Biology in Jaina Treatise on Reals

SR No.: 001656
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: N L Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith
Publication Year: 1999
Total Pages: 210
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Religion, & Biology
File Size: 13 MB

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Biology in Jaina Treatise on Reals
case, there would have been no use for the word 'sansāriņah' (worldly beings) in aphorism 2.12. 11. The term 'mind-possessing' has been placed first in 2.11 as it is respectable because the living beings with mind possess all the senses (and have capacity of descriminating the good and bad). Supplemenray Notes 1. The commentary deals with the following points: (a) The worldly living beings have two varieties- (i) mind-possessing and (ii) non-mind-possessing, (b) The terms in the aphorism cannot be related with earlier aphorism, otherwise all the worldly beings will have to be mind-possessing ones. The aphorism 2.12 can also not be related with 2.11 as it will lead to a meaning that all the mobile beings are mind-possessing. Both these possibilities are undesirable. Hence, this aphorism refers to the classes of worldly beings only and nothing else. Some other points have also been mentioned to support this view. (c) The term 'mind-possessing' has been placed first in 2.11 as they have all the senses (along with the capacity of discrimination). 2. The worldly beings have two varieties depending on the existence of mental faculty. The mind has been defined in the later aphorism 2.24 in terms of cognitive and emotional instincts numbering 4,10,16,21 in many contexts. The increasing number of instincts suggests gradual development in understanding various mental functions. However, the general function of mind is to think about the desirable and undesirable, pros and cons and to drive action accordingly. The pro-canonists and later authors have also supported this twofold classification. 3. The nature of mind has been discussed under 5.19. Two types of minds are postulated- physical and psychical. It is suggested that physical mind could be equated with the brain of the living beings which is a material mass of complex nature due to specific karmic causes including the physique-making karma of limbs and minor limbs. In contrast, the psychical mind, though also said to be of material nature due to its material brain support, has much finer constituents in the form of energy. It is biological information energy. The psychical mind represents the internal power indicating the purity of the soul due to spectific karmic destruction-cum-subsidence. This power allows the physical mind to function in the desired direction. 4. It is said that (i) hellish, celestials and uterine-birthed men and animals are endowed with mind and (ii) deficient-sensed, non-uterine-birthed animals and a-sexuals are not endowed with mind. 5. This aphorismic classification of the worldly beings seems to be based on the existence or non-existence of physical mind only. Of course, it is taken for granted that psychical mind cannot work properly without physical mind.
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