dhyana

plural dhyanas · alternative jhana

1. HinduismcountableuncountableBuddhismA type of profound meditation.

   Thus the Kaivalyopanisad accords equal importance to Sraddha (faith-regard), devotion (bhakti) and meditation (dhyana) for the attainment of the highest knowledge.

   1844, Calcutta Review, page 123

   2 more examples

   The beginning must be made with pathawi-kasina, and then the dhyánas, &c., must be taken alternately, as from the first dhyána to the third, then to ákásánancháyatana, and so on to the end.

   1860, Robert Spence Hardy, Eastern monachism, page 262

   Each of the three planes may be experienced through developing the dhyānas in meditation - so here we have yet another way of describing higher states of consciousness.

   1997, Meditation: The Buddhist Way of Tranquillity and Insight, page 86