Practicing Jhanas & Emptiness: Surprising Similarities, Distinctive Differences

Practicing Jhanas & Emptiness: Surprising Similarities, Distinctive Differences is an online meditation retreat day led by Leigh Brasington and Heather Sundberg. It is for meditators curious about how jhāna, the meditative absorptions, relates to emptiness practice, and about how each can inform the other. Because it takes place online, you can join from wherever you practice.

What to Expect

Leigh Brasington and Heather Sundberg explore the surprising connections between jhāna and emptiness-awareness. They also look at where the two approaches differ. A central theme is how jhāna can open new possibilities in emptiness practice.

The program runs as a single day. It suits people who already have some footing in one or both of these areas and want to see how they fit together. That might be someone who has experienced absorption states and wonders how they relate to insight into emptiness, or someone who works with emptiness and is curious what concentration can add. Two teachers sharing the day means you can hear the same questions approached from more than one angle.

About Leigh Brasington

Leigh Brasington is a Buddhist meditation teacher who has practiced meditation since 1985. He is the senior American student of the late Ven. Ayya Khema. He began assisting her in 1994 and started teaching retreats on his own in 1997.

His teaching centers on the jhānas, along with insight practice, satipatthana and dependent origination. He teaches in Europe and North America, in person and online, often with co-teachers and with retreat centers and sanghas as sponsors.

Leigh is the author of Right Concentration: A Practical Guide to the Jhānas, which has been translated into German, Hungarian, Dutch and Spanish. His other books include Dependent Origination and Emptiness, The Gradual Training, On The Way To The Far Shore, and a book on the Brahma Viharas (love, compassion, joy and equanimity), covering suttas, stories and practices.

Before You Go

This is an online program, so all you need is a quiet place to sit and a reliable connection. Since the day compares two bodies of practice, some previous experience with jhāna or emptiness meditation will help you get the most from it.