Tradition

Jain meditation

Overview

Jain meditation (Sanskrit: ध्यान, dhyana) includes various practices of reflection and meditation. While Jainism considers yoga and dhyana as necessary practices, it has never been a fully developed practice, but "an adjunct to austerity" to still mental and physical activity. According to the Jain-canon, the only means to attain liberation is sukla-dhyāna, but essential knowledge of dhyana may have been lost early in the Jain-tradition, and the Tattvārtha-sūtra (2nd-5th c. CE) "states that pure meditation (sukla-dhyāna, e.g. samadhi) is unattainable in the current time-cycle." Nevertheless, sāmāyika (equanimity) is an essential practice in Jainism.

The oldest descriptions of Jain yoga and meditation can be found in the Acaranga Sutra (300 BCE), which describes the solitary ascetic meditation of Mahavira. It mentions Trāṭaka (fixed gaze) meditation, and uses the phrase "kāyaṃ vosajjamaṇgāre" (ĀS1, 9.3.7.), "an ascetic who has given up the body," which may be an early reference to Kayotsarga, "giving up the body," an essential Jain meditative practice, in which one stands motionless, signifying the death of the body, achieving tranquility and purity of mind, resembling the three limbs of dharana, dhyana, and samadhi of Patanjali's eight limb yoga. The Sutrakritanga (2nd c. BCE) mentions preksha (self-observation), and states that "the ultimate means for emancipation are dhyana, yoga and titiksa (tolerance). It also states that yoga and meditation can be completed by kayotsarga.

Texts attributed to a Kundakunda (collective authorship, ca. 450 to 1150 CE) incorporated samkhya, Buddhist and Advaita Vedanta influences. The 8th century Jain philosopher Haribhadra wrote the Yogadṛṣṭisamuccaya, developing his own unique system that "depart[ed] from the scriptures," assimilating many elements from Patañjali's Yoga-sūtra into his new Jain yoga. The 20th century saw the development and spread of new modernist forms of Jain dhyana, including prekṣā-dhyāna of the Śvētāmbara Terāpanth-sect, which sought to rediscover Jain meditation; and the stress on direct recognition the self or atman by various teachers, and by Digambara lay-movements who are inspired by texts attributed to a Kundakunda (450-1100 CE).

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

Possible passages

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Life is one of these hallucinations and death is its counterpart. Joy is one part of these hallucinations, and misery the other part, and so on. What have you to do with life or death? These are all creations of the mind. This is called giving up desires of enjoyment either in this life or another.
Swami Vivekananda, Jnâna Yoga, Part II
States what Jain meditation is.
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Now this same belief is at the basis of the rites which have just been observed. Of course, it is understood differently at the different moments of history when it is studied. For the Christian, it acts especially upon the soul: it purges it, ennobles it, spiritualizes it. For the Australian, it is the body over which it is efficient: it increases its vital energies; it makes its beard and hair grow; it toughens…
Émile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
States what Jain meditation is.
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This is done two ways. First, by keeping the idea which is brought into it, for some time actually in view, which is called CONTEMPLATION. 2. Memory. The other way of retention is, the power to revive again in our minds those ideas which, after imprinting, have disappeared, or have been as it were laid aside out of sight.
John Locke, An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Volume 1
States what Jain meditation is.
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Philosophers who discussed Jain meditation

Yogadṛṣṭisamuccaya

Related ideas

Place in the tradition

Part of Yoga.

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