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JAINA PSYCHOLOGY
away from the people in a forest or in a cave and to sit crosslegged always thinking on a particular object. He should practice love and compassion in which he is to regard all sentient beings as his brothers. He should also practice the method of counting the number of his inspirations and expirations. After these practices he may attain the state of meditation proper. The following are the four stages of meditation: 'He concentrates his mird upon a single thought. Gradually his soul becomes filled with a super-natural serenity, while his mind still reasons upon and investigates the subject chosen for contemplation: this is the first jhāna called vitakka. Still fixing his thoughts upon the same object, he then frees his mind from reasoning and investigation, while the ecstasy and serenity remains, and this is the second jhāna vicāra; next his thoughts still fixed as before, he divests himself of ecstasy and attains the third ihāna sukham, which is a state of tranquil serenity. Lastly, he passes to the fourth jhāna in which the mind exalted and purified is indifferent to all emotions alike of pleasure and pain called upekkhä'.
This is a brief description of mental control in accordance with the Buddhist conception of meditation. With this background in mind, let us estimate a comparative value of the Jaina view of the means and conditions necessary for a successful control of the activities of the mind, speech, and body that leads to the ultimate and highest purification of the self which, in other words, is necessarily conditioned by the complete cessation of the inflow as well as the utter annihilation of the accumulation of karmic matter.
The following are the conditions needed for the consummation of the stoppage and control of the inflow of karmic matter which is due to the three-fold activities of thought, speech, and bodily modifications:3 (1) Self-regulation, (2) moral virtue, (3) contemplation, (4) conquest of affliction, (5) auspicious conduct, and (6) austerity. The last condition is meant for both the stoppage of inflow and the annihilation of the accumulated karmic matter.
1 Yoga Philosophy, p. 342. 2 Ibid., p. 343. 3...... samitidharmānuprekşāparişahajayacāvitrai”.
Tapasā nirjară ca. Tattvārtha-sūtra, IX, 2-3.
