Shaila Catherine, Daniel Aitken (Wisdom Podcast); Kelly A., Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Mastering the Meditative Absorptions
Wisdom Podcast 18: Shaila Catherine: "Mastering the Jhanas"
(Wisdom Publications Inc.) In this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, we meet American Theravada Buddhist teacher Shaila Catherine, author of Wisdom Wide and Deep and Focused and Fearless.
Shaila Catherine was introduced to Transcendental Meditation (TM) in high school then later entered the path of Theravada Buddhism.
She shares the difficulties she encountered on her first meditation retreat as well as what she encountered on that retreat that inspired her to continue practicing.
She shares the difficulties she encountered on her first meditation retreat as well as what she encountered on that retreat that inspired her to continue practicing.
She shares how she spent a decade practicing in India, studying with meditation masters including H. W. L. Poonja ("Poonjaji") and what it was like to study with him and the phenomenal mind-to-mind connection he had with his students.
She reflects on how important the “ordinary” is as part of a spiritual practice. She also tells us about how she began going on longer retreats, during which time she began exploring the jhana states of profound meditative absorption.
We hear about the powerful and useful application of jhana practice and how it enhances insight meditation or vipassana and brings stability to the mind.
She also clears up some common misunderstandings people have about the jhanas in particular or serenity (shamatha) practice in general.
She also clears up some common misunderstandings people have about the jhanas in particular or serenity (shamatha) practice in general.
- SERENITY: shamatha means "tranquillity, a synonym of samādhi (mental coherence, purifying concentration, natural focus), cittekaggatā (one-pointedness of mind), and avikkhepa ("undistractedness"). It is one of the mental factors in wholesome consciousness. See "serenity-and-insight" and "meditation" or bhāvanā.
Host Daniel Aitken and she discuss how a practitioner can move from using the breath (anapana-sati) as the anchor to using mental states as an anchor through the “precise technology” of jhana practice.
They also discuss how to use the breath as an initial focus for concentration. She describes in depth the first absorption — and how it can be used for insight meditation. Concentration practice can illuminate the causes (craving, aversion, fear, ignorance) of suffering.
She also reflects on the difference between conceptually understanding impermanence and really understanding it on a deep level.
Finally, she shares her thoughts on the conditions needed to enter the jhanas. Can we access the jhanas in the midst of our busy modern lives or only on long retreats?
Shaila Catherine is founder of Insight Meditation South Bay (imsb.org), a Buddhist meditation center in Silicon Valley, California. She teaches meditation worldwide and is also the founder of Bodhi Courses, an online Dharma classroom (bodhicourses.org). She has been practicing meditation since 1980, accumulating more than nine years of silent retreat experience, and has taught internationally since 1996. She studied with masters in India, Thailand, and Nepal, and also with the founders of Western meditation centers. She completed a one-year intensive meditation retreat with the focus on concentration and jhāna, and authored Focused and Fearless: A Meditator’s Guide to States of Deep Joy, Calm, and Clarity. From 2006-2014 she practiced under the direction of Burmese Meditation Master Venerable Pa-Auk Sayadaw. She authored Wisdom Wide and Deep: A Practical Handbook for Mastering Jhāna and Vipassanā to help make this traditional approach to samadhi and insight meditation accessible to Western practitioners. Her teachings emphasize deep concentration and the path of liberating insight.
Finally, she shares her thoughts on the conditions needed to enter the jhanas. Can we access the jhanas in the midst of our busy modern lives or only on long retreats?
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| Shaila Catherine in Big Bear, California |
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