Hi all,

Sorry about the delay in posting. Yesterday, there were amazing thunderstorms that rocked Dharamsala and eliminated power and we have been having very spotty internet access.   You can see some of my previous posts at my personal blog: HERE

It was a great honor and privilege to be in the presence of His Holiness and participate in this conference for my birthday. Our days are quite busy from 7 am through 5:30 pm full of rich presentations and fruitful dialogue.

I should back up a little and tell you a little about the context of Dharamsala. Here, around 6000 feet, we are in the upper part of Dharamsala, Macleod Ganj.

A number of guests and invited speakers are staying at Pema Thang, a modest guest house with very friendly and knowledgeable staff.
Pema Thang is in the upper part of Macleod Ganj while the Chonor house (where the other invited speakers and guests are staying) is down a steep dirt path about 500 vertical feet and a 200 yards away. Most informal meetings, working lunches, and R & R take place in these two places..

Here is What Alan Wallace had to say about the conference and his thoughts on day 1:

Inside Day 2 of the conference

The players in the Wheel of Mind

Here is Alan Wallace reflecting on differences between perceptual and conceptual states of mind:

alan-wallace-2

This was one of the major points of discussion for Day 2. When one develops the mind through contemplative practice, there is a decrease in states of laxity and hyperexcitability, but a sharpening and refinement of attention such that the conceptual mind, the mind that is continuously grasping is eliminated and clarity within a perceptual state of awareness remains. What exactly is meant by “perceptual” was a major point of discussion.

Tags: alan wallace

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 at 10:41 am and is filed under Dharamsala, General News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.