Dhyana (Meditation) — The Fifth Paramita
Dhyana (Sanskrit) or jhana (Pali) is the fifth paramita and the central pillar of the Threefold Training's samadhi component. The Visuddhimagga of Buddhaghosa maps four rupa-jhanas and four arupa-jhanas in precise phenomenological sequence: the first jhana arises with vitakka (applied thought), vicara (sustained thought), piti (rapture), sukha (happiness), and ekaggata (one-pointedness); each successive absorption drops a coarser factor until only upekkha (equanimity) and ekaggata remain. In the Mahayana paramita framework, dhyana occupies the fifth position because stable samadhi is the necessary instrument for the arising of prajna — as the Samadhiraja Sutra states, without the mirror-stillness of absorbed concentration, the sixth paramita's insight into sunyata cannot manifest.