Talks - Samatha Retreat

Talk 1 - Intro

Samatha = Calmness, tranquillity
- Healing potential
- We fabricate less
- Insights comes from this state
- In Samatha you focus on what’s pleasant and calming
- In Vipassana you work with difficult emotions and sensations
- A balance of both is optimal
Buddha strongly encouraged developing calmness
- The pleasure of calmness is a pleasure I’ll allow myself
The more we develop it, the less needy and greedy we become
- We also become more available to others
- Calmness, like other mindstates, is “developable”
  - We are not victim of our environment for our mindstates
The Buddha placed a strong emphasis on the 5 ethical precepts

Why is there such an emphasis to not control the breath?
- Is it to let go of the need of control?
- Developing a breath that feels good won’t really attach us to control
To be with things as they are is not the ultimate goal or truth
- The goal is something much deeper, more radical than that

Finding calmness involves working with non-calm states
Hindrances affect us in meditation like in our life
- Expect hindrances to come, they will
- Working with hindrances in meditation as opportunity to free ourselves from them in our life
Hindrances shrink awareness
- Focusing on expanding awareness (related: Course - Alexander Technique)
Hindrances may come as a way to distract us from difficult emotions
- Check in with yourself for that

We often don’t even realize our cravings
- We think “I need this or that”
It’s not a pleasurable state to be in
- Feels like something is lacking
Ask yourself
- ”What is lacking in the present moment?”
With practice, pleasure can become so accessible and full that makes craving weaker

Literal translation related to guilt over past actions
- Ethics is an important part of the path
Worry can be a habit
- Depends on some of our beliefs
Working with it
- Focus on outbreath (calming)
With time practicing, worry naturally decreases
Too focused attention can bring agitation, too little focus can bring torpor
- Finding The Middle Path

Doubting is good in practice
This kind of doubt is paralyzying
- Often doubt in oneself’s ability
- Or doubt in the teaching or practice
  - Can be useful but not during the practice
More subtle (less physical) than other hindrances

Concentration not a good translation
- Gives a sense of one-pointedness of awareness
- It can also be very expansive awareness
Not giving in urges in practice we develop non-reactivity in life
Samatha creates fertile soil in our mind for insights

Happiness is what helps most to develop Samatha
- It is also the fruit of Samatha, creating Reinforcing Feedback Loops
- Feeling gratitude and appreciation to develop happiness → gratitude is a superpower
Receptivity, again is both a fruit and a cause of Samatha
Learning Working with the Hindrances
- Learning to expect and ride the waves and ups and downs

Tightness may come up
- We can just relax it, bring softness and kindness to the practice
- Accepting that tightness is there
Relationship with Goals Goals in Spiritual Practice
- Goals are part of life
  - Can we learn to be in healthy a relationship with goals?
- Goals can be harmful when/if the diminish our sense of self-worth
  - Can we learn to keep a sense of appreciation of what we have (instead of lacking what we don’t?)?
- Goals may appear dualistic, some prefer to just abide in the present
  - A true understanding of nonduality would see that even the present moment is empty
Risk of Attachment
- Most times Samatha doesn’t lead to attachment
  - You can get attached at one level, but as practice deepens that drops
- Attachment to wanting to live in a nice, comfortable house is ok?
  - Attachment to enjoying meditation is not?
Risk of suppressing difficult emotions
Doubt of usefulness of feeling pleasure