Guru Viking Podcast

In this episode special guest Leigh Brasington, Buddhist meditation teacher and author of ‘Right Concentration, A Practical Guide to the Jhanas’, joins the ongoing conversation featuring: 

- Shinzen Young, meditation teacher and neuroscience research consultant
 - Chelsey Fasano, a Columbia University neuroscience student
 - Dr Jay Sanguinetti, Assistant Director for the Center for Consciousness Studies and Research Professor at the University of New Mexico In this episode Shinzen and Leigh engage in a detailed discussion about the variety of classifications of jhana in Buddhist scripture and the competing interpretations of them that exist today. They examine the contents and political context of 5th century text the Visuddhimagga and its author Buddhagosa and consider possible conflicts between its jhana system and the those of the Sutta and Abhidhamma literature. Chelsey reveals fascinating research on the neuroscience of pleasure and its relationship to meditational bliss, Jay shares the research o