Alan Wallace just published this
article in Tricycle Magazine, in which he outlines the profound
implications of shamatha practice for the modern era. It's a great
piece. I just returned from Phuket International Academy, which will include long-term retreat cabins and scientific labs, allowing the yogis and the scientists to partner in exciting ways. The closing paragraphs from the article, with relevance to PIA:
The current marginalization of shamatha may also
be due in part to the recognition that the necessary
prerequisites are almost nowhere to be found in today’s
world. Why encourage people to sow a crop in unfertile
soil? This highlights the urgent need to create opportuni-
ties where authentic training in shamatha is offered, to
develop retreat centers that provide low-cost, suitable
accommodations for those seeking to practice for months
or years in order to achieve shamatha, and to procure
financial support for those dedicating themselves to such
single-pointed practice.
If such opportunities become available to serious
meditators, we will soon find ourselves in a world where
numerous practitioners accomplish shamatha and, with
this foundation, go on to authentic, lasting realizations
that profoundly and irreversibly transform and liberate
the mind of its afflictions and obscurations. In turn, these
practitioners could, for the first time, shed light on the
gaping blind spot at the center of modernity: our under-
standing of consciousness.
Why does this matter? Because a world that truly
understands the nature of consciousness could shift away
from the hedonic treadmill of consumerism and toward
the infinitely renewable resource of genuine happiness
that is cultivated by training the mind. A world that
truly understands the nature of consciousness may find
itself sharing ethics that are universal and empirically
verifiable. In a world that truly understands the nature
of consciousness, the great religions may rediscover their
contemplative roots and explore their deep common
ground. Seven hundred years ago, classical Greek teach-
ings from the East made their way into Western thought,
and a dark age gave way to the Renaissance and moder-
nity. Might teachings from the East once again inspire
profound societal renewal? Might shamatha provide the
missing peace that helps unite our deeply fragmented
and troubled world? A great challenge lies before us, and
a great opportunity is at hand.
Comments