Yasastilaka and Indian Culture

SR No.: 001609
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Krishnakant Handiqui
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur
Publication Year: 1968
Total Pages: 566
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Story, Literature, & Culture
File Size: 16 MB

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192
YAŠASTILAKA UND INDIAN CULTURE
So the living, moving body of the perfect man is visible still, though its cause has ceased to act: but it will soon decay and die and pass away; and as no new body will be formed, where life was, will be nothing”.
Nirvana corresponds in fact to jivanmuktatā, and this interpretation seems to have been well-known in the tenth century. Utpala, a writer of the Kasmir school of Saivism, who lived about this time, defines Moksa as jivanmuktatā, and quotes in illustration a Buddhist verse, among others, which says that sarisara consists in a state of mind sullied by lust and other impurities; while freedom from such a condition constitutes Mokşa.”
c) The third important reference to Buddhist doctrine is that to the Madhyamika theory of Void ( sünyatā), which Somadeva attributes to "cer. tain Buddhists who are regular cheats, and have invented the pervasive darkness of sūnyatā”.3 The following definition of sünyata is quoted in Yasastilaka VI. I (p. 269 ):
नैवान्तस्तत्वमस्तीह न बहिस्तत्त्वमञ्जसा । विचारगोचरातीतेः शून्यता श्रेयसी ततः ॥
The purport of the verse is that there is no reality external or internal; hence the realisation of Void is the highest good, transcending as it does the range of the intellect. It is doubtful whether Somadeva faliy appreciates the significance of the theory of sūnyatā as interpreted by Nāgārjuna and Candrakīrti in the Madhyamakaitārikās and the Prasannapada commentary respectively. The sum and substance of the doctrine is that śūnyatā is nothing but the law of causation known as pratitya-samutpāda, that is, whatever is subject to cause and condition is really unborn, has no real origination, and is hence called sünya or void. All objects have only a relative existence like a mirage or a magic show or a dream; and the doctrine
called madhyamaka or the middle doctrine, because it avoids the two extremes of existence and non-existence. The doctrine is such that it
1 Buddhism, p. 114 (S. P. C. K, 1903). 2 'बौद्धे च-रागादिमलिनं चित्तं संसारस्तद्विविक्तता । संक्षेपात् कथितो मोक्षःप्रहीनावरणजिनैः।।' Spandapradipika
p. 7 (Vizianagram Sanskrit Series). 3 'पश्यतोहराः प्रकाशितशून्यतैकान्ततिमिराः शाक्यविशेषाः' 4 यः प्रतीत्यससमुत्पादः शून्यतां तां प्रचक्ष्महे । सा प्रशप्तिरुपादाय प्रतियत् सैव मध्यमा | Madhyamakatarika
24. 18. Candrakirti says : 'योऽयं प्रतीत्यसमुत्पादो हेतुप्रत्ययानपेक्ष्याङ्करविज्ञानादीनां प्रादुर्भावः स स्वभावेनामुत्पादः । यश्च स्वभावेनानुत्पादो भावानां सा शून्यता।'. Also 'यः प्रत्ययैर्जायते स ह्यजातो न तस्य उत्पाद स्वभावतोऽस्ति। यः प्रत्ययाधीनु स शून्यु उक्तो यः शून्यतां जानति सोऽप्रमत्त ।। इति भगवतो गाथावचनात् । एवं
प्रतीत्यसमुत्पादशब्दस्य योऽर्थः स एव शून्यताशब्दस्यार्थः न पुनरभावशब्दस्य योऽर्थः शून्यताशब्दस्यार्थः ।' 5 'मायास्वप्नगन्धर्वनगरादिवत्त लौकिकाः पदार्थाः निरुपपत्तिका एवं सन्तः सर्वलोकस्या विद्याति मिरोपहतमतिनयनस्य
प्रसिद्धिमुपगता इति परस्परापेक्षयैव केवलं प्रसिद्धिमुपगता बालरभ्युपगम्यन्ते' (Chap. 7). 'तदेवं मध्यमकदर्शन एवास्तित्वनास्तित्वद्वयदर्शनस्थाप्रसनो न विज्ञानवादिदर्शनादिग्धिति विज्ञेयम्' (Chap. 15). Cf. अस्तीति
शाश्वतग्राहो नास्तीत्युच्छेददर्शनम् । तस्मादस्तित्वनास्तित्वे नाश्रीयेत विचक्षणः। Madhyamakakārika 15. 10.