Some Problems in Jaina Psychology

SR No.: 001260
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: T G Kalghatgi
Publisher: Karnatak University Dharwar
Publication Year: 1961
Total Pages: 205
Language: English
Classification: Book_English & Philosophy
File Size: 13 MB

Page 68

THE SENSE ORGANS AND THE SENSES
in the karmendriyas. The internal organs are made up of the sattvic part and the five elements combined.
The Jainas have accepted the five sense organs alone, although the mind is considered as a quasi-sense organ, a no-indriya. The motor organs are recognized as instruments of experience and behaviour. The Jainas argue that, if motor organs were to be recognized as indriyas only because they are instruments of special types of physical function, then the number of indriyas would have to be extended indefinitely. 7 The Jainas treat as indriyas only those which are the conditions of specific cognition.8 Zimmer says that, according to the Jainas, the life monads enjoying the highest states of being, human or divine, are possessed of five sense faculties as well as of a thinking faculty (manas), and the span of life (ayus), physical strength (kaya bala), power of speech (vāca bala), and the power of respiration (śvāsochvāsa bala). In the Samkhya Yoga and the Vedanta systems, five faculties of action (karmendriyas), are added to the five sense faculties. The karmendriyas are analogous to the Jaina idea of bala. 'Apparently, the Jaina categories represent a comparatively primitive archaic analysis and description of human nature, many of the details of which underlie and remain incorporated in the later classic Indian view'. 9
The Nyaya system has similar arguments against the recognition of motor organs as indriyas. Jayanta maintains that if the tongue, hands and feet etc., are regarded as indriyas, many other organs should also be admitted as such. The function of swallowing food is discharged by the throat. The breast performs the function of embracing. The shoulders. carry burden. All these should, then, be recognized as organs or indriyas 10 Again, the function of one sense organ cannot be discharged by another. For instance, visual cognition is not possible without eyes. But that is not the case with motor organs. A person grasps things with his hands, but can also walk a little with his hands. If the different parts of the body doing different functions are included among motor organs, the throat, the breast and the shoulders would all be motor organs. The Jainas made the same point. In fact, the Jainas say that all motor organs can be included in the tactual sense organ. 11
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Even in the West, the problem of classification of the sense organs has been very old. It very often depends on the view taken of the sensations originating in the skin and the internal organs of the body. Traditionally, there are five special senses: vision, audition, smell, taste, and touch or feeling. Aristotle mentioned the five senses, although he expressed
7 Pramanamimāmsā, I. 1.21. 79. line 20 'ceṣṭāviseṣānämanantattväť". Jñanaviseṣahetūnāmevehendriyatvenadhikṛtattväť,
8 Op. cit. 79. line 19.
9 Zimmer: Philosophies of India, Ed. by Campbell, p. 228.
10 Nyaya Manjari, p. 482-83.
11 Tattvärthaslokavārttika, p. 326.