Dhyana

Dhyana
Chinese Name
Pinyin	Chán
Wade-Giles	ch'an
Chinese	禪
Japanese Name
Romaji	Zen
Kanji	禅
Korean Name
Revised Romanization	Seon
McCune-Reischauer
Hangul	선
Hanja	禪
Sanskrit Name
Sanskrit	ध्यान dhyāna

Dhyāna means meditation in Sanskrit. Equivalent terms are jhana in Pāli, chán in Chinese, and zen in Japanese.

It is a key concept in Hinduism and Buddhism. According to the Hindu Yoga Sutra dhyana is one of the eight methods of Yoga, (the other seven methods are Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, and Samadhi). Theravada Buddhism recognizes eight progressive states of dhyana.. 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 ch'an, and then zen. Dharana is the preceding stage of Dhyana. In Dhyana, the meditator is not conscious of the act of meditation (i.e. is not aware that s/he is meditating) but is only aware that s/he exists (consciousness of being), and aware of the object of meditation.

See also: rupajhana, Ashtanga Yoga, Dharana, Samadhi.