This lesson opens with an introduction to attention from Thupten Jinpa. In the main course lecture, Dr. B. Alan Wallace then describes the three-part Buddhist framework of ethics, meditation, and wisdom. He then details the two mental faculties that are important for developing the practice of shamatha: mindfulness and meta-awareness. Deepening this exploration, Alan then moves on to discuss mindfulness, which he defines as the faculty of sustaining voluntary attention continuously upon a familiar object without forgetfulness or distraction. In his exploration of shamatha practice, Alan then discusses three methods of shamatha: mindfulness of breathing, observing the mind, and awareness of awareness. Finally, he addresses some common objections to introspection as a method of inquiry.

Lama Alan Wallace is a dynamic lecturer, progressive scholar, and one of the most prolific writers and translators of Tibetan Buddhism in the West who continually seeks innovative ways to integrate Buddhist contemplative practices with Western science to advance the study of the mind.

Dr. Wallace, a scholar and practitioner of Buddhism since 1970, has taught Buddhist theory and meditation worldwide since 1976. Having devoted 14 years to training as a Tibetan Buddhist monk, ordained by H. H. the Dalai Lama, he went on to earn an undergraduate degree in physics and the philosophy of science at Amherst College and a doctorate in religious studies at Stanford. He later studied Dzogchen with Gyatrul Rinpoche, a senior teacher in the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism.

With his unique background, Dr. Wallace brings deep experience and applied skills to the challenge of integrating traditional Indo-Tibetan Buddhism with the modern world.

He is the author and translator of several books, including Düdjom Lingpa’s Visions of the Great Perfection, Stilling the Mind: Shamatha Teachings From Dudjom Linpa’s Vajra Essence, Tibetan Buddhism from the Ground Up, and The Attention Revolution. He is co-founder, with Dr. Paul Ekman, of Cultivating Emotional Balance.

Eve Ekman is a second-generation emotion researcher and founding teacher of Cultivating Emotional Balance. Dr. Ekman’s research is inspired by her experience as a medical social worker in the emergency room of San Francisco General Hospital, coupled with her training in Cultivating Emotional Balance. She received her Ph.D in Social Welfare from UC Berkeley in 2014. Her dissertation case study focused on juvenile detention center guards and the relationship between meaning in work, burnout, and empathy. She also tailored a CEB-based pilot training to support these workers. Currently at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, Dr. Ekman continues to refine the conceptual framework, research, and training around the areas of meaning, empathy, and burnout. She is focusing on a population of residents-in-training with a long-term goal of pioneering interpersonal training for medical education to support empathic skills, experience of meaning, and managing burning out. Additionally, her research interest includes technology that fosters emotion regulation and mindfulness, developing a dynamic measurement for empathy, and assessing the impact of provider empathy on the quality of patient care.