You have to love Alan Wallace

[Tibetan_Ice]

http://podcasts.sbinstitute.com/Spring2010/Phuket_Spring_2010_Archive/Media/Ep-95.m4a

 

For all you jackass easterners who think that westerners have no hope of achieving any significant achievement in Buddhism, I'd like to remind you that Alan Wallace is a westerner.

 

Put him down, spit in his face, I really don't give a damn. He is the first person that has helped me understand the experiences that I have had within a proper context, and I love him for that.

 

Edited July 21, 2014 by Tibetan_Ice

[Seeker of Wisdom]

Alan is a really great example of pure nonsectarianism too. He personally favours Dzogchen, yet he's studied and practiced other traditions such as Therevada and Iyengar Yoga, and strongly emphasises the importance of shamatha.

 

Here's a discussion between him and Bikkhu Bodhi about what happens to arhats after death and rigpa.

[BaguaKicksAss]

...

Edited July 21, 2014 by BaguaKicksAss

[Tibetan_Ice]

^{Hi BKA,}

^{That link goes directly to the podcast..}

^{Here is the link to the page: http://www.sbinstitute.com/node/775/podcast}

^{It is the last podcast at the bottom.}

^{You might have to install a player... should be no problem for you and your background.. ?}

 

[BaguaKicksAss]

er nm, apparently I had to install quicktime.... Listening now to Settling the mind in the natural state .

[GrandmasterP]

He does good work and has academic 'weight' as well

When Alan Wallace was in Oxford ( UK) he had a lot of input into the University Mindfulness programme and he's cited in the literature.

Hasn't Wallace rather moved 'from ' Buddhism and more 'into' Cognitive Behaviour Therapy via meditation?

His latest book seems to imply such....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Meditations-Buddhist-Skeptic-Manifesto-Contemplative/dp/0231158351/ref=la_B001IGHPQ2_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406040441&sr=1-8

Edited July 22, 2014 by GrandmasterP

[gatito]

From the Amazon blurb: -

 

A radical approach to studying the mind. Renowned Buddhist philosopher B. Alan Wallace reasserts the power of shamatha and vipashyana, traditional Buddhist meditations, to clarify the mind's role in the natural world. Raising profound questions about human nature, free will, and experience versus dogma, Wallace challenges the claim that consciousness is nothing more than an emergent property of the brain with little relation to universal events. Rather, he maintains that the observer is essential to measuring quantum systems and that mental phenomena (however conceived) influence brain function and behavior. Wallace embarks on a two-part mission: to restore human nature and to transcend it. He begins by explaining the value of skepticism in Buddhism and science and the difficulty of merging their experiential methods of inquiry. Yet Wallace also proves that Buddhist views on human nature and the possibility of free will liberate us from the metaphysical constraints of scientific materialism. He then explores the radical empiricism inspired by William James and applies it to Indian Buddhist philosophy's four schools and the Great Perfection school of Tibetan Buddhism. Since Buddhism begins with the assertion that ignorance lies at the root of all suffering and that the path to freedom is reached through knowledge, Buddhist practice can be viewed as a progression from agnosticism (not knowing) to gnosticism (knowing), acquired through the maintenance of exceptional mental health, mindfulness, and introspection. Wallace discusses these topics in detail, identifying similarities and differences between scientific and Buddhist understanding, and he concludes with an explanation of shamatha and vipashyana and their potential for realizing the full nature, origins, and potential of consciousness.

 

He seems to have got it back to front as the progression is actually from gnosticism (knowing) to agnosticism (not knowing).

[GrandmasterP]

I wonder if, to an extent; he's " having his cake and eating it."

The Cognitive material sells to those interested, he's already done a book on Mindfulness and that's pretty good plus his Buddhist translations and 'own take' books on Buddhism.

Put those all together in one book plus 'skepticism' on the cover and you are selling into four markets with the one book.

That is good business.

I've just taken a Buddhist Atheist book to the charity shop, forget the author, it was a review copy but it didn't sell well going by Amazon.

Maybe Wallace will do better with this new book of his.

Publishing is a business and prolific writers such as Wallace are led as much by their agent and their publisher as to what they produce.

There's more business than ever there is belief in 'spirituality' books - at, but not beyond; the point of retail-sale.

Book buyers of this kind of work tend towards believing or wanting to believe something.

There's far more to it than that on the book-production side though.

Edited July 22, 2014 by GrandmasterP

[Seeker of Wisdom]

...Hasn't Wallace rather moved 'from ' Buddhism and more 'into' Cognitive Behaviour Therapy via meditation?...

 

I think his next book is going to be a commentary and translation of the vipashyana section of the Vajra Essence. He's not stopped writing about Buddhism, but he's interested in other things like science, and relating them to Buddhism.

 

From the Amazon blurb: -

He seems to have got it back to front as the progression is actually from gnosticism (knowing) to agnosticism (not knowing).

 

¿Que?

[GrandmasterP]

We should all have his sales figures.

Good luck to anyone selling spirituality books, it's a tough and very competitive market with very little return unless a book goes mega and the author has retained some rights.

Very few spirituality books do sell big and all new plus most other authors have to sign away rights beyond the advance and a small cut of sales above a certain number in the original-language marketplace.

Edited July 22, 2014 by GrandmasterP

[wangchungman]

 

For all you jackass easterners

 

I was surprised to read this racist remark. This is an unkind thing to say. It would appear you didn't understand anything about peace, love or compassion. I'm new here. So I guess you might have your reason and maybe there is a backstory. But me being an Easterner who grew up in the West, I find this comment to be mean and low class. Why does there have to be a White versus Yellow competition in this world?

[Seeker of Wisdom]

 

I was surprised to read this racist remark...

He said "For all you jackass easterners who think that westerners have no hope of achieving any significant achievement in Buddhism...". I.e there are some Easterners who disparage Westerners, and he is referring to them.

 

Anyway, welcome to TTB!

Edited July 22, 2014 by Seeker of Tao

[Tibetan_Ice]

Yes! This is my way of showing disgust to the posters here whom use the term "westerner" as some kind of insult.

 

It's annoying and short sighted.