Believers, Contemplatives, and the Future of Human Civilization: A Buddhist Response to the Current Metacrisis | Part 5 - The Cultivation of Cognitive Intelligence, Part 2: Exploring the Actual Nature of Mind

On August 28, 2024, Dr. Wallace emerged from retreat silence for a few hours to offer Part Five of his public talk series, “Believers, Contemplatives, and the Future of Human Civilization: A Buddhist Response to the Current Metacrisis.”

In Part 4, Dr. Wallace focused on the cultivation of cognitive intelligence by way of the vipaśyanā practice of exploring the phenomenological nature of the mind. The core practice discussed was the close application of mindfulness to the mind in a radically empirical and pragmatic way, identifying core mental afflictions when they arise, and investigating the factors of origination and dissolution of mental processes. This is a prime example of Buddhist contemplative science taught in the Buddha’s first turning of the wheel of Dharma.

In this lecture, Dr. Wallace continues the theme of cultivating cognitive intelligence by way of the more advanced vipaśyanā practice of exploring the actual nature of the mind through philosophical and contemplative inquiry. The text that serves as a basis of this talk is an excerpt from the Kagyü master Karma Chakmé’s Great Commentary to Mingyur Dorjé’s Buddhahood in the Palm of Your Hand, which will be published by Wisdom Publications in Dr. Wallace’s forthcoming book, Śamatha and Vipaśyanā: An Anthology of Pith Instructions.

This teaching presents a direct path to realizing the emptiness of inherent nature of the mind, based on the Buddha’s philosophical teachings on the transcendence of wisdom in the second turning of the wheel of Dharma. Insight into the essential, empty nature of the mind is an immediate prerequisite for fathoming our buddha nature, or pristine awareness, which is the central theme of the Buddha’s third turning of the wheel of Dharma.

Accompanying Resources: 

• Excerpt from Karma Chakmé’s Great Commentary to Mingyur Dorjé’s Buddhahood in the Palm of Your Hand

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