Facets of Jaina Religiousness in Comparative Light

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

Page 20

THEMES OF SOTERIOLOGICAL REFLECTION kiriyāya, yadidam cattaro satipatthana).43
The theory of smrtyupasthāna (satipatthāna) indeed offers an interesting parallel to the theory of anuprekşā or bhāvanā. The four great 'fields of mindfulness' are the body (kāya), feelings (vedanā), mind (citta), and the phenomena (dharmas). These four fields of mindfulness are in fact four themes of soteriological contemplation. A complete system of meditation and ascetic practice based on the philosophy of smộtyupasthāna has been developed in classical Buddhism.13 The purpose of this system of meditation is the cultivation of ascetic spirituality which reaches its culmination in Ultimate Holiness (anuttara visuddhi).
Closely connected with the conception of smrti and the theory of meditation is the Buddhist practice of anusmrti (Pali anussati). This word means 'recollection'; however, insofar as anusmrti is functionally similar to smrti and dhyāna, it can also be translated as 'contemplation' or 'meditation'. The practice of anusmrti is specially concerned with Buddhist devotional exercises which are a means of growing in religiousness.
A considerable degree of similarity exists between Buddhist anusmrtis and Jaina anuprekşās. This similarity is both theoretical and functional or practical. It is not claimed that the scope of the theory and practice of anuprekşās is co-extensive with the theory and practice of anusmrti. What is suggested here is that like the practice of anuprekşas the practice of anusmrti belongs to a soteriological technique which is common to Buddhism and Jainism; and that there is an unmistakable similarity in the nature and function of several of the themes of meditation listed under smrtis and anusmộtis on the one hand, and anuprekşās or bhāvanās on the other. It is, of course, noteworthy that the precise contexts and actual details of treatment of these themes in Buddhist and Jaina texts record important differences.
The ten anusmrtis or subjects of soteriological meditation are as follows: 1. Meditation on the Omniscient (buddhānussati) 2. Meditation on the Doctrine (dhammānussati) 3. Meditation on the Holy Order (sanghānussati) 4. Meditation on Morality (silānussati) 5. Meditation on Liberality (cāgānussati) 6. Meditation on the Gods (devatānussati) 7. Meditation on Death (marana-sati) 8. Meditation on the Body (kāyagatā-sati)
42. Dighanikāya, vol. II (Nalanda edition), p. 217; Majjhimanikāya, vol. I (Nalanda edition), p. 76. 43. The basic Pali text and its Commentary can be read in Soma Thera's English Translation in The
Way of Mindfulness (3rd edition). For an excellent modern discussion see Har Dayal, The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature, pp. 82-101.