[INDOLOGY] Etymology and meaning of 'Jhana'

[Nityanand Misra]

The *Prākṛtaprakāśa* has the rule (8.25)

ṣṭhā-dhyā-gānāṃ ṭhā·a-jhā·a-gā·āḥ
(ष्ठा-ध्या-गानां ठाअ-झाअ-गाआः)

which explains Sanskrit dhyā changing to jhā·a. Hence

dhyāyanti -> jhāanti
dhyāna -> jhāṇa

The *Abhidhānarājendraḥ* has a rather long entry under *jhāṇa*. It also
derives the word from *dhyāna *and cites the rule *sādhyasadhyahyāṃ
jhaḥ* instead,
which I believe is from Hemacandra's grammar.

Hope this helps, Nityananda


On 11 September 2016 at 17:44, alakendu das <
mailmealakendudas at rediffmail.com> wrote:

>
> Of late I am vividly going through a very old translation of a book on
> Abhidhamma Buddhist philosophy .It is difficult to gather the name of the
> translator.However,in course of the book I came across an analysis found in
> the book 'VishuddhiMagga'by BuddhaGhosha which uses a term 'Jhana'while
> describing the 3 -levels of consciousness .Jhana has been used while
> elaborating on the 2nd level of consciousness ,where the Yogachara( i.e the
> bhikhhu who delves into Yoga) meditates on an object abd finally attains
> Jhana.
>
> Can anybody enlighten on the implication of the term Jhana and it's
> etymology.
>
> ALAKENDU DAS.
>
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-- 
Nityānanda Miśra
http://nmisra.googlepages.com


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