Dhyana

Dhyāna is a term in Sanskrit which refers to a type or aspect of meditation. It is a key concept in Hinduism and Buddhism. Equivalent terms are jhāna in Pāli, ch?n in Chinese, and zen in Japanese.

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Theravada Buddhism generally recognizes four progressive states of dhyāna, although the Pali Canon contains a scripture in which the Buddha mentions eight states. The reason for this discrepancy is not known. In East Asia, several schools of Buddhism were founded that focused on dhyana, under the names Chan, Zen, and Seon. According to tradition, Bodhidharma brought Dhyana to the Shaolin temple in China, through Tibet, where it came to be known first as chan, and then zen.

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Meditation: ::This article is about the practice of meditation. For the writings by Marcus Aurelius, see Meditations. For the writings by Ren? Descartes, see Meditations on First Philosophy....

Hinduism: :This article is about the Hindu religion; for other meanings of the word, see Hindu (disambiguation)....