Jains Today in World

SR No.: 001794
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Pirre Paul AMIEL
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith
Publication Year: 2008
Total Pages: 360
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, History, Religion, E000, & E005
File Size: 24 MB

Page 264

Their Ascetics : 219
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The meditations (anupreksā)
To maintain their religious status, Jains ascetics must also practice twelve kinds of meditations (anuprekșă). These concern: transitory character of earthly goods (anitya), lack of protection of the "jiva” in this world (asarana), mundaneness (saṁsāra), loneliness (ekatva), separateness (anyatva), impurity of the body (aśucı), inflow of “karma” (āsrava), its stoppage (samvara), its elimination or shedding (nirjarā), structure of the universe and its elements (loka), difficulty to obtain right knowledge, right conduct and right faith or vision (bodhidurlabha), benefits of Jain religious tenets for liberating the soul, and one's own responsibility for one's faults. (dharma). These meditations may be made with the help of a “maņdala “or a “yantra”. Among Digambara monks they also serve to sublimate their sexual energy and among some Svetāmbara to canalise it by worshipping Malli as a female Tirthankara or some other "yakṣī” (goddesses) within the framework of symbolic tantric practices leading to ecstasy. Many Jain ascetics also use various "yantra” in their meditations, in order to impel favourable events and to fend the opposite.
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The conduct (căritra)
Jain monks and nuns must practice five kinds of conduct (cāritra) to attain spiritual discipline and right behaviour. These are: equanimity (sāmāyika), recovery of equanimity after a fall from it (chcdopasthāpanā), pure and absolute abstention of violence (parihāra-viśuddhi), absolute absence of passion (sūkşma-samparāya) and ideal and passionless conduct (yathākhyāta-căritra).
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The victories over hardships (parişaha-jaya)
Jain ascetics to remain steady on the path of salvation and to destroy karmic matter, must conquer twenty-two kinds of hardships (parīşaha-jaya): hunger (kṣudhā), thirst (pipāsā), cold (śīta), heat