Online: Introduction to the Jhanas
with Leigh Brasington
Saturday, August 10th, 2024 | 10:00am – 4:00pm ET
The jhanas are eight progressive altered states of consciousness that can be identified with the aspect of the Buddha’s Eightfold Path called Right Concentration.
Training in concentration leads to these states, each of which yields a deeper and subtler state of awareness than the previous one. The jhanas are not in themselves awakening, but they are a skillful means for stilling the mind in a way that leads in that direction. Jhana practice is helpful for gaining the deep insights necessary for ending personal suffering.
This daylong retreat will discuss the jhanas in detail, but in such a short time no one should expect to actually experience any of these states. However the information presented will clear away common misunderstandings about the jhanas and provide information so that one can decide if one wants to pursue deeper learning on the jhanas.
Registration:
Please register below. If you are able, registering at the “Supporter” level enables others to attend at the “Subsidized” level. Thank you for your generosity! Early Bird pricing ends three weeks before the event. (Please note that the registration price includes a base level of teacher support, and you will have the opportunity to donate more after the program.)
If you are registering via a mobile device such as a phone or tablet, you can scroll right and left and up and down within the below form if it is partially obscured or cut off.
CLICK HERE to open the registration form in a new browser window.
Teacher(s)
Leigh Brasington
Leigh Brasington was born and raised in Mississippi. In 1971, he graduated from Rhodes College in Memphis with a B.A. in mathematics.
He began meditating in 1985 and eventually became the senior North American student of Ven. Ayya Khema. She authorized him to teach and he began leading residential retreats in 1997. He has taught jhanas and insight practices in over one hundred and fifty residential retreats.
Near the end of 2008, he retired from software engineering and over the next three years, he spent twenty months in retreat at the Insight Meditation Society’s Forest Refuge. It was during these half dozen long retreats that, among other investigations, he began closely examining his experiences of the jhanas and the descriptions of the jhanas found in the suttas. His book Right Concentration is the result of that study, coupled with many years of practicing and teaching the jhanas. He is also the author of Dependent Origination and Emptiness.