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CHAPTER THREE
After he had praised the Blessed One this way, he withdrew with a respectful step, and he and the crowd of men and women stood behind Maghavan. So the fourfold congregation remained on the ground within the upper wall of the samavasaraṇa from devotion, as if engaged in meditation Animals, groups of serpents, etc., were within the middle wall like friends of each other, their hostility abandoned. Within the third wall were the riding-animals of the gods, asuras, and humans who had come to attend the Master. Then the Blessed Ajita Svāmin began a sermon with speech extending a yojana, and conforming to every dialect.
Sermon on dharmadhyāna (437–810) “ This samsāra devoid of merit is considered to have merit, just as glass is considered to be cat's-eye, by the simple-minded, alas! Samsāra grows from creatures' manifold karma which is produced every instant, like a tree from pregnancy whims. By the non-existence of karma the non-existence of samsāra logically arises. Therefore, every intelligent person must always strive for the destruction of karma. The destruction of karma is from good meditation, and that meditation is four-fold : on ājñā, apāya, vipāka, and saṁsthāna.219 Ājñā is the teaching of the Arhats, and it is established as two-fold ; of these the first is āgama and the second hetuvāda. Agama 220 is that which gives knowledge from the words only of the categories. Hetuvāda is named from conformity with another authority.221 There is equal authority of these two from agreement because of the characterization of ' authority' as 'originating from a source free from any fault.' The faults-love, hate, delusion-do not exist in
219 440. These are the divisions of dharmadhyāna. See I, n. 8. 220 442. I.e., the canon of scriptures.
221 442. I.e., when a statement in a else, such as a reference to a book on medicine, that constitutes hetuvāda. See I, 7. 8.
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