• Treasure Mountain Podcast

  • By: Sol Hanna
  • Podcast
Treasure Mountain Podcast cover art

Treasure Mountain Podcast

By: Sol Hanna
  • Summary

  • Treasure Mountain is a podcast channel aimed at people interested in spiritual development from a Buddhist perspective. Most of the guests are practising Buddhists with many years (even many decades) of experience. Part of the aim of Treasure Mountain is to encourage Buddhists everywhere in the English-speaking world to look beyond the confines of their local Buddhist group and see that there is a renaissance in Buddhist practice and culture occurring at a global level, and that there are many inspiring teachers and community leaders across many countries adapting to 21st century life whilst trying to stay true to the origins of Buddha’s teaching. Treasure Mountain also seeks to raise awareness about some of the lesser known but dedicated teachers and community leaders and their worthy projects, and to provide listeners with an opportunity to give to these causes.
    Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
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Episodes
  • Silent Meditation Retreats: A Journey of Self-Discovery & Inner Peace | Shaila Catherine
    Nov 27 2023

    Have you learned the basics of meditation and wanted to take things deeper? Have you heard about silent meditation retreats and wondered what they are like? If so, you’ve arrived at the right place as in this episode we are going to discuss why we should go on meditation retreats, with a focus on the commonly available nine or ten day retreat format. Also we’ll discuss what we might expect when going on meditation retreats and some of the obstacles we might encounter and how to overcome them, and how to integrate this all into a deeper practice, leading us to deeper tranquility and insight.

    To guide us into a better understanding of silent meditation retreats is our guest Shaila Catherine.

    Shaila Catherine is the founder of Bodhi Courses, an online Dhamma classroom, and Insight Meditation South Bay, a center for mindfulness, compassion, and wisdom in Silicon Valley, in California.

    She has taught insight meditation since 1996 in the USA, Europe, Israel, New Zealand, and Canada. Shaila draws inspiration from the Discourses of the Buddha and maintains an unwavering dedication to awakening. She is known for her expertise in guiding practitioners to cultivate concentration and the deep absorption states of jhāna, and for her enthusiasm for sutta study.

    Shaila is a Buddhist author of three books on meditation. Her first book, Focused and Fearless: A Meditator’s Guide to States of Deep Joy, Calm, and Clarity, introduces concentration practices and the absorption states of jhāna. From 2006–2014 Shaila trained in samādhi and vipassanā under the direction of Venerable Pa-Auk Sayadaw in Myanmar. She went on to author Wisdom Wide and Deep: A Practical Handbook for Mastering Jhanā and Vipassanā to help make his traditional approach to meditative training accessible to western practitioners. And her third book is Beyond Distraction: Five Practical Ways to Focus the Mind which shares practical Buddhist strategies for overcoming restlessness and distraction.

    Shaila has been going on and teaching meditation retreats for several decades and I feel very fortunate that she has offered her time and experience to help us understand the whys and hows of silent meditation treats on this episode of Treasure Mountain. So join us as we seek for the treasure within…

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    Links related to this episode:

    • Shaila Catherine website
    • Shaila Catherine upcoming meditation retreats
    • Bodhi Retreats and Courses (online)

    Links related to Treasure Mountain Podcast:

    • Treasure Mountain Podcast
    • The Everyday Dhamma Network
    • Support the podcast with a donation (via the Ko-fi creators platform)

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    53 mins
  • Samatha: developing calm and tranquillity in meditation | Prof. Peter Harvey
    Nov 14 2023

    In this episode of Treasure Mountain we will explore the purpose and nature of samatha meditation, and it’s relation to other forms of meditation - notably vipassana meditation - and to the Buddhist path as a whole.

    And our guest to help us have a deeper appreciation of samatha meditation is Professor Peter Harvey. Professor Harvey did a philosophy degree at Manchester University. Whilst there, he became a Buddhist after attending talks at the Buddhist Society and learning mindfulness of breathing Buddhist meditation. This then inspired him to visit India and do a doctorate in Buddhist Studies at the University of Lancaster, under Ninian Smart. From 1976 to 2011, he was a lecturer in Religious Studies at the Polytechnic then University of Sunderland. He taught Indian religions, the study of religion and also some Philosophy, and ended up Professor of Buddhist Studies, running an online MA Buddhist Studies. On top of all that he has taught Buddhist meditation in the Samatha Trust tradition since 1977, in Durham and Sunderland, and since 2015 in York and online. Peter Harvey’s publications on Buddhism include 'An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices' and 'An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics; Foundations, Values and Issues'. Whilst Peter retired from academia in 2011, he is still teaching meditation online through the Samatha Trust. He now spends his time writing and editing Buddhist material, teaching meditation to beginners and more experienced meditators, in recent years over Zoom, as well as gardening, and travelling around Yorkshire.

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    Links related to this episode:

    • The Samatha Trust
      • Videos and publications of the Samatha Trust
    • Books written by Peter Harvey:
      • An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices
      • An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics: Foundations, Values and Issues
      • The Selfless Mind

    Books related to the topic of samatha meditation:

    • Paul Dennison, Jhāna Consciousness: Buddhist Meditation in the Age of Neuroscience. Shambhala, 2022: the jhānas, aspects of the Samatha Trust method, and brain scans of Samatha meditators- by a senior Samatha Trust    teacher.
    • L.S. Cousins, Meditations of the Pali Tradition: Illuminating Buddhist Doctrine, History and Practice, Shambhala, 2022:  an excellent survey of the history of mainly Theravāda samatha and vipassanā practices over the millennia up to today, by a senior Samatha Trust teacher
    • L. S. Cousins, 1984 paper, ‘Samatha-yāna and vipassanā-yāna’: https://www.academia.edu/1417366/Samatha_y%C4%81na_and_Vipassana_y%C4%81na ).
    • Peter Harvey, An Introduction to Bu
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    39 mins
  • Creating Strong Supportive Buddhist Communities - NeeWern Khoo
    Jul 15 2023

    In this episode I wanted to talk about the importance of community when it comes to both finding the Path of Practice, but also in terms of having the support to stick with it and to grow with it. I’ve been practicing Buddhism for thirty years and I have a lot of contacts in Western Buddhist groups. And whilst these groups and these individuals are doing amazing work to establish the Buddha Sasana in the West, no group that I’ve seen has really got the amount of social coordination and support as groups in traditional Buddhist communities in the East.

    So for this episode I’ve invited NeeWern Khoo who has been involved with the Buddhist Gem Fellowship in Malaysia for many years, and more recently with the Centre for Research and Dhamma Leadership Enhancement.

    NeeWern first encountered Buddhism in his early teens whilst reading about the Life of the Buddha in a bookstore. His interest led him to join the Subang Jaya Buddhist Association, and subsequently played a pioneering role in the setting up of the Youth Section of the SJBA. He has participated in and taken the lead in various Buddhist youth programmes and is a past Chairman of the Inter-College and Varsity Camp by the Buddhist Gem Fellowship (BGF). He was also a committee member of the BGF in charge of the Learning & Development portfolio.

    NeeWern is currently Head of Dhamma Leadership Development under the Centre for Research and Dhamma Leadership Enhancement (CRADLE for short) which aims to bring transformation to the Buddhist community through developing and enhancing Buddhist leadership. As you can see NeeWern has decades of experience in terms of being involved in and supporting Buddhist communities in Malaysia. So join us as we learn about creating and sustaining strong, supportive Buddhist communities.

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    42 mins

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