Samadhi is a pali word that is sometimes translated as concentration, but might be better understood as collecting, unifying, aligning, stabilising, and harmonising both mind and body. The Buddha gave extensive teachings on how to cultivate samadhi and the importance of this practice. Through cultivating samadhi there are beautiful, lovely, and powerful states of mind that foster deep feelings of tranquility, happiness, and wellbeing. Eventually sam?dhi also leads to altered states of deep absorption known as jhana, which involve experiences of bliss, joy, and powerful equanimity.

These qualities of mind also create optimal conditions for gaining insight and learning about your own mind and experience. Importantly, these states are possible for all human beings and can be accessed and cultivated through practice.

There is a fine art involved in navigating the mind that requires creativity, exploration, play, and responsiveness. This series of talks will outline the possibilities of samadhi practice, the building block techniques of attending to the breath, whole body awareness, and mett?, and how to practice to work towards deepening and broadening your ability to collect the mind and develop well-being.

Talk 1: Collecting the Mind and Body – 6 August
We begin with orienting ourselves to base practices such as working with the breath, and setting off in a good direction through practising with wise effort, kindness, and intention.

Talk 2: Enjoying Samadhi – 13 August
The second talk will explore pleasantness, enjoyment, and creativity. We will use whole body awareness to access somatic experiences and collect the mind by responding skillfully to the current causes and conditions.

Talk 3: Immersing into Samadhi – 20 August
Here we will explore the possibilities of further practice of samadhi, including accessing deep states of joy, happiness, contentment, and stillness (known as jhanas); and using the collected mind to turn towards insight.

These sessions will involve guided meditation, explanation of the topic, and Q+A. There will be practices related to calm abiding, whole body awareness, and insight. Note: These talks will explore a series of topics around this theme. Each talk will stand alone; you don’t need to have attended previous talks.

About Kynan

Kynan Tan is a meditation teacher who takes a collaborative approach to helping students achieve their meditation goals. He came to meditation after struggles with stress, anxiety, and depression and found the practice to be transformative. He believes that meditation has enormous potential for creating positive change and opening up new ways of relating to our experience.

Kynan draws on a number of different modern and traditional techniques of contemplative and introspective practice. He is a longtime practitioner of the stages of samatha-vipassana (as presented in the book The Mind Illuminated), Rob Burbea’s insight meditation techniques, nondual awareness, and brahmavihara practices (metta, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity).

Kynan teaches residential retreats, one-on-one students, co-teaches the Pragmatic Dharma Club at the San Francisco Dharma Collective, and leads online meditation courses. Kynan has sat a number of retreats, including a month-long solo retreat in 2021.

All Sessions are by Donation (Dana) to the Buddhist Library. All donations to the Buddhist Library of $2 and over are tax deductible.

Dana is the traditional practice of generosity, the extending of one’s goodwill, which is fundamental to Buddhism and other spiritual traditions. The dana you give is shared equally with the teacher and the Buddhist Library. This helps to maintain the Library and supports the teacher so that they may offer more teachings on the Dhamma in the future. It is up to each person to determine the amount of dana they’d like to offer. We understand that this is a difficult time financially for many, and people will give what they can. An appropriate dana can’t be prescribed but requires sensitivity to its intent and to the individual’s own situation, as well as awareness of the cost of organising events and supporting teachers who spread the Dhamma