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PREFACE
Ācārya Guņabhadra
Great austerities (tapa) result in great accomplishments (rddhi). How else could the master-ascetics of the distant past-pūrvācārya - assimilate and then compose grand and voluminous works that today generate awe and astonishment? Who among the readers of Jaina literature would not be familiar with the name of Ācārya Vīrasena, the composer of Dhavalā? Ācārya Vīrasena had several worthy disciples, notable among them being Ācārya Jinasena, the author of Adipurāņa, and Acārya Dasaratha. Acārya Gunabhadra, the author of Atmānuśāsana, was the worthy disciple of both of them. Each verse (gāthā, śloka) composed by the master-ascetics is a valueless jewel that has the power to enrich our lives beyond imagination. The only requirement to get the riches contained therein is to become a worthy recipient. One can only marvel at the quantum of work, running into tens of thousands of verses, that the three master-ascetics belonging to one lineage (vansa) could accomplish, without any appurtenances, in their lifetime, a millennium ago. Read this marvellous piece of information:*
...Gunabhadra along with his grand-teacher Vīrasena and his teacher Jinasena formed a continued and composite academic personality that ushered into existence as if for the purpose of completing three significant works of Indian literature, namely, Dhavala, Jayadhavala and Mahāpurāņa, which were too big and profound to be completed in one span of life by any one individual. ...Vīrasena had two pupils, Jinasena and Dasaratha, both of whom are claimed by Gunabhadra as his Gurus. ...After completing the Dhavalā commentary on the Şațkhandāgama in 72 thousand granthagras* in 816 A.D., Vīrasena took up the
Excerpted, in pieces, from A.N. Upadhye and H.L. Jain (1980), ‘Introduction' to “Gunabhadra's Ātmānusāsana”, p. 7-8; italicization,
and insertion of footnotes and diacritical marks are due to me * Verses - gāthā or śloka
(XVIII)
