Stilling the Mind: Shamatha Teachings from Dudjom Lingpa's Vajra Essence

by B. Alan Wallace, Dudjom Lingpa

In his previous book, The Attention Revolution , bestselling author Alan Wallace guided readers through the stages of shamatha, a meditation for focusing the mind. In Stilling the Mind , he uses the wisdom of Dzogchen--the highest of all the meditation traditions--to open up the shamatha practice into a space of vast freedom. Here, Wallace introduces us to Dudjom Lingpa's Vajra Essence , one of the most cherished works of the Nyingma school from which Dzogchen stems. With his trademark enthusiasm and keen intelligence, Wallace makes obscure concepts intelligible to contemporary readers and allows us to glimpse the profound realizations of a great nineteenth-century spiritual adept.

Genres: Buddhism, Meditation, Spirituality, Religion, Philosophy

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Maarten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Some prior knowledge of Shamatha will help. A great book to read after 'The Attention Revolution' for example.

[Ishmael · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some decent insights on using mindfulness of mind (little m) as the path. I liked where Wallace said that once mindfulness is saturated, we can let go of 'doing' mindfulness.

On many other occasions, though, I was often skeptical of Wallace's understanding of things.

I also found Wallace's science shtick annoying at times. He often didn't exhibit much gnostic understanding.

[Shashi Martynova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailed and clear instructions on shamatha, practice preliminary to Dzogchen.

[Betty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best dharma book I have read in a long time.

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over the years I've gone through dozens of Tibetan Buddhism books, scouring for techniques and guidance. Many of them are designed for a monastic audience, or, having been written hundreds of years ago and intended to be accompanied by access to a guru, are not entirely transparent to understand. This book is a commentary on a text which is much more aligned with contemporary situations, and highlights a path which is approachable and direct. It is not easy, and there are many nuances to the approach which are touched upon here - however there are quite a few wonderful examples presented by Alan as he walks us through the text's progression. It is very deep and profound, and I found this book to be one of the most immediately useful and applicable to a modern practitioner. Wish I had access to a book like this years ago.

It is worth noting for the novice (I'd count myself in that group) that shamatha is a practice which is sometimes described differently, but which is the basis for development of jhanas and many steps to approaching the deeper meditative experiences. I share Alan's assessment that it is entirely indispensable if you wish to truly make real progress, but it's not easy. I believe I've seen Alan reference that it's infeasible to make progress in it without a good hour a day of practice, so I feel compelled to share that for those who, like me, want to make progress but struggle with integrating this into an existing lifestyle.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, a bit dull in some parts. I suppose that is good to still the mind.

[Jennifer Frye · Rating 4 out of 5]

A deep dive into the shamatha practice. Maybe not for those new to Vajrayana, but a wonderful, insightful book.

[Andrei Gheorghe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very grateful to Lama Alan for commenting the original text and giving advice for practice.

There is also a recording of his 8 week retreat based on this text, on sbinstitute.com