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APPENDIX 4:PURIFICATION STAGES AND A GAME OF SNAKES AND LADDERS
The present author has invented a modified form of the game of snakes and ladders to represent the key transitions between the purification stages (see Figure A.4.1). The playing board has sixteen squares and moves are made after tossing a coin: a 'tail scores 1 and a 'head' scores 2. The first two squares on the board represent lower life and higher life in the animal kingdom respectively.
At square 3 we have the human form ready to ascend from its first stage, step by step, to the higher stages. The rules of the game are:(a) to begin a tail must be thrown; (b) at square 2 a tail must be thrown: this takes the player to
square 3 and hence up the ladder to stage (3). Note that it is not permitted to move from square 2 to square 4 by throwing a 'head'. The player can only occupy square 4 by arriving at stage (7) and falling down the snake. The end of the game must be exact, i.e. a player on stage (13) must throw a 'tail.
In view of the case of a Mahavira's disciple (Ănanda) it is possible to take a ladder from stage (5) to stage (8), i.e. without passing through the stage of being a monk. In general, the game emphasises where progress (ladders) can occur where downfalls (snakes) can take place. Once stage 12 has been reached one can always reach stage (14) and then attain moksa.
