20 Equanimity Focused on Sentient Beings

In this afternoon session, Alan Wallace guides a 24-minute
meditation on equanimity, focusing on the expression of
equanimity for oneself and other sentient beings, including a
dear friend, neutral person, and enemy.


During the following question and answer period, Alan answers
these questions:


1. What is the thing shooting out of the head of the Buddhas
here?


2. When doing shamatha without a sign I tend to tense up and
close my eyes. How can I release this tension?


3. Regarding the four applications of mindfulness, how do they
vary among the different schools of Buddhism?


4. On what basis should I choose my main practice for the
retreat?


5. Should loving-kindness practice lead us to be vegetarians?


6. What is happening with the energies in the body during
shamatha, and what types of natural healing take place?


7. During the meditation of settling the mind, we are supposed to
meditate without distraction and attachment -- but why not
without aversion?


8. In awareness of awareness practice, is the point of the
practice to hold the inquiry of who is being aware, without
releasing awareness back into itself?


9. While practicing bodhicitta, I understand that it is important
to think that all sentient beings have been my mother. This is
difficult for me.