User:D.sans1997/Dhyāna in Buddhism

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Rupa Jhāna followed by liberating insight
Main articles: Vipassana and Sampajañña

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 Theravada-tradition, the arahant  is aware that the jhānas are ultimately unsatisfactory, realizing that the meditative attainments are also anicca, impermanent.

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Contemporary reassessment - the "Jhana wars"
While Theravada-meditation was introduced to the west as vipassana-meditation, which rejected the usefulness of jhana, there is a growing interest among western vipassana-practitioners in jhana. The nature and practice of jhana is a topic of debate and contention among western convert Theravadins, to the extent that the disputes have even been called "the Jhana wars." Both academic scholars and contemporary practitioners have raised questions about the interpretation of the jhanas as being states of absorption which are not necessary for the attainment of liberation. While groundbreaking research on this topic has been done by Bareau, Schmithausen, Stuart-Fox, Bucknell, Vetter, Bronkhorst, and Wynne, Theravada practitioners have also scrutinized and criticised the samatha-vipassana distinction. Reassessments of the description of jhana in the suttas consider jhana and vipassana to be an integrated practice, leading to a "tranquil and equanimous awareness of whatever arises in the field of experience."

Criticism of Visuddhimagga
The Visuddhimagga, and the "pioneering popularizing work of Daniel Goleman," has been influential in the (mis)understanding of dhyana being a form of concentration-meditation. The Visuddhimagga is centered around kasina-meditation, a form of concentration-meditation in which the mind is focused on a (mental) object. According to Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "[t]he text then tries to fit all other meditation methods into the mold of kasina practice, so that they too give rise to countersigns, but even by its own admission, breath meditation does not fit well into the mold." According to Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "the Visuddhimagga uses a very different paradigm for concentration from what you find in the Canon." In its emphasis on kasina-meditation, the Visuddhimagga departs from the Pali Canon, in which dhyana is the central meditative practice, indicating that what "jhana means in the commentaries is something quite different from what it means in the Canon." In accordance with the Canon, the Visuddhimagga and its kasina-oriented meditative practices are considered too harsh of an approach, and focus too primarily on objects rather than universal awareness.

Bhante Henepola Gunaratana also notes that what "the suttas say is not the same as what the Visuddhimagga says [...] they are actually different," leading to a divergence between a [traditional] scholarly understanding and a practical understanding based on meditative experience. Gunaratana further notes that Buddhaghosa invented several key meditation terms which are not to be found in the suttas, such as "parikamma samadhi (preparatory concentration), upacara samadhi (access concentration), appanasamadhi (absorption concentration)." Gunaratana also notes that Buddhaghosa's emphasis on kasina-meditation is not to be found in the suttas, where dhyana is always combined with mindfulness.

According to Vetter, dhyana as a preparation of discriminating insight must have been different from the dhyana-practice introduced by the Buddha, using kasina-exercises to produce a "more artificially produced dhyana", resulting in the cessation of apperceptions and feelings. Kasina-exercises are propagated in Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga, which is considered the authoritative commentary on meditation practice in the Theravada tradition, but differs from the Pali canon in its description of jhana. While the suttas connect samadhi to mindfulness and awareness of the body, for Buddhaghosa jhana is a purely mental exercise, in which one-pointed concentration leads to a narrowing of attention.

Jhana as integrated practice
Several western teachers (Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Leigh Brasington, Richard Shankman) make a distinction between "sutta-oriented" jhana and "Visuddhimagga-oriented" jhana, dubbed "minimalists" and "maximalists" by Kenneth Rose. These labels help to differentiate between the different interpretations of jhana as they have come to be understood in more modern Buddhism vs. 'traditional' Buddhist teachings. Since there are multiple conflicting ideas as to what the jhanas mean in Buddhism, and the purpose they serve, the idea of having specifically oriented 'versions' of the jhanas is not one that is universally supported.

Thanissaro Bhikkhu has repeatedly argued that the Pali Canon and the Visuddhimagga give different descriptions of the jhanas, regarding the Visuddhimagga-description to be incorrect. Bhikku's opinion is supported by those who believe in the teachings of 'traditional' Buddhism, recognized as the Pali Canon. More modern (specifically western) interpretations of Buddhism, where the Visuddhimagga is more highly regarded and integrated into teachings and practices.

According to Shankman, the sutta descriptions of jhāna practice explain that 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.

Keren Arbel has conducted extensive research on the jhanas and the contemporary criticisms of the commentarial interpretation. Based on this research, and her own experience as a senior meditation-teacher, she gives a reconstructed account of the original meaning of the dhyanas. She argues that jhana is an integrated practice, describing the fourth jhana as "non-reactive and lucid awareness," not as a state of deep concentration. According to Arbel, it develops "a mind which is not conditioned by habitual reaction-patterns of likes and dislikes [...] a profoundly wise relation to experience, not tainted by any kind of wrong perception and mental reactivity rooted in craving (tanha).

According to Rose, the Visuddhimagga-oriented "maximalist" approach is a return to ancient Indian "mainstream practices," in which physical and mental immobility was thought to lead to liberation from samsara and rebirth. This approach was rejected by the Buddha, turning to a gentler approach which results in upekkha and sati, equanimous awareness of experience. Bibliography/Additional Sources:

Arbel, Keren. Early Buddhist Meditation: the Four Jhanas as the Actualization of Insight. Routledge, 2018.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Buddhist meditation". Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 Dec. 2017, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Buddhist-meditation.

Bucknell, Roderick S. “Reinterpreting the Jhanas.” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, vol. 16, no. 2, 1993, pp. 375–409.

O'Brien, Barbara. “Jhanas or Dhyanas: A Progression of Buddhist Meditation.” Learn Religions, 28 Sept. 2018, www.learnreligions.com/the-jhanas-or-dhyanas-449552.

Rose, Kenneth. Yoga, Meditation and Mysticism: Contemplative Universals and Meditative Landmarks. Bloomsbury Academic, 2018.

Sraman, Gyana Ratna. “A Comparative Study Between Samadhi and Jhana in Theravada Buddhism.” Journal of India and Buddhist Studies (Indogaku Bukkyogaku Kenkyu), vol. 51, no. 1, 2002, pp. 477–474., doi:10.4259/ibk.51.477.

Srinivasan, T.M. “From Meditation to Dhyana.” International Journal of Yoga, vol. 6, no. 1, 2013, p. 1., doi:10.4103/0973-6131.105934.

Ven. Dr. Yuanci. “A Study of the Meditation Methods in the DESM and Other Early Chinese Texts .” The Buddhist Academy of China, 2012.