Dhyana
Dhyana is
the state of meditation,
when the mind attains the
ability to sustain its attention
without getting distracted.
Strictly speaking, unlike
the other six limbs of yoga,
this is not a technique
but rather a state of mind,
a delicate state of awareness.
This state rightfully precedes
the final state of samadhi.
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Dhyana,
the seventh limb of Ashtanga
Yoga, means worship, or profound
and abstract religious meditation.
It is perfect contemplation.
It involves concentration
upon a point of focus with
the intention of knowing the
truth about it.
During
dhyana, combining clear insights
into distinctions between
objects and the subtle layers
surrounding intuition further
unifies the consciousness.
We learn to differentiate
between the mind of the perceiver,
the means of perception, and
the objects perceived—between
words, their meanings and
ideas, and even between all
the levels of natural evolution.
We realize that these are
all fused in an undifferentiated
continuum. One must apprehend
both subject and object clearly
in order to perceive their
similarities. Thus dhyana
is apprehension of real identity
among apparent differences.
During
dharana, the mind becomes
unidirectional, while during
dhyana, it becomes ostensibly
identified and engaged with
the object of focus or attention.
That is why, dharana must
precede dhyana, since the
mind needs focusing on a particular
object before a connection
can be made. If dharana is
the contact, then dhyana is
the connection.
Obviously,
to focus the attention to
one point will not result
in insight or realization.
One must identify and become
"one with" the object
of contemplation, in order
to know for certain the truth
about it. In dharana the consciousness
of the practitioner is fixed
on one subject, but in dhyana
it is in one flow. |
Dhyana
in Hinduism
Dhyana's
beginnings are traced to Hinduism,
where it is considered to
be an instrument to gain self
knowledge, thereby separating
maya from reality and helping
attain the ultimate goal of
Moksha. Depictions of hindu
yogis performing dhyana are
found in ancient texts and
in statues and frescoes of
ancient India temples. Kshatriya
Siddhartha Gautama studied
dhyana during his early years
away from his kingdom |
Dhyana
in Buddhism
In
the Pali Canon the Buddha
describes four progressive
states of absorption meditation
or Jhana. The Jhanas are said
by the Buddha to be conducive
to detachment but they must
not be mistaken for the final
goal of nibbana. The Jhanas
are states of meditation where
the mind is free from the
five hindrances (craving,
aversion, sloth, agitation,
doubt) and incapable of discursive
thinking. The deeper Jhanas
can last for many hours. When
a meditator emerges from Jhana,
his/her mind is empowered
and able to penetrate into
the deepest truths of existence.
There
are four deeper states of
meditative absoption called
the immaterial attainments.
Sometimes these are also referred
to as the "formless"
Jhanas, or Arupajhana (distinguished
from the first four Jhanas,
Rupajhana). In the Buddhist
canonical texts, the word
Jhana is never explicitly
used to denote them, but they
are always mentioned in sequence
after the first four Jhanas.
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, where it
came to be transliterated
as "chan" ("seon"
in Korea, and then "zen"
in Japan). |
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