns to the ship it flew from, as a thought returns to the mind, and the more active approach of cutting off each thought as it arises, likened to a swordsman deflecting arrows. Lama Alan explains why any composite thing carries the seeds of its own dissolution, and answers a question on releasing a recurring thought without indulging or fighting it.
Anger and aversion The nature of mind Shamatha (calm abiding)