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CHAPTER II
THE METAPHYSICAL BACKGROUND
We have already spoken of the close relation of ethics and metaphysics in the foregoing chapter. The Daśavaikālika Sūtra asks, "one, who does not know the self and the nonself, how can he know the path to self-control (samyama)”.1 In this connection, we have also referred to the seven predicaments of Jainism. We propose to elaborate the following seven predicaments in the present chapter as they form the metaphysical background of Jaina ethics :
1. Self (jiva) 2. Non-self (ajiva) 3, 4. The inflow of kārmic matter ( āśrava) and bondage
(bandha). 5, 6. Checking (samvara) and shedding (nirjarā) of
kārmic matter. 7. Liberation (mokşa).3 The Nature of Self (jiva)
The first of these predicaments is ‘self' (jiva). Self is subject as well as object of all meditation. The nature of self is, therefore, the most fundamental of all problems. Self is the stay of all our experience. It is the truth of truths. But for it, there is neither any reality nor any truth. The Upanişads
According to the Chôndog yopanişad the basic problem of ethics—the removal of misery—can be solved only by selfrealisation. The Brhadāranyakopanişad clearly says that it is
1. Daśavaikālika, 4.12 2. Supra, p. 13. 3. Tattvärthasūtra, 1.4.
4. acfa tifarhari Crāndogyopanişad. 7.1.3.
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