Dhyāni-Buddhas

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Dhyāni-Buddhas (Meditation Buddhas). Term coined by B. H. Hodgson, early 19th-cent. British diplomat in Nepal, to describe the jinas (‘eminent ones’) who appear in a tantric context in the Maṇḍala of the Five Jinas. Although the term ‘Dhyāni-Buddhas’ does not seem to occur in any Buddhist literature (other than Dharmakośasamgraha written by Vajrācārya Amṛtānanda in 1826 at the request of Hodgson), it has nevertheless been widely adopted by W. commentators.

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