Page Text
________________
Attitude of Buddha towards Metaphysics
13
according to the Vibhajyavādins, the present elements and those of the past which have not exhausted their fruits do exist and those of the past elements which have exhausted their fruits and the future elements do not exist.25 Refuting the Kāsyapiyas, the Theravădins argue that the past and future elements are mere names, verbal expressions : the past elements that have ceased, gone otherwise neither exist nor will exist and the future elements that have not yet been born, come into being, neither existed nor exist. To say that the past ceased elements with immature results and the future unborn elements with potent results exist, is self-contradictory. 26 Unlike the Sarvästivādius' doctrine of elements, the others' doctrine of elements accept the efficiency of producing result as a critarion of existence; the elements do not exist in their own right, their existence is conditional relative to their efficiency to produce a result.
in their zeal for analysis and classification in order to drive away the wrong notion of self, the Abhidharmists reduced the personality of an individual to a mechanical combination of elements. But just as a chariot is not simply a combintion of different parts, but an organism or a result of parts combind in an organismic whole, so also the personality of an individual is, apart from being a combination, an organismic whole. The Pudgalavādins accepted a type of organismic personality.27
The corrent of life of an individual is flowing uninterrupted till death. Tbe consciousness arising at the time of death (Cuticitta) is succeeded by the consciousness of conception (Pațisandhi viññāna) which is also known as Gandhabba precisely in this context. The conception in the mother's womb is possible when the Gandhabta coincides with the other two factorsmother being in the period of fertility and therebeing an union of her with her man.2 8 After copulation, the fertilized period extends for several days during which the consciousness of conception, which is a momentary flash, is combined with tbe matter (Rūpa). In the development of the Ābhidharmika
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
| SR No. | 001580 |
| Book Title | Studies in Indian Philosophy |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Dalsukh Malvania, Nagin J Shah |
| Publisher | L D Indology Ahmedabad |
| Publication Year | 1981 |
| Total Pages | 352 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English, Philosophy, Epistemology, & Religion |
| File Size | 21 MB |