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TATTVĀRTHA SŪTRA
(1) This state of a wandering omniscient having been designated dhyānāntarikī—that is, a state devoid of all dhyānathe possibility of no dhyāna whatsoever is admitted in its case.
(2) The firm endeavour pertaining to the activities of manas, speech and body that is undertaken in this state has itself been admitted to be the dhyāna characteristic of this state.
The Time-Limit :
Any of the above dhyāna-types can last for a period of antarmuhūrta at the most; and since it is difficult to prolong a dhyāna beyond this period an antarmuhūrta is said to be the timelimit of a dhyāna.
According to some, dhyāna consists in an absolute cessation of all inbreathing and outbreathing; according to others, it consists in measuring duration according to mātrā'. But neither of these views is acceptable to the Jaina tradition. Its argument is that if inbreathing and outbreathing cease altogether then the body itself will succumb in the end; hence on its view the act of breathing, however slow, does proceed during the state of dhyāna. Similarly, it argues that when a person measures duration according to mātrā then his mind is busy conducting so many operations connected with measurement that he would in all probability, be a distracted rather then a concentrated self. Likewise, the popular notion that dhyāna might well be prolonged for a day, a month or a still longer period is not acceptable to the Jaina tradition. The reason suggested is that if dhyāna is prolonged for a much long period then the danger is that the indriyas might suffer damage—which is why it is difficult to prolong dhyāna beyond antarmuhūrta. And when it is said that
1. The time required to pronounce a short vowel a, i, etc. is called mātrā. And when a consonant is pronounced without the accompaniment of a vowel the time required is half a mātrā. Now if somebody develops the practice of recognizing a mātrā long or half a mātrā long period of time and then measures the duration of other activities in terms of mātrās and half-matras that is called measuring duration according to mātrā.
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