Right Concentration Extras

What are the so-called “formless jhānas” or formless attainments in meditation? That’s one of the questions left on the cutting room floor after my video on Right Concentration. We’ll also tackle the question of how concentration meditation has tended to be sidestepped in a modern context.

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An Anecdote of Mettā and Pain

I’ve been doing mettā (lovingkindness) practice this last month. Day to day it involves spending meditation periods slowly repeating well-meaning hopes and wishes towards myself and others. It started off interesting, since I had to come up with some new formulae for my wishes, but it quickly became rote, much akin to breathing or repeating…

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Episode 165 :: Leigh Brasington :: Sutta Jhanas

Leigh Brasington Leigh Brasington joins us to speak about what the Pali canon suttas have to say about practicing the jhanas. In traditional Theravadin Buddhism, there’s this thing called the Eightfold Path. It is the process by which we abandon the fetters, those pesky things that lead us to regular encounters with dissatisfaction in life.…

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Episode 141 :: Shaila Catherine :: Focused and Fearless with the Jhanas

Shaila Catherine Meditation teacher Shaila Catherine speaks with us about jhana meditation and her book, Focused and Fearless: A Meditator’s Guide to States of Deep Joy, Calm and Clarity. These days, it seems that there’s a great deal of attention to mindfulness meditation. And there’s nothing wrong with us spending time learning about and practicing…

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