Dhyani Buddhas ?

[Peter Wyzlic]

On Wed, 12 Jul 2000, Stephen Hodge wrote:

> they are doing ?  In my own limited reading of texts, I have never
> come across any mention of Buddhas engaging in dhyaana and, in my
> understanding, there is a qualitative difference between dhyaana and
> samaadhi.   Still, some people seem very attached to the term so I am
> probably fighting a lost cause -- looks like heuristic neologisms win
> out over terminological accuracy.

It has been said that Brian H. Hodgson introduced the therms 
"dhyanibuddha" and "dhyanibodhisattva". You find them, for instance, in
Hodgson's "Notices of the languages, literature, and religion of Nepal and
Tibet", first published in: Asiatic Researches (1828). I am using here the
collective volume of Hodgsons articles published under the same title
(Repr.: New Delhi: Manjusri Publ. House, 1972 [Bibliotheca Himalayica.
Ser. II, vol. 7]), p. 28 seqq.). Probably on the authority of Hodgson it
was used by Burnouf (see the index of his "Le Lotus de la Bonne Loi",
s.v.) and, among others, by Carl Friedrich Köppen: Die Religion des
Buddha. Vol. 2. Berlin 1859, p. 25 seqq. (many instances in the index,
s.v.). 

In a note to his work "Monk, householder, and tantric priest : Newar
Buddhism and its hierarchy of ritual" (Cambridge 1992), p. 373, n. 1 to
chap. 9), David Gellner writes: "Hodgson introduced the term 'Dhyani
Buddha' which has become current in Western writings"; Gellner doubts that
it is actually used by Newar Buddhists today.

I hope this helps.

Peter Wyzlic

--
Peter Wyzlic
Indologisches Seminar, Universitaet Bonn
Regina-Pacis-Weg 7
D-53113 Bonn
Germany / Deutschland