Shaila Catherine is an American Buddhist meditation teacher and author in the TheravÃÂdin tradition, known for her expertise in insight meditation (vipassanÃÂ) and jhÃÂna practices. She has authored three books on jhÃÂna practice and has introduced many American practitioners to this concentration practice through her writings and focused retreats.
Catherine is the founder of Insight Meditation South Bay in Mountain View, California, and the primary teacher for Bodhi Courses, an online Buddhist classroom. She conducts retreats locally, nationally and internationally in mindfulness (satë), concentration (samÃÂdhi and jhÃÂna), lovingkindness (mettÃÂ), and insight meditation (vipassanÃÂ).
Shaila Catherine began meditating in 1980 in California. She later travelled and studied in Asia, training and practicing with an Advaita Vedanta master, H.W.L. Poonja, in northern India; Tibetan Dzogchen masters Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche in Nepal; and at TheravÃÂdin forest monasteries in Thailand.
In addition to these Asian masters, she has studied with founders of Western meditation centers (Christopher Titmuss, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, and Lama Surya Das).
Catherine developed a special interest in the practice of deep concentration, and in 2003âÂÂ2004 devoted a one-year silent meditation retreat to exploring jhÃÂna as the basis for insight. Based upon her experiences in this retreat, she wrote Focused and Fearless, as an introduction to the absorption states of jhÃÂna.
In 2006, she began training under the guidance of the Burmese meditation master Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw. In 2011 Catherine authored a second book, Wisdom Wide and Deep, which provides an introduction to the comprehensive practices of samÃÂdhi and vipassanÃÂ based on her training with Pa Auk Sayadaw and derived from teachings in the early Discourses of the Buddha, Visuddhimagga, and Abhidhamma.
Catherine's writings and teaching have contributed to a new and growing field within TheravÃÂdin BuddhismâÂÂintroducing the traditional trainings of jhÃÂna and insight meditation (vipassanÃÂ) to Western lay practitioners.