Karma Kagyu Mahamudra: Shamatha and Vipashyana

Review 

We’ve spoken about how on any spiritual journey, like going on a caravan, we need to make preparation for the various things that we’re going to bring with us on our journey. What’s usually referred to as the preliminary practices is the preparation; it’s the state of mind, it’s the context that we’re going to live in, like bringing the tent along with us as we go along the caravan that is going to house us.

So, it’s having this safe direction in life, or refuge, and the bodhichitta aim to reach enlightenment in order to best be able to benefit others. Always keeping mindful of death and impermanence, and behavioral cause and effect, in other words, karma. Being disgusted with the ups and downs of our ordinary type of existence and repeated rebirth and so on, and really wanting to get out of that. Taking advantage of the precious human life that we have now because it’s not going to last forever. Having the inspiration from a spiritual teacher, and being open-minded and not sectarian about our practice, not clinging desperately to the meditation, and not having any hopes or worries. All of these provide the environment, as it were, within which we can practice this method of mahamudra. We discussed all of that last time, and now let’s go into the second two parts that the material is presented, the first of which is shamatha meditation. 

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