The Gradual Training: The Buddha's Step-by-Step Guide for Awakening

"The Gradual Training" (anupubbasikkhā) is the name given to a series of practices that are to be undertaken in order to progress on the spiritual path. It appears to be the curriculum for the monks and nuns in the Buddha's sangha. If one were to become a monastic, here are the practices that were to be done. But these practices are also highly applicable to lay practitioners. Multiple of these practices will probably be familiar to anyone who has practiced extensively in any Buddhist tradition. This book examines each of the practice in detail.

Leigh Brasington began meditating in 1985 and eventually became the senior North American student of Ven. Ayya Khema. She not only taught him the Gradul Training, but also authorized him to teach; he began leading residential retreats in 1997. He has taught jhanas, dependent origination, and insight practices in over one hundred and fifty residential retreats. He is the author of the books Right Concentration: A Practical Guide to the jhanas and Dependent Origination and Emptiness: Streams Of Dependently Arising Processes Interacting.