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- We will give a dharma talk at the Sacramento Buddhist Meditation
Group on Sunday, Sept. 19, 2010 in Sacramento, California from 7:00 - 9:00 pm. For details, please visit our Events page.
- We will offer two events in the San Francisco
Bay Area over the next year. The first is a the Introduction
to Concentration Meditation Dana-only Daylong, Saturday, Nov. 13, 2010, 10:00 am - 4:00 pm in Tiburon, CA. This event
is offerred on a donation basis. Pre-registration is required. We are also offerring a 3-day Retreat,
June 23-26, 2011, at Vajrapani Retreat Center in Boulder Creek, CA. For more information or to
register for these events, visit our Events page.
- We have posted
a new dharma talk, which was recorded in November, 2009 when Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw invited us to teach at the Theravada Dhamma
Society near San Francisco, California. Please visit our Dharma Tallks page for the hotlink(s).
- Our year-long mentoring program is full. We are now taking applications for the 2011 mentoring program. For
more information, or to schedule a one-on-one session with one of us, see our Mentoring page.
- The new version of our
book, entitled Practicing the Jhanas, published by Shambhala Publications, was released in
December 2009. We have been told by the publisher that it is selling about 100 copies a week at this point. Use this hotlink
to read more or purchase a copy. http://www.shambhala.com/html/catalog/items/isbn/978-1-59030-733-5.cfm. The book is available in major bookstores and most internet booksellers. We were honored to present a copy
to Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw in person in October 2009. Our original book, Jhanas
Advice from Two Spiritual Friends, was purchased by more than 550 people in 31 countries on six continents in
a two year period. Our new book contains one additional chapter on "First Sit to First Jhana", as well as an
expanded section on Purification of Mind.
- Several
wonderful reviews of our book have been released, including Yoga Journal UK, Wisdom Quarterly and Buddhadharma. Check this
one out at http://wisdomquarterly.blogspot.com/2009/11/practicing-jhanas-book-review.html.
- Our next retreat will be held
from Dec. 27. 2009-Jan 9, 2011, a 13-day retreat. To register, please visit www.CloudMountain.org. We are offerring 5 retreats between now an the end of 2011, so please visit our Events page for details.
- We were recently interviewed by Vince Horn at BuddhistGeeks.com.
It was a lot of fun talking with Vince about the "Jedi Warrior Training" the yogis described experiencing at
our last retreat. Click here for the hotlink: http://feeds.feedburner.com/BuddhistGeeksPodcast. Scroll down to see our interviews--note that there are two parts to the interview.
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What is the Jhana Practice?
The jhana practice is an ancient type of concentration meditation that predates written
history as a method to purify the mind. It was taught to the Buddha by his teachers, and he practiced and taught the jhanas
throughout his life. This practice was so important to him, that jhana meditation was his last act before he died.
Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw of Burma is considered by many to be the leading Buddhist jhana teacher alive today. Tina
Rasmussen and Stephen Snyder were taught personally by the Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw, who has authorized them as the first Western
lay people to teach these practices as the Sayadaw taught them. Their book, Practicing the Jhanas,
is an accessible and direct experiential account of jhana practice. Their book has been endorsed by the Sayadaw, Joseph Goldstein,
Guy Armstrong, Richard Shankman, Rick Hanson, and others, and is published by Shambhala Publications.
They now
offer several services to practitioners interested in the jhana practice. Their services are for both experienced meditators
interested in deepening their concentration practice, as well as new meditators beginning a concentration practice. They offer: - Retreats - Daylong intensives - Dharma talks at your location - One-on-one spiritual
guidance - Free downloads of dharma talks on the jhanas practice
Click here for more information
About Us or the Services we offer.
Click here to download the Anapanasati Meditation Instructions Card

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| Stephen & Tina with Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw August 2009 |
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Periodically, we distribute emails
about upcoming events, new postings, and our publications. To join, please click here to go to the Contact Us page. If you send us your email address we will add you to our distribution list.
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