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Sec. 3. SOME PROBLEMS IN THE T. S.
anuttaram jhā:11-varam jhiyāi/susukka-sukkamapaganda-sukkam samkh-imdu-egamtavadāyasukkam anuttaraggam paramam mahesi asesa-kammam sa visohaittā/siddhim gae sāimarın'a-pilte nā?era sileri ya damsarana.' Hire is hovering a traditional belief that the fire of pure meditation burbs up the last karmas without residue, and the concept of the last two stages of śukla dhyāna must have been developed from these passages. Mahāvīra adopted dhyāna praxis along with the other severe penances, which were the common practices pursued in the then śramanic circles, and he is often narrated to have been engaged in contemplation in the earliest part of the canon, for instance, in the Ācārānga I. 9. 512 and 520. And when dhyana or yoga came to be sanctioned as the direct method of achieving moksa in the other religious systems, the Sutrak fta passages above must have won an invariable position in the Jaina scheme of dhyāna as the immediate cause for the final release.
Jumbling these elements together, the Jainas also developed their own classification of dhyāna. The fourfold divisions of dhyāna accompanied by the fourfold subdivision's each are enumerated in the Bhagavati 25.8.802, Sthāna 4.1.308 and Aupāpatika 19, the contents of the former two texts of which are exactly identical. These texts talk about laksını regarding the subdivisions of ārta and raudra dhyānas, and laksana, ālambana and anuprek$ā regarding the subdivisions of dharma and sukla dhyānas, which are disregarded in the treatment of dhyāna in the T.S. On the other hand, the T.S. adds in contribution two main new features, namely, the definition of dhyāna and the dhyātāts' gradation in the scheme of guṇasthāpas.
Dhyana is defined in IX:21, .uttama-samlananasyaikāgra-cintă-nirodho dhyānam', of wbich duration is stated in the succeeding sūtra 28, 'ā mubūrtāt'. These two aphorisms are combined into one in the text of Pujyapāda, 'uttama-smhananasyaikāgra. cintă-nirodho dhyanam ā antarmuhurtāt (27)'. The definition of dhyāna offered by Umāsvāti thus includes three different categories, i.e. its definition proper, the physical prerequisite of a dhyālā and the duration of dhyāna. The source of its time duration is difficult to be traced in the canonical code, and it was likely formulated by Umāsvāti against the different views held by the other schools. The requirement of the best joints for dhyātās is likewise absent in the Agamic source, which must have been again offered by Umāsvāti with the dhyātās of the highest stages in mind. The Bhāsya understands 'uttam 1-3amı inana' to mean the first two divisions of joints, i.e., vajra-rsubha-nārāca and ardha-vajra-nārāca, which is extended to the third division of joints called nārāca in the Sirvärthasiddhi. Dhyana is defined as 'ekāgra-cinta-oirodhaḥ' which is said in the Bhāşya to denote two separate contents, i, e., ekāgra-cintā and birodha, but to denote one content in all the other commentaries on the T. S. in both traditions 18. We shall see how this definition of dbyāna was formulated by Umāsvāti.
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