B. ALAN WALLACE, EVA NATANYA : SAMATHA AND VIPASYANA An Anthology of Pith Instructions

Invaluable instructions on core meditations designed to bring about irreversible spiritual transformation.

For those who aspire to the total enlightenment of a buddha, the contemplative practices of śamatha and vipaśyanā play a crucial role from the beginning of the path to its culmination. Designed to free one first from the five obscurations that hinder the natural clarity and balance of the mind—and eventually from the ignorance that is the root of suffering—these practices, when imbued with bodhicitta, enable one to reach a pivotal stage within the Mahāyāna path of accumulation. This is the stage at which one gains irreversible, gold-like bodhicitta, after which one is assured of being a bodhisattva in all one’s future lifetimes until enlightenment.

The instructions gathered here are like a string of pearls spanning from the eleventh century to the present day. They include teachings from great Indian masters as well as renowned lamas of the past and present from the four major orders of Tibetan Buddhism, and many of the texts translated here stem from visionary teachings revealed by Mañjuśrī, Vajrapāṇi, Avalokiteśvara, and Padmasambhava. Introductions rich in biographical detail accompany each group of translated entries, providing historical context and drawing connections between complementary lineages. The concluding pith instructions from Lama Alan Wallace bring the anthology directly into the domain of contemporary practice, and a collection of links to a rich array of recorded oral teachings by eminent lamas, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s first teachings in the West, make this volume a treasure trove for the practitioner and scholar alike.

• Hardcover
• 392 pages, 6 x 9 inches
• ISBN 9781614299691

B. Alan Wallace is president of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies. He trained for many years as a monk in Buddhist monasteries in India and Switzerland. He has taught Buddhist theory and practice in Europe and America since 1976 and has served as interpreter for numerous Tibetan scholars and contemplatives, including H. H. the Dalai Lama. After graduating summa cum laude from Amherst College, where he studied physics and the philosophy of science, he earned his MA and PhD in religious studies at Stanford University. He has edited, translated, authored, and contributed to more than forty books on Tibetan Buddhism, medicine, language, and culture, and the interface between science and religion.

Alan is also the founder of the Center for Contemplative Research (CCR), which now has retreat center locations in Crestone, Colorado, and in Castellina Marittima, Italy. A new center is also being established in New Zealand. The CCR is dedicated to researching the role and methods of the ancient contemplative practices of Shamatha and Vipashyana, and their involvement in mental health and wellbeing, as well as their role in fathoming the nature and origins of human consciousness.

The CCR vision builds on the results of the Shamatha Project. It is guided by a Scientific Advisory Board that includes the Nobel Prize-winning physicist and biologist Steven Chu (Stanford University), neuroscientist and clinical psychologist David Presti (UC Berkeley), theoretical physicist Marcelo Gleiser (Director of the Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Engagement at Dartmouth College), and philosopher Michel Bitbol (Director of Research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique). Cognitive scientists at the University of Pisa, the University of Trent, and the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa are committed to conducting research in collaboration with the CCR.

For an introduction, listen to The Nature of Reality: A Dialogue Between a Buddhist Scholar and a Theoretical Physicist. In this public dialogue, Alan Wallace and Sean Carroll, a world-renowned theoretical physicist and best-selling author, discussed the nature of reality from spiritual and scientific viewpoints.

Other books by B. Alan Wallace:
Dzokchen
The Attention Revolution
Fathoming the Mind
Open Mind
The Vajra Essence
Heart of the Great Perfection
Buddhahood Without Meditation
Dudjom Lingpa’s Visions of the Great Perfection
Natural Liberation
Transcending Time
Stilling the Mind
Tibetan Buddhism from the Ground Up

Eva Natanya is a scholar of Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, Christian theology, and comparative religion, and has served in many capacities as a spiritual teacher, translator of Tibetan texts, author, and retreat leader. Following a nine-year career as a professional ballet dancer with both the New York City Ballet and the Royal Ballet of England, she earned an MA in Christian Systematic Theology at the Graduate Theological Union, and a PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia. Her dissertation examined the complex interactions of Madhyamaka, Yogacara, and Abhidharma teachings as they underlie the Vajrayana philosophy of Je Tsongkhapa. She has spent more than four years in solitary meditation retreat, is the co-founder of the Center for Contemplative Research, and currently serves as resident teacher at the CCR’s Miyo Samten Ling Hermitage in Crestone, Colorado, while continuing her solitary retreat practice.