Harmless Soul

SR No.: 001196
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: W J Johnson, Dayanand Bhargav
Publisher: Motilal Banarasidas
Publication Year: 1995
Total Pages: 372
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Philosophy, & Principle
File Size: 20 MB

Page 41

Early Jainism 27 (i.e. one is working towards a smaller quantity of bad karma). Such continuous restraint, however, is only possible at the ascetic extreme inhabited by the Jaina renouncer; for the householder it is, by definition, impossible.67 It is not surprising, therefore, that references to merit (punya) or to activity which leads to a better rebirth in heaven or on earth, as opposed to rebirth in hell or as an animal, are hard to find in this earliest stream of doctrine, and that when they do occur they have an unemphatic and adventitious quality. And it is clear that although, according to some strands of thought, there may be a theoretical possibility of a relatively better rebirth (and perhaps in some cases a practical one for ascetics),68 for householders there is no real possibility of accumulating anything other than more bad karma and the promise of a bad rebirth.
In this connection it is important to remember that what is being reported here is the ascetic's view - the view of the texts. We have no way of telling what views householders may have held. But since the specific category of 'Jaina householder' would seem to be an anachronism if applied to the period in question - for the very reasons being outlined here - then that consideration plays no part in a reconstruction of the earliest layers of Jaina doctrine. This is borne out by passages such as Sūyagadamga 1.7.24-27, where the connection between the giving and receiving of alms and the giving and receiving of the teaching seems to be minimal. Least of all should the monk actually teach the Jain Dhamma, or promise to do so, in order to obtain
67 See parigraha section, p. 31ff., below. 68 See, for instance, Das. 3:14: dukkarāim karettānam dussahāim sahettu ya ke ettha devalogesu kei sijjhanti nirayā ||
'Having done that which is difficult to do, having forborne what is difficult to forbear, some of them (pass) to the worlds of the gods, others attain perfection unburdened [by Karman].' - Schubring's trans. Cf. Sūy. 2.2.74, for example.