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

Page 288

IV. III]
upapilaka and the upaghataka karman can be compared with the Yoga conception of the more powerful karman which absorbs within itself or overpowers the weaker karman.1 The Buddhist conception of the guruka karman can be compared with the Yoga conception of the karman which is produced by the repeated harm done, under intense passion, to those who are afraid, diseased and afflicted and who have placed their confidence, to the virtuous and the honest, and to the ascetics.2 The Buddhist conception of diṭṭhadhammavedaniya is identical with the Yoga conception of dṛṣṭajanmavedaniya. The two types of upapajjavedaniya and aparapariyavedaniya are included, in the Yoga system, in the one type called adṛṣṭajanmavedaniya. The conception of ahosikamma can be compared with the Yoga conception of the karman which lies overpowered for ever by a more powerful karman.3 The Buddhist as well as the Yoga system gave supreme importance to the practice of meditation and ecstasy, and it is no wonder that they developed common ideas of spiritual progress. An individual can pass from the lower to the higher plane of life by means of yogic practices according to both the Buddhist and the Yoga school. Thus the fourth mode of classification of karman according to the plane of life where it produces its effect can be compared with the Yoga conception of the efficacy of yogic practices which enable the practitioner to attain to the higher planes of psychic life, which end in final emancipation of the self (puruṣa).
CLASSIFICATION OF KARMAN
This is about the doctrine of karman in the Pali or Southern school of Buddhism. The doctrine of karman in the Vaibhāṣika school of Buddhism is excellently depicted in the Abhidharmakosa1 of Acārya Vasubandhu. We do not deal with the doctrine for lack of bearing on our topic. One feature of Mahayana Buddhism, however, deserves careful notice in this connection. This is the distinction between the jñeyavarana and the klesavarana. The consciousness becomes free from bondage when the klesavarana is destroyed. But still it has not become omniscient. Attainment of omniscience is possible only on the destruction of the jñeyavarana. The consciousness is luminous and omniscient by nature. It is jñeyavarana that hides the things from it. The Buddhists of the school of Dignaga and Dharmakirti also
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1 Cf. pradhanakarmany äväpagamanam vā, niyatavipaka-pradhānakarmaņā 'bhibhūtasya va ciram avasthanam-Bhaṣya, YD, II. 13.
2 Cf. tatha tivraklesena bhita-vyadhita-kṛpaṇeṣu viśvāsopagateṣu vā mahānubhaveṣu va tapasvisu kṛtaḥ punaḥ punar apakāraḥ, sa ca 'pi papa-karmāśayaḥ sadya eva paripacyate-Ibid., II. 12.
3 Cf. niyatavipaka-pradhāna-karmaṇā 'bhibhūtasya va ciram avasthānam -Ibid., II. 13.
4 See fourth Nirdeśa called Karma-nirdeśa.
5 Vide supra, p. 134.