Dhyāna in Buddhism

Dhyāna in Buddhism See also: Samadhi, Samatha, Vipassanā, and Dhyana in in Upanishadic texts that predate the origins of BudHinduism dhism”.* [10]* [note 1] Dhyāna (Sanskrit) or Jhāna (Pali) means meditation in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. In Buddhism, it is a series of cultivated states of mind, which lead to “state of perfect equanimity and awareness (upekkhii-satipiirisuddhl).”* [1]

1.1.2 Discovery of dhyana

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 Dhyana may have been the core practice of pre-sectarian lead to enlightenment. He then underwent harsh ascetic Buddhism, but became appended with other forms of practices with which he eventually also became disillusioned. The Buddha then recalled a meditative state he meditation throughout its development.* [2]* [3] entered by chance as a child:* [3]

1

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.'* [12]

Origins

The time of the Buddha saw the rise of the śramaṇa movement, ascetic practitioners with a body of shared teachings and practices.* [4] The strict delineation of this movement into Jainism, Buddhism and brahmanical/Upanishadic traditions is a later development.* [4]

1.1 1.1.1

Buddhist origins Invention or incorporation

1.1.3

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.* [5] According to Wynne, the attainment of the formless meditative absorption was incorporated from Brahmanical practices,* [6] These practices were paired to mindfulness and insight, and given a new interpretation.* [6] The stratification of particular samādhi experiences into the four jhānas seems to be a Buddhist innovation.* [6] It was then borrowed and presented in an incomplete form in the Mokṣadharma, a part of the Mahābhārata.* [7] Kalupahana argues that the Buddha “reverted to the meditational practices”he had learned from Ārāḍa Kālāma and Uddaka Rāmaputta.* [8]

“Liberating insight”

In the Mahasaccaka Sutta, dhyana is followed by insight into the four truths. The mention of the four noble truths as constituting “liberating insight”is probably a later addition.* [13]* [14]* [3] 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.* [2] According to Vetter, [P]robably the word “immortality”(amata) 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”.* [15]

Thomas William Rhys Davids and Maurice Walshe agreed that the term samadhi is not found in any prebuddhist text. Samadhi was first found in the Tipiṭaka and not in any pre-Buddhist text. It was later incorporated into later texts such as the Maitrayaniya Up- Discriminating insight into transiency as a separate path anishad.* [9] But according to Matsumoto, “the terms to liberation was a later development,* [16]* [17] under dhyana and samahita (entering samadhi) appear already pressure of developments in Indian religious thinking, 1

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2 QUALITIES OF THE JHĀNAS

which saw“liberating insight”as quintessential to liberation.* [2] This may also have been to due an over-literal interpretation by later scholastics of the terminology used by the Buddha,* [18] and to the problems involved with the practice of dhyana, and the need to develop an easier method.* [19]

1.2

In Brahmanical thought, the meditative states of consciousness were thought to be identical to the subtle strata of the cosmos.* [29] There is no similar theoretical background to element meditation in the early Buddhist texts, where the elements appear simply as suitable objects of meditation.* [30] It is likely that the Brahmanic practices of element-meditation were borrowed and adapted by early Buddhists, with the original Brahmanic ideology of Alex Wynne - Non-Buddhist influences the practices being discarded in the process.* [31]

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.* [6] 1.2.1

Uddaka Ramaputta and Alara Kalama

Alex Wynne suggests 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 nonperception”was equated with the self.* [20] Furthermore, he suggested 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 nonexistence.* [21] 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.* [22]* [note 2]

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'.* [32] Moreover, the self is conceptualized in terms similar to both “nothingness”and “neither perception nor non-perception”at different places in early Upanishadic literature.* [29]

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).* [33]* [34] In the same dialogue in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Yajnavalkya draws the conclusions that the self that is neither perceptive nor nonperceptive 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” .* [34] It is a state without an object of awareness, that 1.2.2 Brahmanical practices is not devoid of awareness.* [35] The state following it in the Buddhist scheme, the “cessation of perception and Formless spheres It appears that in early Brahminic sensation”, is devoid not only of objectivity, but of subyoga, the formless spheres were attained following elejectivity as well.* [36] ment meditation.* [24] This is also taught as an option in the early Buddhist texts.* [25] The primary method taught to achieve the formless attainment in early Bud- Criticism of Wynne The Brahmanical texts cited by dhist scriptures, on the other hand, is to proceed to the Wynne assumed their final form long after the Buddha’s sphere of infinite space following the fourth jhāna.* [26] lifetime. The Mokshadharma postdates him.* [23] 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.* [27] 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.* [28]

2 Qualities of the jhānas The Pāli canon describes eight progressive states of jhāna. Four are called meditations of form (rūpa jhāna), and four are formless meditations (arūpa jhāna).

2.1 The Rupa Jhānas There are four stages of deep collectedness which are called the Rupa Jhāna (Fine-material Jhāna).

2.2 2.1.1

The Arupa Jhānas Jhana and 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.* [37] In the suttas samadhi is defined as mental onepointedness.* [37] Buddhaghosa explains samadhi etymologically as ... the centering of consciousness and consciousness concomitants evenly and rightly on a single object... the state in virtue of which consciousness and its concomitants remain evenly and rightly on a single object, undistracted and unscattered (Vism.84-85; PP.85).* [37] 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. Samadhi signifies only one mental factor, namely one-pointedness, while the word “jhana”encompasses the whole state of consciousness.* [37] Samadhi also covers another type of concentration, namely“momentary concentration”(khanikasamadhi), “the mobile mental stabilization produced in the course of insight contemplation of the passing flow of phenomena.”* [37] 2.1.2

Rupa Jhana related factors

3 1. First Jhāna —the five hindrances have completely disappeared and intense unified bliss remains. Only the subtlest of mental movement remains, perceivable in its absence by those who have entered the second jhāna. The ability to form unwholesome intentions ceases. The remaining qualities are: "directed thought, evaluation, rapture, pleasure, unification of mind, contact, feeling, perception, intention, consciousness, desire, decision, persistence, mindfulness, equanimity & attention” 2. Second Jhāna —all mental movement utterly ceases. There is only bliss. The ability to form wholesome intentions ceases as well. The remaining qualities are: “internal assurance, rapture, pleasure, unification of mind, contact, feeling, perception, intention, consciousness, desire, decision, persistence, mindfulness, equanimity, & attention” 3. Third Jhāna —one-half of bliss (joy) disappears. The remaining qualities are:“equanimity-pleasure, unification of mind, contact, feeling, perception, intention, consciousness, desire, decision, persistence, mindfulness, equanimity & attention” 4. Fourth Jhāna —The other half of bliss (happiness) disappears, leading to a state with neither pleasure nor pain, which the Buddha said is actually a subtle form of happiness (more sublime than pīti and sukha). The breath is said to cease temporarily in this state. The remaining qualities are: “a feeling of equanimity, neither pleasure nor pain; an unconcern due to serenity of awareness; unification of mind, contact, feeling, perception, intention, consciousness, desire, decision, persistence, mindfulness, equanimity & attention”.* [38]

The rupa-jhānas are described according to the nature of the mental factors which are present in these states: 2.1.4 Psychic powers 1. Movement of the mind onto the object (vitakka; Traditionally, the fourth jhāna is seen as the beginning of attaining psychic powers (abhijñā).* [note 4] Sanskrit: vitarka) 2. Retention of the mind on the object (vicāra)

2.2 The Arupa Jhānas

3. Joy (pīti; Sanskrit: prīti) 4. Happiness (sukha)

See also: Arūpajhāna and Formless Realm

Beyond the four jhānas lie four attainments, referred to in the early texts as aruppas. These are also referred 6. One-pointedness (ekaggatā; Sanskrit: ekā- to in commentarial literature as immaterial/the formgratā)* [note 3] less jhānas (arūpajhānas), also translated as The Formless Dimensions, in distinction from the first four jhānas (rūpa jhānas). In the Buddhist canonical texts, the word 2.1.3 Qualities of the Four Rupa Jhanas "jhāna" is never explicitly used to denote them, they are instead referred to as āyatana. However, they are someMain article: Rupajhana times mentioned in sequence after the first four jhānas (other texts. e.g. MN 121 treat them as a distinct set For each Jhāna are given a set of qualities which are of attainments) and thus came to be treated by later expresent in that jhana:* [38] egetes as jhānas. The immaterial attainments have more 5. Equanimity (upekkhā; Sanskrit: upekṣā)

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3 MASTERING THE JHANAS

to do with expanding, while the Jhanas (1-4) focus on 3.1 Gradual development concentration. The enlightenment of complete dwelling in emptiness is reached when the eighth jhāna is tran- The scriptures state that one should not seek to attain ever higher jhānas but master one first, then move on to the scended. next. Mastery of jhāna involves being able to enter a The four formless jhanas are: jhāna at will, stay as long as one likes, leave at will and experience each of the jhāna factors as required. They 1. Dimension of Infinite Space - In this dimension the also seem to suggest that lower jhāna factors may manfollowing qualities are“ferreted out":* [38]“the per- ifest themselves in higher jhāna, if the jhānas have not ception of the dimension of the infinitude of space, been properly developed. The Buddha is seen to advise singleness of mind, contact, feeling, perception, in- his disciples to concentrate and steady the jhāna further. tention, consciousness, desire, decision, persistence, The early suttas state that“the most exquisite of recluses” mindfulness, equanimity, & attention”.* [38] is able to attain any of the jhānas and abide in them 2. Dimension of Infinite Consciousness - In this dimen- without difficulty. This particular arahant is “libersion the following quailities are“ferreted out":* [38] ated in both ways:" he is fluent in attaining the jhānas “the perception of the dimension of the infinitude and is also aware of their ultimate unsatisfactoriness. If of consciousness, unification of mind, contact, feel- he were not, he would fall into the same problem as the ing, perception, intention, consciousness, desire, de- teachers from whom the Buddha learned the spheres of cision, persistence, mindfulness, equanimity, & at- nothingness and neither perception nor non-perception, in seeing these meditative attainments as something fitention”.* [38] nal. Their problem lay in seeing permanence where there * 3. Dimension of Nothingness - In this dimension the is impermanence. [41] following qualities are “ferreted out":* [38] “the perception of the dimension of nothingness, singleness of mind, contact, feeling, perception, intention, 3.2 Aspects of jhana mastery consciousness, desire, decision, persistence, mindA meditator should first master the lower jhānas, before fulness, equanimity, & attention” they can go into the higher jhānas. There are five aspects 4. Dimension of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception of jhāna mastery: No qualities to be “ferreted out”are being mentioned for this dimension.* [38] 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” .

2.3

2. Mastery in attaining: the ability to enter upon jhāna quickly. 3. Mastery in resolving: the ability to remain in the jhāna for exactly the pre-determined length of time. 4. Mastery in emerging: the ability to emerge from jhāna quickly without difficulty. 5. Mastery in reviewing: the ability to review the jhāna and its factors with retrospective knowledge immediately after adverting to them.

Nirodha-Samapatti

The Buddha also rediscovered an attainment beyond the dimension of neither perception nor nonperception, Nirodha-Samapatti, the “cessation of feelings and perceptions”.* [38] This is sometimes called the “ninth jhāna" in commentarial and scholarly literature.* [39]* [40]

3

1. Mastery in adverting: the ability to advert to the jhāna factors one by one after emerging from the jhāna, wherever he wants, whenever he wants, and for as long as he wants.

Mastering the jhanas

3.3 Access 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* [note 5] 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.* [note 6]* [note 7]

4.2

Jhana itself is liberating

5

According to Tse-fu Kuan, at the state of access concen4. The four Rupa Jhanas themselves constituted the tration, some meditators may experience vivid mental imcore liberating practice of early Buddhism, c.q. the agery,* [note 8] which is similar to a vivid dream. They Buddha.* [50] are as vividly 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 dis- 4.2 Jhana itself is liberating cussed in the early texts, and expanded upon in Theravāda Both Schmithausen and Bronkhorst note that the atcommentaries.* [43] tainment of insight, which is a cognitive activity, can't According to Venerable Sujivo, as the concentration be- be possible in a state wherein all cognitive acitivy has comes stronger, the feelings of breathing and of having ceased.* [3] According to Vetter, the practice of Rupa a physical body will completely disappear, leaving only Jhana itself may have constituted the core practice of pure awareness. At this stage inexperienced meditators early Buddhism, with practices such as sila and mindfulmay become afraid, thinking that they are going to die ness aiding to its development.* [50] It is the “middle if they continue the concentration, because the feeling of way”between self-mortification, ascribed by Bronkhorst breathing and the feeling of having a physical body has to Jainism,* [3] and indulgence in sensual pleasure.* [51] completely disappeared. They should not be so afraid and Vetter emphasizes that dhyana is a form of non-sensual should continue their concentration in order to reach“full happiness.* [52] The eightfold path can be seen as a path concentration”(jhāna).* [44] of preparation which leads to the practice of samadi.* [53]

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Jhana and liberation

4.3 Liberation in Nirodha-Samapatti

According to some texts, after progressing through the eight jhanas and the stage of Nirodha-Samapatti, a person is liberated.* [38] According to some traditions The Buddhist tradition has incorporated two traditions someone attaining the state of Nirodha-Samapatti is an regarding the use of jhana.* [3] There is a tradition anagami or an arahant.* [54] In the Anupadda sutra, the that stresses attaining insight (bodhi, prajna, kensho) as Buddha narrates that Sariputta became an arahant upon the means to awakening and liberation. According to reaching it.* [55] the Theravada tradition dhyana must be combined with vipassana,* [45] which gives insight into the three marks of existence and leads to detachment and “the manifes- 4.4 Jhana as an aid to attaining insight tation of the path”.* [46] Main articles: Vipassana and Sampajañña 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 con- 4.4.1 Dhyana and insight junctive use of vipassana and samatha.* [47] In Zen Buddhism, this problem has appeared over the centuries in the According to Alexander Wynne, the ultimate aim of disputes over sudden versus gradual enlightenment.* [48] dhyana was the attainment of insight,* [56] and the application of the meditative state to the practice of mindfulness.* [56] According to Frauwallner, mindfulness was 4.1 Various possibilities for liberation a means to prevent the arising of craving, which resulted simply from contact between the senses and their objects. Schmithausen notes that the mention of the four noble According to Frauwallner, this may have been the Budtruths as constituting “liberating insight”, which is at- dha’s original idea.* [57] According to Wynne, this stress tained after mastering the Rupa Jhanas, is a later addi- on mindfulness may have led to the intellectualism which tion to texts such as Majjhima Nikaya 36.* [13]* [3]* [2] favoured insight over the practice of dhyana.* [58] Schmithausen discerns three possible roads to liberation as described in the suttas, to which Vetter adds a fourth possibility:* [49] 4.4.2 Two kinds of dhyana Main articles: Enlightenment in Buddhism and Nirvana

1. Mastering the four Rupa Jhanas, where-after “lib- According to Richard Gombrich, the sequence of the four erating insight”is attained; rupa-jhanas describes two different cognitive states: 2. Mastering the four Rupa Jhanas and the four Arupa Jhanas, where-after“liberating insight”is attained; 3. Liberating insight itself suffices;

I know this is controversial, but it seems to me that the third and fourth jhanas are thus quite unlike the second.* [59]* [note 9]

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5 IN MAHĀYĀNA TRADITIONS

Alexander Wynne further explains that the dhyanascheme is poorly understood.* [58] 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,* [58] whereas they refer to a particular way of perceiving the sense objects:* [58]

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.* [60]* [note 10]

4.4.3

4.5 Insight alone suffices The emphasis on “liberating insight”alone seems to be a later development, in response to developments in Indian religious thought.* [3]* [50] Vetter notes that such insight is not possible in a state of dhyana, since discursive thinking is eliminated in such a state.* [63] 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.* [64] In time, other expressions took over these function, such as pratītyasamutpāda and the emptiness of the self.* [65]

5 In Mahāyāna traditions

Theravada-tradition

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 sutta descriptions of jhāna practice, 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.* [61]* [note 11] Bodhisattva seated in meditation. Afghanistan, 2nd century CE 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.

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.

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 5.1 Dhyāna in Chan Buddhism jhāna state as an instrument for developing wisdom by cultivating insight, and use it to penetrate the true nature See also: Zen, Chan Buddhism, Zazen, Korean Seon, of phenomena through direct cognition, which will lead and Zen in the United States to cutting off the defilements and nibbana.

6.2

Parallels with Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga

In China, the word dhyāna was originally transliterated with Chinese: 禪那; pinyin: chánnà and shortened to just pinyin: chán in common usage. In Chinese Buddhism dhyāna may refer to all kinds of meditation techniques and their preparatory practices which can be used to attain samadhi.* [66] The word chán became the designation for Chan Buddhism (Korean Seon, Zen). The word and the practice of meditation entered into Chinese through the translations of An Shigao (fl. c. 148-180 CE), mainly the Dhyāna sutras, which were influential early meditation texts.

7

6.2 Parallels with Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga See also: Yoga Sutras of Patanjali § Buddhism There are parallels with the fourth to eighth stages of Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga, as mentioned in his classical work, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali,* [73] which were compiled around 400 CE by, taking materials about yoga from older traditions.* [74]* [75]* [76]

Patanjali discerns bahiranga (external) aspects of yoga Dhyāna is a central aspect of Buddhist practice in Chan. namely, yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, and the anNan Huai-Chin: taranga (internal) yoga. Having actualized the pratyahara stage, a practitioner is able to effectively engage into Intellectual reasoning is just another spinthe practice of Samyama. At the stage of pratyahara, the ning of the sixth consciousness, whereas the consciousness of the individual is internalized in order practice of meditation is the true entry into the * that the sensations from the senses of taste, touch, sight, Dharma.” [67] hearing and smell don't reach their respective centers in According to Sheng Yen, meditative concentration is nec- the brain and takes the sadhaka (practitioner) to next essary, calling samādhi one of the requisite factors for stages of Yoga, namely Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (meditation), and Samadhi (mystical absorption), being progress on the path toward enlightenment.* [68] the aim of all Yogic practices.* [77]

5.2

Vajrayāna

B. Alan Wallace holds that modern Tibetan Buddhism lacks emphasis on achieving levels of concentration higher than access concentration.* [69]* [70] 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.* [69]

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.* [78]* [79] 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.* [80] 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.* [81]

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.* [71]

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.* [82]

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7 Scientific studies

Influence on Indian religions

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 Hindu texts later used that term to indicate the state of when the meditator is in a jhana state compared to norliberation. According to Walshe, citing Rhys Davids, this mal resting consciousness”.* [83] Tentative hypotheses * is not in conformity with Buddhist usage: [72] on the neurological correlates have been proposed, but lack supporting evidence.* [84] its subsequent use in Hindu texts to denote the state of enlightenment is not in conformity with Buddhist usage, where the basic meaning 8 See also of concentration is expanded to cover ‘meditation’in general.* [9] • Research on meditation But according to Vetter, the practice of dhyana may have been the original liberating practice in Buddhism.* [2] • Neuroplasticity

6.1

Jhana as liberation

8

10 • Altered state of consciousness • Arūpajhāna • Jñāna • Meditation • Rupajhana • Samādhi • Mindfulness • Vipassanā • Satipatthana

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REFERENCES

[6] According to Peter Harvey, access concentration is described at Digha Nikaya I, 110, among other places:“The situation at D I, 110, then, can be seen as one where the hearer of a discourse enters a state which, while not an actual jhana, could be bordering on it. As it is free from hindrances, it could be seen as 'access' concentration with a degree of wisdom.”Peter Harvey, Consciousness Mysticism in the Discourses of the Buddha. In Karel Werner, ed., The Yogi and the Mystic. Curzon Press 1989, page 95. See also: Peter Harvey, The Selfless Mind, page 170. [7] The equivalent of upacāra-samādhi used in Tibetan commentaries is nyer-bsdogs.* [42] [8] Pāli: nimitta

• Samatha

[9] Original publication: Gombrich, Richard (2007), Religious Experience in Early Buddhism, OCHS Library

Notes

[10] 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.* [59]

[1] It is important to note that of the 200 or so Upanishads, only the first 10 or 12 are considered the oldest and principal Upanishads. Among these 10 or 12 principal Upanishads, the Taittiriya, Aitareya and Kausitaki show Buddhist influence.* [11] The Brihadaranyaka, JaiminiyaUpanisad-Brahmana and the Chandogya Upanishads were composed during the pre-Buddhist era while the rest of these 12 oldest Upanishads are dated to the last few centuries BCE. [2] According to Bronkhorst, the account of the Buddha practicing under Uddaka Ramaputta and Alara Kalama is entirely fictitious, and meant to flesh out the mentioning of those names in the post-enlightenment narrative in Majjhima Nikaya 36.* [3]* [23] According to Bronkhorst, the Buddha's teachings developed primarily in response to Jain teachings, not Brahmanical teachings.* [3] [3] In the Suttapitaka, right concentration is often referred to as having five factors, with one-pointedness (ekaggatā) not being explicitly identified as a factor of jhana attainment (see, for instance, SN 28.1-4, AN 4.41, AN 5.28). [4] For instance in AN 5.28, the Buddha states (Thanissaro, 1997.): “When a monk has developed and pursued the five-factored noble right concentration in this way, then whichever of the six higher knowledges he turns his mind to know and realize, he can witness them for himself whenever there is an opening....”“If he wants, he wields manifold supranormal powers. Having been one he becomes many; having been many he becomes one. He appears. He vanishes. He goes unimpeded through walls, ramparts, and mountains as if through space. He dives in and out of the earth as if it were water. He walks on water without sinking as if it were dry land. Sitting crosslegged he flies through the air like a winged bird. With his hand he touches and strokes even the sun and moon, so mighty and powerful. He exercises influence with his body even as far as the Brahma worlds. He can witness this for himself whenever there is an opening ...” [5] Sensual desire, ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry and doubt

[11] Samaññaphala Sutta: “With the abandoning of pleasure and pain —as with the earlier disappearance of elation and distress —he enters and remains in the fourth jhāna: purity of equanimity and mindfulness, neither-pleasure nor pain...With his mind thus concentrated, purified, and bright, unblemished, free from defects, pliant, malleable, steady, and attained to imperturbability, the monk directs and inclines it to the knowledge of the ending of the mental fermentations. He discerns, as it has come to be, that 'This is suffering... This is the origination of suffering... This is the cessation of suffering... This is the way leading to the cessation of suffering... These are mental fermentations... This is the origination of fermentations... This is the cessation of fermentations... This is the way leading to the cessation of fermentations.”* [62]

10 References [1] Vetter 1988, p. 5. [2] Vetter 1988. [3] Bronkhorst 1993. [4] Samuel 2008. [5] Bronkhorst 1993, p. 95;122-123. [6] Wynne 2007. [7] Wynne 2007, p. 29. [8] Kalupahana 1994, p. 24. [9] Walshe, Maurice (trans.) (1995). The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Digha Nikaya. Boston: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-103-3. [10] Matsumoto 1997, p. 242. [11] King 1995, p. 52.

9

[12] Nanamoli 1995. [13] Schmithausen 1981. [14] Vetter 1988, p. 5-6. [15] vetter 1988, p. 5-6. [16] Vetter 1988, p. xxxiv-xxxvii. [17] Gombrich 1997, p. 131. [18] Gombrich 1997, p. 96-134. [19] Vetter 1988, p. xxxv. [20] Wynne 2007, p. 44, see also 45-49. [21] Wynne 2007, p. 196. [22] Wynne 2007, p. 50. [23] Vishvapani (rev.) (1997). Review: Origin of Buddhist Meditation. Retrieved 2011-2-17 from “Western Buddhist Review”at http://www.westernbuddhistreview. com/vol5/the-origin-of-buddhist-meditation.html.

[42] B. Alan Wallace, The bridge of quiescence: experiencing Tibetan Buddhist meditation. Carus Publishing Company, 1998, page 92. Wallace translates both as“the first proximate meditative stabilization”. [43] Tse-fu Kuan, Mindfulness in Early Buddhism: New Approaches Through Psychology and Textual Analysis of Pali, Chinese and Sanskrit Sources. Routledge, 2008, pages 65-67. [44] Venerable Sujivo, Access and Fixed Concentration. Vipassana Tribune, Vol 4 No 2, July 1996, Buddhist Wisdom Centre, Malaysia. Available here. [45] Wynne 2007, p. 73. [46] King 1992, p. 90. [47] Thanissaro Bhikkhu, One Tool Among Many. The Place of Vipassana in Buddhist Practice [48] Gregory 1991. [49] Vetter 1988, p. xxi-xxii. [50] Vetter & 1988 xxi-xxxvii.

[24] Wynne 2007, p. 56.

[51] Vetter 1988, p. xxviii.

[25] Wynne 2007, p. 29-31.

[52] Vetter & 1988 xxix.

[26] Henepola Gunaratana, The Jhanas in Theravada Buddhist Meditation. .

[53] Vetter & 1988 xxx.

[27] Wynne 2007, p. 41, 56.

[54] Peter Harvey, An Introduction to Buddhism. Cambridge University Press, 1990, page 252.

[28] Wynne 2007, p. 49.

[55] Thanissaro Bhikkhu's commentary on the Anuppada Sutta, MN#111

[29] Wynne 2007, p. 42.

[56] Wynne 2007, p. 105.

[30] Wynne 2007, p. 39.

[57] Williams 2000, p. 45.

[31] Wynne 2007, p. 41.

[58] Wynne 2007, p. 106.

[32] Wynne 2007, p. 35.

[59] Wynne 2007, p. 140, note 58.

[33] M II.228.16 ff according to the PTS numbering.

[60] Wynne 2007, p. 106-107.

[34] Wynne 2007, p. 43. [35] Wynne 2007, p. 44.

[61] Richard Shankman, The Experience of Samadhi - an in depth Exploration of Buddhist Meditation, Shambala publications 2008

[36] Wynne 2007, p. 99.

[62] “Samaññaphala Sutta”.

[37] Henepola Gunaratana, The Jhanas in Theravada Buddhist Meditation

[63] Vetter & 1988 xxvii.

[38] as stated by Buddha Gotama in the Anuppada Sutta, MN#111 [39] Steven Sutcliffe, Religion: Empirical Studies. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2004, page 135. [40] Chandima Wijebandara, Early Buddhism, Its Religious and Intellectual Milieu. Postgraduate Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies, University of Kelaniya, 1993, page 22.. [41] Nathan Katz, Buddhist Images of Human Perfection: The Arahant of the Sutta Piṭaka Compared with the Bodhisattva and the Mahāsiddha. Motilal Banarsidass, 1990, page 78.

[64] Vetter & 1988 xxxi. [65] Bronkhorst 1993, p. 100-101. [66] Fischer-Schreiber 2008, p. 103. [67] Nan, Huai-Chin. To Realize Enlightenment: Practice of the Cultivation Path. 1994. p. 1 [68] Sheng Yen. Orthodox Chinese Buddhism. North Atlantic Books. 2007. p. 122 [69] B. Alan Wallace, The bridge of quiescence: experiencing Tibetan Buddhist meditation. Carus Publishing Company, 1998, pages 215-216.

10

11 SOURCES

[70] Study and Practice of Meditation: Tibetan Interpretations of the Concentrations and Formless Absorptions by Leah Zahler. Snow Lion Publications: 2009 pg 264-5

• Feuerstein, George (1978), Handboek voor Yoga (Dutch translation; English title“Textbook of Yoga” ), Ankh-Hermes

[71] B. Alan Wallace, The Attention Revolution: Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind. Wisdom Publications, 2006, page xii.

• Fischer-Schreiber, Ingrid; Ehrhard, Franz-Karl; Diener, Michael S. (2008), Lexicon Boeddhisme. Wijsbegeerte, religie, psychologie, mystiek, cultuur en literatuur, Asoka

[72] Maurice Walsh, The Long Discourse of the Buddha: A Translation of the Digha Nikay [73] Yoga Sutras 2.54-2.55: - Pratyahara or Sense Withdrawal Yoga Sutras, 2.54-2.55. [74] Wujastyk 2011, p. 33. [75] Feuerstein 1978, p. 108. [76] Tola, Dragonetti & Prithipaul 1987, p. x. [77] Moving Inward: The Journey from Asana to Pratyahara Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy. Archived July 19, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. [78] Karel Werner, The Yogi and the Mystic. Routledge 1994, page 27. [79] Robert Thurman, “The Central Philosophy of Tibet. Princeton University Press, 1984, page 34. [80] Woods, James Haughton, trans. (1914). The Yoga System of Patanjali with commentary Yogabhashya attributed to Veda Vyasa and Tattva Vaicharadi by Vacaspati Misra. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. [81] An outline of the religious literature of India, By John Nicol Farquhar p.132 [82] Bodhi, Bhikkhu (trans.) (2000). The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya. Boston: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-331-1. [83] Hagerty et al 2008,“EEG Power and Coherence Analysis of an Expert Meditator in the Eight Jhanas” [84] Leigh Brasington 2010 “The Neurological Correlates of the Jhanas. A Tentative Hypothesis”

11 11.1

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• Bronkhorst, Johannes (1993), The Two Traditions Of Meditation In Ancient India, Motilal Banarsidass Publ. • Cousins, L. S. (1996),“The origins of insight meditation”, in Skorupski, T., The Buddhist Forum IV, seminar papers 1994–1996 (pp. 35–58) (PDF), London, UK: School of Oriental and African Studies line feed character in |title= at position 48 (help) • Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005), Zen Buddhism: A History. Volume 1: India and China, World Wisdom Books, ISBN 978-0-941532-89-1

• Gregory, Peter N. (1991), Sudden and Gradual. Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited • Kalupahana, David J. (1994), A history of Buddhist philosophy, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited • King, Richard (1995), Early Advaita Vedānta and Buddhism: The Mahāyāna Context of the Gauḍapādīya-kārikā, SUNY Press • King, Winston L. (1992), Theravada Meditation. The Buddhist Transformation of Yoga, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass • Matsumoto, Shirõ (1997), The Meaning of “Zen” . In Jamie Hubbard (ed.), Pruning the Bodhi Tree: The Storm Over Critical Buddhism (PDF), Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, pp. 242–250, ISBN 082481908X • Nanamoli, Bhikkhu (trans.) (1995), The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya, Wisdom Publications, ISBN 0-86171-072-X • Samuel, Geoffrey (2008). The Origins of Yoga and Tantra: Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1139-47021-6. • Schmithausen, Lambert (1981), On some Aspects of Descriptions or Theories of 'Liberating Insight' and 'Enlightenment' in Early Buddhism”. In: Studien zum Jainismus und Buddhismus (Gedenkschrift für Ludwig Alsdorf), hrsg. von Klaus Bruhn und Albrecht Wezler, Wiesbaden 1981, 199-250 • Tola, Fernando; Dragonetti, Carmen; Prithipaul, K. Dad (1987), The Yogasūtras of Patañjali on concentration of mind, Motilal Banarsidass • Vetter, Tilmann (1988), The Ideas and Meditative Practices of Early Buddhism, BRILL • Williams, Paul (2000), Buddhist Thought. A complete introduction to the Indian tradition, Routledge • Wujastyk, Dominik (2011), The Path to Liberation through Yogic Mindfulness in Early Ayurveda. In: David Gordon White (ed.), “Yoga in practice”, Princeton University Press

11 • Wynne, Alexander (2007), The Origin of Buddhist Meditation, Routledge

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Web-sources

External links

• Ajahn Brahmavamso, Travelogue to the four Jhanas • Leigh Brasington, Interpretations of the Jhanas • Bhante Vimalaramsi Mahāthera, MN 111 One by One as They Occurred - Anupada Sutta. DhammaTalks on the Anupada-Sutta. This provides a highly detailed account of the progression through the jhānas, • Ajahn Brahmavamso, The Jhanas • “The Jhanas in Theravada Buddhist Meditation,” thesis by Ven. Henepola Gunaratana, published by BPS as Wheel 351/353 (1988). (See also ATI version.) • “Jhana”(2005), descriptions and similes from the Pali Canon's Anguttara Nikaya and Dhammapada, by John T. Bullitt. • “Jhanas Advice”: Information about the Jhanas from Tina Rasmussen and Stephen Snyder, authors of Practicing The Jhanas: Traditional Concentration Meditation As Presented By The Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw by Snyder, Stephen; Rasmussen, Tina. Shambhala: 2009. ISBN 978-1-59030-733-5 • Jeffrey S, Brooks, The Fruits (Phala) of the Contemplative Life

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