2.1. Meditative Practices of Ācārya Bhikṣu and Muni Hemarāja

Jayācārya’s text Bhikkhu Jasa Rasāyaṇa relates to an incident in Bhikṣu’s life that explicitly reveals his practice of meditation. Before he separated to form his own strict ascetic order, Muni Bhikṣu belonged to the Sthānakavāsī tradition. The Sthānakavāsī Ācārya Raghunātha (1708–1790), the first initiator (dikṣā guru) of Bhikṣu, told him that, as we are currently in the fifth part of the time cycle (pañcama-kāla)^[1], it is not easy to follow the ascetic path assiduously, even for an hour or two. Ācārya Raghunātha further added that if someone could do this, he would be able to attain omniscient knowledge (kevala-jñāna). Bhikṣu responded and claimed that he was able to meditate by holding his breath for two hours.^[2] This claim reveals his meditational abilities. Although there is no documentation of Bhikṣu engaging in any specific type of meditative practices, apart from the daily ritualistic pratikramaṇa and a short practice of kāyotsarga for atonement, it may be possible that he wanted to keep this yogic practice to himself and not make it public. Terāpantha monastics hold the view that Bhikṣu must have engaged in very intense and regular meditative practices as part of his daily routine in order to be able to hold his breath in one sitting for a period of two hours (Buddhamala, 1991: 68). One assumes that Bhikṣu would have practised holding his breath for two hours, by taking a breath and holding it for as long as possible, and then repeating the procedure.