jhāna

Jhāna1

neuter literally meditation. But it never means vaguely meditation It is the technical term for a special religious experience reached in a certain order of mental states. It was originally divided into four such states. These may be summarized:

1 The mystic, with his mind free from sensuous and worldly ideas, concentrates his thoughts on some special subject (for instance, the impermanence of all things). This he thinks out by attention to the facts, and by reasoning. 2 Then uplifted above attention & reasoning, he experiences joy & ease both of body and mind. 3 Then the bliss passes away, & he becomes suffused with a sense of ease, and 4 he becomes aware of pure lucidity of mind & equanimity of heart.

The whole really forms one series of mental states, & the stages might have been fixed at other points in the series. So the Dhamma-saṃgani makes a second list of five stages by calling, in the second jhāna, the fading away of observation one stage, & the giving up of sustained thinking another stage (Dhs.167–⁠Dhs.175). And the Vibhaṁga calls the first jhāna the; pañcaṅgika-jhāna because it, by itself, can be divided into five parts (Vb.267). The state of mind left after the experience of the four jhānas is described as follows at DN.i.76: “with his heart thus serene, made pure, translucent, cultured, void of evil supple, ready to act, firm and imperturbable.” It will be seen that there is no suggestion of trance, but rather of an enhanced vitality. In the descriptions of the crises in the religious experiences of Christian saints and mystics, expressions similar to those used in the jhānas are frequent ‣See F. Heiler Die Buddhistische Versenkung, 1918. Laymen could pass through the four jhānas (SN.iv.301). The jhānas are only a means, not the end. To imagine that experiencing them was equivalent to Arahantship (and was therefore the end aimed at) is condemned (DN.i.37 ff.) as a deadly heresy. In late Pali we find the phrase arūpajjhānā. This is merely a new name for the last four of the eight Vimokkhā, which culminate in trance. It was because they made this the aim of their teaching that Gotama rejected the doctrines of his two teachers, Āḷāra-Kāḷāma and Uddaka-Rāmaputta (MN.i.164f.)

■ The jhānas are discussed in extenso & in various combinations as regards theory & practice at: DN.i.34 sq.; DN.i.73 sq.; SN.ii.210 sq.; SN.iv.217 sq., SN.iv.263 sq.; SN.v.213 sq.; MN.i.276 sq. MN.i.350 sq., MN.i.454 sq.; AN.i.53, AN.i.163; AN.ii.126; AN.iii.394 sq. AN.iv.409 sq.; AN.v.157 sq.; Vin.iii.4; Nd ii.on Snp.1119 & s.v. Pts.i.97 sq.; Pts.ii.169 sq.; Vb.257 sq.; Vb.263 sq.; Vb.279 sq. Vism.88, Vism.415
■ They are frequently mentioned either as a set, or singly, when often the set is implied (as in the case of the 4th jh.). Mentioned as jh. 1–4 e.g. at Vin.i.104; Vin.ii.161 (foll. by sotāpanna, etc.); DN.ii.156, DN.ii.186 DN.iii.78, DN.iii.131, DN.iii.222; SN.ii.278 (nikāmalābhin); AN.ii.36 (id.), AN.iii.354; SN.iv.299; SN.v.307 sq.; MN.i.21, MN.i.41, MN.i.159, MN.i.203, MN.i.247 MN.i.398, MN.i.521; MN.ii.15, MN.ii.37; Snp.69, Snp.156, Snp.985; Dhp.372; Ja.i.139; Vv-a.38; Pv-a.163
■ Separately: the 1st: AN.iv.422 AN.v.135; MN.i.246, MN.i.294; Mil.289; 1st

3rd: AN.iii.323; MN.i.181; 1st & second: MN.ii.28; 4th: AN.ii.41; AN.iii.325 AN.v.31; DN.iii.270; Vv-a.4
■ See also Mrs. Rh. D. Buddh Psych. (Quest Series) p. 107 sq.; Dhs. trsl. p. 52 sq. Index to Saṃyutta N. for more refs.; also Kasiṇa.

  • -anuyutta applying oneself to meditation Snp.972
  • -aṅga a constituent of meditation (with ref. to the 4 jhānas) Vism.190.
  • -kīḷā sporting in the exercise of meditation Ja.iii.45.
  • -pasuta id. (+ dhīra) Snp.709; Dhp.181 (cp. Dhp-a.iii.226);
  • -rata fond of meditation SN.i.53, SN.i.122; SN.iv.117; Iti.40; Snp.212, Snp.503, Snp.1009; Vv.50#15 Vv-a.38;
  • -vimokkha emancipation reached through jhāna AN.iii.417; AN.v.34;
  • -sahagata accompanied by jh (of paññābala) AN.i.42.

from jhāyati,1 BSk. dhyāna. The (popular etym-) expln of jhāna is given by Bdhgh at Vism.150 as follows: “ārammaṇ’ ûpanijjhānato paccanīka-jhāpanato vā jhānaṃ,” i.e. called jh. from meditation on objects & from burning up anything adverse

Jhāna2

neuter conflagration, fire DN.iii.94; Ja.i.347.

from jhāyati2