Tag Archives: jhana

Joy

Posted on January 23, 2016 by EricKVanHorn

I recently heard a Dharma talk on the topic of joy, and it got me thinking about the different contexts in which joy occurs in the Pali Canon. Those of you familiar with the practice of jhāna – meditative absorption … Continue reading →

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New Jhāna Update

Posted on January 5, 2015 by EricKVanHorn

One of my shorter posts in this blog simply references a study that I did on jhāna (meditative absorption) in the Majhima Nikāya. (That post has since been deleted.) The reason that the post is so short is that the … Continue reading →

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A Single Excellent Night

Posted on October 1, 2013 by EricKVanHorn

There is a lovely sutta (discourse) in the Majjhima Niaya called “A Single Excellent Night”. In it, the Buddha offers these verses: Let not a person revive the past Or on the future build his hopes; For the past has … Continue reading →

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The Diamonds Under the Coal

Posted on July 12, 2013 by EricKVanHorn

I often encourage serious students of the Dhamma to read the Buddha’s discourses. This can be something of a hard sell. The language is repetitive, the cultural references are – of course – 2400 years out of date, and the concepts … Continue reading →

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Oh, What A Tangled Web….

Posted on July 9, 2013 by EricKVanHorn

A dear Dhamma sister of mine just got back from a retreat at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. It was a retreat nominally devoted to learning how to do jhana (tranquility) practice, although it is not limited to jhana. … Continue reading →

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The Buddha Wasn’t Kidding – Really

Posted on March 28, 2013 by EricKVanHorn

When I first started to meditate it was in a Zen practice. We were told mainly to “just sit.” If any question or problem came up, the instruction was the same, to “just keep sitting”. To this day the words … Continue reading →

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Zen and (the sad art of) Sex Abuse

Posted on March 7, 2013 by EricKVanHorn

When I went to the New York Times web site on February 11, 2013, the lead article was Zen Groups Distressed by Accusations Against Teacher. It isn’t often that the Times lead article is about something Buddhist, and sadly the … Continue reading →

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