Dpyad sgom
Basic Meaning
Analytical meditation is a technique involving critical analysis that focuses the mind on a specific contemplation, such as impermanence.
Has the Sense of
The practical approach to gaining incontrovertible conceptual certainty is called analytical meditation or superior insight. (Brunnhölzl, The Center of the Sunlit Sky, 29)
"Another division of meditation is into “the analytical meditation of scholars” and “the resting meditation of mendicants,” or simply analytical meditation and resting meditation. The analytical meditation of scholars refers to the intellectual examination of all phenomena through reasoning. There are two key terms here: “discriminating knowledge” and “personally experienced wisdom.” The first step in this analytical meditation is to cultivate discriminating knowledge. This refers to all the levels of increasingly refined inferential valid cognition that are based on reasoning and developed through studying, reflecting, and meditating." (Brunnhölzl, The Center of the Sunlit Sky, 279)
"The general scope of analytical meditation encompasses all of the teachings of the Buddha, starting from contemplating impermanence and the preciousness of human existence up through ascertaining the two kinds of identitylessness. Resting meditation includes all types of meditations in which the conclusions achieved through preceding investigation become absorbed by the mind." (Brunnhölzl, The Center of the Sunlit Sky, 281)
Simplified English Usage
"Furthermore, broadly speaking, if [we look at this] from the perspective of the use of the terms “analysis” and “resting,” meditations that involve critical investigation must be considered analytical meditation, and meditations during which we settle into the natural state and rest must be resting meditation." (Dakpo Tashi Namgyal, Moonbeams of Mahāmudrā, Elizabeth Callahan translation, 89)
Read it in the Scriptures
And meditate by discriminating them in this way,
This is the cause for the result of attaining nirvāṇa.
Discussion of the term
Analytic meditation (dpyad sgom) is the style of meditation in which the person uses the faculty called prajñā (shes rab), which is the aspect of the intellect that can analyze things and decide on them as being this or that. Thus it is a faculty that is able to uncover deeper levels of the reality of phenomena. This style of meditation is the style of the practitioner who engages in study, particularly study supported with logic and reason. The intellect is used as a means of approaching reality. It is thus sometimes known as the paṇḍita's (scholar's) style of meditation. Note that there is a Sanskrit term, vicārabhāvanā, sometimes referred to in research for this Tibetan word, but according to the Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, it appears to be a back-translation or unattested Sanskrit equivalent.
| Term Variations | |
| Key Term | Dpyad sgom |
|---|---|
| Topic Variation | analytical meditation |
| Tibetan | དཔྱད་སྒོམ་ ( che gom) |
| Wylie Transliteration | dpyad sgom ( che gom) |
| Devanagari Sanskrit | विचारभावना ( vicharabavana) |
| Romanized Sanskrit | vicārabhāvanā ( vicharabavana) |
| Buddha-nature Site Standard English | analytical meditation |
| Karl Brunnhölzl's English Term | analytical meditation |
| Richard Barron's English Term | investigative meditation |
| Jeffrey Hopkin's English Term | analytical meditation |
| Ives Waldo's English Term | analytical investigation |
| Alternate Spellings | dbyad sgom |
| Term Information | |
| Source Language | Tibetan |
| Basic Meaning | Analytical meditation is a technique involving critical analysis that focuses the mind on a specific contemplation, such as impermanence. |
| Has the Sense of | The practical approach to gaining incontrovertible conceptual certainty is called analytical meditation or superior insight. (Brunnhölzl, The Center of the Sunlit Sky, 29)
"Another division of meditation is into “the analytical meditation of scholars” and “the resting meditation of mendicants,” or simply analytical meditation and resting meditation. The analytical meditation of scholars refers to the intellectual examination of all phenomena through reasoning. There are two key terms here: “discriminating knowledge” and “personally experienced wisdom.” The first step in this analytical meditation is to cultivate discriminating knowledge. This refers to all the levels of increasingly refined inferential valid cognition that are based on reasoning and developed through studying, reflecting, and meditating." (Brunnhölzl, The Center of the Sunlit Sky, 279) "The general scope of analytical meditation encompasses all of the teachings of the Buddha, starting from contemplating impermanence and the preciousness of human existence up through ascertaining the two kinds of identitylessness. Resting meditation includes all types of meditations in which the conclusions achieved through preceding investigation become absorbed by the mind." (Brunnhölzl, The Center of the Sunlit Sky, 281) |
| Further Explanation | Analytic meditation (dpyad sgom) is the style of meditation in which the person uses the faculty called prajñā (shes rab), which is the aspect of the intellect that can analyze things and decide on them as being this or that. Thus it is a faculty that is able to uncover deeper levels of the reality of phenomena. This style of meditation is the style of the practitioner who engages in study, particularly study supported with logic and reason. The intellect is used as a means of approaching reality. It is thus sometimes known as the paṇḍita's (scholar's) style of meditation. Note that there is a Sanskrit term, vicārabhāvanā, sometimes referred to in research for this Tibetan word, but according to the Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, it appears to be a back-translation or unattested Sanskrit equivalent. |
| Term Type | Noun |
| Definitions | |
| Rangjung Yeshe Dictionary | analytic meditation, analytic rational, inspective, investigative, examining, scrutinizing, analytical investigation, the examining meditation. |
| Tshig mdzod Chen mo | stong nyid sgom pa'i tshul zhig ste/ bdag med pa'i don la shes rab kyis so sor dpyad nas spros pa thams cad dang bral ba'i dbyings su mnyam par 'jog pa'o/ |
