Studies in Jaina Philosophy

SR No.: 001616
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Nathmal Tatia
Publisher: Jain Cultural Research Society
Publication Year: 1951
Total Pages: 366
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Philosophy, Knowledge, Yoga, & Epistemology
File Size: 9 MB

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78
EPISTEMOLOGY OF THE AGAMAS
[CH.
objects inasmuch as he is aware of all objects irrespective of their amenability or unamenability to sense-organs. Siddhasena Divākara, therefore, concludes that jñāna and darśana of a kevalin arise simultaneously and last for ever. He further says that this interpretation does not violate the scriptures while the view that jñāna and darśana of a kevalin arise in alternate succession is not faithful to the scriptures and is to be understood as the position of the non-Jainas. 2 We have already stated how he proves the non-difference between jñāna and darśana in order to avoid logical difficulties.
Next we come to Jinabhadra, the great upholder of the Āgamic view. He deals with the problem in his Visesanavatīs and Visesavaśyakabhāşya. He mentions all the three positions viz. (1) simultaneous occurrence of jñāna and darśana, (2) alternate occurrence of them, (3) non-difference between them.5 He records arguments for and against all the three positions. But he supports the alternate occurrence of jñāna and darśana of a kevalin on the basis of scriptural texts. We do not examine his elaborate arguments here, because they do not contain any new speculation. All his objections are based on the scriptural texts and established traditions which unanimously recognize alternate occurrence of jñāna and darśana as we have stated at the outset of our enquiry about their temporal relation.
Akalanka and Vidyānandi, the great Digambara logicians, support simultaneous occurrence of jñāna and darśana in a kevalin. Commenting upon Samantabhadra's Āptamīmārsā, verse 101, Akalanka says 'If the jñana and darśana (of a kevalin) were to occur alternately in succession, his omniscience would be only a contingent occurrence.'6 There is no reason why the universal and the particular should not reveal themselves simultaneously to the omniscient who has destroyed all his karmic veils.? Vidyānandi says: 'Awareness of the universal form is darśana, and the awareness of the particular features is jñāna. Jñānavarana and darśanāvarana obscure these faculties. There is absence of kevala-jñāna and kevala-darśana in people like us because of the presence of these two. And it goes beyond understanding why the universal and the particular should be revealed only in alternate succession when it is established that the two (āvaranas) are destroyed simultaneously due to a special kind of absolute purification of the soul ?'8 Haribhadra,
1 Cf. ibid., II. 30. 2 Cf. ibid., II. 31.
3 Gathās 184-280. 4 Gāthās 3089-3135.
5 See Visesanavati, 184-5. 6 tajjñāna-darśanayoḥ kramavsttau hi sarvajñatvam kādācitkam syātAstašati on ĀMi, 101.
sāmānya-višeşa-vişayayor vigatāvaraņayor yugapat pratibhāsayogāt pratibandhakāntarābhāvāt-Ibid.
8 Astasahasrī on the passage quoted in footnote No. 7.