Tattvartha Sutra

SR No.: 006796
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Sukhlal Sanghavi, K K Dixit
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 2000
Total Pages: 596
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Tattvartha Sutra, & Tattvarth
File Size: 10 MB

Page 196

CHAPTER ONE
Synonyms Standing for the Type of Cognition Mati :
Mati, smrti, samjñā, cintā, abhinibodha-these words are synonyms with each other. 13.
Question : What type of cognition is called mati ? Answer : That type whose object is something present.
Question : Do smrti, samjñā and cintā also have something present for their object ?
Answer : No. To recall an object experienced earlier is smrti or memory; so that has something past for its object. Again, to detect identity between an object experienced earlier and one that is being experienced at present is samjñā or pratyabhijñāna i.e. recognition; so that has something past as well as something present for its object. Lastly, to think of an object that is to appear at a later time is cintā or anticipation; so that has something future for its object.
Question : But then the words mati, smrti, samjñā and cintā cannot be synonymous inasmuch as they mean mutually different things.
Answer : Of course, the respective objects of the types of cognition mati, smrti, samjñā and cintā are mutually different and so also some of their means of origination. But in the case of each the internal means of origination is one and the same,-viz. the subsidence-cum-destruction of the matijñānāvaraniya karma. It is keeping this commonness in mind that mati etc. are here said to be mutually synonymous.
Question : But nothing has yet been said about abhinibodha. What type of cognition is that? That too should be explained.
Answer : Abhinibodha is a generic term and it stands for each of the types of cognition, mati, smrti, samjha and cintă; that is to say, all the types of cognition that originate as a result of the subsidence-cum-destruction of the matijfånavarañiya karma are commonly called abhintbodha, while the words mati etc. stand for this or that particular type of cognition thus originating.