Samayika: The Practice of Equanimity

Samayika is among the most fundamental of Jain spiritual practices, a disciplined period of calm, equanimity and withdrawal from worldly activity in which the practitioner seeks to rest in the true nature of the soul. The word derives from a term meaning equanimity or evenness of mind, and the practice is counted first among the six essential duties, the avashyakas, that structure the devotional life of a Jain. It is at once a meditation, a vow and an exercise in the cultivation of inner peace.

To perform Samayika is to set aside a fixed period, traditionally of about forty-eight minutes, during which the practitioner renounces all sinful and worldly activity and abides in a state of equanimity. Seated in a quiet place, often on a simple cloth or mat and in plain garments, the practitioner formally takes the vow to refrain during this time from harmful action, from acquisitive thought, and from the agitations of like and dislike. For the duration of the practice the practitioner endeavours to treat all beings with equal regard, to remain undisturbed by gain or loss, praise or blame, and pleasure or pain.

The content of the period is filled with recitation, reflection and meditation. The practitioner recites sacred formulas, above all the Navkar Mantra that pays homage to the five supreme beings, reads or contemplates scripture, and reflects on the nature of the soul as distinct from the body and the material world. The aim is to quiet the restless movement of the mind and to experience, however briefly, the calm and clarity that are the soul's own nature when it is undisturbed by the passions. In this respect Samayika offers a foretaste of the equanimity of the liberated soul.

The practice holds a special place because it enacts, within a limited span of time, the same renunciation that the ascetic undertakes for life. During Samayika the layperson lives, for its duration, in the manner of a monk, freed from possessions, occupations and attachments, and devoted wholly to spiritual purpose. For this reason it is regarded as a bridge between the ordinary life of the householder and the higher discipline of the ascetic, a way of tasting renunciation without wholly abandoning worldly responsibility.

Samayika may be performed at any time, though many devotees keep it daily, often in the morning or evening, and it forms a central element of larger observances such as Pratikraman and the more extended vow of Posadha. On days of particular sanctity, during festivals, and within the monastic retreat of Chaturmas, the practice is undertaken with special frequency and care. Its regular repetition builds the habit of turning inward and steadies the mind against the disturbances of daily life.

The value of Samayika lies in its cultivation of equanimity as the foundation of the spiritual path. Jain teaching holds that the passions of attachment and aversion are the engines of karmic bondage, and that a mind resting in evenness generates no new bondage while it endures. By repeatedly practising this evenness, the devotee weakens the grip of the passions and moves, however gradually, toward the settled calm that marks spiritual maturity. In its recurring practice Samayika keeps alive, in the midst of ordinary life, the ideal of a mind at peace with all things.