An Interview with Dr B. Alan Wallace

Root of all problems in life
According to Dr Wallace, the root causes of suffering in life are firstly not-knowing and the active misapprehending or misperception of reality. To illustrate, he gave an analogy of a person walking in the forest in twilight. “You see a coiled rope along the path but because you can’t see very clearly in the dark, you mistake it for a snake. You then become afraid, angry and may even harbour thoughts of killing it. This scenario is akin to being clouded by ignorance. Troubles arise often because of our own active imagination, our misapprehending or getting reality wrong.”

In the book, Discover Roots, an American historian pointed out the fact that dating back to the times of ancient China, the impediment to scientific discovery is not simply ignorance but the illusion of knowledge — thinking you know something when in fact you have gotten it wrong. “That has been the greatest impediment to discovery. So it is ignorance of not-knowing and the active illusion of knowledge, of misapprehending that lead to suffering.”

Hedonic pleasure is not genuine happiness
Our misperception of reality also causes us to believe that hedonic pleasures give rise to genuine happiness when in fact it brings about the opposite effect. “An American psychologist, Tim Kasser once studied with his colleagues very carefully that if a person focuses on extrinsic values, or values outside of oneself, such as having more wealth, more fame, more prestige, more sensual pleasures, more power as the priorities in life and the more that person focuses on those in his pursuit of happiness, the greater this gives rise to depression, anxiety and frustration,” Dr Wallace revealed.

Conversely, he noted that the research which was published in a book called The High Price of Materialism found that if one focuses more on intrinsic values, not necessarily religious, but inner values such as wisdom, compassion, patience, mindfulness, equanimity, virtues and of finding greater meaning in life, as the pursuits in one’s life, the less depression, anxiety and the greater happiness one experiences regardless of one’s religious beliefs.

“Researchers are discovering that if you focus on what Buddhism calls the eight mundane concerns — more praise, more sensual pleasure, more reputation, you don’t end up happier.” Explained Dr Wallace, “When you don’t have enough food, clothing, shelter and medication, your happiness quotient does go up as you satisfy the basics since life was hard previously. But once you enjoy sufficient financial security having reached the middle-class strata, even if you have twice, 10 or 100 times as much as you need, it doesn’t make you happier.”

He elucidated that, however, as we are alike in wanting happiness and not suffering, we mistakenly and narrow-mindedly think that we will be twice happier if we have twice as much. This is the basis for the consumerism led by the West which sadly only destroys the planet as external resources are limited to support such a huge world population. “Inevitably, this will give rise to conflict between people because there are only so much external resources and limited goods but people always want to be happier. It is a human characteristic, religious or not.” And so when we continue to focus our attention on the outside, this will lead to greater and greater consumption.

“There is nothing wrong with hedonic pleasures itself, but because the pleasure comes from an external stimulus, like a happy marriage, children, wealth, good reputation etc, if it is taken away, all the happiness vanishes and it becomes suffering to one. Such joy doesn’t have depth and is not lingering, being very transient and short-term, so it is not a true source of happiness,” Dr Wallace clarified.

Genuine happiness stems from within
Genuine happiness is profoundly different. It is a quality of well-being that is different from one given by an external stimulus. “It is not something we take from the world. It is something we cultivate and bring to the world, by living an ethical way of life, treating other people with kindness and consideration, doing our best not to injure and whenever possible trying to help, even if it is in the little things.” Said Dr Wallace, “By living what the Buddha called a blameless way of life, you are at peace with yourself and at the end of the day, you look back and say that has been a good day. Not because of something pleasurable that happens to you but because of what you have brought to the world, being able to help this person or that and holding good motivations.”

And on a deeper level if you are able to develop qualities of the heart and mind, you will find your mind very peaceful and happy even if you are just quietly sitting there. As you engage in Buddhist wisdom practices, prajna or vispashyana, you will find an even deeper sense of well-being, of knowing reality as it is. “This bliss is much more lingering so you don’t have to constantly pump it up with an external stimulus and hungrily or restlessly go looking for the next high. This quality of well-being is one that comes from within.”

The beauty of this? Nobody has less of anything, unlike hedonic pleasure that comes from an external stimulus out of limited resources. “If one has genuine happiness, one will radiate it. This spreads and others start feeling happier too. Its effect is the very opposite of hedonic pleasures. So once we have enough, it shouldn’t be about getting more and more and more, as this will only give rise to dissatisfaction. Shift your emphasis to cultivating intrinsic values for genuine happiness,” he advised.

Cultivating genuine happiness through meditation
Normally, the mind is very turbulent, restless and distracted. Psychologists have studied and found that ordinary people can focus single-mindedly on an object for about three or at most seven seconds. And the mind that is very distracted is between the fangs of mental afflictions, said Indian bodhisattva Shantideva, and very vulnerable to anger, craving, jealousy and so on. “When the mind is constantly oscillating between hyperactivity (attention hyperactivity disorder) or dullness and listlessness (attention deficient disorder), it is not happy and at ease as it is out of balance.”

Shamatha meditation is designed to restore balance to the mind from excitation and laxity, addressing the natural habitual turbulent tendencies of the mind to establish calm stability, clarity and vividness, a mind that is relaxed. “Even if one practises only 20 to 30 minutes a day, it is bound to give rise to mindfulness and a greater sense of tranquillity. And when you put in eight to 10 hours a day similar to studying eight to 10 hours a day in graduate school, your mind descends into a deeper space into the alayavijñana or storehouse consciousness. It settles into a state that is more fundamental than our ordinary psyche. You mind is programmed by your background, your nationality, your brain chemistry, culture and language but when you practise shamatha very deeply, these specific characteristics such as being a young woman, from Singapore, speaking Mandarin and so forth will go into a deeper level until your mind settles into the storehouse consciousness and when you are resting in that state of consciousness, you are no longer a woman, not from your perspective. From your perspective, you are much deeper than man or woman, deeper than human or non-human. It is not the ultimate level of Buddha nature but the natural resting state of the mind and when you rest in that state of consciousness, its primary characteristics are bliss, luminosity and vividness. It is non-conceptual and quiet. We slip into that when we fall into deep sleep and at the time of death.”

“The aim of shamatha practice is to make the mind very supple, malleable, stable, clear and relaxed, so that when we want to cultivate vipashyana, bodhicitta, zen or other deep wisdom practices, the mind is very serviceable, fine and well-prepared just like a bowl is sparkling clean before you put in delicious fine gourmet food,” enlightened Dr Wallace. “Shamatha doesn’t bring about lasting happiness but it is like a clean bowl so that when you pour in vipashyana, it doesn’t get ruined,” he explained.

“Vipashyana is like a contemplative science,” he went on to say, “an insight practice that is designed to explore who you are, what your mind is, what  the origin of your consciousness, of happiness, of suffering, of virtue and your capacity for virtue is.” It opens up the full depth of your insight. Together with bodhicitta, the union of wisdom and method is the essence of the bodhisattva way to enlightenment, and as the Buddha said, our capacity for virtue becomes infinite.

“The purpose of Buddhist meditation is really about establishing genuine happiness. The greater the well-being, happiness and compassion one experiences, the greater this flows out to others and inspires them to want to practise too.”

Mindfulness of the present moment builds genuine happiness
“If we are not mindful, we tend to be caught up in our thoughts and our thoughts tend to be of a very static view. For instance if on one occasion, John witnessed Tom being rude, selfish and disagreeable, then John would think that Tom is very selfish, devious, manipulative and develops a static notion which he projects the next time he sees him. This is exactly what ordinary people are doing. But this brings one out of touch with reality as one is living in concepts, locking in and freezing notions in their minds instead of seeing it fresh in the present moment. Mindfulness is like a wake-up call, a training which engages one in reality from moment to moment instead of recycling stale old ideas.”

As we tend to each and everyone in a loving and caring way with our full attention, this can be very healing and opens up the hearts in one’s relationships with all. Tending with an open heart, this brings greater genuine happiness as one understands that one has the inner resources to be happy, regardless of the situations and conditions one faces.

On facing disagreeable people…
“We have to assess each situation on its own. Sometimes, just practising patience will do. Just being very relaxed and patient can be very disarming and completely throws your opponent off as he expects you to react and be defensive. But if there is real danger of physical harm, put a stop not by being hostile or hateful but by recognising with wisdom and compassion that you need to protect yourself and others from the harmful act.”

On dealing with people on an ego trip…
Being sentient beings, people have kleshas, mental afflictions. Sometimes the kleshas overcome the person, even a Buddhist. When we encounter such people the one thing is to have equanimity and think, “Ah that person is suffering from anger, or craving for power.” We don’t have to be a doormat for people to walk on. We wish them well not with anger or arrogance but simply recognise that we don’t find their behaviour acceptable. We release our own kleshas with mindfulness breathing, resting in awareness without grasping and expectation. As one cultivates greater peace, inner equilibrium and calm through shamatha, even when we see other people behaving unacceptably, engaging in unwholesome behaviour, we rest in our own peace through the cultivation of the Four Immeasurables and when we see that the other person is receptive towards us we can then help by pointing out. Even the Buddha did not impose or force people to practise virtue if he saw that the people did not respect him, were disinterested or very rigid in their own thinking. Sometimes people learn better through mistakes as we watch mindfully what are the consequences of our body, speech and mind. Wisdom can then develop as we investigate what will lead to conflicts and suffering and what to peace, joy and happiness.”

On knowledge and practice…
“It is very important that as we study, everything we learn must be implemented in our practice. So if you know a little, practise a little. Then as we learn more, we practise more and more until our mind becomes saturated by the Dharma and abides in the spirit of service motivated by bodhicitta. This is the union of our knowledge and practice or practical experience.”

On bodhisattva and bodhicitta…
What differentiates a bodhisattva from a non-bodhisattva is the fully engaged bodhicitta rooted in very great compassion. To achieve this effortless bodhicitta which is with you 24/7 you must have this ‘clean bowl’, this healthy stable mind achieved from shamatha. When we are still like little toddlers on the path, we need a conducive environment — retreat centres and monasteries until you can achieve the ‘clean bowl’. When you have achieved that, then like an adolescent you can go on to achieve bodhicitta and vipashyana as a fully grown Dharma adult and proceed on the bodhisattva path.