Dhyāna as Insight

Dhyāna (jhāna) is far more than samatha, or mental calm. Recognising the liberative potential of the first dhyana was the key to the Buddha’s own awakening and he taught dhyāna as inseparable from insight. Only later did the tradition come to regard the dhyānas as ‘just’ states of concentration.

The four dhyānas are, rather, states of deep, embodied mental unity, integrated with awareness of the foundations of mindfulness (satipatthana) and the factors of awakening (bojjhanga). Insight emerges inseparably from dhyāna, hence the title ‘Dhyāna as Insight’.

On this retreat, I will be offering embodied approaches to dhyāna that people have found to be helpful and effective. This may involve questioning both our own views and approaches, as well as some of what the later tradition has to say about dhyāna.

In practice, we’ll ask, ‘what, in our experience, is actually helpful?’ By becoming alive to the energetic immediacy of body experience, resources for entering dhyāna can be discovered as already present – just waiting to be noticed. We’ll explore this in direct experience and delve into the relationship between body, dhyāna and liberative insight.