Zhiyi's interpretation of the concept 'dhyana' in his Shi chan boluomi tsidi famen

This study is an analysis of Zhiyi's interpretation of the concept of “dhyāna” in his Shi chanboluomi cidi famen (An Exposition of Methods to Achieve the Stages of Meditative Perfection, hereafter, The Stages of Meditative Perfection). In the studies of Chinese Buddhism, dhyāna , translated into Chinese “chan,” is commonly associated with the Chan school (Chan zong ) developed in China in the seventh and the eighth century. In Zhiyi's The Stages of Meditative Perfection, however, dhyāna is generally understood as the Four Dhyānas. In the “Four Dhyānas” chapter of The Stages of Meditative Perfection, Zhiyi specifically defines dhyāna as “zhilin (dhyāna factors)” and “gongde tsonglin (an array of meritorious qualities).”; The Stages of Meditative Perfection is Zhiyi's systemization of the various dhyāna methods practiced by Chinese Buddhists from the second to the sixth centuries A.D. A general sketch of The Stages of Meditative Perfection is made in the first three chapters of this study. In the first chapter I make a brief textual review and discuss some general features of this text. In chapter two, I discuss some of the important terms related to meditation practices used inThe Stages of Meditative Perfection. The third chapter is an analysis of some of Zhiyi's dhyāna classification systems that appear in the first five chapters of The Stages of Meditative Perfection , which comprises Zhiyi's theoretical systemization of Dhyāna-pāramitā .; Among Zhiyi's discussion of the actual practice of the fifteen dhyāna methods discussed in the sixth and seventh chapters of The Stages of Meditative Perfection, two dhyāna practices, the Four Dhyānas and the Tongming guan (The Contemplation Leading to [Six] Supernormal Powers and [Three Illuminating] Insights) are the most crucial for our understanding of Zhiyi's concept of dhyāna. Therefore, these two dhyāna practices are selected as the subject of detailed analysis. Four aspects of Zhiyi's interpretation of dhyāna will be examined in my analysis: Zhiyi's definitions of dhyāna, his concepts of “Mundane Dhyāna” and “Supramundane Dhyāna,” the role of intellect and physiology in the meditative states in Zhiyi's interpretation of dhyāna, and Zhiyi's method of synthesizing practice and doctrine in his interpretation of dhyāna.