The History of Jaina Meditation

The essay argues that the confusing descriptions of meditation in Jaina canonical texts, such as the Āyāraṅga and Uttarajjhayaṇa, led to many discontinuities and innovations in the history of Jaina meditation. The term dhyāna (jhāna) is used for both meditative and non-meditative mental activity, and canonical lists of four types of dhyāna were typically misread as types of meditation. Only one type, "pure meditation," was considered truly meditative, but it was often thought to occur only in the last moments before death or to be inaccessible in the present age. Post-canonical writers like Hemacandra filled the resulting vacuum, sometimes drawing on experience and external influences.

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Abstract

This essay argues that the many discontinuities and innovations in the history of Jaina meditation stem from the confusing descriptions of meditation in canonical texts, including the Āyāraṅga and the Uttarajjhayaṇa. The term used to denote meditation, dhyāna (or jhāna), is also used for non-meditative mental activity, but canonical lists of four types of dhyāna were typically, and confusingly, read as types of meditation. The only truly meditative type of dhyāna in these lists, “pure meditation”, was often seen as occurring only in the last moments before death, and even came to be considered altogether inaccessible in the present age. The resulting vacuum was filled in different ways by various post-canonical writers, among them Hemacandra, sometimes basing themselves on experience and influence from sources outside Jainism.