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Johannes Bronkhorst
object 'the highest self' (paramätman) which consists of consciousness and bliss (cidanandamaya) and is without form (amurta). The suspicion of influence from similar forms of Hindu meditation seems justified. We find the same four kinds of meditation mentioned and similarly described in a number of texts, among them the Kubjikämata Tantra ch. 17-19, the Malinīvijayottara Tantra ch. 2 and 19, Abhinavagupta's Tantraloka (10.241f.), the Navacakreśvara Tantra (Mahaprajña, 1978: 9) and the Gurugită (vv. 119f.). Note that by adopting these forms of meditation the Jainas could interpret dharmya dhyana as a form of real 'meditation', not of 'thinking' (see section 1, above).
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(3) A far more drastic departure from the scriptures is made by Haribhadra in his Yogadrştisamuccaya. Haribhadra does not deny that what he writes goes beyond the scriptures:
This (kind of Yoga] called '[Yoga of] competence' is best; its means have been indicated in the scriptures [but] its range goes beyond them in matters of detail because of the abundance of energy. (v.5)
The precise causes leading to the state called siddhi are not in their totality correctly understood by the Yogins from the scriptures alone. (v. 6)
Haribhadra then proceeds to collect information on "this best form of Yoga" from "various works on Yoga," as he admits towards the end of his book (v. 207). The course of Yoga which he describes consists of eight stages. These stages are said to correspond with the eight stages mentioned in works by other authors, among them Patanjali.? All these stages cover of course far more than meditation alone, but even in the last stages nothing resembling the canonical descriptions of meditation shows up. Haribhadra's break with tradition is complete in this respect.
(4) Hemacandra's Yogaśästra constitutes a special case. Hemacandra describes traditional forms of meditation in chapters (prakäfa) 7 to 11. He follows here to a large extent earlier texts like, in particular, the Jñānāmṇava; this means that he includes forms of meditation such as pindastha, padastha, rūpastha and rūpätita. What makes Hemacandra special is his twelfth chapter. It begins with a verse which deserves to be quoted:
Remarks on the History of Jaina Meditation
What is learnt from the occan of scriptures [and] from the mouth of the teacher has here been completely shown; now [however] the pure truth as it has been obtained through experience will be explained,10
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From what follows in chapter 12 it is clear that something quite different from what precedes is introduced. Most noteworthy is Hemacandra's insistence on not using constraint. If one exerts no restraint on the mind it will reach peace, not otherwise:
Wherever the mind goes, don't restrain it from [going] there; for what is restrained becomes stronger, what is not restrained becomes peaceful.
The mind is like an elephant in rut, which becomes stronger when restrained with effort, but comes to peace after satisfying its needs without restraint.11
Nothing could better illustrate the remarkability of Hemacandra's views in the context of Jainism than the example of an elephant which must satisfy its sexual needs. Equally remarkable is verse 51, where Hemacandra expresses indifference concerning the question whether the result of these practices is liberation or not:
It may be liberation or not, but it certainly is the highest bliss, in which all forms of happiness appear as if nothing.12
The editor of the Yogaśāstra, Muni Jambuvijaya, has found very similar ideas, often expressed in virtually identical words, in a work entitled Amanaska Yoga, which is attributed to Gorakşa Nätha. It seems therefore that Hemacandra again introduced new practices into the Jaina tradition, be sides or perhaps rather instead of the traditional practices. These 'traditional' practices included in this case the additions made by such authors as Subhacandra.
4. These few examples must suffice to show that the history of Jaina meditation is not continuous. The canonical description which came to be held authoritative was itself the result of scholastic activity which had little understanding for the practice of meditation. Those later authors who had a practical interest in meditation felt free to work rather independently from the
