Answer (Sanskrit, trance, absorption; Pāli, jhāna). A state of deep meditative absorption characterized by lucid awareness and achieved by focusing the mind on a single object (see http://www.answers.com/topic/citta-ek-grat). A prerequisite for its attainment is the elimination of the five hindrances (http://www.answers.com/topic/n-vara-a). A scheme of eight stages of dhyāna was gradually evolved, with four lower assigned to the http://www.answers.com/topic/r-pa-dh-tu and four higher ones assigned to the http://www.answers.com/topic/r-pya-dh-tu. In dhyāna all sense-activity is suspended, and as the meditator passes from the lower to the higher levels, mental activity becomes progressively more attenuated. Thus, in the first dhyāna, conceptualization (http://www.answers.com/topic/vitarka) and reflection (http://www.answers.com/topic/vicara) occur, but in the second they do not. In the fifth dhyāna various supernormal powers can be attained (see http://www.answers.com/topic/ddhi). The names of the http://www.answers.com/topic/ch-an and http://www.answers.com/topic/zen schools are both derived from the word dhyāna.
