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In the oldest texts of
Buddhism,
Dhyāna (
Sanskrit) or
Jhāna (
Pali) is a series of cultivated states of mind, commonly translated as
meditation, which lead to a "state of perfect
equanimity and awareness (
upekkhii-sati-piirisuddhl)."
Dhyana may have been the core practice of
pre-sectarian Buddhism, together with several preceding practices which lead to calm and detachment, and are fully realized with th practice of
dhyana.
In the later commentarial tradition, which has survived in present-day Theravada,
dhyana
is equated with "concentration," a state of one-pointed absorption in
which there is a diminished awareness of the surroundings. In the
contemporary Theravada-based
Vipassana-movement, this absorbed
state of mind is regarded as unnecessary and even non-beneficial for
awakening, which has to be reached by mindfullness of the body and
vipassana
(insight into impermanence). Since the 1980s, scholars and
practitioners have started to question this equation, arguing for a more
comprehensive and integrated understanding and approach, based on the
oldest descriptions of
dhyana in the suttas.
In
Chan and
Zen, the Chinese and Japanese renderings of
dhyana,
dhyana
is the central practice, which is ultimately based on Sarvastivada
meditation practices, and has been transmitted since the beginning of
the Common Era.
Etymology
Dhayana is commonly translated as
meditation, and is often equated with "concentration," though meditation may refer to a wider scala of exercises for
bhavana, development.
Dhyana can also mean "attention, thought, reflction." According to
Buddhaghosa, the term "jhana" (Skt. dhyana) is derived from the verb
jhayati, "to think or meditate," while the verb
jhapeti,
"to burn up," explicates its function, namely burning-up opposing
states, burning-up or destroying "the mental defilements preventing
[...] the development of serenity and insight."
The jhānas
The
Pāli canon describes four progressive states of
jhāna called
rūpa jhāna ("form
jhana"), and four additional meditative states called
arūpa ("without form").
Preparatory practices
Meditation and contemplation are preceded by preparatory practices, which are fully realized with the practice of
dhyana. As described in the
Noble Eightfold Path, right view leads to leaving the household life and becoming a wandering monk.
Sila (morality) comprises the rules for right conduct.
Right effort, c.q. the
four right efforts, aim to prevent the arising of unwholesome states, and to generate wholesome states. This includes
indriya samvara
(sense restraint), controlling the response to sensual perceptions, not
giving in to lust and aversion but simply noticing the objects of
perception as they appear. Right effort and mindfulness calm the mind-body complex, releasing
unwholesome states and habitual patterns, and encouraging the development of
wholesome states and non-automatic responses. By following these cumulative steps and practices, the mind becomes set, almost naturally, for the practice of
dhyana. The practice of
dhyana reinforces the development of wholesome states, leading to
upekkha (equanimity) and mindfulness.
The rupa jhānas
Qualities of the rupa jhānas
The practice of
dhyana is aided by
anapanasati, mindfulness of breathing. The Suttapitaka and the Agamas describe four stages of
rupa jhāna.
Rupa refers to the material realm, in a neutral stance, as different form the
kama realm (lust, desire) and the
arupa-realm (non-material realm). Each jhāna is characterised by a set of qualities which are present in that jhana:
- First dhyāna: the first dhyana can be entered when one is secluded from sensuality and unskillful qualities. There is pīti ("rapture") and non-sensual sukha ("pleasure") as the result of seclusion, while vitarka-vicara ("discursive thought") continues;
- Second dhyana: there is pīti ("rapture") and non-sensual sukha ("pleasure") as the result of concentration (samadhi-ji, "born of samadhi"); ekaggata (unification of awareness) free from vitarka-vicara ("discursive thought"); sampasadana ("inner tranquility");
- Third dhyana: upekkhā (equanimous; "affective detachment"), mindful, and alert, and senses pleasure with the body;
- Fourth dhyana: upekkhāsatipārisuddhi (purity of equanimity and mindfulness); neither-pleasure-nor-pain. Traditionally, the fourth jhāna is seen as the beginning of attaining psychic powers (abhijñā).
Interpretation of the four dhyanas
While the jhana's are often understood as deepening states of concentration, due to its description as such in the
Abhidhamma, and the
Visuddhimagga, since the 1980s scholars and modern Theravadins have started to question this understanding.
Roderick S. Bucknell notes that
vitarka and
vicara
may refer to "probably nothing other than the normal process of
discursive thought, the familiar but usually unnoticed stream of mental
imagery and verbalization." Bucknell further nothes that "[t]hese
conclusions conflict with the widespread conception of the first jhana
as a state of deep concentration."
According to Stuart-Fox, the Abhidhamma separated
vitarka from
vicara, and
ekagatta (onepointednes) was added to the description first
dhyana to give an equal number of
five hindrances and five anti-dotes. The commentarial tradition regards the qulities of the first
dhyana to be antidotes to the five hindrances, and
ekagatta may have been added to the first
dhyana to give exactly five anti-dotes for the five hindrances. Stuart-Fox further notes that
vitarka,
being discursive thought, will do very little as an anti-dote for sloth
and torpor, reflecting the inconsistencies which were introduced by the
scholastics.
Vetter, Gombrich and Wynne note that the first and second
jhana represent the onset of
dhyana due to withdrawal and
right effort c.q. the
four right efforts, followed by concentration, whereas the third and fourth
jhana combine concentration with mindfulness. Polak, elaborating on Vetter, notes that the onset of the first
dhyana is described as a quite natural process, due to the preceding efforts to restrain the senses and the
nurturing of wholesome states. Regarding
samadhi as the eight step of the
Noble Eightfold Path, Vetter notes that
samadhi consists of the four stages of dhyana meditation, but
...to put it more accurately, the
first dhyana seems to provide, after some time, a state of strong
concentration, from which the other stages come forth; the second stage
is called samadhija" [...] "born from samadhi."
According to Richard Gombrich, the sequence of the four
rupa-jhanas
describes two different cognitive states: "I know this is
controversial, but it seems to me that the third and fourth jhanas are
thus quite unlike the second." Gombrich and Wynne note that, while the second
jhana denotes a state of absorption, in the third and fourth
jhana one comes out of this absorption, being mindfully awareness of objects while being indifferent to it.
According to Gombrich, "the later tradition has falsified the jhana by
classifying them as the quintessence of the concentrated, calming kind
of meditation, ignoring the other – and indeed higher – element.
Gethin, followed by Polak and Arbel, further notes that there is a "definite affinity" between the four
jhanas and the
bojjhaṅgā, the seven factors of awakening.
According to Gethin, the early Buddhist texts have "a broadly
consistent vision" regarding meditation practice. Various practices lead
to the development of the factors of awakening, which are not only the
means to, but also the constituents of awakening. According to Gethin,
satipatthana and
anapanasati
are related to a formula that summarizes the Buddhist path to awakening
as "abandoning the hindrances, establishing [...] mindfulness, and
developing the seven factors of awakening." "This results in a "heightened awareness," "overcoming distracting and disturbing emotions," which are not particular elements of the path to awakening, but rather common disturbing and distracting emotions.
Gethin further states that "the exegetical literature is essentially
true to the vision of meditation presented in the Nikayas," applying the "perfect mindfulness, stillness and lucidity" of the
jhanas to the contemplation of "reality," of the way things really are, as temporary and ever-changing. It is in this sense that "the
jhana state has the transcendent, transforming quality of awakening."
Upekkhā, equanimity, which is perfected in the fourth
dhyana, is one of the four
Brahma-vihara. While the commentarial tradition downplayed the importance of the
Brahma-vihara, Gombrich notes that the Buddhist usage of the
brahma-vihāra
originally referred to an awakened state of mind, and a concrete
attitude toward other beings which was equal to "living with Brahman"
here and now. The later tradition took those descriptions too literally,
linking them to cosmology and understanding them as "living with
Brahman" by rebirth in the Brahma-world. According to Gombrich, "the Buddha taught that kindness - what Christians tend to call love - was a way to salvation.
Alexander Wynne states that the
dhyana-scheme is poorly understood. According to Wynne, words expressing the inculcation of awareness, such as
sati,
sampajāno, and
upekkhā, are mistranslated or understood as particular factors of meditative states, whereas they refer to a particular way of perceiving the sense objects:
Thus the expression sato sampajāno in the third jhāna must denote a state of awareness different from the meditative absorption of the second jhāna (cetaso ekodibhāva).
It suggests that the subject is doing something different from
remaining in a meditative state, i.e. that he has come out of his
absorption and is now once again aware of objects. The same is true of
the word upek(k)hā: it does not denote an abstract 'equanimity',
[but] it means to be aware of something and indifferent to it [...] The
third and fourth jhāna-s, as it seems to me, describe the process of directing states of meditative absorption towards the mindful awareness of objects.
Thanissaro Bhikkhu, a western teacher in the
Thai Forest Tradition, argues that the
Visuddhimagga
deviates from the Pali Canon in its description of the jhanas, and
warns against the development of strong states of concentration. Arbel describes the fourth
jhana as "non-reactive and lucid awareness," not as astate of deep concentration.
The arupas
Grouped into the
jhana-scheme are four meditative states, referred to in the early texts as
aruppas. These are also referred to in commentarial literature as immaterial/formless
jhānas (
arūpajhānas), also translated as The Formless Dimensions, in distinction from the first four
jhānas (
rūpa jhānas). In the Buddhist canonical texts, the word "
jhāna" is never explicitly used to denote them, they are instead referred to as
āyatana. However, they are sometimes mentioned in sequence after the first four
jhānas
(other texts. e.g. MN 121 treat them as a distinct set of attainments)
and thus came to be treated by later exegetes as jhānas. The immaterial
are related to, or derived from, yogic meditation, while the
jhanas proper are related to the cultivation of the mind. The state of complete dwelling in emptiness is reached when the eighth
jhāna is transcended.
The four
arupas are:
- fifth jhāna: infinite space (Pali ākāsānañcāyatana, Skt. ākāśānantyāyatana),
- sixth jhāna: infinite consciousness (Pali viññāṇañcāyatana, Skt. vijñānānantyāyatana),
- seventh jhāna: infinite nothingness (Pali ākiñcaññāyatana, Skt. ākiṃcanyāyatana),
- eighth jhāna: neither perception nor non-perception (Pali nevasaññānāsaññāyatana, Skt. naivasaṃjñānāsaṃjñāyatana).
Although the "Dimension of Nothingness" and the "Dimension of Neither
Perception nor Non-Perception" are included in the list of nine Jhanas
taught by the Buddha, they are not included in the
Noble Eightfold Path.
Noble Path number eight is "Samma Samadhi" (Right Concentration), and
only the first four Jhanas are considered "Right Concentration". If he
takes a disciple through all the Jhanas, the emphasis is on the
"Cessation of Feelings and Perceptions" rather than stopping short at
the "Dimension of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception".
Nirodha-Samapatti
Beyond
the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception lies a state
called Nirodha Samapatti, the "cessation of perception, feelings and
consciousness".
Only in commentarial and scholarly literature this sometimes is called the "ninth jhāna".
Origins
The time of the Buddha saw the rise of the
śramaṇa movement, ascetic practitioners with a body of shared teachings and practices. The strict delineation of this movement into Jainism, Buddhism and brahmanical/Upanishadic traditions is a later development.
Invention or incorporation
According
to Bronkhorst, the practice of the four dhyanas may have been an
original contribution by Gautama Buddha to the religious practices of
ancient India in response to the ascetic practices of the Jains. Kalupahana argues that the Buddha "reverted to the meditational practices" he had learned from
Ārāḍa Kālāma and
Uddaka Rāmaputta.
Wynne argues that Ārāḍa Kālāma and Uddaka Rāmaputta were Brahmanical
teachers, and that the attainment of the formless meditative absorption
was incorporated from Brahmanical practices. These practices were paired to mindfulness and insight, and given a new interpretation. The stratification of particular
samādhi experiences into the four
jhānas seems to be a Buddhist innovation. It was then borrowed and presented in an incomplete form in the
Mokṣadharma, a part of the
Mahābhārata.
Thomas William Rhys Davids and Maurice Walshe agreed that the term
samadhi is not found in any pre-Buddhist text but is first mentioned in the
Tipiṭaka. It was later incorporated into later texts such as the Maitrayaniya Upanishad.
But according to Matsumoto, "the terms dhyana and samahita (entering
samadhi) appear already in Upanishadic texts that predate the origins of
Buddhism".
Buddhist origins
The
Mahasaccaka Sutta,
Majjhima Nikaya
36, narrates the story of the Buddha's awakening. According to this
story, he learned two kinds of meditation, which did not lead to
enlightenment. He then underwent harsh ascetic practices with which he
eventually also became disillusioned. The Buddha then recalled a
meditative state he entered by chance as a child:
I thought: 'I recall once, when my
father the Sakyan was working, and I was sitting in the cool shade of a
rose-apple tree, then — quite secluded from sensuality, secluded from
unskillful mental qualities — I entered & remained in the first
jhana: rapture & pleasure born from seclusion, accompanied by
directed thought & evaluation. Could that be the path to Awakening?'
Then following on that memory came the realization: 'That is the path
to Awakening.'
Originally the practice of dhyana itself may have constituted the
core liberating practice of early Buddhism, since in this state all
"pleasure and pain" had waned. According to Vetter,
[P]robably the word "immortality"
(a-mata) was used by the Buddha for the first interpretation of this
experience and not the term cessation of suffering that belongs to the
four noble truths [...] the Buddha did not achieve the experience of
salvation by discerning the four noble truths and/or other data. But his
experience must have been of such a nature that it could bear the
interpretation "achieving immortality".
Brahmanical influences
Alexander
Wynne attempted to find parallels in Brahmanical texts to the
meditative goals the two teachers claimed to have taught, drawing
especially on some of the Upanishads and the Mokshadharma chapter of the
Mahabharata.
Uddaka Ramaputta and Alara Kalama
The
suttas describe how the Buddha learned meditative practices from two
teachers, Uddaka Ramaputta and Alara Kalama. Alex Wynne argues that
Uddaka Ramaputta belonged to the pre-Buddhist tradition portrayed by the
Buddhist and Brahmanic sources, in which the philosophical formulations
of the early Upanishads were accepted, and the meditative state of
"neither perception nor non-perception" was equated with the self. Wynne further argues that the goal of Alara Kalama was a Brahminical concept. Evidence in the
Chandogya Upanishad and the
Taittiriya Upanishad
suggests that a different early Brahminic philosophical tradition held
the view that the unmanifest state of Brahman was a form of
non-existence.
According to Wynne it thus seems likely that both element and formless
meditation was learned by the Buddha from his two teachers, and adapted
by him to his own system.
Brahmanical practices
Formless spheres
It appears that in early Brahminic yoga, the formless spheres were attained following element meditation. This is also taught as an option in the early Buddhist texts.
The primary method taught to achieve the formless attainment in early
Buddhist scriptures, on the other hand, is to proceed to the sphere of
infinite space following the fourth
jhāna.
Reversal of the creation of the world
Wynne
claimed that Brahminic passages on meditation suggest that the most
basic presupposition of early Brahmanical yoga is that the creation of
the world must be reversed, through a series of meditative states, by
the yogin who seeks the realization of the
self.
These states were given doctrinal background in early Brahminic
cosmologies, which classified the world into successively coarser
strata. One such stratification is found at
TU II.1 and
Mbh XII.195, and proceeds as follows:
self, space, wind, fire, water, earth. Mbh XII.224 gives alternatively:
Brahman, mind, space, wind, fire, water, earth.
In Brahmanical thought, the meditative states of consciousness were thought to be identical to the subtle strata of the cosmos. There is no similar theoretical background to element meditation in the early Buddhist texts, where
the elements appear simply as suitable objects of meditation.
It is likely that the Brahmanic practices of element-meditation were
borrowed and adapted by early Buddhists, with the original Brahmanic
ideology of the practices being discarded in the process.
Investigation of self
On
this point, it is thought that the uses of the elements in early
Buddhist literature have in general very little connection to
Brahmanical thought; in most places they occur in teachings where they
form the objects of a detailed contemplation of the human being. The aim
of these contemplations seems to have been to bring about the correct
understanding that the various perceived aspects of a human being, when
taken together, nevertheless do not comprise a 'self'.
Moreover, the self is conceptualized in terms similar to both
"nothingness" and "neither perception nor non-perception" at different
places in early Upanishadic literature.
The latter corresponds to
Yajnavalkya’s definition of the self in his famous dialogue with Maitreyi in the
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and the definition given in the post-Buddhist
Mandukya Upanishad. This is mentioned as a claim of non-Buddhist ascetics and Brahmins in the
Pañcattaya Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya 102.2). In the same dialogue in the
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad,
Yajnavalkya draws the conclusions that the self that is neither
perceptive nor non-perceptive is a state of consciousness without
object. The early Buddhist evidence suggests much the same thing for the
state of "neither perception nor non-perception". It is a state without an object of awareness, that is not devoid of awareness. The state following it in the Buddhist scheme, the "cessation of perception and sensation", is devoid not only of objectivity,
but of subjectivity as well.
Criticism of Wynne
The Brahmanical texts cited by Wynne assumed their final form long after the Buddha's lifetime. The Mokshadharma postdates him.
Early Buddhism
The Buddhist tradition has incorporated two traditions regarding the use of jhana.
There is a tradition that stresses attaining
insight (
bodhi,
prajna,
kensho) as the means to awakening and liberation.
But the Buddhist tradition has also incorporated the yogic tradition,
as reflected in the use of jhana, which is rejected in other sutras as
not resulting in the final result of liberation. One solution to this
contradiction is the conjunctive use of
vipassana and
samatha.
Five possibilities regarding jhana and liberation
Schmithausen notes that the mention of the four noble truths as
constituting "liberating insight", which is attained after mastering the
Rupa Jhanas, is a later addition to texts such as Majjhima Nikaya 36.
Schmithausen discerns three possible roads to liberation as described
in the suttas, to which Vetter adds a fourth possibility, while the
attainment of Nirodha-Samapatti may constitute a fifth possibility:
- Mastering the four jhanas, where-after "liberating insight" is attained;
- Mastering the four jhanas and the four arupas, where-after "liberating insight" is attained;
- Liberating insight itself suffices;
- The four jhanas themselves constituted the core liberating practice of early Buddhism, c.q. the Buddha;
- Liberation is attained in Nirodha-Samapatti.
Rupa jhana followed by liberating insight
According to the Theravada-tradition, the meditator uses the
jhāna state to bring the mind to rest, and to strengthen and sharpen the mind, in order to investigate the true nature of phenomena (
dhamma)
and to gain insight into impermanence, suffering and not-self.
According to the Theravada-tradition, the arahant is aware that the
jhanas are ultimately unsatisfactory, realizing that the meditative attainments are also
anicca, impermanent.
In the
Mahasaccaka Sutta (
Majjhima Nikaya 36), which narrates the story of the Buddha's awakening,
dhyana
is followed by insight into the four noble truths. The mention of the
four noble truths as constituting "liberating insight" is probably a
later addition.
Vetter notes that such insight is not possible in a state of dhyana,
when interpreted as concentration, since discursive thinking is
eliminated in such a state.
He also notes that the emphasis on "liberating insight" developed only
after the four noble truths were introduced as an expression of what
this "liberating insight" constituted. In time, other expressions took over this function, such as
pratītyasamutpāda and the emptiness of the self.
Rupa jhana and the arupas, followed by liberating insight
This scheme is rejected by scholars as a later development, since the
arupas are akin to non-Buddhist practices, and rejected alsewhere in the canon.
Insight alone suffices
The
emphasis on "liberating insight" alone seems to be a later development,
in response to developments in Indian religious thought, which saw
"liberating insight" as essential to liberation. This may also have been due to an over-literal interpretation by later scholastics of the terminology used by the Buddha, and to the problems involved with the practice of
dhyana, and the need to develop an easier method.
Contemporary scholars have discerned a broader application of
jhana in historical Buddhist practice. According to Alexander Wynne, the ultimate aim of
dhyana was the attainment of insight, and the application of the meditative state to the practice of mindfulness.
According to Frauwallner, mindfulness was a means to prevent the
arising of craving, which resulted simply from contact between the
senses and their objects. According to Frauwallner, this may have been
the Buddha's original idea. According to Wynne, this stress on mindfulness may have led to the intellectualism which favoured insight over the practice of
dhyana.
Jhana itself is liberating
Both
Schmithausen and Bronkhorst note that the attainment of insight, which
is a cognitive activity, can't be possible in a state wherein all
cognitive acitivy has ceased.
According to Vetter, the practice of Rupa Jhana itself may have
constituted the core practice of early Buddhism, with practices such as
sila and mindfulness aiding to its development. It is the "middle way" between self-mortification, ascribed by Bronkhorst to Jainism, and indulgence in sensual pleasure. Vetter emphasizes that dhyana is a form of non-sensual happiness. The eightfold path can be seen as a path of preparation which leads to the practice of samadhi.
Liberation in Nirodha-Samapatti
According to some texts, after progressing through the eight jhanas
and the stage of Nirodha-Samapatti, a person is liberated. According to some traditions someone attaining the state of Nirodha-Samapatti is an
anagami or an
arahant. In the Anupadda sutra, the Buddha narrates that
Sariputta became an arahant upon reaching it.
Theravada
Dhyana as concentration
Buddhagosa's
Visuddhimagga considers
jhana to be an exercise in concentration-meditation. His views, together with the
Satipatthana Sutta,
inspired the development, in the 19th and 20th century, of new
meditation techniques which gained a great popularity among lay
audiences in the second half of the 20th century.
Samadhi
According to
Henepola Gunaratana,
the term "jhana" is closely connected with "samadhi", which is
generally rendered as "concentration". The word "samadhi" is almost
interchangeable with the word "samatha", serenity.
According to Gunaratana, in the widest sense the word samadhi is being
used for the practices which lead to the development of serenity. In
this sense, samadhi and jhana are close in meaning.
Nevertheless, they are not exactly identical, since "certain
differences in their suggested and contextual meanings prevent
unqualified identification of the two terms." Samadhi signifies only one
mental factor, namely one-pointedness, while the word "jhana"
encompasses the whole state of consciousness, "or at least the whole
group of mental factors individuating that meditative state as a jhana."
Furthermore, according to Gunaratana, samadhi involves "a wider range
of reference than jhana," noting that "the Pali exegetical tradition
recognizes three levels of samadhi: preliminary concentration (
parikammasamadhi) [...] access concentration (
upacarasamadhi) [...] and absorption concentration (
appanasamadhi)."
Development and application of concentration
According to the
Pāli canon commentary, access/neighbourhood concentration (
upacāra-samādhi) is a stage of meditation that the meditator reaches before entering into
jhāna. The overcoming of the
five hindrances mark the entry into access concentration. Access concentration is not mentioned in the discourses of the Buddha, but there are several
suttas where a person gains insight into the
Dhamma on hearing a teaching from the Buddha.
According to Tse-fu Kuan, at the state of
access concentration, some meditators may experience vivid mental imagery,
which is similar to a vivid dream. They are as vivid as if seen by the
eye, but in this case the meditator is fully aware and conscious that
they are seeing mental images. According to Tse-fu Kuan, this is
discussed in the early texts, and expanded upon in Theravāda
commentaries.
According to Venerable Sujivo, as the concentration becomes
stronger, the feelings of breathing and of having a physical body will
completely disappear, leaving only pure awareness. At this stage
inexperienced meditators may become afraid, thinking that they are going
to die if they continue the concentration, because the feeling of
breathing and the feeling of having a physical body has completely
disappeared. They should not be so afraid and should continue their
concentration in order to reach "full concentration" (
jhāna).
A meditator should first master the lower
jhānas, before they can go into the higher
jhānas. According to Nathan Katz, the early suttas state that "the most exquisite of recluses" is able to attain any of the
jhānas and abide in them without difficulty.
According to the contemporary Vipassana-movement, the
jhāna state cannot by itself lead to enlightenment as it only suppresses the defilements. Meditators must use the
jhāna
state as an instrument for developing wisdom by cultivating insight,
and use it to penetrate the true nature of phenomena through direct
cognition, which will lead to cutting off the defilements and
nibbana.
According to the later Theravāda commentorial tradition as outlined by Buddhagoṣa in his
Visuddhimagga, after coming out of the state of
jhāna the meditator will be in the state of post-
jhāna
access concentration. In this state the investigation and analysis of
the true nature of phenomena begins, which leads to insight into the
characteristics of impermanence, suffering and not-self arises.
Contemporary reassessment - the "Jhana wars"
While Theravada-meditation was introduced to the west as
vipassana-meditation, which rejected the usefulness of
jhana, there is a growing interest among western
vipassana-practitioners in
jhana. The nature and practice of
jhana
is a topic of debate and contentment among western convert Theravadins,
to the extent that the disputes have even been called "the Jhana wars." Both academic scholars and contemporary practitioners have raised questions about the interpretation of the
jhanas
as being states of absorption which are not necessary for the
attainment of liberation. While groundbreaking research on this topic
has been done by Bareau, Schmithausen, Stuart-Fox, Bucknell, Vetter,
Bronkhorst, and Wynne, Theravada practitioners have also scrutinized and
criticised the
samatha-
vipassana distinction. Reassessments of the description of
jhana in the suttas consider
jhana and
vipassana to be an integrated practice, leading to a "tranquil and eqaunimous awareness of whatever arises in the field of experience."
Criticism of Visudhimagga
The
Visuddhimagga, and the "pioneering popularizing work of Daniel Goleman," has been influential in the (mis)understanding of
dhyana being a form of concentration-meditation. The
Visuddhimagga is centered around
kasina-meditation, a form of concentration-meditation in which the mind is focused on a (mental) object. According to
Thanissaro Bhikkhu,
"[t]he text then tries to fit all other meditation methods into the
mold of kasina practice, so that they too give rise to countersigns, but
even by its own admission, breath meditation does not fit well into the
mold." According to
Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "the Visuddhimagga uses a very different paradigm for concentration from what you find in the Canon." In its emphasis on
kasina-meditation, the
Visuddhimagga departs from the Pali Canon, in which
dhyana
is the central meditative practice, indicating that what "jhana means
in the commentaries is something quite different from what it means in
the Canon."
Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
also notes that what "the suttas say is not the same as what the
Visuddhimagga says [...] they are actually different," leading to a
divergence between a [traditional] scholarly understanding and a
practical understanding based on meditative experience. Gunaratana further notes that Buddhaghosa invented several key
meditation terms which are not to be found in the suttas, such as "
parikamma samadhi (preparatory concentration),
upacara samadhi (access concentration),
appanasamadhi (absorption concentration)." Gunaratana also notes that the Buddhaghosa's emphasis on
kasina-meditation is not to be found in the suttas, where
dhyana is always combined with mindfulness.
According to Vetter,
dhyana as a preparation of
discriminating insight must have been different from the
dhyana-practice introduced by the Buddha, using
kasina-exercises to produce a "more artificially produced dhyana", resulting in the cessation of apperceptions and feelings. Kasina-exercises are propagated in
Buddhaghosas Visuddhimagga,
which is considered the authoritative commentary on meditation practice
in the Theravada tradition, but differs from the Pali canon in its
description of
jhana. While the suttas connect
samadhi to mindfulness and awareness of the body, for Buddhaghosa
jhana is a purely mental exercise, in which one-pointed concentration leads to a narrowing of attention.
Jhana as integrated practice
Several western teachers (Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Leigh Brazington, Richard Shankman) make a distinction between 'sutta-oriented'
jhana' and 'Visuddhimagga
-oriented' jhana, dubbed "minimalists" and "maimalists" by Kenneth Rose.
Thanissaro Bhikkhu has repeatedly argued that the Pali Canon and the
Visuddhimagga give different descriptions of the jhanas, regarding the
Visuddhimagga-descriotion to be incorrect.
According to Richard Shankman, the
sutta descriptions of
jhāna practice explain that the meditator does not emerge from
jhāna to practice
vipassana but rather the work of insight is done whilst in
jhāna itself. In particular the meditator is instructed to "enter and remain in the fourth
jhāna" before commencing the work of insight in order to uproot the mental defilements.
Keren Arbel has conducted extensive research on the
jhanas
and the contemporary criticisms of the commentarial interpretation.
Based on this research, and her own experience as a senior
meditation-teacher, she gives a reconstructed account of the original
meaning of the
dhyanas. She argues that
jhana is an integrated practice, describing the fourth
jhana as "non-reactive and lucid awareness," not as a state of deep concentration.
According to Arbel, it develops "a mind which is not conditioned by
habitual reaction-patterns of likes and dislikes [...] a profoundly wise
relation to experience, not tainted by any kind of wrong perception and
mental reactivity rooted in craving (
tanha).
According to Kenneth Rose, the
Visuddhimagga-oriented
"maximalist" approach is a return to ancient Indian "mainstream
practices," in which physical and mental immobiluty was thought to lead
to liberation from
samsara and rebirth. This approach was rejected by the Buddha, turning to a gentler approach which results in
upekkha and
sati, equanimous awareness of experience.
In Mahāyāna traditions
Mahāyāna Buddhism includes numerous schools of practice. Each draw
upon various Buddhist sūtras, philosophical treatises, and commentaries,
and each has its own emphasis, mode of expression, and philosophical
outlook. Accordingly, each school has its own meditation methods for the
purpose of developing samādhi and
prajñā, with the goal of ultimately attaining enlightenment.
Chan Buddhism
Dhyāna is a central aspect of Buddhist practice in Chan, necessary for progress on the path and "true entry into the Dharma."
Origins
In China, the word
dhyāna was originally transliterated with
Chinese:
禪那;
pinyin:
chánnà and shortened to just
pinyin:
chán in common usage. The word and the practice of meditation entered into Chinese through the translations of
An Shigao (fl. c. 148–180 CE), and
Kumārajīva (334–413 CE), who translated
Dhyāna sutras, which were influential early meditation texts mostly based on the
Yogacara meditation teachings of the
Sarvāstivāda school of
Kashmir circa 1st-4th centuries CE. The word
chán became the designation for
Chan Buddhism (
Korean Seon,
Zen).
While
dhyana in a strict sense refers to the four
dhyanas, in Chinese Buddhism
dhyāna may refer to
various kinds of meditation techniques and their preparatory practices, which are necessary to practice
dhyana. The five main types of meditation in the
Dyana sutras are
anapanasati (mindfulness of breathing);
paṭikūlamanasikāra meditation, mindfulness of the impurities of the body; loving-kindness
maitrī meditation; the contemplation on the twelve links of
pratītyasamutpāda; and the contemplation on the
Buddha’s thirty-two Characteristics.
Mindfulness
Observing the breath
During sitting meditation, practitioners usually assume a position such as the
lotus position, half-lotus, Burmese, or
yoga postures, using the
dhyāna mudrā.
To regulate the mind, awareness is directed towards counting or
watching the breath or by bringing that awareness to the energy center
below the navel (see also
ānāpānasati).
Often, a square or round cushion placed on a padded mat is used to sit
on; in some other cases, a chair may be used. This practice may simply
be called
sitting dhyāna, which is
zuòchán (坐禅) in Chinese, and
zazen (坐禅) in Japanese,
jwaseon (坐禅) in Korean.
Observing the mind
In
the Sōtō school of Zen, meditation with no objects, anchors, or
content, is the primary form of practice. The meditator strives to be
aware of the stream of thoughts, allowing them to arise and pass away
without interference. Considerable textual, philosophical, and
phenomenological justification of this practice can be found throughout
Dōgen's
Shōbōgenzō, as for example in the "Principles of Zazen" and the "Universally Recommended Instructions for Zazen". In the Japanese language, this practice is called
Shikantaza.
Insight
Pointing to the nature of the mind
According
to Charles Luk, in the earliest traditions of Chán, there was no fixed
method or formula for teaching meditation, and all instructions were
simply heuristic methods, to point to the true nature of the mind, also
known as
Buddha-nature.
According to Luk, this method is referred to as the "Mind Dharma", and
exemplified in the story of Śākyamuni Buddha holding up a flower
silently, and
Mahākāśyapa smiling as he understood.
A traditional formula of this is, "Chán points directly to the human
mind, to enable people to see their true nature and become buddhas."
Kōan practice
At the beginning of the
Sòng dynasty, practice with the kōan method became popular, whereas others practiced "silent illumination." This became the source of some differences in practice between the
Línjì and
Cáodòng schools.
A kōan, literally "public case", is a story or dialogue,
describing an interaction between a Zen master and a student. These
anecdotes give a demonstration of the master's insight. Koans emphasize
the non-conceptional insight that the Buddhist teachings are pointing
to. Koans can be used to provoke the "great doubt", and test a student's
progress in Zen practice.
Kōan-inquiry may be practiced during zazen (sitting meditation),
kinhin
(walking meditation), and throughout all the activities of daily life.
Kōan practice is particularly emphasized by the Japanese
Rinzai school, but it also occurs in other schools or branches of Zen depending on the teaching line.
The Zen student's mastery of a given kōan is presented to the teacher in a private interview (referred to in Japanese as
dokusan (独参),
daisan (代参), or
sanzen
(参禅)). While there is no unique answer to a kōan, practitioners are
expected to demonstrate their understanding of the kōan and of Zen
through their responses. The teacher may approve or disapprove of the
answer and guide the student in the right direction. The interaction
with a Zen teacher is central in Zen, but makes Zen practice also
vulnerable to misunderstanding and exploitation.
Vajrayāna
B. Alan Wallace holds that modern Tibetan Buddhism lacks emphasis on achieving levels of concentration higher than access concentration.
According to Wallace, one possible explanation for this situation is
that virtually all Tibetan Buddhist meditators seek to become
enlightened through the use of
tantric practices. These require the presence of sense desire and passion in one's consciousness, but
jhāna effectively inhibits these phenomena.
While few Tibetan Buddhists, either inside or outside Tibet,
devote themselves to the practice of concentration, Tibetan Buddhist
literature does provide extensive instructions on it, and great Tibetan
meditators of earlier times stressed its importance.
Related concepts in Indian religions
Dhyana is an important ancient practice mentioned in the Vedic and
post-Vedic literature of Hinduism, as well as early texts of Jainism.
Dhyana in Buddhism influenced these practices as well as was influenced
by them, likely in its origins and its later development.
Parallels with Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga
There are parallels with the fourth to eighth stages of
Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga, as mentioned in his classical work,
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, which were compiled around 400 CE by, taking materials about yoga from older traditions.
Patanjali discerns
bahiranga (external) aspects of yoga namely,
yama,
niyama,
asana,
pranayama, and the
antaranga (internal) yoga. Having actualized the
pratyahara stage, a practitioner is able to effectively engage into the practice of
Samyama. At the stage of
pratyahara, the consciousness of the individual is internalized in order that the sensations from the
senses of taste, touch, sight, hearing and smell don't reach their respective centers in the brain and takes the
sadhaka (practitioner) to next stages of
Yoga, namely
Dharana (concentration),
Dhyana (meditation), and
Samadhi (mystical absorption), being the aim of all
Yogic practices.
The Eight Limbs of the yoga sutras show Samadhi as one of its limbs. The
Eight limbs of the Yoga Sutra was influenced by Buddhism.
Vyasa's Yogabhashya, the commentary to the Yogasutras, and Vacaspati
Misra's subcommentary state directly that the samadhi techniques are
directly borrowed from the Buddhists'
Jhana, with the addition of the mystical and divine interpretations of mental absorption.
However, it is also to be noted that the Yoga Sutra, especially the
fourth segment of Kaivalya Pada, contains several polemical verses
critical of Buddhism, particularly the Vijñānavāda school of Vasubandhu.
The suttas show that during the time of the Buddha, Nigantha
Nataputta, the Jain leader, did not even believe that it is possible to
enter a state where the thoughts and examination stop.
Scientific studies
There has been little scientific study of these mental states. In 2008, an
EEG
study found "strong, significant, and consistent differences in
specific brain regions when the meditator is in a jhana state compared
to normal resting consciousness". Tentative hypotheses on the neurological correlates have been proposed, but lack supporting evidence.
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