Dhyana in Hinduism

Dhyana in Hinduism Dhyana (IAST: Dhyāna) in Hinduism means contemplation and meditation.[1] Dhyana is taken up in Yoga exercises, and is a means to samadhi and self- knowledge.[2] The various concepts of dhyana and its practice originated in the Vedic era of Hinduism, and the practice has been influential within the diverse traditions of Hinduism.[3][4] It is, in Hinduism, a part of a self-directed awareness and unifying Yoga process by which the yogi realizes Self (Atman, soul), one's relationship with other living beings, and Ultimate Reality.[3][5][6] Dhyana is also found in other Indian religions such as Buddhism and Jainism. These developed along with dhyana in Hinduism, partly independently, partly influencing each other.[1] The term Dhyana appears in Aranyaka and Brahmana layers of the Vedas but with unclear meaning, while in the early Upanishads it appears in the sense of "contemplation, meditation" and an important part of self-knowledge process.[3][7] It is described in numerous Upanishads of Hinduism,[8] and in Patanjali's Yogasutras - a key text of the Yoga school of Hindu philosophy.[9][10] A statue of a meditating man (Jammu and Kashmir, India). Contents Etymology and meaning Origins Discussion in Hindu texts Vedas and Upanishads Brahma Sutras Dharma Sutras Bhagavad Gita The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Dharana Dhyana Samadhi Samyama Samapattih Comparison of Dhyana in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism Related concept: Upasana See also Notes References Sources Published sources Web-sources Further reading External links Etymology and meaning Dhyāna (Sanskrit: यान, Pali: झान) means "contemplation, reflection" and "profound, abstract meditation".[11] The root of the word is Dhi, which in the earliest layer of text of the Vedas refers to "imaginative vision" and associated with goddess Saraswati with powers of knowledge, wisdom and poetic eloquence.[3][12] This term developed into the variant dhya- and dhyana, or "meditation".[3] Thomas Berry states that Dhyana, is "sustained attention" and the "application of mind to the chosen point of concentration".[13] Dhyana is contemplating, reflecting on whatever Dharana has focused on.[14] If in the sixth limb of yoga one is concentrating on a personal deity, Dhyana is its contemplation. If the concentration was on one object, Dhyana is non-judgmental, non-presumptuous observation of that object.[15] If the focus was on a concept/idea, Dhyana is contemplating that concept/idea in all its aspects, forms and consequences. Dhyana is uninterrupted train of thought, current of cognition, flow of awareness.[16][17][18] A related term is nididhyāsana, the pondering over Upanishadic statements. It is a composite of three terms, namely dhyai, upasana ("dwelling upon"), and bhavana ("cultivating").[web 1] Origins The term dhyana is used in Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism, with somewhat different meanings.[2] The origins of the practice of dhyana, which culminates into samadhi, are a matter of dispute.[20][21] According to Bronkhorst, the mainstream concept developed Vedic teachings hold that, since the universal divine Self dwells within the and is evidenced in Vedic era texts of Hinduism.[22] Dhyana, states Sagarmal Jain, heart, the way to experience and has been essential to Jaina religious practices, but the origins of Dhyana and Yoga recognize divinity is to turn one's in the pre-canonical era (before 6th-century BCE) is unclear, and it likely attention inward in a process of developed in the Sramanic culture of ancient India.[23] contemplative meditation. —William Mahony, The Artful Universe: The earliest Jaina texts, on Dhyana such as Sutrakranga, Antakrta-Dasanga and An Introduction to the Vedic Religious Rsibhashita, mention Uddaka Ramaputta[note 1] who is said to be the teacher of Imagination[19] some meditation methods to Buddha, as well as the originator of Vipassana and Preksha meditation techniques.[23] The Jaina tradition believes Rishabhanatha, the first Tirthankara, to have founded meditation, but there is no historical confirming evidence. The earliest mention of Dhyana in the canonical Jaina texts simply mention Dhyana as a means of emancipation, but in them ascetic practices are not emphasized nor is the discussion as systematic as in later Jaina texts or Hindu texts such as the Patanjali's Yogasutras.[25] There is no archeological or literary evidence, states Sagarmal Jain, about the origins of systems for Dhyana and Yoga, and there is a great deal of similarities between Jaina, Buddhist, Ajivika, Samkhya, Yoga and other ancient Indian traditions.[23] The earliest texts, such asT attvarthasutra suggest that these ideas developed in parallel, sometimes with different terms for similar ideas in various Indian traditions, influencing each other.[25] Buddhism introduced its own ideas, states Bronkhorst, such as the four dhyanas, which did not affect the mainstream meditation traditions in Jaina and Hindu traditions for a long time.[26][note 2] All traditions, Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism, introduced unique aspects and context to Dhyana, and mutually influenced each other.[4] According to Bronkhorst, while Jaina and Hindu meditation traditions predate Buddhism, the Buddhist terminology such as Samadhi, may have influenced the wording found in one of the several types of Dhyana found in theMahabharata as well as parts of Patanjali's Yogasutras.[4] Alexander Wynne interprets Bronkhorst as stating that dhyana was a Jaina tradition, from which both Hinduism and Buddhism borrowed ideas on meditation.[28] Wynne adds that Bronkhorst opinion "understates the role of meditation" in early Brahmanical tradition.[28] Dhyana was incorporated into Buddhism from Brahmanical practices, suggests Wynne, in the Nikayas ascribed to Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta.[29] In early Brahamical yoga, the goal of meditation was considered to be a nondual state identical to unmanifest state of Brahman, where subject-object duality had been dissolved.[6] The early Buddhist practices adapted these old yogic methods, pairing it to mindfulness and attainment of insight.[6] Kalupahana states that the Buddha "reverted to the meditational practices" he had learned from Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta.[30] In Hinduism, state Jones and Ryan, the term first appears in the Upanishads.[2] Techniques of concentration or meditation are a Vedic tradition, states Frits Staal, because these ideas are found in the early Upanishads as dhyana or abhidhyana.[7] In most of the later Hindu yoga traditions, which derive form Patanjali's Raja Yoga, dhyana is "a refined meditative practice",[2] a "deeper concentration of the mind",[2] which is taken up after preceding exercises such as mastering pranayama (breath control) and dharana (mental focus).[2] Discussion in Hindu texts Vedas and Upanishads The term dhyanam appears in Vedic literature, such as hymn 4.36.2 of the Rigveda and verse 10.11.1 of the Taittiriya Aranyaka.[31][32] The term, in the sense of meditation, appears in the Upanishads.[1][32][33] The Kaushitaki Upanishad uses it in the context of mind and meditation in verses 3.2 to 3.6, for example as follows:[34] मनसा यानिमयेकभूयं वै ाणाः With mind, meditate on me as beingprana — Kaushitaki Upanishad, 3.2[34][35] The term appears in the context of "contemplate, reflect, meditate" in verses of chapters 1.3, 2.22, 5.1, 7.6, 7.7 and 7.26 of the Chandogya Upanishad, chapters 3.5, 4.5 and 4.6 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and verses 6.9 to 6.24 of the Maitri Upanishad.[33][36] The word Dhyana refers to meditation in Chandogya Upanishad, while the Prashna Upanishad asserts that the meditation on AUM (ॐ) leads to the world of Brahman (Ultimate Reality).[7] The development of meditation in the Vedic era paralleled the ideas of "interiorization", where social, external yajna fire rituals (Agnihotra) were replaced with meditative, internalized rituals (Prana-agnihotra).[7][37][38] This interiorization of Vedic fire-ritual into yogic meditation ideas from Hinduism, that are mentioned in the Samhita and Aranyaka layers of the Vedas and more clearly in chapter 5 of the Chandogya Upanishad (~800 to 600 BCE),[note 3] are also found in later Buddhist texts and esoteric variations such as the Dighanikaya, Mahavairocana-sutra and the Jyotirmnjari, wherein the Buddhist texts describe meditation as "inner forms of fire oblation/sacrifice".[40][41] This interiorization of fire rituals, where life is conceptualized as an unceasing sacrifice and emphasis is placed on meditation occurs in the classic Vedic world, in the early Upanishads and other texts such as the Shrauta Sutras and verse 2.18 of Vedic Vaikhanasa Smarta Sutra.[42] Beyond the early Upanishads composed before 5th-century BCE, the termDhyana and the related terms such as Dhyai (Sanskrit: यै, deeply meditate)[43] appears in numerous Upanishads composed after the 5th-century BCE, such as: chapter 1 of Shvetashvatara Upanishad, chapters 2 and 3 of Mundaka Upanishad, chapter 3 of Aitareya Upanishad, chapter 11 of Mahanarayana Upanishad, and in various verses of Kaivalya Upanishad, Chulika Upanishad, Atharvasikha Upanishad, Brahma Upanishad, Brahmabindu Upanishad, Amritabindu Upanishad, Tejobindu Upanishad, Paramahamsa Upanishad, Kshuriki Upanishad, Dhyana-bindu Upanishad, Atharvasiras Upanishad, Maha Upanishad, Pranagnihotra Upanishad, Yogasikha Upanishad, Yogatattva Upanishad, Kathasruti Upanishad, Hamsa Upanishad, Atmaprabodha Upanishad and Visudeva Upanishad.[8] Brahma Sutras Dhyana as Dharma The Brahma-sutras, which distills the teachings of the Upanishads and is

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