Q&As

Q&A: It seems quite provocative to suggest that one just let go of what one is most attached to. What are your views? 

Culadasa explains that letting go of attachments is the ultimate goal of the path. He comments on how it is in contrast to what our society values.

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On attachment - March 26, 2009

The Benefits and Practice of Letting Go - Culadasa

Craving, what’s it all about? 
Culadasa describes what craving is, how it arises and how we can train ourselves to end our own suffering.

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On Craving - March 26, 2009

Craving, What’s it All About? - Culadasa

How does one do Loving Kindness Practice?
Culadasa discusses the formal practice of loving kindness. How to start with easy people to feel compassion towards and work to more difficult people.

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On Lovingkindness - March 26, 2009

Loving Kindness Practice - Culadasa

How does one exchange self and others? 
Culadasa explains how to exchange self and others within the context of a relationship.

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Exchange - March 26, 2009

Exchanging Self and Others - Culadasa

Q&A: I’ve made all these life changes, but am still in transition. I’m dissatisfied and I don’t know what to do sometimes. What do I do when I can’t think of any reason to get off the couch?
Master Culadasa talks about accepting things the way they are, not how we want them to be. Emphasis on how we grasp to things that we think will make us happy when they won’t necessarily do that.

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On transition - March 26, 2009

Combating Depression and Dissastifaction During Transition - Culadasa

"I have found great success with observing and letting go of emotions that arise, but I am having a hard time getting the same results with tiredness or other physical problems."
Culadasa addresses letting go and observing is a practice in accepting whatever results that occur.

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On Being Tired - March 26, 2009

Physical Suffering vs Mental Suffering - Culadasa

Q&A: How does one brighten the mind to combat subtle dullness? 
Master Culadasa explains correction for subtle dullness with mention of arising and passing of the bliss of mental pliancy.

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Culadasa - Brightening the Mind to Combat Subtle Dullness - April 9, 2009

Brightening the Mind to Combat Subtle Dullness - Culadasa

"How would you advise someone that has PTSD and panics when the start to meditate?"
Culadasa gives tips for beginners with PTSD.

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Working with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - April 9, 2009

Working with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - Culadasa

Q&A: How do I develop mindful awareness and good concentration?

Master Culadasa explains how to develop full-minded awareness and concentration as is typically developed at level 5. Methods for combating subtle dullness is discussed.

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How do I develop mindful awareness and good concentration? - April 9, 2009

Tips on Developing Full-minded Awareness with Concentration (Stage 5) - Culadasa

Culadasa explains the how to begin training the mind during “breath” focused meditation.

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Where do I focus my attention when beginning to meditate? - April 9, 2009

First Stage of Meditation Tips - Culadasa

What are the processes that are taking part in the deep mind?
Culadasa discusses the complexity of the mind and the different parts that are working on separate processes. For instance, in level four of the meditation stages part of the mind can be on the meditation object while other parts of the mind are happily thinking.

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Mind Unification - Culadasa

"Can you give us any tips for remaining mindful?"
Culadasa discusses how the mind works and how the practice of mindfulness can help us.

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Mindfulness Practice - Culadasa

What do you suggest for sleepiness?
Culadasa gives tips for combating sleepiness during meditation.

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Sleepiness and Dullness - Culadasa

How does free will fit into the concept of karma?

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What is Free Will? - Culadasa

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When We’ve Done Wrong - Culadasa

"You have outlined a discreet number of steps in different systems of practice. Can some of these be bypassed?"

Culadasa explains more about the process of awakening. In particular how it is more pleasant to have shamata before insight. (Especially the knowledge of fear, misery and disgust.)

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Bypassing Steps to Awakening? - Culadasa

Can a “lack” (of something) be an object of the consciousness?
 
Culadasa explains an absence of something cannot be an object of consciousness, but a conceptualization of an absence can be. He presents a detailed view of emptiness. This question follows a question of skipping stages of the path.

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Can a Cessation Be an Object of Consciousness? - Culadasa

What happens after the nine stages of meditation? 

Master Culadasa describes the levels of development after the meditation stages that lead to shamata. Specifically he describes the 7 stages (seven purifications) that start at shamata and end with Awakening. The last seven purifications are further divided into 16 knowledges. Finally, he demonstrates the correlation between the five path system with the stages of purification system.

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Levels After the First Nine Meditation Stages - Culadasa

How does Vipassana fit into the stages of meditation? 

Culadasa explains the path of Insight from its beginnings to the ultimate Awakening. This is a continuation of the question on what happens after the nine levels. He goes on to give more details on the experience of Awakening.

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How Does Insight Fit into the Meditation Systems? - Culadasa

How does “awakening” occur? 
Culadasa continues with his discussion of path and insight by describing ways Awakening can occur. This leads him to explain more about possible paths to the goal and give a deeper description of emptiness.

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The Awakening Process - Culadasa

Culadasa (John Yates, Ph.D.) is a meditation master with over four decades of experience in the Tibetan and Theravadin Buddhist traditions. He taught physiology and neuroscience in college for many years. Later, he worked at the forefront of healthcare education and therapeutic massage, serving as the founding director of the West Coast College of Massage Therapy. Culadasa retired from academia in 1996, moving with his wife into an old Apache stronghold in the Arizona wilderness, where they deepened their spiritual practice together. He currently leads the Dharma Treasure Buddhist Sangha in Tucson, Arizona and holds retreats across the United States.
 
Culadasa’s book, The Mind Illuminated, is the first comprehensive guide to Buddhist meditation for a Western audience. It combines age-old teachings with the latest research in cognitive psychology and neuroscience, providing meditators with step-by-step guidance for every stage of the path – from your very first sit, all the way to mastery of the deepest states of peace and insight. This is the clear, friendly, and in-depth meditation manual that people have been waiting for.

Q&As

Culadasa, Dr. John Yates