jhana meditation

Open mind: focused mind

One of my online students asked a really excellent question in relation to mindful eating, and in fact in relation…

December 19, 2013

Words of equanimity; wordless equanimity (Day 84)

So far in this 100 Days of Lovingkindness I haven't said anything about the phrases we use in cultivating equanimity…

July 5, 2013

Compassion, bliss, and beyond (Day 40)

People often think of compassion as being a sombre, even depressing experience, but that doesn't have to be the case.…

May 21, 2013

Compassion can be joyful (Day 39)

For most of the 25 days in which we focused on Metta Bhavana, I felt like I was swimming in…

May 20, 2013

The Buddha, meditation, and householders

The other day I posted some commentary on a study showing that mindfulness practice improved students' working memory and boosted…

March 28, 2013

Stepping into timelessness

Sometimes in my meditation practice, time and space have vanished. There are passages in the early Buddhist tradition that encourage…

April 13, 2012

Making meditation practice your own

When you first learn to meditate, it’s appropriate and helpful to take on structured practices. There are plenty of such…

January 4, 2012

How to get into jhāna (or dhyāna, if you prefer Sanskrit)

I'd like to offer you a simple, four-step approach to cultivating jhāna. With a little practice and refinement, this approach…

June 17, 2011

“The Attention Revolution – Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind,” by B. Alan Wallace

Available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. The Attention Revolution is a thorough outline of the stages leading to the achievement of…

May 5, 2006

“Meditation: The Buddhist Way of Tranquillity and Insight,” by Kamalashila

Available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. This book is a comprehensive guide to the methods and theory of meditation. Written in…

March 8, 2005