Practice of postures has been sanctioned in the Jain tradition of spiritual practice. Lord Mahavira himself practiced the postures. He used to meditate remaining in a particular yogic posture.[1] The Lord engaged himself in meditation, being seated in the proper posture. The principle postures of Lord Mahavira during the time period of his spiritual practice are the 'ukkuḍu' posture, vira posture, milking posture and standing posture etc.[2] Postures are the main constituent of the Jain tradition of spiritual practice. The 'kāyakleśa' austerities and penances are related to the posture itself.[3] For the Jain ascetics, Lord Mahavira has mentioned some special postures; such as[4] -
So in the āgama literature, there is a mention of many types of postures like Danḍāyatika, Laganḍasāyī etc. The kāyotsarga posture, meditation etc. have been emphasized, in the Jain tradition of spiritual practice since the beginning.[7]
Footnotes: | |
[1] | Āyāro, 9/4/14. |
[2] | Ācārāṅga Bhāṣyaṃ, p. 442. |
[3] | Ṭhaṇaṃ, 7/49. |
[4] | Ibid, 5/42, 43, 50 (Critical Notes) p. 618-621. |
[5] | SthānāṅgaVṛtti, p. 298. |
[6] | Sthānāṅga Vṛtti, p. 298. |
[7] | Ṭhaṇaṃ, 5/50. |