I spent the month of May 2006 on retreat at the Forest Refuge with Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw. The following details some extra curricular exploration of the jhanas while more deeply concentrated than described above.
Next is a reprint of an article that first appeared in Insight Journal, Fall 2002. It is a transcription of a talk I gave at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies in April of 2002.
From that same course at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies comes a transcription of a talk on the The Five Aggregates.
There is no real agreement among Jhana teachers as to what exactly the Jhanic state are! I have written a paper that outlines the various methods that I have heard about: One of the most profound and deepest teachings of the Buddha is Dependent Origination. Here's a tenative start to addressing some of my understanding of this most important teaching:As the mind moves from that of an unenlightened worlding to that of enlightenment, it passes thru various stages on the path. These are described in the suttas - and in a more detailed form in the commentaries. The following chart shows the classic teaching on these stages:
The following essays were written as part of a 1996 class on the
Buddhist Suttas taught by Gil Fronsdal. They are my reactions and responses to
various Suttas from the Digha and Majjhima Nikayas or to scholarly papers
the class read as background for the study of the Suttas.
These are the first papers I'd
written since graduating from college 25 years before. I present them much as
I wrote them, with spelling mistakes, awkward grammar (remember I'm a computer
programmer, not a writer), and sometimes a missing context. Nonetheless
I hope they may be of benefit to you. If you have questions or comments
please feel free to e-mail me at
At times I receive e-mail asking me various questions about Buddhism. Below are excerpts from some of my replies:
Miscellaneous Essays:
The following interview with me appeared in Northwest Dharma News in January, 1999.
The following interview appeared in the Modesto Bee on November 24, 2001 and is about a day-long retreat and the Jhanas. The following is an unedited version of an interview that appeared in the Bohdi Garden Newsletter in the summer of 2004. Finally a interview to listen to - on mp3:
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/ Revised 18 Nov 07