Easing Awake with Doug Kraft
Sifting through the earliest records of the Buddha's talks, we find a simple, elegant, and powerful practice. When he died, his teaching became an “ism”, Buddhism. As it spread into other countries, cultures, and eras his teachings or “map” was copied and re-copied. Shortcuts and alternatives were added and deleted. Compared to the versions of his teachings most widely known, his original meditation emphasized: Tranquility: an open, receptive awareness favored over highly focused, one-pointed concentration; Simplicity: loving kindness, serenity and insight all integrated rather than treated as separate practices; Stages: the practice matures through stages, each of which builds upon and goes beyond earlier stages (or “jhana”); Ease: relaxing as more important than striving. These podcasts are dedicated to this approach to meditation and daily living. I call it “easing awake.”
Easing Awake with Doug Kraft
Unfolding into Nibbana
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Doug Kraft
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Season 3
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Episode 8
Stages of meditative understanding, jhanas, are based on direct experience that unfolds into nibbana. In meditation, jhanas provide arbitrary markers for gradual transitions to nibbana. With uplifted qualities and softening in meditation, we can be clear about the quality of awareness that we cultivate. What liberates is seeing with clear, open, and sensitive awareness.
This episode with Doug Kraft is a dhamma talk recorded with the Sacramento Buddhist Meditation Group in Sacramento, California.