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Doctrine of Gunasthana
THE Jaina philosophers have analysed the various stages through J. which spiritual perfection can be attained. They refer to fourteen stages through which the purity of soul-purity of existence and consciousness-is experienced. These stages are referred to as guṇasthānas. Sometimes the term 'states of virtue' is made use of to refer to the various steps through which the jīva ascends the ladder of life and reaches the summit of perfection. The temr 'states of virtue' is acceptable provided it is understood not in the limited sense of ethical or moral character-building, but in the deeper sense of aiming at and realizing spiritualization in one's life.
In terms of the ratna-traya doctrine : ultimately, spiritual perfection consists in the individual soul developing samyagdarśana, samyagjñāna and samyagcăritra. Every soul has the potentiality to 'get at all the three 'gems', but the potentiality becomes actualized gradually and, what is more important, through the individual's own initiative. We shall outline the various stages of the spiritual journey.
Stage 1: Mithyā-dysți-guņasthāna : In one sense this is not actually a stage in the soul's journey towards perfection. It represents the bottom-most step in the ladder. The soul in this stage is characterized by spiritual blindness. The individual's thought is devoid of any idea of truth and goodness. The stage represents the superstitious stage in that the individual is easily susceptible to believing as true any superficially attractive idea that is suggested. There is here a positive belief in wrong knowledge and darśanāva
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