Dhyāna sutras

Dhyāna sutras (C. chan jing 禪經) are a collection of Mahayana sutras which are mostly extant only in the Chinese canon. These texts are mostly based on the meditation teachings of the Sarvāstivāda school of Kashmir circa 1st-4th centuries CE. Most of the texts only survive in Chinese and were key works in the development of the Buddhist meditation practices of Chinese Buddhism.

Deleanu (1992) states:

The term dhyāna sūtra represents a reconstruction of the Chinese chan jing (禪經) which appears in the titles of a certain group of texts as well as in the writings of Chinese Buddhists of the early 5th century AD as Sengrui, Huiyuan, and Huiguan.

This group represents treatises or manuals of meditation belonging to or, at least, partly drawing their inspiration from Sarvastivada tradition.

And also:

Doctrinally, the dhyāna sūtras range from a basically orthodox Sarvastivada standpoint to a substantial compromise with Mahayana teachings and practices. In some cases, this compromise is so advanced that it is very difficult to make a distinction between such a text and a Samādhi sūtra (sanmei jing), which represents a purely Mahayanist scripture.

Notable texts in this category include:

• Zuochan sanmei jing ("Sutra on the Concentration of Sitting Meditation")
• Damoduoluo chan jing (“Dhyāna Sūtra of Dharmatrāta”)

Further reading

Web publications:

• Dhyāna sutras, Wikipedia
• 禪經 chan jing, Digital Dictionary of Buddhism (to sign in, see DDB sign-in)

Print publications:

• Deleanu, Florin (1992). Mindfulness of Breathing in the Dhyāna Sūtras. Transactions of the International Conference of Orientalists in Japan (TICOJ) 37, 42-57. PDF version
• Bhante Dhammadipa (2015), Kumārajīva's Meditataive Legacy in China, Spirituality Studies. PDF version