Podcasts Buddhism Spring 2011 Shamatha Retreat 30 Compassion and the Suffering of Change

30 Compassion and the Suffering of Change

Published: April 27, 2011, 11:20 a.m.

Alan Wallace guides us in a 24-minute meditation on compassion, furthering this aspiration to recognize a deeper dimension of suffering -- the suffering of change. This type of suffering is brought about by attachment and craving.

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The meditation begins at 17:45 in the recording and is followed by a brief, silent meditation.

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Alan then speaks freely for a short while and then answers these questions:

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1. What are the minimum requirements to teach shamatha?

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2. At what point is the secularization of Buddhism skillful and useful?

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3. When you say that craving is always a seed of suffering, and I look at my own experience to examine this statement, while it is true often, sometimes it is not true. Can you help explain this?