Ācārya Kundakunda’s (circa 1st century BCE) Rayaṇasāra makes it clear that the right-faith (samyagdarśana) is the beginning as well as the culmination of the path to liberation – mokṣa-mārga. The householder (śrāvaka) must first acquire the right-faith – the Quintessential Jewel (Rayaṇasāra) – to be able to establish his Self on to the path to liberation. As he acquires the right-faith he begins to appreciate the reality of the world and the worldly-existence. He then exerts to acquire the (...) true knowledge (jñāna) as expounded in the Doctrine (siddhānta), and adopts the laudable conduct (cāritra) by becoming a digambara-ascetic (nirgrantha muni). He ascends the spiritual-stages (guṇasthāna) and ultimately, through pure-meditation (śukla-dhyāna), attains the ineffable and eternal bliss appertaining to liberation (mokṣa). Ācārya Kundakunda, all through this Holy Scripture Rayaṇasāra, underscores the importance of the right-faith (samyagdarśana) for the householder (śrāvaka) as well as the ascetic (muni, śramaṇa). He asserts that in the (present) unfavourable fifth era the study – svādhyāya – of the Scripture, indeed, is meditation (dhyāna); it results in the subjugation of the five-senses (paṅcendriya) as well as of the passions (kaṣāya). (shrink)

Ācārya Umāsvāmī’s (circa 1st century CE) Tattvārthasūtra (spelled commonly as Tattvarthsutra or Tattvarthasutra), also known as Mokşaśāstra, is the most widely read Jaina Scripture. It expounds the Jaina Doctrine, the nature of the Reality, in form of aphorisms (sūtra), in Sanskrit. Brief and to-the-point, Tattvārthasūtra delineates beautifully the essentials of all objects-of-knowledge (jñeya). Sarvārthasiddhi by Ācārya Pūjyapāda (circa 5th century CE) is the first and foremost extant commentary on Tattvārthasūtra. Sarvārthasiddhi is an exposition of the reality – the true nature (...) of substances, soul and non-soul – the knowledge of which equips one to tread the path to liberation, as expounded in Tattvārthasūtra. There is beginningless intermingling of the soul (jīva) and the non-soul (ajīva) karmic matter. Our activities (yoga) are responsible for the influx (āsrava) of the karmic matter into the soul. Actuated by passions (kaşāya) the soul takes in particles of the karmic matter; this is bondage (bandha). Obstructing fresh inflow of the karmic matter into the soul – samvara – and its subsequent separation or falling off from the soul – nirjarā – are two important steps in attaining the infallible, utterly pristine, sense-independent and infinitely blissful state of the soul, called liberation (mokşa). (shrink)

Ātmānuśāsana (commonly spelled as Atmanushasan) by Ācārya Guņabhadra presents profound concepts of the Jaina Doctrine in a form that is easily understood. Remarkable for its poetry and meaning, it expounds that right faith (samyagdarśana) is the cause of merit, and wrong faith of demerit. To have belief in the true nature of substances is right faith. Dharma is the man’s most excellent possession. The conduct that leads to merit is dharma and it results in happiness after destroying misery. Whether happy (...) or miserable, dharma should be the only pursuit of man. True happiness is not the momentary sprinkling of the pleasures of the senses. Long-life, wealth and sound body are obtained from the previously earned merit (puņya). Under the spell of sinful karmas, the man experiences misery. Excellent men with discrimination work hard, incessantly and cheerfully, for the sake of their future lives. The happiness attained through austerity (tapa) can never be attained by craving for wealth. No dust of disgrace ever touches the feet of the man fortified by austerity. The ascetic goes on to perform austerity while protecting his body, for a very long time. Through the power of austerity he vanquishes his natural enemies, like the passions of anger, etc. In the after-life, he automatically and speedily attains liberation as the culmination of his human effort. (shrink)

The canonical text ‘Dravyasamgraha’ is believed to have been composed either by the Most Worshipful Ācārya Nemicandra ‘Siddhānta Cakravartī’ (circa 10th century CE) – the celebrated composer of Texts like Gommatasāra, Labdhisāra, and Trilokasāra – or by his later namesake Muni Nemicandra ‘Siddāntideva’ (circa the end of 11th century CE). Ācārya (Muni) Nemicandra’s Dravyasamgraha consists of just 58 verses. In 116 lines of 58 verses, the author has described the six substances (dravya), five with bodily-existence (pañcāstikāya), seven realities (tattva), nine (...) objects (padārtha), and the path to liberation (mokşa), from both the empirical (vyavahāra) as well as the transcendental (niścaya) points-of-view (naya). The treatise ends with a brief description of the five Supreme-beings (pañca-parameşthī) and of meditation (dhyāna). The ‘Explanatory Note’ against each verse comprises excerpts from the most authentic Sacred Jaina Texts. This is a thoroughly revised second edition of an earlier work published in 2013. (shrink)

Ācārya Kundakunda’s (circa 1st century BCE) ‘Samayasāra’ is among the most profound and sacred expositions in the Jaina religious tradition; it is perhaps the finest spiritual texts that we are able to lay our hands on in the present era. The original text is in Prakrit language and contains a total of 415 verses (gāthā). ‘Samayasāra’ is the exposition of the Pure (śuddha) ‘Self’ or ‘Soul’. It is the exposition, from the transcendental point-of-view (niścaya naya), of the ‘Real Self’ or (...) it is the ‘Essence of the Soul’. The assertions that the soul (jīva) gets bound to the karmic matter (dravya-karma) or that it does not get bound to the karmic matter are made from different points-of-view (naya). But that which transcends all points-of-view is the ultimate truth, the ‘samayasāra’, absolute and pure soul-substance. (shrink)