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dhyāna

A Dictionary of Buddhism | 2004 | | Copyright

dhyāna (Skt., trance, absorption; Pāli, jhāna). A state of deep meditative absorption characterized by lucid awareness and achieved by focusing the mind on a single object (see citta-ekāgratā). A prerequisite for its attainment is the elimination of the five hindrances (nīvaraṇa). A scheme of eight stages of dhyāna was gradually evolved, with four lower assigned to the rūpa-dhātu and four higher ones assigned to the ārūpya-dhātu. In dhyāna all sense-activity is suspended, and as the meditator passes from the lower to the higher levels, mental activity becomes progressively more attenuated. Thus, in the first dhyāna, conceptualization (vitarka) and reflection (vicāra) occur, but in the second they do not. In the fifth dhyāna various supernormal powers can be attained (see ṛddhi). The names of the Ch'an and zen schools are both derived from the word dhyāna.

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DAMIEN KEOWN. "dhyāna." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

DAMIEN KEOWN. "dhyāna." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O108-dhyna.html

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Dhyāna

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions | 1997 | | Copyright

Dhyāna (Skt., ‘meditation’, ‘absorption’). In Indian religions, a term denoting both the practice of meditation and a higher state of consciousness (generally involving enstasy), though the term takes on more precise meanings in different traditions; thus the Buddhist use of the term is distinct from the Hindu—see JHĀNA.

In Tantrism dhyāna comes to mean visualization of one's own deity (iṣṭadevatā), maṇḍala, centres (cakra) of the subtle body (liṅga/sūkṣma śarīra), or guru, accompanied by mantra repetition (japa) and symbolic hand gestures (mudra). Dhyāna as visualization is thus the visual equivalent of auditory mantra and corporeal mudra and is an essential part of sādhana.

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JOHN BOWKER. "Dhyāna." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JOHN BOWKER. "Dhyāna." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Dhyna.html

JOHN BOWKER. "Dhyāna." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Dhyna.html

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