26 General Session
As the 4 applications of mindfulness bring us knowledge of our experience, the 4 immeasurables bring balance in our emotions. If feeling down, practice loving-kindness and not its near enemy attachment. If feeling disengaged, practice compassion which is an antidote to the near enemy cold indifference. Worldly life is characterized by restlessness and anxiety, and for genuine happiness and the achievement of shamatha, we need to gradually wean ourselves from the props of hedonic pleasures. Meditation: silent meditation of your choice. Q1. Could you please explain the terms substrate and substrate consciousness? Is the substrate consciousness something we can tap into now? Are their equivalent terms in the Gelug and Kagyu traditions? Q2. Do we also experience the substrate if we fall asleep lucidly? Q3. Does the tactile consciousness illuminate the body or does the mental consciousness? How does consciousness illuminate? Q4. What is the object of substrate consciousness? Most of the descriptions I’ve read have focused on what the substrate is not. Meditation starts at 12:17
