2.1: The Meaning and Purpose of Dhyāna

1. Meaning of the term “Dhyāna” (Skt.), “Jhāna” (Pāli)

“Dhyāna” (Skt.) or the Pāli word jhāna has been rendered by translators into English in various ways. The Venerable Bhikkhu Ñānamoli and I. B. Horner have used “meditation,” which to us seems too general. T. W. Rhys Davids offers “raptur” and “ecstasy,” which suggest a degree of elation and exuberance inappropriate to the higher jhānas. F. L. Woodward’s “musing” is too weak and archaic, while Edward Conze’s “trance” misleadingly implies a sub-normal state, quite the opposite of jhāna. The word “absorption,” used by the Venerable Soma Thera, Nyānaponika Thera, and others, is the most suitable of the lot, but that is needed for the Pāli appaṇā, which includes the jhānas and corresponds closely to “absorption” in literal meaning.

Dictionary of Buddhism recorded:

Dhyāna is 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-dhānu. 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. The names of the “Ch’an” and “Zen” schools are both derived from the word dhyāna.^[1]

The great Buddhist commentator Bhadantācariya Buddhaghosa traces the Pāli word jhāna (Skt. dhyāna) to two verbal forms. One, the etymologically correct derivation, is the verb jhāyati, meaning to think or to meditate. Buddhaghosa explains: “By means of this yogins meditate, thus it is called jhāna... The meaning is that they cognize a given object.”^[2] The commentator offers in addition a more playful derivation of jhāna, intended to illuminate its function rather than its verbal source. This derivation traces the word jhāna to the verb jhāpeti meaning “to burn up” the reason being: “It burns up opposing states, thus it is called jhāna.”^[3] The purport of this second account is that jhāna “burns up” or eliminates the mental obscurations preventing the development of serenity and insight. In this connection a later Pāli commentator, Ācariya Mahānāma, writes with specific reference to supramundane jhāna: “He who has this jhāna born in himself burns up the passions; thus he destroys and eradicates them” hence this state (lokottara jhāna) is said to be jhāna in the sense of ‘to burn.”^[4]

Buddhaghosa says that jhāna has the characteristic mark of contemplation (upanijj-hānalakkhṇa). Contemplation, he states, is twofold: the contemplation of the object (ārammaṇupanijjhāna) and the contemplation of the characteristics of phenomena (lakkhaṇupanijjhāna). The former type of contemplation is exercised by the eight attainments of serenity together with their access, since these contemplate the object taken as the basis for developing concentration. For this reason these attainments, particularly the first four, are given the name “jhāna” in the mainstream of Pāli meditative exposition. However, Buddhaghosa also allows that the term can be extended loosely to insight, the paths, and the fruits, on the ground that these perform the work of contemplating the characteristics.

The commentator explains:

Here, insight contemplates the characteristics of impermanence, [suffering and selflessness]. Insight’s task of contemplation is perfected by the path, thus the path is called the contemplation of characteristics. The fruit contemplates the actual characteristic of cessation, thus it is called the contemplation of characteristics.^[5]

In brief the twofold meaning of jhāna as “contemplation” and “burning up” can be brought into connection with the meditative process as follows. By fixing his mind on the object the meditator reduces and eliminates the lower mental qualities such as the five hindrances and promotes the growth of the higher qualities such as the jhāna factors. These, as they emerge, fix upon the object with increasing force, leading the mind to complete absorption in the object. Then, by contemplating the characteristics of phenomena with insight, the meditator eventually reaches the supramundane jhāna of the four paths. With this jhāna he burns up the defilements and attains the liberating experience of the fruits.

2. Dhyāna and Samādhi

In the vocabulary of Buddhist meditation the word dhyāna is closely connected with another word, samādhi, generally rendered as “concentration.” Samādhi derives from the prefixed verbal root saṃ-ādhā, meaning to collect or to bring together, thus suggesting the concentration or unification of the mind. The word samādhi is almost interchangeable with the word samatha, “serenity,” though the latter comes from a different root, saṃ (Skt. s’am), meaning “to become calm.” In the suttas samādhi is defined as mental one-pointedness, cittass’ekaggatā, ^[6] and this definition is followed through with technically psychological rigor in the Abhidhamma. The Abhidhamma treats onepointedness as a distinct mental factor (cetasika) present in every state of consciousness. It is a universal mental concomitant with the function of unifying the mind upon its object, ensuring that each state of consciousness takes one and only one object. Those occasions of onepointedness which go beyond the bare stabilizing of the mind on an object to give the mind some degree of steadiness and non-distraction are subsumed under the name samādhi. Thus the Dhammasaṅgaṇi equates these more prominent types of one-pointedness with a string of synonyms inclusive of serenity (samatha), the faculty of concentration (samādhindriya), and the power of concentration (samādhibala). From this strict psychological standpoint samādhi can be present in unwholesome states of consciousness as well as in wholesome and neutral states. In the former it is called “wrong concentration” (micchāsāmadhi), in the latter “right concentration” (sammāsamādhi).^[7]

As a technical term in expositions on the practice of meditation, however, samādhi is limited to one-pointedness of the wholesome kind. Bhadantācariya Buddhaghosa, in the Visuddhimagga, defines samādhi as wholesome one-pointedness of mind (kusala-cittass’ ekaggatā), and even here we can understand from the context that it is only the wholesome one-pointedness involved in the deliberate transmutation of the mind to a heightened level of calm that is intended by the word samādhi.^[8] Buddhaghosa explains samādhi etymologically as “the centering of consciousness and consciousness concomitants evenly and rightly on a single object.”^[9] He calls it “the state in virtue of which consciousness and its concomitants remain evenly and rightly on a single object, undistracted and unscattered.”^[10]

Despite the preciseness of this definition, the word samādhi is used in the Pāli literature on meditation with varying degrees of specificity of meaning. In the narrowest sense, as defined by Buddhaghosa, it denotes the particular mental factor (cetasika) responsible for the concentrating of the mind, namely, one-pointedness. In a wider sense it can signify the states of unified consciousness that result from the strengthening of concentration, i.e. the meditative attainments of serenity and the stages leading up to them. And in a still wider sense the word samādhi can be applied to the method of practice used to produce and cultivate those refined states of concentration, here being equivalent to the development of serenity (samathabhāvanā).

It is in the second sense that samādhi and dhyāna come closest in meaning, sharing to a large extent the same reference. The Buddha equates right concentration (sammāsamādhi) with the four jhānas, and in doing so allows concentration to encompass the meditative attainments signified by the dhyāna. However, even though dhyāna and samādhi can overlap in denotation, certain differences in their suggested and contextual meanings prevent unqualified identification of the two terms. Firstly, behind the Buddha’s use of the dhyāna formula to explain right concentration lays a more technical understanding of the terms. According to this understanding samādhi can be narrowed down in range to signify only one factor, the most prominent in the dhyāna, namely onepointedness, while the dhyāna itself must be seen as encompassing the state of consciousness in its entirety, or at least the whole group of mental factors individuating that meditative state as a dhyāna.

In the second place, when samādhi is considered in its broader meaning it involves a wider range of reference than dhyāna. The Pāli exegetical tradition recognizes three levels of samādhi. ^[11] The first is preliminary concentration (parikammasamādhi), which is produced as a result of the novice meditator’s initial efforts to focus his mind on his meditation subject. The second is access concentration (upacārasamādhi), marked by the suppression of the five hindrances, the manifestation of the dhyāna factors, and the appearance of a luminous mental replica of the meditation object called the “counterpart sign” (paṭibhāganimitta). The third is absorption concentration (appanāsamādhi), the complete immersion of the mind in its object affected by the full maturation of the dhyāna factors. Absorption concentration is equivalent to the eight attainments, the four jhānas and the four āruppas, and to this extent dhyāna and samādhi coincide. However, samādhi still has a broader scope than dhyāna, since it includes not only the dhyānas themselves but also the two preparatory degrees of concentration leading up to them. Further, samādhi also covers a still different type of concentration called “momentary concentration” (khaṇikasamādhi), the mobile mental stabilization produced in the course of insight-contemplation on the passing flow of phenomena.

3. The Dhyāna and Mental Development

Mind precedes all knowables, Mind’s their chief, mind-made are they. If with a corrupted mind one should either speak or act dukkha follows caused by that, as does the wheel the ox’s hoof.^[12] Mind precedes all knowables, Mind’s their chief, mind-made are they. If with a clear, and confident mind one should speak and act happiness follows caused by that, as one’s shadow ne’er departing.^[13]

Buddhist meditation is a means to mental development. It deals particularly with the training of the mind, which is the most important composite of the entire human entity. Because mind is the forerunner and prime source of all actions, physical, verbal, or mental, it needs to be properly cultivated and developed. Buddhist meditation is mental development in the real sense of the term bhāvanā, for, it aims not only at temporary calm and tranquility of mind, but at purifying the mind of defilements and negative influences, such as sensual desire, lust, hatred, jealousy, envy, worry, ignorance, restlessness, and indolence. It cultivates and brings to perfection such wholesome and positive qualities of mind as confidence, compassion, wisdom, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and penetrative insight. Meditation is also a practice through which the Dhamma can be realized and the transcendent bliss of Nibbāna experienced. It is a useful discipline on all levels of experience, from the ordinary worldly concerns of day-to-day activities up to the highest realization and transcendent spiritual attainment.

The Pāli word for meditation practice is bhāvanā, which literally means ‘development,’ ‘cultivation,’ or ‘culture.’ Since this practice has to do directly with the mind, the word bhāvanā therefore refers specifically to a process of mental culture or mental development. In this respect the English word ‘meditation’ is a rather poor and inadequate equivalent of the word bhāvanā. In employing the term ‘meditation’ in the Buddhist context, we should be aware of the character and objective of Buddhist practice.

According to Buddhism the aggregates of feeling, perception, mental propenies (concomitants) and consciousness, these four form the mind, and matter forms the body; man is, therefore, a combination of mind and matter.

The mind of man is compared with the current of a river, the Buddhist idea of conscious existence. To most people who might stand on the bank of a river, they will think that the river is all the same from beginning to end: due to the flow, though, not a particle of water which may be seen at any given point remains the same as it was a moment ago. And in just the same way as the beginning and end of a river receive the special names of source and mouth, even though they are composed of the same material as the body of the river itself, so also the source and mouth of the river of conscious existence are respectively termed birth and death, even though composed of the same water of conscious existence. This continuing process goes on without end until the causes which bring it about are removed.

In the Dhammapada the Buddha taught:

Mind agitated, wavering, hard to guard and hard to check, one of wisdom renders straight as arrow-maker a shaft. ^[14]

As fish from watery home is drawn and cast upon the land, even so flounders this mind while Mara’s Realm abandoning. ^[15]

There are three stages to concentration: concentration, meditation and contemplation. These ideas are rather mixed in translation, some translators of the Eightfold Path using contemplation, others concentration, and others again meditation. On the surface they seem to have the same meaning, but they are different stages.

Now, the first concentration means the narrowing of the field of your attention, or focusing your thoughts. If we do not concentrate our thoughts they are scattered and diffused. By concentration on a chosen object you obtain a clear picture of the object, and the vividness of the picture is the result of concentration. In concentration you focus your thoughts on a particular spot as though you were using a torch. While you concentrate there are many disturbances; even while you are trying to concentrate on one thing, you may find yourself troubled by what somebody said or did, or by what is likely to happen tomorrow.

In the “The Sweet Dews of Ch’an,” Reverend Cheng Kuan stated:

Relaxation and Concentration are the two most fundamental techniques in meditation. Since our Mind is disturbed by anxiety, we need to quiet it by getting to the opposite of it, i.e., Relaxation. Also, because our mind is always wandering at large, we need to curb it by concentration, so that we do not waste or misuse our energy.^[16]

And in the Dhammapada, the Buddha taught:

Assiduous and mindful, pure kamma making, considerate, restrained, by Dhamma living, and in heedfulness, for one such spreads reknown.^[17]

By energy and heedfulness, by taming and by self-control, the one who’s wise should make as isle no flood can overwhelm.^[18]

You can concentrate on any object. Then you will have the ability, a habit of mind, to keep on one object until you have brought to bear on it all your possible thoughts in connection with it. Start by concentrating on simple objects; later on the ability to concentrate can be applied to any object, however difficult and abstract. People who can study very quickly are those who can concentrate.

The difference between thinking and meditating is that, in thinking generally you have no definite object or purpose, while in meditation you think exclusively of a definite object chosen by your will. By thinking without purpose your thoughts may lead you to dangers and troubles, but by meditating on a chosen object you will gain benefit. By meditation you enlarge your intellect and develop your power of knowing or seeing things as they truly are.

Meditation is to be practiced only after concentration. Some people try to jump straight to meditation, but if they do so they fail to obtain a clear picture of the object or the clearness of consciousness which concentration gives. Concentration is mere focusing of our thoughts on the object, but in meditation we keep that clear mental picture of the object. Not only that, but we expand and develop the field of it, and also develop our knowledge, expand the field of our knowledge of it. That is why meditation without concentration is a failure.

In concentration we start with simple objects, but in meditation we carry the clear conception of that simple object to the higher mental levels. To make it clear, imagine someone pouring water from above into a tall jar. If there are many holes round the bottom and sides of the jar, the water will run out, but if the holes are all filled in, the water will rise. Most of us are like the jar full of holes, ready to leak, so that we cannot concentrate. Meditation is like the pouring of the water, filling our consciousness with wisdom and clear vision. Concentration is filling the holes, making the consciousness steady without leakage. By meditation we shall observe clearly the object chosen and shall understand the function of the object in conjunction with other things. In this way we develop our wisdom and knowledge.

We see now the difference between thinking and meditation. In thinking, as we have said, we have either no specific object or too many objects, but in meditation we think of a definite object, and that is why meditation is a real constructive practice of thinking. We develop by meditation our power of seeing the object as it is;otherwise we may see only the appearance of the object without knowing anything of its nature. That is why meditation is very necessary, it purifies the thoughts, and otherwise they are mixed with many things, especially with ignorance. We cannot see anything properly when we are hypnotized by ignorance. By meditation we see the object as it really is; our thoughts become pure and we develop wisdom.

Contemplation is not very different from concentration, but although it is concentration, one’s attention is fixed and steady; contemplation is the fully developed stage of concentration. Contemplation opens up ways of intuition and of many powers which people call occult, and we can gain these powers even before we attain the state of Nibbāna.

In a way it is true that they are occult powers because they are hidden from people who have not developed themselves in this way, but these powers are not hidden from those who seriously practice concentration and meditation, they just form an extension of the powers used by everybody in ordinary life.

For instance, it may sound spiritualistic, but is not: by the power developed you can see and hear certain things more than you usually do, because your consciousnesses, your thoughts, are of the purity of a polished mirror. When the surface of a mirror is not clear you can see nothing in it. Without meditation your consciousness, your thoughts, are dull, but when they are purified, not mixed with evil tendencies, you can see and hear certain things which cannot be discerned by the ordinary physical sense organs.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Damien Keown. Dictionary of Buddhism, New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 2003, p.76.

[2]:

Henepola Gunaratana. A Critical Analysis of the Jhānas in the Theravāda Buddhist Meditation, Washington, D.C. 20016: The American University Library, 1980, p. 18.

[3]:

Ibid.

[4]:

Saddhammappakāsanī, cited in Vajirañāṇa Mahāthera, Buddhist Meditation in Theory and Practice: A General Exposition According to the Pali Canon of the Theravāda School, (Colombo, Ceylon: M. D. Gunasena & Co., 1962), pp. 24-25 (hereafter cited as BMTP.).

“Ajātaṃ jhāpeti jhānena jhāna tena pavuccati ti attano santāne pātubhātena tena tena lokuttarajjhānena taṃ samaṅgipuggalo ajātameva taṃ taṃ kilesaṃ jhāpeti dahati samucchindati. Tena kāraṇena taṃ lokuttaraṃ jhānanti pavuccati ti attho.”

[5]:

Henepola Gunaratana 1980: p. 19.

[6]:

MN. I. 301.

[7]:

Henepola Gunaratana 1980: p. 19.

[8]:

Buddhaghosa, The Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga), Bhikkhu Ñānamoli. (trans.) Colombo, Ceylon: R. Semage, l956, p. 84.

[9]:

Ibid., p. 85. “Ekārammaṇe cittacetasikānaṃ samaṃ sammā ca ādhānaṃ.”

[10]:

“Tasmā yassa dhammass’ānubhāvena ekarāmmaṇe cittacetasikā samaṃ sammā ca avikkhepamānā avippakinnā ca hutvā tiṭṭhanti, idaṃ samādhānanti veditabbaṃ.” The Visuddhimagga of Buddhaghosācāriya, p. 68.

[11]:

Henepola Gunaratana 1980: p. 20.

[12]:

Dhammapada 1

[13]:

Dhammapada 2

[14]:

Dhammapada 33.

[15]:

Dhammapada 34.

[16]:

Reverend Cheng Kuan. The Sweet Dews of Ch’an, Taipei: Vairocana Publishing Co., Ltd. 1995, p. 8.

[17]:

Dhammapada 24.

[18]:

Dhammapada 25.