Asian Traditions of Meditation

by Halvor Eifring

  Figure 4.12. The cakra of the subtle body corresponding to the circuits of the yantra. Image courtesy of Madhu Khanna.

  In a special method of meditation practiced by advanced adepts, under the guidance of a guru, the adept learns to achieve union between the Kuṇḍalinī of the microcosm (piṇḍa) and the macrocosm (brāhmaṇḍa). These affinities are struck in the subtle body by meditation on its cakras and by finding correlations and similarities between the subtle body and the totality of the cosmos. The inner cakras may be meditated upon in turn with the aid of an external yantra. A common practice, however, is to equate the circuits of the yantra with the body cakras.

  In an authoritative text devoted to Śakti worship, the cakras of the subtle body are related to the nine enclosures of the Śrīyantra as follows:10

  Śrīyantra Cakra

  1. Outer square (Trailokyamohana)

  Mūlādhāra (root cakra)

  2. Sixteen-petaled lotus (Sarvāśāparipūraka)

  Svādhiṣṭhāna (cakra below the navel)

  3. Eight-petaled lotus (Sarvasaṅkshobana)

  Maṇipūra (navel cakra)

  4. Fourteen-angled figure (Sarvasāubhāgyadāyaka)

  Anāhata (heart cakra)

  5. Ten-angled figure (Sarvārthasādhaka)

  Viśuddha (throat cakra)

  6. Ten-angled figure (Sarvarakṣākara)

  Ājñā (cakra between the eyebrows)

  7. Eight-angled figure (Sarvaroghara)

  Brahmarandhra (cakra of palate)

  8. Triangle (Sarvasiddhiprada)

  Brahman (cakra of the Supreme)

  9. Bindu (Sarvānandamaya)

  Sahasrāra (cakra of space)

  In such meditations, the Śrīyantra can be viewed as a composite image of the psycho-cosmos.

  Other homologies are drawn between the subtle body and the Śrīyantra. In the Śrīyantra’s three-dimensional form, for instance, when it is known as Meru (after Mount Meru, the mythical axis of the earth), its nine circuits are divided into three elevations that match the scheme of the subtle body, whose cakras can also be divided into triads (see figure 4.13). Alternatively, three cakras, each containing the liṅga emblem of the male principle, are seen as marking the three levels corresponding to the three elevations of the Meru form of the Śrīyantra:

  Meru Form of the Śrīyantra Cakra Deity Liṅga Emblem

  1. A square and two lotus rings

  Mūlādhāra (root) Brahmā = creation Svayambhū liṅga

  2. A fourteen- and two ten-angled figures

  Anāhata (heart) Viṣṇu = preservation Bāṇa liṅga

  3. An eight-angled figure, a triangle, and a bindu

  Ājñā (eyebrows) Śiva = destruction Itara liṅga

  These cakras are called “knots” (granthi) and are nodes where the transformation of the adept is said to take place. They are associated with the earthly desires and passions to be overcome during the process of Kuṇḍalinī yoga.

  Figure 4.13. The three elevations of the Śrīyantra (left) and the three corresponding planes of the body-cosmos (right). Image courtesy of Madhu Khanna.

  Meditation without Visual Aids

  Meditation on the yantra takes the more subtle and advanced form when it consists of inner illumination, a method of meditation without any yogic, ritual, or visual aids.

  In the early phases of the practice, the devotee is instructed in the iconic images of deities. Later, even yāntric symbols are discarded, and worship becomes highly abstract, subtle, and esoteric. It is at this stage that meditation on internal yantras composed of simple graphic symbols is performed. This technique is divulged only to those practitioners who have been through all of the primary stages of practice (sādhanā), and is attained after a long and arduous training under the strict instruction of highly advanced gurus. The authorities of the discipline state that all of the ritual offerings made in the external form of worship are spontaneously present in the interior form, and it is for this reason that in many texts the contemplative experience is called “mental oblation” (antaryajña).

  The whole process of mental oblation is described in the Kaulāvalīnirṇaya,11 an authoritative work of the Kaula sect of Tantrism. After preliminary purifying rites, the devotee builds up, in deep concentration, a square yantra enclosed by three concentric circles. In the center of the square, he visualizes the emblem of the yoni (a half moon and a bindu). The square symbolizes the vessel of consciousness (cit-kuṇḍa) in which burns the fire of consciousness, and into this symbolic fire the adept “surrenders” all of his mental offerings. The devotee first makes an offering of his impulses, then his senses, his selfhood, his acts, both good and evil, and finally his entire inner and outer self, which is simply a variant of the thirty-six cosmic principles of which the universe is composed (see figure 4.1). Through this unconditional surrender, the adept dissolves every bond with outer life. This mental offering of his entire being is the prelude to new birth. The devotee apprehends the true nature of the absolute principle as void, the undifferentiated ultimate ground of reality. He is then said to become indistinguishable from the vessel into which the symbolic oblations were offered: in this final stage, his entire being is perfectly assimilated with the cosmos. The act of offering is Brahman, the reality of the offering is Brahman, the person offering is Brahman.

  The essential difference between the outer form of yantra worship (pūjā) and inward meditation through yāntric symbols is that the former produces mental states that are like “seeds” for the future workings of consciousness, while the latter is “without seed” (nirbīja), in the sense that the adept no longer needs to work upon himself, as he has reached the highest stage of perfection, where no kārmic seeds will fructify or impel him to perform any form of worship. This is the highest grade of spiritual attainment, called Sahaja-avasthā, a state of consciousness in which oneness with the Absolute is experienced spontaneously and naturally, the ontological plenitude in which being, knowledge, and bliss are inseparable and indistinguishable.

  The culmination of yantra meditation is reached when the devotee begins to internalize the centered bindu in the yantra as an inner, still center. The spiritual experience of the bindu marks the end of spiritual involution. The “bindu state” experience is unique. Psychically, it implies the practitioner’s awareness of his wholeness, which is spontaneously discovered through inward illumination. All of the outward-directed energies of the phenomenal ego are brought together to an inward state of rest and unity by the ultimate realization of the oneness of Śiva and Śakti. Neutrality of the senses has superseded the creative play of Māyā Śakti, and she is now the silent seer, no longer attached to the world of phenomena. In this state, the adept neither laughs nor weeps, neither loves nor hates, for he has transcended all dualities. The adept attains precisely the state, mentally and spiritually, that the symbol of the bindu of the yantra denotes, an ideal mind point, the balancing of all polarities. But this is not the end; the aspirant is still to soar beyond the bindu state to merge with the Void—the primordial plenitude of Śiva-Śakti in oneness.

  This highest stage of spiritual absorption (samādhi) achieved through yantra ritual worship and meditation is not susceptible to any verbal analysis. It is contemplated in absolute silence: “Higher than the original syllable is the point, the echo higher than this; the syllable vanishes with the sound, the highest state is silent.”12 This is the state of identity attained through holding on firmly to the awareness that “I am” the universe, which is nondifferent from Śiva and Śakti in union.

  At this stage, all external aids, such as yantras and mantras, have become like shadows. In the most advanced form of internal meditation, when ecstasy bordering on trance has been reached, even the inner yantra is regarded as obsolete, serving no spiritual purpose. The yogi engaged in samādhi cannot be controlled by yantra or mantra; he is beyond the power of all corporeal beings. At this stage, the yantra is abandoned and may be passed to another devotee or i
mmersed in holy water. For the adept has internalized the truth of the cosmos mirrored in the yantra in his own being.

  Notes

  1. Sastri, “Tripurā Upaniṣad,” 1–10; for discussion on the theme, see Brooks, Secret of the Three Cities, 80–81.

  2. Avalon, Kulārṇava Tantra, chap. V, 86; ch. XVII, 154.

  3. For a detailed discussion on the two kramas of the Śrīyantra, see Khanna, “Sṛṣṭi and Saṃhāra,” 255–266.

  4. For the ontology supporting the Śrīyantra, see Avalon, Kāmakalāvilāsa; Dvivedi, Nityaṣoḍaśīkārṇava, chap. 1, 28–45; and Kavirāja, Yoginīhṛdaya, part 1, verses 2–15.

  5. For a detailed exposition of the ritual worship of Śrīyantra, see Khanna, “Concept and Liturgy,” parts II and III.

  6. Singh, Vijñānabhairava, verse 146.

  7. Sastry, “Śrīlalitācatuṣṣasṭyupacāra samgrahaḥ,” verses 1–26.

  8. Rao, Bhāvanopaniṣat. The text in its first recension (edited by A. Mahadeva Shastri and K. Rangacharya) was published in 1896 by Government Oriental Library, Mysore; in 1925 by Adyar Library Bulletin, Adyar Madras; in 1917 by Nirnaya Sugar Press, Bombay (edited by W. L. Pansikar). A newer version, along with the Prayogavidhi, has been published in Sarasvatī, Śrīvidyā-ratnākaraḥ, 497–509, which we have followed. To my knowledge, this exclusive form of meditative practice has not been commented upon by John Woodroffe.

  9. For a detailed exposition on Kuṇḍalinī Śakti, see Bhattacharya, Srītattvacintāmaṇi, chap. VI, 183–210; Avalon, Serpent Power; and Tripathi, Śāktānandatāraṅginī, chaps. I and IV.

  10. Sastri, “Saubhāgyalakṣmī Upaniṣad,” chap. III, 1–9.

  11. Avalon, Kaulavalīnirṇaya, chap. III, verse 103.

  12. Dhyānabindu Upaniṣad, cited in Deussen, Philosophy of the Upanishads, 392.

  Bibliography

  Avalon, Arthur, ed. Kāmakalāvilāsa by Puṇyānanda with Comm. Cidvalli by Naṭnānandanātha. Madras: Ganesh and Company, 1953.

  ———. Kaulavalīnirṇaya of Jñānānanda Paramhaṃsa. Calcutta: University Press, 1928.

  ———. Kulārṇava Tantra. Madras: Ganesh and Company, 1965.

  ———. The Serpent Power, Being the Sat-Cakra-Nirupana and Pāduka-Pañcaka, Two Works on Laya-Yoga, Translated from the Sanskrit, with Introduction and Commentary. New York: Dover Publications, 1974.

  Bhattacharya, Chintamani, ed. Srītattvacintāmaṇi of Pūrnānanda. Critically Edited from Original Manuscripts (Chapters I–XVIII) with an Original Commentary by Bhuvanamohan Sankhyatirtha and (Chapters XIX–XXVI) with Notes by Chintamani Bhattacharya. Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass, 1994.

  Brooks, Douglas Renfrew. The Secret of the Three Cities: An Introduction to Hindu Śākta Tantrism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.

  Deussen, Paul. The Philosophy of the Upanishads. New York: Dover Publications, 1966.

  Dvivedi, V. V., ed. Nityaṣoḍaśīkārṇava with Comms. Ṛjuvimarśinī by Śivānanda and Artharatnāvalī by Vidyānanda. Varanasi: Varanaseya Sanskrit Viśvavidyālaya, 1968.

  Kavirāja, Gopinātha, ed. Yoginīhṛdaya with Two Sansk. Comms. Dīpikā by Amṛtānanda-nātha and Setubandha by Bhāskararāya. Sanskrit Bhavana Granthamālā 7. Varanasi, India: Varanaseya Sanskrit Viśvavidyālaya, 1963.

  Khanna, Madhu. “The Concept and Liturgy of the Śrīcakra Based on Śivānanda’s Trilogy.” PhD thesis, Oxford University, 1986.

  ———. “Sṛṣṭi and Saṃhāra: Dinergic Order in the Symbolism of the Śrīcakra.” In Ṛta: The Cosmic Order, edited by Madhu Khanna, 255–266. New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts / D. K. Printworld, 2004.

  Rao, S. K. Ramachandran, ed. Bhāvanopaniṣat with Commentary by Bhāskararāya. Bangalore: Kalpatharu Research Academy, 2002.

  Sarasvatī, Harihārananda, Śrīvidyā-ratnākaraḥ. Edited by Dattatreyānandanātha, 5th ed. Varanasi: Sādhanā Pītha, 2000.

  Sastri, A. Mahadev, ed. The Śākta Upanisads. Adyar, Madras: Adyar Library, 1950.

  ———. “Saubhāgyalakṣmī Upaniṣad.” In Sastri, Śākta Upanisads, 54–66.

  ———. “Tripurā Upaniṣad.” In Sastri, Śākta Upanisads, 35–40.

  Sastry, K. P. Narayana, ed. Sri Lalitāmahātripurasundarī Yāgakramaḥ by Bhāskararāya. Bangalore: Sri Chamarajendra Sanskrit College, 1956.

  ———. “Śrīlalitācatuṣṣasṭyupacāra samgrahaḥ.” In Sastry, Srilalitāmahātripurasundarī, 1–3 (after p. 18).

  Singh, Jaideva, ed. Vijñānabhairava or Divine Consciousness—A Treasury of 112 Types of Yoga. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1979.

  Tripathi, Rajanatha, ed. Śāktānandatāraṅginī of Brahmanandagiri. Yogatantra Granthamālā. Vol. 2. Varanasi, India: Sampūrṇānanda Sanskrit University.

  5 JOHANNES BRONKHORST

  The History of Jaina Meditation

  The history of Jaina meditation reveals a number of discontinuities and innovations that show that there was much uncertainty with regard to the way in which Jaina monastics (and perhaps lay followers) were supposed to meditate, or whether they were supposed to meditate at all.1 Authors were confronted with canonical guidelines that were difficult to make sense of, and more than once felt free to deviate from these guidelines; they even went to the extent of borrowing elements from non-Jaina schools of meditation. This chapter will consider some examples.

  Canonical Meditation

  The difficulties had started early. The canonical texts of the largest sect of Jainism, Śvetāmbara, contain very little information about meditation. The information they do contain can be summarized as follows.2

  The earliest road to liberation that is still discernible in the texts, especially in the Āyāraṅga, is a direct response to the idea that suffering is the result of activity. The evil effects of activity are avoided by renouncing activity. In this way no new karma is bound by the soul, and karma that has already been bound is destroyed, as the Uttarajjhayaṇa (29.37/1139) explains. Renouncing activity is done in a most radical way, culminating in motionlessness until death. Motionlessness of the mind is but one aspect of this, which does not receive much attention in the old texts. One early passage (Uttarajjhayaṇa 29.72/1174) speaks of a “pure meditation” (sukkajjhāṇa; Skt. śukla dhyāna) that is entered when less than the time of a muhūrta is left of life.3 In this “pure meditation” only subtle activity remains initially; then—after the activities of mind, speech, and body, including breathing, have been stopped—the monk is in “pure meditation” in which all activity has been cut off, and in which the last remains of karma are being destroyed. The ninth (sometimes considered the eighth) chapter of Āyāraṅga 1 indicates that meditation (jhāṇa; Skt. dhyāna) was not confined to the last moments before death. Mahāvīra is here said to meditate “day and night.” He is also said to meditate on objects in the external world.

  Beside these few early passages, there are more extensive descriptions in later classificatory (but still canonical) texts. These texts enumerate how many kinds of this or that chosen item there are. In conformity with this goal, they enumerate everything that can be covered by the term jhāṇa (Skt. dhyāna). This is much more than “meditation” alone; “thinking” or mental activity in general is also covered.4 The resulting enumeration contains four types of dhyāna: (i) afflicted (aṭṭa; Skt. ārta); (ii) wrathful (rodda; Skt. raudra); (iii) pious (dhamma; Skt. dharmya); and (iv) pure (sukka; Skt. śukla). They are described as follows in the Ṭhāṇaṅga (4.1.61–72/247), and described almost identically in the Viyāhapaṇṇatti and Uvavāiya:

  Afflicted dhyāna is of four kinds: (1) [one] is joined with what is not liked and also accompanied by the thought of separation therefrom; (2) [one] is joined with what is liked and also accompanied by the thought of non-separation therefrom; (3) [one] is joined with disease and also accompanied by the thought of separation therefrom; (4) [one] is joined with the experience of agreeable pleasures and also accompanied by the thought of non-separation therefrom. These are the four char
acteristics of afflicted dhyāna: crying, grief, weeping, lamentation.

  Wrathful dhyāna is of four kinds: connected with injury, connected with robbery, connected with theft, connected with the protection [of worldly goods]. These are the four characteristics of wrathful dhyāna: [one] has abundant hatred, much hatred, hatred due to ignorance, hatred until the end[,] which is death.

  Pious dhyāna is of four kinds and has four manifestations: examination of the commandments [of the Jinas, the enlightened Jaina masters], examination of sins, examination of the results [of actions], examination of the forms [of the constituents of the world]. These are the four characteristics of pious dhyāna: liking for the commandments [of the Jinas], liking for the natural state, liking for the scriptures, liking for pervasive study [of the sacred texts]. These are the four supports of pious dhyāna: recitation, questioning, repetition, reflection. These are the four reflections of pious dhyāna: reflection on being alone, reflection on transitoriness, reflection on there being no refuge, reflection on birth and rebirth of living beings.

  Pure dhyāna is of four kinds and has four manifestations: (i) in which there is consideration of multiplicity and change of object; (ii) in which there is consideration of oneness and no change of object; (iii) in which activity has become subtle and from which there is no return; (iv) in which [all] activity has been cut off and from which one does not fall back. These are the four characteristics of pure meditation: absence of agitation, absence of delusion, discriminating insight, renunciation. These are the four supports of pure meditation: forbearance, freedom, softness, straightness. These are the four reflections of pure meditation: reflection on infinity, reflection on change, reflection on what is inauspicious, reflection on sin.