Concentration & Advanced Practice on Buddhist Resources

The Jhanas Explained

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 00:45:55 +0200

The jhanas (Sanskrit dhyana) are states of meditative absorption described in the Pali canon with unusual technical precision. They are the fruit of concentration practice, they are named as the content of right concentration — the eighth factor of the path — and they are among the most argued-about topics in contemporary Buddhist practice.

Koan Practice in Rinzai Zen

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 00:46:56 +0200

A monk asked Zhaozhou: “Does a dog have buddha-nature or not?” Zhaozhou said: “Mu.”

That is the first koan in the Gateless Gate, and for a great many Rinzai practitioners it is the first koan they receive and the one they work with for years. It is also, on its face, baffling — particularly since Mahayana doctrine holds unambiguously that all sentient beings have buddha-nature, so the doctrinally correct answer is known in advance.

Dzogchen and Mahamudra

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 00:48:01 +0200

Most Buddhist practice is constructive. Something is developed — concentration, insight, compassion — over a long period, and the result is attained at the end.

Dzogchen and Mahamudra proceed on a different premise. They hold that the nature of mind is already awake, already clear, already complete, and that practice consists not of building anything but of recognising what is the case and learning not to obscure it.