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University Microfilms International 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 USA St. John's Road, Tyler's Green High Wycombe, Bucks, England HP10 8HR Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. MASTERS THESIS 13-10,919 6UNARATANA, Henepola A STUDY OF JAIN AND UPANISADIC MEDITATION FROM SELECTED TEXTS. The American University, M.A., 1977 Religion, history University Microfilms International^ Ann Arbor, Michigan48ioe 0 Copyright by HENEPOLA GUNARATANA All rights reserved 1 9 7 7 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A STUDY OF JAIN AND UPANISADIC MEDITATION FROM SELECTED TEXTS by Henepola Gunaratana Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Arts and Sciences of The American University in partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in History of Religion Signatures of Committee : Chairman; ~0/ Dean of the College 1977 The American University Washington, D. C. 20016 THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY LILRIH.Y 5 ‘'I S 'b Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 1 part I . UPANISADS Chapter I. The Religious Problem in the Upanisads and the Need for Release ............................... 3 I I . M editation .............................................. 17 III. The Threefold Method ................................................................... 28 PART I I . JAINISM IV. The Religious Problem in Jainism and the Need for Release ............................ 41 V. Meditation in the Jaina Sutras.... ....... .................................. 60 VI. Meditation in Yogabindu .................................................... 51 part I I I . VII. Conclusion.................. 104 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. INTRODUCTION To say anything about meditation in a comprehensive manner is almost impossible. In the various traditions of meditation certain metaphysical and phenomenological frameworks differ. There are also linguistic and terminological differences. One common term used in Indian meditation is yoga. It is used indiscriminately by all Indian meditation systems. Yoga, on the one hand, means to bind together and on the other, to liberate. It is in this second sense that I use the word. Both the Upanisads and Jainism equally share the belief that yoga is important to gain concentration, to destroy obsessions and to acquire supernormal powers. Interpretations of yoga, however, differ from religion to religion depending on doctrinal differences in each religion. The different ways in which liberation is gained constitute different yogas. This thesis is a study of the contribution of the meditation traditions of several major Upanisads and several Jaina texts. Both traditions have contributed to a huge volume of experiential accounts of meditation. However, I restrict my thesis to the Jaina Sutras and the Yogabindu of Haribhadrasuri of Jainism and Brhadlranyaka, Chandogya, Aitareya, T aittiriya, and Katha Upanisads. I narrow my field further to the theory and practice of the Jaina and Upanisadic traditions rather than to their historical development. The thesis has been divided into three parts. The first part contains three chapters on the Upanisads. The first chapter is The 1 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2 Religious Problem in the Upanisads and the Need for Release. The second chapter is Meditation, and the third is The Threefold Method. Part two consists of three chapters on Jainism. Chapter four is The Religious Problem in Jainism and the for Release; chapter five is Meditation in the Jaina Sutras and chapter six is Meditation in Yogabindu. Part three, chapter seven, is the Conclusion. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PART I UPANSADS CHAPTER I The Religious Problem in the Upanisads And the Need fo r R elease The main Upanisadic problem is the problem of discrimination of nirguna Brahman from saguna Brahman, jivitman from paramitman, maya from Reality and advaita from dvaita. In addition, man must find his place in this whole complexity of the Upanisadic view of the universe. He also needs to discover a way to communicate with Brahma or Brahman, Atman or atman, miyi or Reality. In this chapter I will bring out in some detail how selected Upanisads have answered these questions from a religious point of view. From these answers we will see that man cannot solve the basic problems by anything other than release from mâyâ, the individual soul, and karma which bind him to samsara. The knowledge of Reality liberates him from mâyâ; the knowledge of nirguna Brahman liberates him from the attachment to saguna Brahma; and the knowledge of paramatman liberates him from j ivitman and karma. I will concentrate on five Upanisads chat are relevant to the topic. These five Upanisads are the Brhadaranyaka, Chandogya, Aitareya, T aittiriya, and Katha. Occasionally, though, I will make a brief reference to the M aitri, Mundaka, ^vetisvatara and Kena Upanisads. 3 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 4 In the Upanisadic view Brahman has two aspects, manifested and unmanifested (saguna Brahman and nirguna Brahman); the soul has two aspects, such as individual soul and universal Soul (jIvatman and paramitman); reality has another apect which is illusion (mâyâ). The Upanisads have been interpreted in two ways, dualistic and non­ dualist ic. The main problem lies in this Upanisadic dichotomy. Brahman Nirguna Brahman means that original Reality which is without qualifying attributes or characteristics. It is also called Supreme Brahma (Para-Brahma). This means that Brahman is indescribable in any language because it has no personality, characteristic marks or attributes of any kind. Qualities or conditions limit a thing. As Brahman is unlimited no qualification can apply to Brahman. You could not see the seer of seeing. You could not hear the hearer of hearing. You could not think the thinker of thinking. You could not understand the understander of understanding. He is your soul which is in all things. He (Yâjnavâlkya) said: That, 0 Gargi, Brahman call the imperishable (aksara). It is not coarse, not fine, not short, not long,’not glowing (like fire), not adhesive (like water), without shadow and without darkness, without air and without space, without stickiness (intangible), odorless, tasteless, without eye, without ear, without voice, without mind, without energy, without breath, without mouth, (without personal or family name, unaging, undying, without fear, immortal, stainless, not uncovered, not covered), without measure, without inside and without outside. It consumes nothing so ever, no one soever consumes i t .^ ^Robert Ernest Hume, Trans. & ed., The Thirteen Principal Upanishads [sic], second edition, revised (Oxford University Press, London, Oxford, New York, 1975). First published 1921. Brhadaranyaka 3.4.2. 2ibid., 3,8.8. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Verily, 0 Gârgi, that Imperishable is the unseen Seer, the unheard Hearer, the unthought Thinker, the ununder­ stood Understander.3 These passages and other similar statements referring to Brahman a re not only d