Sāmāyika is the secondsiksavrata (ritual restraint) inJainism,[1][a] and one of the essential duties prescribed for both theŚrāvaka (householders) andascetics. It is commonly interpreted as a practice of "brief periods in meditation," to achieve equanimity, but connotes more than meditation.[2] According to Dundas,samayika seems to have meant "correct behavior" in early Jainism,[3] and for a Jain householder is the voluntary ritual practice of "assuming temporary ascetic status".[2]
The nameSāmāyika is derived from the termsamaya "time" inPrakrit. According to Dundas,samayika seems to have meant "correct behavior" in early Jainism.[3]
Jains usesamayika to denote the practice of meditation. According toAchāryaPujyapada'sSarvārthasiddhi:
The preposition ‘sam’ means one state of being. For instance, ghee becomes one with the thing mixed. To become one issamaya. That, which has oneness as its object, issāmāyikam.[4]
After renouncing all attachments and aversions, and adopting a sense of equanimity in all objects, one should practise, many times, periodic concentration (sāmāyika), the principal means to realize the true nature of the Self.[5]
ThePuruşārthasiddhyupāya further states:
For the sake of strengthening the performance of daily meditation (sāmāyika), one must undertake fasting twice each lunar fortnight (proşadhopavāsa).[6]
According to the Jain text,Ratnakaranda śrāvakācāra (104), while performingsāmayika, one should meditate on:
"I am involved in thesaṃsāra (cycle of transmigration) in which there is no protection for souls, which is inauspicious, transitory and full of pain, and of the nature of not-Self;moksha is the opposite of this"-thus should one meditate while performingsāmayika.
According toPadmanabh Jaini,sāmāyika is a practice of "brief periods in meditation" in Jainism that is a part ofsiksavrata (ritual restraint).[1] The goal ofSāmāyika is to achieve equanimity, and it is the secondsiksavrata.[a]
According to Johnson, as well as Jaini,samayika connotes more than meditation, and for a Jain householder is the voluntary ritual practice of "assuming temporary ascetic status".[2]
According to Champat Rai Jain,sāmāyika aims at perfection in conduct and complete renunciation, and is "the sole and the immediate cause of salvation."[b]
Sāmāyika is also one of the five kinds of conduct (cāritra) other kinds being reinitiation, purity of non-injury, slight passion and perfect conduct. It is of two kinds — with and without time limit.[8]
Thesāmāyika is performed for anantara-muhurta (about 48 minutes) every day. According toChampat Rai Jain, householders perform thesāmāyika one to three times a day, "gradually extending its duration also from oneantaramuhurta to three times as much at each sitting."[c]
padma āsana, the sitting posture, with inter-locked legs (the right one placed on the left thigh and the left on the right), the hands placed in the lap with the palms facing upwards (the right one being on the top), and with attention fixed on the foremost point of the nose;
khadga āsana, the standing posture, with feet at a distance of about two inches from each other, the hands resting naturally by the sides, but not so as to touch the body; and attention fixed on the point of the nose as in thepadma āsana; or
ardha padma āsana or the semi-padma posture, which differs from the padma in respect of the position of the left leg, which is placed under the right thigh.
Facing north or east theśrāvaka bows to thePañca-Parameṣṭhi.[10] He then recites theNamokara mantra a certain number of times, and finally devotes himself to holy meditation. This consists in:[11]
pratikramana, recounting the sins committed and repenting for them,
pratyākhyanā, resolving to avoid particular sins in future,
sāmāyika karma, renunciation of personal attachments, and the cultivation of a feeling of regarding every body and thing alike,
stuti, praising the four and twentyTīrthankaras,
vandanā, devotion to a particularTirthankara, and
kāyotsarga, withdrawal of attention from the body (physical personality) and becoming absorbed in the contemplation of the spiritual Self.
Sāmayika can be performed anywhere, at a temple, private residence, forest and the like, but shouldn't be open to disturbance.[11]
A layperson includessamayika ritual with other ritual practices such asPuja in a Jain temple and doing charity work.[12][13][14] In Jainism, six essential duties are prescribed for aśrāvaka (householder), out of which one duty isSamayika. These help the laity in achieving the principle ofahimsa which is necessary for his/her spiritual upliftment.[15] Thesāmayika vrata (vow to meditate) is intended to be observed three times a day if possible; other-wise at least once daily. Its objective is to enable theśrāvaka to abstain from all kinds of sins during the period of time fixed for its observance. The usual duration of thesāmayika vow is anantara mūharta (a period of time not exceeding 48 minutes).[16]
During this period, which the layman spends in study and meditation, he vows to refrain from the commission of the five kinds of sin — injury, falsehood, theft, unchastity and love of material possessions in any of the three ways. These three ways are:[17]-
by an act of mind, speech or body (krita),
inciting others to commit such an act (kārita),
approving the commission of such an act by others (anumodanā).
The householders, due to the absence of all sinful activities during the period of meditation (sāmāyika), observe great vows, although the conduct-deludingkarmas remain in operation.
One attains the great vows when one practisessāmāyika (concentration) at a particular place and time, since one is free from minute and gross injury and so on. It is argued that it would be perfect restraint and discipline (sanyan). But it is untenable, as there is the presence of karmas or passions which arrest complete restraint. In that case these should not be called great vows. No. These are called great vows figuratively.[4]
Jain texts list down five transgressions of the vow ofsāmāyika. These are: misdirected activity of the speech, mind, and body, lack of earnestness, and absent mindedness.
The ascetic has to perform thesāmāyika three times a day. According to Champat Rai Jain, for accomplished ascetics, embodying desirelessness, their whole life is "a continuoussāmāyika."[d]
In performing thesamayika meditation the following points are prescribed for the monk:[18]
^abThe first is desavakasika (staying in a restrained surrounding, cutting down worldly activities). The third isposadhopavasa (fasting on the 8th and 14th days on lunar waxing and waning cycles). The fourth isdana (giving alms to Jain monks, nuns or spiritual people).[1]
^Champat Rai Jain: "Sāmāyika aims at the attainment of divinity through perfection in conduct, which, consisting, as it does, in the purest and most complete form of renunciation, is the sole and the immediate cause of salvation, that is of wholeness and freedom from the pain and misery ofsaṃsāra (births and deaths)."[7]
^Champat Rai Jain: "The layman who has just entered the path observes thesāmāyika meditation but once daily in the morning, for he is not able to tear himself away from business and pleasure at that early stage in his spiritual career to be able to perform it more often; but as he progresses onwards, he takes to its observance three times – morning, noon and evening – every day, gradually extending its duration also from oneantaramuhurta to three times as much at each sitting."[7]
^Champat Rai Jain: "The ascetic who has successfully passed through the preliminary stages of renunciation, as a householder, is expected to be an embodiment of desirelessness itself, so that his whole life is, as it were, a continuoussāmāyika from one end to the other."[7]
