I was pleasantly surprised that I could still enter jhanas in daily life, where there are fewer supportive conditions than the retreat. On days with a mind not too occupied with work or scattered by too much social media, I could shift from access concentration to first jhana, to second,…
Each morning, we were introduced to a new insight practice to experiment with. The practice that surprised me the most was noticing vedanā – the pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral feeling tones that come with every experience. We all on some level have noticed that feelings, no matter their “tone”, are…
“The most important thing in learning the jhanas,” began Dharma teacher Leigh Brasington, looking out to a roomful of eager meditators draped in a rainbow of shawls and jackets, “is to not have any expectations.” Well, I certainly checked that box. When I signed up for this retreat, titled “Jhanas…
A reminder from The Noble Search sutta dropped into my mind as I sat down to meditate. It came from this passage: And what is the noble search? Here someone being himself subject to birth, having understood the danger in what is subject to birth, seeks the unborn supreme security…
That’s it. That’s the story. A simple act that I would recall again and again as the answer to why Plum Village is my home tradition. It happened when I was with a small group of Plum Village practitioners, ranging from senior monastic Dharma teachers to lay people who only…
This year, I’d like to come back and draw energy from an early aspiration that kept me on the Path. It wasn’t in order to get enlightened (although that would be lovely). It wasn’t in order to get some out-of-body experience or bliss. It wasn’t in order to get approval…
It is a paradox that even though the desire for enlightenment, for happiness, etc. may have inspired our journey on the Path, we eventually need to let go of grasping – for special meditation experiences, happiness, enlightenment itself – as we get closer to the truth. I have heard this…
The bell sounded three times to end the sit. I slowly opened my eyes. My body felt light as air – just moments ago, it had felt no different from air itself, its boundaries dissolving into the empty space of the room. My mind hummed with ease, clarity, and tranquility.…
A story of less than 100 words once restored my dwindling faith and kept me on the Path. I have had about a year of meditation practice by then, and even went on a short retreat to deepen my practice. The events at that retreat, however, had left me extremely…
I’ve had more than a few episodes of sitting with emotional turmoil through my years of meditation practice. This sitting period, though, proved to be different from others. It was the first one where the insight of non-self directly reduced my suffering. I had been struggling with making a decision…