Practical Guide to Deep Meditative States

(Dhamma Centre) How to strengthen concentration through jhāna with Shaila Catherine

How to strengthen concentration through jhāna with Shaila Catherine

(Dhamma Centre) Streamed live in 2021. This online event includes a Dhamma talk, a brief guided meditation, and a Question & Answer session. Ask questions about the practice of concentration, and Shaila will respond with an understanding gleaned from her extensive experience with jhana practice. Join to explore the role of concentration in Dhamma practice.

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  The Buddha in samadhi at Gal Vihara, Sri Lanka

  "Concentration"? What does samadhi really mean? The Pali texts describe this quality of mind as "internally steadied, composed and settled, unified." It is a coherent mind, a unification of the mind with the object, a stillness of mind free of distraction, undistractedness, collectedness, and focused attention that produces a profound stability of mind. It is the factor that lands on the meditation object, penetrates it, and stays there. We stay attentive with the object, not dispersed, dissipated, scattered, or agitated. We experience it with cohesion and coherence, internal strength, often very pleasant (states linked to bliss, happiness, equanimity, a joy born of seclusion or withdrawal of the senses) associated with tranquility, calm, ease, peacefulness, stillness, rapture, bliss, deep and profound equanimity. Fixed focus (appana samadhi) is a single focus on any one of a variety of different objects. There is another called momentary concentration (kannica samadhi).

The Jhanas: A Practical Guide to Deep Meditative States

The Jhanas: A Practical Guide

Author Shaila Catherine has 4.8 out of 5 stars with 27 ratings for this instructional manual. It promises to give access to some wonderful things:

Experience new levels of joy, calm, and clarity with this revised and enhanced edition of the bestselling Focused and Fearless.

The Pali word jhana (Sanskrit dhyana) literally means “to meditate.” It also refers to a traditional series of states of meditative absorption, each deeper than the last, in which the mind is undistracted by sensation, thoughts, or moods.

• Shaila Catherine—founder and principal teacher – Insight Meditation South Bay

Shaila Catherine’s friendly, wise approach, blended with contemporary examples and pragmatic "how to" instructions that anyone can try, shows meditators (and non-meditators) how to attain these extraordinary states with relative ease.

But jhana practice is about much more than just meditation or concentration [the misleading word most often used to translate samadhi]; it offers a complete path toward bliss, fearlessness, and true awakening.

• Dharma Seed - Shaila Catherine's Dharma Talks

From the introduction:

It's so natural, laypeople can reach it with ease.

Jhanas are states of happiness that can radically transform the heart, reshape the mind, imbue consciousness with enduring joy and ease, and provide an inner resource of tranquility that surpasses any conceivable sensory pleasure.

Jhanas are states of deep rest, healing rejuvenation, and profound comfort that create a stable platform for transformative insight.

Beyond Distraction: Five Ways

In this approach to jhana, we use the calming aspects of concentration to support the investigative aspects of insight meditation. The fruit of concentration is freedom of heart and mind.

This new edition of the meditation classic clarifies crucial points and offers twenty-one additional exercises, making this a great book for both those new to jhana practice and those looking to deepen their practice. The Jhanas: A Practical Guide to Deep Meditative States

• Buddhist Meditation Teacher Shaila Catherine
• Shaila Catherine (Amazon.com)
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• Shaila Catherine, Bhante, Dhamma Centre, March 6, 2021 (Dharma talk); Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Insight LA: Salzberg, Byron Katie, Catherine...

InsightLA.org; Wisdom Quarterly

Only a few seats left for Sharon Salzberg's daylong

Imagine a happiness that is not shaken by the conditions of the world around us: a kind of inner happiness that is open and stable, curious and wise. Sharon Salzberg offers a pathway to discover and cultivate such happiness through meditation in her NY Times bestselling book, Real Happiness: A 28-Day Program to Realize the Power of Meditation, now in its second edition with a new introduction, updated scientific research, and expanded guided meditations.

Meditation is far simpler, more fun, less esoteric, and much more relevant to the wide-ranging situations we encounter in everyday life than we might imagine. Rather than an ornate, arcane set of instructions, meditation consists of practical tools to help deepen concentration, mindfulness, and compassion. We can rely on these tools when we feel out of control of events or when we want a quality of happiness that is less fragile and dependent on shifting conditions. During this daylong retreat we will explore our notions of happiness, strength, aloneness, and possibility. We’ll practice mindfulness and lovingkindness meditation along with dialogue and discourse. Suitable for new and experienced meditators.

Register for the daylong

In addition to the day of practice, Sharon will be the guest of honor at an intimate benefit dinner for InsightLA. The dinner will be held at 6pm following the daylong at a private home in Nichols Canyon. The cost of the benefit dinner is $500.

Register for the benefit dinner

Wisdom Podcast: Shaila Catherine (jhanas)

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 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.

• 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 in Big Bear, California

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.

• Learn.wisdompubs.org/podcast/shaila-catherine
• RETREAT: insightLA event meditation-retreat, 4/9/20
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Enlightened Master Shaila Catherine

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wikipedia edit

Shaila Catherine is an American Buddhist meditation master, teacher, and author in the Theravada Buddhist tradition.

She is known for her expertise in insight meditation (vipassana) and meditative-absorption (jhana) practices. She has authored two books on jhāna practice, Focused and Fearless and Wisdom Wide and Deep, and has introduced many American practitioners to samadhi/concentration practices through her writings and retreats.

Catherine is the founder of Insight Meditation South Bay in Mountain View, California, and the primary teacher for Bodhi Courses, an online Buddhist classroom.

She conducts retreats locally, nationally and internationally in mindfulness (satī), concentration (samādhi and jhāna), lovingkindness (mettā), and insight meditation (vipassanā).

 

She began meditating in 1980 in California and later travelled and studied in Asia, training and practicing with Advaita Vedanta Master H.W.L. Poonja in northern India; Tibetan Dzogchen Masters Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche in Nepal; and at Theravāda forest monasteries in Thailand.

In addition to these Asian masters, she has studied with founders of Western meditation centers (Christopher Titmuss, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, and Lama Surya Das).

Catherine developed a special interest in the practice of deep concentration, and in 2003-2004 devoted a one-year silent meditation retreat to exploring absorption as the foundation for insight meditation. Based upon her experiences in this retreat, she wrote Focused and Fearless, as an introduction to the absorption states of jhāna.
 

In 2006, she began training under the guidance of the supreme Burmese Buddhist meditation Master Pa Auk Sayadaw. In 2011 Catherine authored a second book, Wisdom Wide and Deep, which provides an introduction to the comprehensive practices of samādhi and vipassanā based on her training with Pa Auk Sayadaw and derived from teachings in the early Discourses of the Buddha, Visuddhimagga, and Abhidhamma.
 

Catherine's writings and teaching have contributed to a new and growing field within Theravāda Buddhism—introducing the traditional trainings of jhāna and insight meditation (vipassanā) to Western lay practitioners. More

Bibliography

• Catherine, Shaila. Focused and Fearless: A Meditator’s Guide to States of Deep Joy, Calm and Clarity, Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2008. ISBN 978-0-86171-560-2
• Catherine, Shaila. Wisdom Wide and Deep: A Practical Handbook for Mastering Jhanā and Vipassanā, Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2011. ISBN 978-0-86171-623-4

Audio Publications

• DharmaSeed
• Audiodharma

Interviews

• Jhana and the Practice of True Happiness
• Settle into the Bliss
• Focused and Fearless with the Jhanas
• The Way of Commitment
• Concentrating the Hell Out of Mind: Jhana Interviews with four experts

Jhāna Practice and True Happiness Archived 2014-10-08 at the Wayback Machine., May 14, 2014, Insight Journal, A Journal of the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies

External links

• Insight Meditation South Bay
• Official biography
• Bodhi Courses

Shaila Catherine's "Truth" (podcast)

Tricycle Magazine (tricycle.com); IMSB.org; Wisdom Quarterly

Shaila Catherine, an American student of Pa Auk Sayadaw, has been practicing meditation since 1980, with seven years of accumulated silent retreat experience.

Wisdom Quarterly meditation expert Kalyani vouches for her unequivocally, so we follow suit due to her accomplishments in meditation and insight with the Sayadaw.

She authored Wisdom Wide and Deep: A Practical Handbook for Mastering Jhana and Vipassana (Wisdom Publications, 2011) to help make this traditional approach to meditative training accessible to Western practitioners.

She also wrote Focused and Fearless: A Meditator’s Guide to States of Deep Joy, Calm, and Clarity (Wisdom Publications, 2008). She has extensive experience with the practice of metta, including seven months exploring it as a meditation subject on retreat.

• Listen to Podcast
• Catherine's Blog

Interview

While teaching in New Zealand in 2006, she was interviewed for INSIGHTAotera, a publication for New Zealand's insight meditation practitioners and communities.

Catherine has been teaching since 1996 in the USA, India, Israel, and England. She studied at Sharpham College for Buddhist Studies in England and has dedicated several years to studying with masters in India, Nepal, and Thailand.

• More talks by Shaila Catherine: Audio Dharma

Her deep love of the Buddha's liberating teachings and long-standing devotion to meditation creates a teaching style of clarity and delight revealing the practical and effective wisdom of the Dharma.

She has recently completed a year-long intensive meditation retreat focusing on the cultivation of concentration (samadhi) and absorption (jhana).

(plsrj/flickr.com)

Meditation Guidance

• Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha (Daniel Ingram)
• Jhanas in Theravada Buddhist meditation
• VIDEO: Ayya Khema explains the eight jhanas
• AUDIO: Buddhist Dharma master Ven. Dhammadipa
• Star Wars Yoga
• Sutra: The Great Lion's Roar Discourse
• PHOTOS: Buddhist monastics reborn as beautiful American girls return to Buddhist India

Wisdom Wide and Deep: Jhana and Insight

Shaila Catherine (imsb.org), Wisdom Quarterly

Wisdom Wide and Deep: A Practical Handbook for Mastering Jhana and Vipassana
Wisdom Wide and Deep is an extended introduction to an in-depth training. It emphasizes the application of concentrated attention to profound and liberating insight.

With calm, tranquility, and composure -- established through a practical experience of deep concentration (jhana) -- meditators are able to halt the seemingly endless battle against meditation hindrances, eliminate distraction, and facilitate a penetrative insight into the subtle nature of matter and mind.

It was for this reason that the Buddha frequently exhorted his students, "Develop concentration, for one who is concentrated understands things as they really are."

Wisdom Wide and Deep follows and amplifies the teachings in Shaila Catherine’s first book, Focused and Fearless: A Meditator’s Guide to States of Deep Joy, Calm, and Clarity.

Readers learn to develop this profound stability, sustain an in-depth examination of the nuances of mind and matter, and ultimately unravel deeply conditioned patterns that perpetuate suffering.

This is a practical guide, a fully detailed manual for dealing with the mind. It is sure to become a trusted companion for inner-explorers.

• Wisdom Quarterly can say without reservation that Shaila Catherine is an extraordinary teacher of the highest order, a consummate practitioner of the Buddha's instructions, and a rare treasure in the world. Her two books set right teachings that had long been upset. She has benefited tremendously by practicing under one of the world's greatest living Buddhist scholar-practitioners, the most venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw. We are not alone in our praise:
  

Praise from Buddhist authors and teachers

This is a handbook that respects both the ancient tradition and the needs of contemporary lay practitioners, without compromising either. Shaila Catherine presents the Buddha's teaching by blending scriptural references, personal examples, and timeless stories with detailed meditation instructions. More

—Pa Auk Sayadaw, author of The Workings of Kamma

In Wisdom Wide and Deep, Shaila Catherine has laid out a path of practice from the simplest beginnings to profound and subtle insights. Her writing is beautifully lucid, making accessible the inner depths of the Buddha's teachings. This book is a powerful inspiration both for those who would like a glimpse of..." More

—Joseph Goldstein, author of A Heart Full of Peace and One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism

Shaila’s new book converts theory to practice, ideas to application, knowledge about meditation to direct experience. She has written a manual in clear, practical language. It is an excellent follow up to her previous book, Focused and Fearless. The strength of Shaila’s new book is... More

—Christopher Titmuss, author of Light on Enlightenment and An Awakened Life

Shaila's book, Wisdom Wide and Deep is far more than just a handbook -- it is an in-depth, piece-by-piece examination of many of the specific teachings of jhana and insight. It is book that you will study, as opposed to sit down and read through. It is reference book that you will... More

—Phillip Moffitt, author of Dancing With Life: Buddhist Insights for Finding Meaning and Joy in the Face of Suffering.

Shaila Catherine has managed a difficult feat -- to be simultaneously encyclopedic and charming. Her extraordinary clarity and step-by-step approach will embolden some readers to attain jhanic absorption, while others may simply gain... More

—Kate Lila Wheeler, Dharma teacher and author of When Mountains Walked, editor of In This Very Life and The State of Mind Called Beautiful.

The whole spiritual path concerns attitudes and perspectives that we have on things. From there, actions spring up and life unfolds. Shaila Catherine leads us to a completely different way of seeing things by skillfully guiding us through an array of traditional Suttanta and Abhidhamma methods. The precision with which she... More

—Ven. U Jagara

Wisdom Wide and Deep is a clear and comprehensive account of a path of meditation leading to profound levels of concentration and insight. Based primarily on the teachings of the Burmese master Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw, it also includes a helpful collection of references from classical Theravadan sources. Shaila Catherine has clearly... More

—Guy Armstrong, insight meditation teacher

All of us in our lives need to find the ways to cultivate a mind which is a friend -- calm, clear, insightful and pervaded with kindness. In this book Shaila Catherine has outlined an ancient way to train the mind in stillness and wise attention. More

—Christina Feldman, author of Compassion: Listening to the Cries of the World

Buddhist Meditation (Google Talks)

(AtGoogleTalks) The book Focused and Fearless speaks to ordinary meditators who wish to attain non-ordinary states with ease. It offers a creative and contemporary slant to Buddhism's ancient path of happiness and wisdom. Blended with contemporary examples, pragmatic exercises, and how-to instructions anyone can try, this book provides a wealth of tools to cultivate non-distracted attention in daily life and retreat.

Author and speaker Shaila Catherine is the founder of Insight Meditation South Bay based in Mountain View, California. She has been practicing meditation since 1980, with seven years of accumulated silent retreat experience. She has been teaching since 1996 in the USA, India, Israel, England, and New Zealand.

Shaila studied at the Sharpham College for Buddhist Studies in England and dedicated six years to studying with masters in India, Nepal, and Thailand. Her current focus is the development of concentration and the deep states of absorption (jhana) with the world's foremost living meditation master, Pa Auk Sayadaw.

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Shaila Catherine: Concentration to Insight

(Google Talks) Shaila Catherine, author of Focused and Fearless, speaks to ordinary meditators who wish to attain extraordinary states of meditation with ease. Through her book she offers a creative and contemporary slant on this ancient path of happiness and wisdom.

Blended with contemporary examples, pragmatic exercises, and how-to instructions that anyone can try, this book provides a wealth of tools to cultivate non-distracted attention in daily life and retreat.

Shaila Catherine has been practicing meditation since 1980, with seven years of accumulated silent retreat experience. She has been teaching since 1996 in the USA, India, Israel, England, and New Zealand. She studied at the Sharpham College for Buddhist Studies in England and dedicated six years to studying with masters in India, Nepal, and Thailand. Shaila's current focus is the development of concentration and the deep states of absorption called jhana under the Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw.

She is the founder of Insight Meditation South Bay based in Mountain View, California. This event took place on May 14, 2008, as a part of the Authors@Google series.

"Focused and Fearless" (book review)

Jhana is a powerful meditative technique that opens the way to unfettered joy, radiant calm, and abiding happiness. Focused and Fearless presents this ancient meditative tradition as interpreted through the practice of a contemporary American teacher (pictured at right). As such it represents a landmark shift in Theravadan Buddhism by bringing jhana into the reach of busy practitioners. The book speaks to both non-meditators and meditators from any tradition, helping those who simply want to understand how to attain extraordinary states with ease while offering a creative, contemporary slant on this ancient path of happiness and wisdom. An engaging mix of contemporary examples, practical exercises, and how-to instructions that anyone can try, Focused and Fearless is an accessible, friendly, and wise guide that is ideal for both novices and the more seasoned practitioner who wishes to explore advanced meditative states.

• Focused and Fearless: A Meditator's Guide to States of Deep Joy, Calm, and Clarity (now in paperback) Shaila Catherine (author)
• Review by Bhikkhu Santikaro

"CONCENTRATION is a central feature of a contemplative life, cultivated through formal meditation practice and also through any of a variety of other daily activities..." More>>

Focused and Fearless is a reliable and pragmatic guide to the practices of absorption concentration, or jhana. It presents them within the broader context of the path of liberating the mind from suffering and dissatisfaction through non-clinging. The descriptions of these practices are clearly based in Shaila Catherine's own intensive and systematic exploration of them while also being solidly based in the Buddha's discourses and the commentarial tradition. Her writing is very clear and a joy to read. Whether you are simply curious about the jhanas or are interested in practicing with them, Focused and Fearless is a highly recommended practice guide.

Rare Dana for "Worthy" Teachers

An opportunity to make the most beneficial offering is now open to all. Dana (spiritually meritorious support) is being collected for a six-month meditation intensive.

It will be conducted by Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw, who has taught in America at the Forest Refuge (Insight Meditation Society) in Barre, Mas-sachusetts as well as in California and Florida, and worldwide. He has a remarkable international reputation making the Teachings of the Buddha available to all who seek it out. Many teachers famous in their own right have studied with him, such as Leigh Brasington, Joseph Goldstein, and numerous IMS teachers.

Wisdom Quarterly fully and without reservation endorses Pa Auk Sayadaw as the foremost Buddhist scholar-practitioner alive today. Wisdom Quarterly regards his personal instruction (if it can be found), and his books and the instruction of his eminent students, as the best available in the world. A few of these teachers include:

• Venerable nun Sayalay Susila (Malaysia)
• Ven. Dhammadipa (Europe and Asia)
• Ven. nun Sayalay Dipankara (Burma)
• Pascal Auclair (Massachussetts)
• Tina and Stephen Rasmussen (California)
• Shaila Catherine (California)
• Ven. U Jagara (Canada)

(It is enough to say that the Sayadaw and most of his teachers -- certainly those able to teach insight -- have complete and unshakable confidence in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha).

The Sayadaw was most recently teaching in Germany (Pagoda Pat Hue), but frequently teaches in Taiwan, Sri Lanka, and Burma to both Theravada and Mahayana practitioners alike. His public talks, retreat instructions, and scholarship are available (for FREE distribution) in several English books (PaAuk.org) and recorded talks (DharmaSeed.org). Download at no cost or find them in hard copy form from WAVE (Wisdom Audio-Visual Exchange), Buddha Educational Foundation (Taiwan), and elsewhere, also at no cost as a gift of Dharma.

• Resources: Books available free of charge

This advanced meditation program will be held in the Buddha's birthplace (Lumbini, Nepal) between December 2009 and May 2010. It is for specially identified bhikkhus (Buddhist monks) and sayalays (ten-precept Buddhist nuns).

Everyone, however, is welcome to support this unique undertaking by pledging to provide dana, which is extraordinarily meritorious with recipients of this caliber. All gifts are strictly to cover the following:

1. Allowable requisites including robes for the Sayadaw (teacher) and meditating monks and nuns
2. Medicines as needed and allowable according to monastic discipline (vinaya).
3. Winter necessities including blankets, socks, hot water, and other cold weather items.
4. General including visas and transportation expenses for the Sayadaw and monastics.
5. Meditation facilities including lease of premises, electricity, water, dwellings, and logistical arrangements.
6. Preparation of premises including meditation mats, bedroom furnishings, and so on.
7. Food for six months (breakfast and lunch only).

To pledge support, kindly contact Brother Lim Poh Chuan at limpc2010@yahoo.com or limpc2010@gmail.com providing your name and contact information.

By the power of your meritorious deeds (karma), may your wholesome wishes come true for the ultimate attainment of the highest truth, nirvana.

• What-Buddha-taught.net: AUDIO - VIDEO