Alternative spellings of this word include Sachittatyagapratima.

In Jainism

General definition (in Jainism)

Source: Wisdom Library: Jainism

Sacittatyāgapratimā (सचित्तत्यागप्रतिमा) or simply Sacittatyāga represents the fifth of eleven pratimā (stages) laid down for Jain laymen. Sacittatyāgapratimā refers to “refraining from eating uncooked vegetables, plucking fruits from a tree and the like” according to J. L. Jaini in his “outlines of Jainism” (pp. 67-70).

These pratimās (e.g., sacittatyāga-pratimā) form a series of duties and performances, the standard and duration of which rises periodically and which finally culminates in an attitude resembling monkhood. Thus the pratimās rise by degrees and every stage includes all the virtues practised in those preceeding it. The conception of eleven pratimās appears to be the best way of exhibiting the rules of conduct prescribved for the Jaina laymen.

Source: archive.org: Jaina Yoga

Sacittatyāgapratimā (सचित्तत्यागप्रतिमा) refers to “the stage of purity of nourishment” and represents the seventh of eleven pratimās (stages of spiritual progress) according to Śvetāmbara. In Digambara, the seventh pratimā is known as abrahma-varjana  and in Āvaśyakacūrṇi as diva-brahmacarya.—The Pañcāśaka explains that from among the fourfold aliments the layman must now avoid in the aśana category, inter alia, taṇḍula, umbikā, chick-peas (caṇaka), and sesamum (tila); in the pāna category all unboiled water as well as liquids that contain salt; in the khādima category the five udumbara fruits and cirbhaṭika; and in the svādima category myrobalans (harītakī), betel, and the use of a toothpick. As Abhayadeva points out he would also have to refrain from eating any grains or pulses, uncooked or insufficiently cooked, and any of the foodstuffs that are styled tucchauṣadhis.

The Digambaras, who nearly all make this pratimā the fifth on the list, exclude here the consumption of all roots and tubers, green leaves and shoots, and seeds and fruits in an uncooked state. Āśādhara comments that the man who would hesitate to crush a growing plant with his foot should not be ready to pick and eat that same plant. By this pratimā the layman in fact engages himself to observe the same food restrictions as are incumbent on a monk.

The word pratimā means a statue and is used in another specifcally Jaina sense to designate the kāyotsara. The medieval ācāryas, however, quite plainly conceive of the pratimās (e.g., sacitta-tyāga-pratimā) as performing a regular progressing series in Amitagati’s words, a sopāna-mārga, a ladder on each rung of which the aspirant layman is to rest for a number of months proportionate to its place on the list before he is fit to supplement and reinforce his acheivement by the practice of the succeeding stage.

context information

Jainism is an Indian religion of Dharma whose doctrine revolves around harmlessness (ahimsa) towards every living being. The two major branches (Digambara and Svetambara) of Jainism stimulate self-control (or, shramana, ‘self-reliance’) and spiritual development through a path of peace for the soul to progess to the ultimate goal.

See also (Relevant definitions)

Partial matches: Sacittatyaga, Pratima.

Full-text: Sacittatyaga.

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