Facets of Jaina Religiousness in Comparative Light

Author(s): L M Joshi
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 16

THEMES OF SOTERIOLOGICAL REFLECTION
are not to be considered "pessimistic". The Jainas do not consider them so. On the contrary, they are called "pure cultivations" (bhavana dvadaka viśuddhah). They are a source of endless happiness to the good people, and therefore they are like mothers. unto them (bhaviya-janäṇanda-jaṇanio, bhavyajanānandajananiḥ).. They contribute in a significant manner to the attainment of final beatitude and ultimate release; therefore, they can be called soteriological or liberative reflections or meditations.
They subsume most of the fundamental doctrines of Jaina faith and philosophy. They represent some of the salient facts of our phenomenal existence. The concept of anupreksa is at once religious, philosophical and soteriological. The process of anupreksa involves cultivation of a philosophical attitude to phenomenal existence and prepares the practioner for his ultimate transcendental goal which is conceived as ineffable state of the self in its highest and purest form. Meditation on these themes constitutes a system of psychological training and ethical behaviour designed to clear the way to supreme sanctification of the self. Repeated reflection on the nature and function of these themes advances right knowledge and reveals not only the dangers and imperfections of phenomenal existence which is conditioned and miserable, but also the potentialities and opportunities offered by existence in human form. A wise man is he who has become aware of the urgency of effecting ultimate release and has embarked upon that career. The anuprekṣas offer a career for those saints whose will is fixed on ultimate release from karma in all its forms.
I. iv. SOME RELATED TERMS AND CONCEPTS
As has been mentioned above, several Jaina texts use the term bhāvanā for anupreksa. Cognates of anuprekṣa are found in Buddhist literature in Pali and Sanskrit, while bhāvanā is well known in its Buddhist usage. To Buddhist meditational terminology also belong two other important terms, namely smṛti and anusmrti. In this sec tion we will give some attention to these related terms which seem to throw additional light on the concept of anupreksa.
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Sheth gives four meanings of anupreksa, viz. cintana, bhavana, vicära, and svädhyāyavisega. Monier-Williams records only "anu-preksh, to follow with the eye","" In some Buddhist Sanskrit texts occurs the form anuprekşana,as which according to Edgerton, means "examination" or "investigation." ."29 Rhys Davids and Stede take notice of two
24. Prasamaratiprakaraṇa, verse 150.
25. Karttikeyanuprekṣā, verse 1.
26. Hargovind Das T. Sheth, Paia-Sadda-Mahannavo, p. 39.
27. Monier-Williams, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary, p. 36.
28. Mülasarvästivadavinayavastu, vol. I, p. 258.
29. Franklin Edgerton, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Dictionary, p. 31.