Overall structure of teaching:

I. Homage
II. Three sections of teaching listed (Verse 2)
A. Preliminaries (written as "causes and conditions")
B. Six points of main teaching (Listed in Verse 4)
1. Object of meditation
2. How to meditate on object
3. Recognizing dullness and agitation (3-4 are swapped in the English)
4. Relying on mindfulness and vigilance (3-4 are swapped in the English)
5. Mental quiescence
6. How to progress
C. Culmination, fruition, results
1. Culmination (Verse 14)
2. Results (Verse 15)
III. Conclusion/summary (Verse 16)

By verse:
Verse 1: Homage (lung Day 2-14 00:55:23)
Verse 2: Lists three sections of the teaching (lung Day 2-14 01:04:26)
Verse 3: First section: Preliminaries (lung Day 2-14 01:08:14)
Verse 4: Second section: lists the six points of the main teaching (lung Day 3-11 00:28:20)
Verse 5: explains point 1 and 2, object and how to meditate on object (lung Day 3-11 00:37:52)
Verse 6: provides an example that supports point 1 and 2 (lung Day 3-14 00:56:34)
Verse 7: explains recognizing dullness and agitation (point 3) and using mindfulness and vigilance
(point 4) (lung Day 3-16 00:01:54)
Verse 8: more on this. Still applies to shamatha stage 1 and 2. (lung Day 3-16 0:51:19)
Verse 9: summarize shamatha stages 1-3 (lung Day 4-11 0:24:43)
Verse 10: shamatha stage 4 (lung Day 4-11 0:30:43)
Verse 11: shamatha stage 5 taming of the mind (lung Day 4-14 0:01:26)
Verse 12: shamatha stage 6-7 (lung Day 4-14 00:19:05)
Verse 13: shamatha stage 8-9 (lung Day 4-14 0:43:37)
Verse 14: culmination, stg 10.(lung Day4-14 01:17:10 tricky to find)
Verse 15: results (lung Day4-16 00:07:07)
Verse 16: conclusion/summary (lung Day4-16 00:29:37 tricky to find)

By stage (names as translated here):

1. Entering Internally
a. discovering/working with the object of meditation
b. Has three phases, beginning middle and end
c. Gross agitation at the beginning. Trying to establish object, elusive, transient.
d. Once we find it, stabilize and clarify it.
2. Immersion in (entering) the Continuity
a. Feel some relief here.
b. Can stay with object in mind for 10-15 minutes
c. Agitation can't take ahold of us.
3. Entering Over and Over again
a. Have experience of wearing out the thoughts. Strength of thoughts/agitation lost its
potency.
b. Experiences (nyams) with each of first three: indications that one is engaged in practice
properly. Proper practice will yield corresponding experience
c. Can stay about 10 minutes
4. Entering closer/getting closer
a. Entering into state that is getting very close. Immediacy of main point of focus.
b. Can stay about 20 minutes. Longer time, more stable.
c. Abidingness has an affinity with dullness. Staying put is opportunity for dullness.
d. Stability is there, but minimal clarity.
e. Alert vigilance has to overwhelm the dullness with splendor, bright freshness.
5. Taming, Tulwa Shepa
a. Battle with gross dullness that arose in stage 4
b. Stability is good but concerns about clarity
c. One form of dullness is lack of appetite, inspiration for practice. Dismal or murky attitude.
d. Might need to change it up, introduce elements to stimulate more interest
i. Contemplation of impermanence
ii. Inspiring life stories
iii. Benefits of engaging in meditation and results
6. Pacifying
a. Gross agitation and dullness is resolved.
b. Can have lack of enthusiasm or discouragement as subtle dullness
c. Just remind yourself, activate yourself, get your inspiration back
7. Pacifying all the characteristics, various details we are pacifying
a. Only Slight difference from 6
b. Can have obstacles caused by habitual tendencies [Day 4-14 0:30 roughly]
c. Habitual tendencies reassert themselves as subtle dullness. This creates many
characteristics that need to be pacified.
d. Mindfulness & vigilance have already done their job, reasserting diligence at this stage
i. We're on the right track, don't need to change anything
ii. Just need to reassert diligence to avoid getting sidetracked
iii. Also diligence to avoid lack of merit that leads to physical disorders and so on
e. So, subtle characteristics need to be pacified through diligence
8. Entering into one-pointedness
a. Dangers of level 6-7 no longer there. Free from dullness and agitation.
b. Relying on diligence is no longer needed, practice happens of its own accord.
c. Great abidingness and also clarity.
d. But there may be a tradeoff between abidingness and clarity, a see-saw effect.
Sometimes abiding is emphasized, sometimes clarity.
 e. A little subtle diligence is still needed to keep that balance and continue to the end.
9. Entering into spontaneous equanimity
a. See-saw issue is resolved. Clarity doesn't harm abidingness and vice versa.
b. Thus, one-pointedness, equanimity. Clarity/abidingness unified without vacillation.
c. This is almost but not quite the definitive meditation.
d. Stage is set to engage well in meditation on lack of self. Not hard to realize emptiness.
e. Excellent for mahamudra realizing extremely subtle mind. And benefits for dzogchen.
f. If we don't introduce these other factors, calm abiding can just go on its own road and
stay at this level. But it's fantastic working basis for deepening in these other directions.
10. lus shin sbyangs (pliancy of body) and sems shin sbyangs (pliancy of mind) Verse 14
a. Definitive shamatha, peak.
b. Necessary for sutra traditions, relative vipassana/insight. Analysis and reference point.
i. Not necessary for mahamudra/dzogchen, absolute vipassana/insight.
c. Great ease and pliancy and bliss
i. Similar to mahamudra bliss, clarity, nonconceptualty
ii. But emphasis on bliss! Body feels light, like you can fly.
iii. Maybe you can fly, like Milarepa
d. Pliable mind is the causal factor for pliable body
i. Five pranas. One is the all-pervading prana, responsible for movement.
ii. Pliable Mind influenced it, so motility is activated and flows through all channels
and harmonizes them.
e. Samadhi reduces amount you need to eat
i. Also eating lightly makes samadhi easier and stimulates longevity
ii. Especially beginner needs to eat less and meditate more
11. Two primary benefits/fruits of shamata, Verse 15
a. Temporary results
i. Mastery of mind: attention stays effortlessly where it is placed
ii. Achieving higher rebirth, no longer descending into lower realms.
1. Worldly meditation; not necessary, but mentioning it anyway
b. Authentic results
i. Liberation. Rinpoche says "choose wisely"
12. Formal conclusion, Verse 16
a. Not much to say about this.

Four things to keep in mind

Day 3-11 00:02:50 and 00:17:25 Not sure if this is the same as the "four modes of mental
engagement". It might be a dzogchen perspective on the four modes.
1. Keep in mind that one needs to hold fast/be attentive to rigpa, absolute clarity.
2. Keep in mind the mental object and disrupt the continuity of agitation and dullness by repeating
over and over again.
3. Not entertaining anything in mind, no object, entering into no-mental-object state.
4. Keeping in mind spontaneous presence.
These should be coupled with the six powers.
Three obstructions
Day 3-11 00:11:19
1. Stupidity (represented by elephant) naturally brings…
2. dullness (represented by rabbit) and…
3. Agitation (represented by monkey)
Use six powers and four things to keep in mind, to handle obstructions.

List of shamatha meditation objects

Day 3, 00:39:17 Choose only one. Note from Q&A Day 5, not recorded: To develop shamatha it's
important to stay with one specific object. For example one specific statue of Vajrasattva, don't switch
between thangka and statue, just use single object to help you get to level 6 or 7.
1. Buddha
2. Tonglen: inhale suffering of beings, exhale white light to relieve them
3. Descent of the nectar: inhale nectar/white light, exhale purge bad karma & obscurations
4. Om Ah Hung: inhale om (sound and breath are fused/synced), brief moment between say Ah
(inside), exhale Hung. Not visualize, not out loud, just say sound inside mind. After this can also
use any yidam mantra.
5. Yidam, or chenrezig, or Om mani padme hung.
6. Day 5 response to question, not recorded: Vimalamitra technique visualizing thigle is also a
shamatha technique. Useful for working with agitation.

Various key points

(Not a complete list, just a few selected items that stood out to this note-taker)
Day 3-14 27:00
If you have nyams, meditation experiences, dreams, signs, etc. Rinpoche says he has a little different
perspective on that than usual. He says it's good because it's a sign that you're doing something,
because you have some awareness of something. Recognizing thoughts that before were not
recognized. But don't be attached and don't be disappointed if the nyams don't lead to anything.

Day 4-11 0:50

Difference between highly accomplished shamatha and mahamudra/dzogchen: have not recognized
the fundamental mode of existence or being. Fully stable shamatha can send you to the form and
formless realms. As you are immersed in the meditation you need advice of how to "separate the
authentic from the limited", how to discern. Teacher will help you do that subtle discerning when you are
in that state.

Day 4-14 0:25

Two principle villains: overwhelmed by habitual tendencies, and lack of power in meditation due to lack
of merit. Lack of merit will manifest as lack of enthusiasm for practice. Also disturbance of winds, lung
condition. Physical disorders can arise around stage 6-7 from lack of merit. (But then they are relieved
by the stage of pliancy.)
Note that the teachings started with a wide overview of advice and various topics related to the topic,
on Day 1 and morning of Day 2. The structured outline here does not cover the material from the early
part of the teachings, nor is it a complete transcription. It is focused on clarifying the overall shape and
structure of Rinpoche's teachings on shamatha.

Lists from online sources:

The nine stages as described by Kamalaśīla are:

1. Placement of the mind (S. cittasthāpana, Tib. འཇོག་པ - sems ’jog-pa) occurs when the
practitioner is able to place their attention on the object of meditation, but is unable to
maintain that attention for very long. Distractions, dullness of mind and other hindrances
are common.
2. Continuous attention (S. samsthāpana, Tib. རྒྱུན་དུ་འཇོག་པ - rgyun-du ‘jog-pa)
occurs when the practitioner experiences moments of continuous attention on the object
before becoming distracted. According to B. Alan Wallace, this is when you can maintain
your attention on the meditation object for about a minute.
3. Repeated attention (S. avasthāpana, Tib. བླན་ཏེ་འཇོག་པ - slan-te ’jog-pa) is when
the practitioner's attention is fixed on the object for most of the practice session and she
or he is able to immediately realize when she or he has lost their mental hold on the
object and is able to restore that attention quickly.
4. Close attention (S. upasthāpana, Tib. ཉེ་བར་འཇོག་པ - nye-bar ’jog-pa) occurs when
the practitioner is able to maintain attention throughout the entire meditation session (an
hour or more) without losing their mental hold on the meditation object at all. In this stage
the practitioner achieves the power of mindfulness. Nevertheless, this stage still contains
subtle forms of excitation and dullness or laxity.
5. Tamed attention (S. damana, Tib. དུལ་བར་བྱེད་པ - dul-bar byed-pa), by this stage
the practitioner achieves deep tranquility of mind, but must be watchful for subtle forms
of laxity or dullness, peaceful states of mind which can be confused for calm abiding. By
focusing on the future benefits of gaining Shamatha, the practitioner can uplift
(gzengs-bstod) their mind and become more focused and clear.
6. Pacified attention (S. śamana,Tib. ཞི་བར་བྱེད་པ་ - zhi-bar byed-pa) is the stage
during which subtle mental dullness or laxity is no longer a great difficulty, but now the
practitioner is prone to subtle excitements which arise at the periphery of meditative
attention. According to B. Alan Wallace this stage is achieved only after thousands of
hours of rigorous training.
7. Fully pacified attention (S. vyupaśamana,Tib. རྣམ་པར་ཞི་བར་བྱེད་པ་ - nye-bar
zhi-bar byed-pa), although the practitioner may still experience of subtle excitement or
dullness, these experiences are rare and the practitioner can easily recognize and pacify
them.
8. Single-pointed attention (S. ekotīkarana,Tib. རྩེ་གཅིག་ཏུ་བྱེད་པ་ - rtse-gcig-tu
byed-pa) in this stage the practitioner can reach high levels of concentration with only a
 slight effort and without being interrupted even by subtle laxity or excitement during the
entire meditation session.
9. Attentional Balance (S. samādhāna,Tib. མཉམ་པར་འཇོག་པ་བྱེད་པ་ - mnyam-par
’jog-pa) the meditator now effortlessly reaches absorbed concentration (ting-nge-‘dzin, S.
samadhi.) and can maintain it for about four hours without any single interruption.[14]
10. Śamatha - the culmination, is sometimes listed as a tenth stage.

Six powers
The nine stages samatha are accomplished by means of the six powers (bala) (Day 2):
1. hearing (śruta, thos-pa)
2. thinking (cintā, bsam-pa)
3. mindfulness (smṛti, dran-pa)
4. awareness (saṃprajanya, shes-bzhin)
5. effort (vīrya, brtson-’grus)
6. familiarity (paricaya, yong-su ’dris-pa)

Four modes of mental engagement

The nine stages can be condensed into four modes of mental engagement (manaskāra, yid-la
byed-pa):
1. forcible engagement (balavāhana, sgrim-ste ’jug-pa)
2. interrupted engagement (sacchidravāhana, chad-cing ’jug-pa)
3. uninterrupted engagement (niśchidravāhana, med-par ’jug-pa)
4. spontaneous engagement (anābhogavāhana, lhun-grub-tu ’jug-pa)

Five faults and eight antidotes from Wikipedia:

The five faults (Sanskrit: ādīnava; Tibetan: nyes-dmigs) of shamatha meditation according to
the textual tradition of Tibetan Buddhism are:
1. Laziness (kausīdya, le-lo)
2. Forgetting the instruction (avavādasammosa, gdams-ngag brjed-pa)
3. Agitation (auddhatya, rgod-pa) and dullness (laya, bying-ba)
4. Non-application (anabhisamskāra, ’du mi-byed-pa)
5. Over-application (abhisamskāra, ’du byed-pa)

The eight antidotes (Sanskrit: pratipakṣa; Tibetan: gnyen-po) or applications (Sanskrit:

abhisamskāra; Tibetan: ’du-byed pa) to the five faults of meditation are:
● Antidotes to laziness:
○ 1. belief, trust, faith (śraddhā, dad-pa)
○ 2. aspiration (chanda, ’dun-pa)
○ 3. effort (vyayama, rtsol-ba)
○ 4. suppleness, pliancy (praśrabdhi, shin-sbyangs)
● Antidote to forgetting the instructions:
 ○ 5. mindfulness (smṛti, dran-pa)
● Antidote to agitation and dullness
○ 6. awareness (samprajaña, shes-bzhin)
● Antidote to non-application
○ 7. application (abhisaṃskāra, ’du byed-pa)
● Antidote to overapplication
○ 8. non-application (anabhisaṃskāra, ’du mi-byed-pa)

This is a great outline of all the relevant lists:

https://denpaikyareng.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-nine-stages-of-buddhist-meditation.html