Cover of Ācārya Kundakunda’s Rayaṇasāra – The Quintessential Jewel

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आचार्य कुन्दकुन्द विरचित रयणसार

Ācārya Kundakunda’s Rayaṇasāra – The Quintessential Jewel

Vijay K. Jain · Vijay Kumar Jain

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ShrutSangam GyanBhandars JainTatvaGyanshala

Divine Blessings: Ācārya Viśuddhasāgara Muni Editor and Translator: Vijay K. Jain Language Note: Prakrit, Hindi and English Publisher: Vijay Kumar Jain, 2023 Subjects: Jainism – Doctrines – Early works to 1800 Description: xl + 240 p. (total 280 p.); 24 x 17 x 2.5 cm ISBN: 978-93-5980-180-3 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). Read more