Believers, Contemplatives, and the Future of Human Civilization: A Buddhist Response to the Current Metacrisis | Part 7 - Spiritual Intelligence

On November 25, 2024, Dr. Wallace emerged from retreat silence for a few hours to offer Part Seven of his public talk series, “Believers, Contemplatives, and the Future of Human Civilization: A Buddhist Response to the Current Metacrisis.” The focus of this talk was spiritual intelligence, the sixth and final element of the CCR’s Sixfold Matrix of Mental Balance. Please view the accompanying resources provided by Dr. Wallace, which are linked below.

In this talk, Dr. Wallace gave a commentary on Atiśa’s pith instructions on Mahāmudrā. The core of these instructions is realizing the actual nature of one’s mind—here and now—as the dharmakāya, and all appearances to one’s mind as the light of the dharmakāya. To fathom this, one must comprehend the mind’s essential nature, manifest nature, and defining characteristic. With this view, one meditatively rests the mind in its natural state, observing how thoughts arise from and dissolve back into the dharmakāya. Atiśa then goes on to present a concise description of the four yogas of Mahāmudrā, culminating in the perfect enlightenment of a buddha. He concludes his pith instructions with guidance on one’s conduct between formal meditation sessions.

By fathoming the actual nature of one’s mind, one comprehends the nature of all phenomena and the ultimate ground from which they arise. To actually realize this would be the culmination of spiritual intelligence, which transcends the limits of cognition and the divisions among the great philosophical and contemplative traditions of the world.

Accompanying Resources

• Part 7 Talk Notes
• Twelve Stages of the Four Yogas of Mahāmudrā
• Four Yogas of Mahāmudrā, the Five Paths, and the Ten Grounds
• Guided Meditation Audio

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