AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF MEDITATION IN JAIN PHILOSOPHY

Summary

The purity of the leshya is crucial for elevating consciousness, and meditation serves as a key method for its purification in Jain spiritual practice. Lord Mahavir's life exemplifies various meditation experiments, although detailed discussions on meditation in Jain Agama texts are scarce. While some references exist, such as the Dhyana-Vibhakti, much of the available material is fragmented. Special meditation practices enable seekers to access profound knowledge, including insights from ancient texts.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The elevation of consciousness depends on the purity of the leshya. Whenever there is impurity in the leshya, our consciousness moves towards degradation. Meditation has been considered as an important method of purification of leshya-vishuddhi in many ways like self-study, penance etc. in the Jain spiritual practice. Lord Mahavir's whole life has been an experiment ground for special experiments of meditation and penance. We get a brief glimpse of this subject in the 9th chapter of the Acharanga Sutra. Lord Mahavir has briefly discussed his meditation experiments in Bhagwati Sutra on Gandhar Gautam's inquiry. Lord Mahavira is praised as the best meditator in the Sutrakritanga Sutra – AnuttaramJhanvaramJhiyai. In Jain Agama texts, we do not find any such Agama text in which meditation has been discussed in detail. Presenting the list of Agamas, Nandi Sutrakar has mentioned an independent book named Dhyana-Vibhakti, but at present that book is unavailable. Today, the material available to us about meditation in the Agamas and their interpretation literature is only in a scattered form. At many places in the Agamas, the adjective "meditation" of sages has been used. Only for the attainment of knowledge, the location in Shukladhyan has been said to be essential. The specific knowledge of the former is also attained only when the seeker acquires the ability to ascend into specific roles of meditation. Due to special meditation, the seeker can reflect the vast amount of knowledge of the fourteen Purvas in AntarMuhurt. The use of the word Samvardhyanayoga is also available to us in ancient literature. This research article is focused on meditation in Jain philosophy