Guide to Shamatha and Vipashyana (PDF)

Guide to Shamatha and Vipashana Meditation (PDF)

This 74 page PDF gives a clear and concise overview of how to do basic sitting meditation.

Thrangu Rinpoche has spent the last 40 years teaching meditation and other Buddhist topics to both Western and Asian students. The process of developing good meditation begins with Shamatha meditation which is to settle the mind and to gradually train it so that we can rest without becoming overly distracted by thoughts and emotions.

The second step to developing good meditation is Vipashyana which is to learn how to look directly at the mind and see its true nature. When we are able to do this, we can begin to reduce our disturbing emotions and thoughts and anxieties.

Both of these meditations can be done anywhere without any special settings, implements, or empowerments. Shamatha and Vipashyana can be practiced in sitting meditation and also in the daily activities such as working, commuting, eating, explaining things. In other words, the meditation explained by Rinpoche is very useful to the modern practitioner who is very busy with family and work. 

In this book Rinpoche explains meditation in a simple, non-technical language based on a tradition that is over 1,000-year-old that has produced many enlightened individuals.

Tranquility and Insight is a 170 page book by Thrangu Rinpoche available on this website that gives extensive descriptions of Shamatha and Vipashyana. This book includes a discussion of the purpose of these meditations, their different levels of practice, the obstacles and antidotes to these obstacles that can arise, and the accomplishments that can come out of each practice. As a result this book is a careful study of the mind from the point of view of actual meditation practice.