Book Title: Dhyana Battisi
Author(s): Jerome Petit
Publisher: Hindi Granth Karyalay

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Page 10
________________ defined by some authors of the 11th century: ' concentration on the mantra (padastha), concentration on five imaginary objects (pindastha), concentration on omniscient Arhat as spiritual models (rūpastha), concentration on the Self as consciousness and bliss, pure and formless (rūpātīta). These meditations, Banārasīdās says, are “beneficial” (hita-kārī), i.e. they help the practitioner in his progress and are to be linked with the “good” meditations that are Dharma- and Sukla-dhyāna opposed to the "bad" meditations that are Raudra- and Arta-dhyāna. These four categories of meditation defined by the Tattvārthasūtra have been adopted by all subsequent texts emphasizing on a particular category, depending on the authors. These categories were set by Banārasīdās himself (verses 19 to 33) by separating out the two subsets: on one side bad meditations (kudhyāna), which have unpleasant objects and have more to do with animal life, ? on the other side good meditations that the practitioner must follow. If he does not use the precise terms of the doctrine in his description of the categories of dhyāna, Banārasīdās follows the doctrinal development with precision. Meditation on the Painful is defined by the doctrine in four points: contact with what is unpleasant (amanojña-samprayoga), separation from what is pleasant (manojña-viyoga), sensation of suffering (vedanā), search of sensual Hemacandra gives a definition of dhyāna in the Yogaśāstra (VII-X). He replaces pindastha by the term śarīrastha. Subhacandra devotes an entire chapter of the Uñānārņava to each of the four categories of concentration (chapters 37 to 40) which are included in the dharma-dhyāna part (chapters 33 to 41). R. Williams quotes the Cāritrasāra of the Digambara Camundarāya (Jaina Yoga p. 240) 2 See N. Tatia, Studies in Jaina Philosophy, p. 281 n. 1. * See R. Williams p. 239.

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