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

Page 264

9. SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT
245
Jaina thought and criticism is surprisingly small; and except for isolated comments and criticism, the vast literature of the Brahmanical systems hardly takes any adequate notice of Jaina tenets and objections. Among noteworthy criticisms of Jaina doctrines may be mentioned those of Samkara in his Bhăşya on Vedānta Sūtras 2. 2. 33-36 and of Kumārila in Slokavārtika (Codanāsūtra, v. 141 ff; S'abdanityatādhikarana, v. 106 ff. etc.); but, generally speaking, it may be said that Brahmanical writers from Samkara to Udayana have directed their polemical energies against Buddhist rather than Jaina doctrines. To confine ourselves to the Jaina conception of Mokşa, which it is the intention of Somadeva to contrast with the non-Jaina theories on the subiect, it is recorded and criticized as follows by Vyomasiva in the introductory portion of his commentary on the Prasastapāda Bhāsya:
अन्ये त्वनेकान्तभावनातो विशिष्टप्रदेशेऽक्षयशरीरादिलाभो निःश्रेयसमिति मन्यन्ते। ......तथा घटादिः मृदादिरूपतया नित्यः सर्वावस्थासूपलम्भात् । घटादिरूपतया चानित्यस्तदपायात् । एवमात्माप्यात्मरूपतया नित्यः सर्वदा सद्भावात् । सुखदुःखादिपर्यायरूपतया चानित्यः तद्विनाशात् । ............तदेतदसांप्रतम् , मिथ्याज्ञानस्य निःश्रेयसकारणत्वेन प्रतिषेधात् । भनेकान्तज्ञानं च मिथ्यैव बाधकोपपत्तेः। तथाहि नित्यानित्ययोः विधिप्रतिषेधरूपत्वात् अभिन्ने धर्मिण्यभावः, एवं सदसत्त्वादेरपीति । यच्चेदं घटादिHदादिरूपतया नित्य इति, असदेतत् मृद्रूपतायास्ततोऽर्थान्तरत्वात् । तथाहि घटादर्थान्तरं मृदूपता मृत्त्वं सामान्यम। तस्य तु नित्यत्वेन घटस्य तथाभावः ततोऽन्यत्वात्। घटस्य तु कारणाद्विलक्षणतयोपलब्धेः अनित्यत्वमेव । ............न चानेकान्तभावनातो विशिष्टशरीरादिलाभेऽस्ति प्रतिबन्धः । न चोत्पत्तिधर्माणां शरीरादीनामक्षयत्वं न्याय्यम। तथा मक्तावप्यनेकान्तो न व्यावर्तते इति मुक्तो न मुक्तश्चेति स्यात् । एवं च सति स एव मुक्तः संसारी चेति प्रसक्तेः ॥ एवमनेकान्तेऽप्यनेकान्ताभ्युपगमे दूषणम् ।
Jayanta who devotes so much space to the doctrines of other systems, makes only a passing reference to the Jaina conception of the Self. and summarily rejects certain Jaina tenets as absurd in his Nyāyamañjarī ( Chap. 9); and it is noteworthy that although he discusses in that chapter the theories of salvation of diverse schools of thought, he has only a fling at certain practices of the Digambara Jaina monks and the absurdity of the notion that such practices lead to salvation. He declares that these monks expect to attain final release by plucking out their hair and going about naked: if they were right, bald persons would attain mokşa straightway, and so would the animals, because they, too, are unclad! Such criticism, of course, does not rise above the level of comic satire of the type found in plays like Mattavilāsaprahasana and Prabodhacandrodaya.
1 कचनिलुचनदिक्पटधारणक्षितिपराक्रमणक्रमपूर्वकम् । क्षपणकास्त्वपवर्गमुशन्त्यमी अतितरां परमार्थविदस्तु ते ॥ लोम्नां
नित्यमसंभवात् खलतयो मोक्षं क्षणात् प्राप्नुयुस्संसारोपरमो दिगम्बरतया सद्यस्तिरश्चां भवेत् । मुक्ताः स्युर्गिरिशृङ्गयायिन इमे शश्वत्तदारोहणाजन्तूनामपवर्गवमै निकटं केनेदृशं दर्शितम् ।।