If you want to know more about meditation in the Theravada tradition, then you need to undertsand what the suttas really say about the jhanas.
It is a path to Nibbana and it is not secondary in any way to so called “insight” (vipassana) meditation.
The Buddha, Sariputta and many more disciples of the Buddha were jhana masters. It was their primary meditation.
On the Buddha’s death he reached Nibbana by the jhanas. The suttas say that the jhanas slope towards Nibbana.
Basically, in my opinion the teachings of this great jhana master (The Buddha) have been hijacked with a focus away from the jhanas. To study what is generally said about the jhanas is like looking at a pure object through a clouded lens.
The Buddha is constantly seen in the suttas encouraging his disciples to develop jhana.
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You yourselves must strive, the Buddhas only point the way
Buddha, Dhp 276
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