Varieties of Buddhist Meditation

In our first lesson, John Dunne introduces us to what we mean by “contemplative practice” in the Buddhist tradition, sharing key features of any meditation practice. He also outlines the goals for our course and details what motivation means in the Buddhist context—underscoring the meaning of dukkha, or suffering, and its role in our understanding of the four noble truths.

John Dunne illuminates further the meaning of suffering as being mistaken about our core identity, and then underscores how contemplative practices can serve as antidotes to this fundamental misunderstanding. In this discussion we learn about the five skandhas, or aggregates, that constitute the mind-body system, explore the meaning of karma, and identify an important triad of contemplative practice: understanding, experience, and realization.

We begin this lesson with a discussion on how to understand “path” in the Mahayana tradition, before being introduced to the three trainings in ethics, concentration, and wisdom. John Dunne then explores the distinction between śamatha and vipaśyanā styles of contemplative practice and illuminates what happens with the five omnipresent mental factors —as described in Asaṅga’s Abhidharma system—during practice.

In this lesson, we explore in depth the theory and practice of stabilizing the mind through object-oriented meditation, or śamatha. We learn the features of śamatha and its main problems—agitation and laxity—as well how traditional textual instructions on the practice and the oral transmission of how to practice sometimes differ.

John Dunne introduces us to the philosophy of the second turning of the wheel of Dharma through Nāgārjuna’s teachings on emptiness. Underscoring the context of the development of Buddhism around the time of the common era, we learn about Nāgārjuna’s views on the emptiness of phenomena before turning to key features of the Yogācāra school of the third turning, and what these teachings on emptiness mean for our understanding of the mind.

In this lesson, we continue our discussion of emptiness but in the context of understanding the nature of the mind. John Dunne focuses his explanation on the philosophy of Dharmakīrti and the Yogācāra school and explains what we mean by saying consciousness is “luminous” and free of subject-object duality.

In this lesson, John Dunne discusses nondual styles of meditation, including some key features and how we might understand nondual awareness itself. We learn what happens on and off the cushion in nondual and classical styles and why devotion is an important aspect to nondual practices like Mahāmudrā.

John Dunne further explores how emptiness is understood in nondual meditative traditions, especially how it relates to appearances. We learn how philosophies from Indian masters Kamalaśīla, Śantarakśita, and Maitripa influenced Mahāmudrā in Tibet, and what the various avenues are—both philosophical and physiological—for realizing the nondual mind.

In this lesson, John Dunne explores the various pathways to Mahāmudrā, through both philosophical and physiological methods. We also learn context necessary for the practice, including the importance of preliminaries.

In our final lesson, John Dunne reflects on the importance of cultivating compassion as well as wisdom. We learn how vital bodhicitta is for a Mahayana practitioner and the practices of equalizing and exchanging oneself and other that lead to its development, as well as modern theories that support an understanding of our innate capacity for connecting with others—and what this implies for Buddhist practice.