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2. 11 - 14
Differences of Mundane Beings
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Answer - In relation to the substance-mind, just as an extremely old person cannot walk without support, even though they have legs and the ability to walk, similarly, even with a feeling-mind, clear understanding cannot be achieved without the substance-mind. For this reason, considering the superiority of the substance-mind, divisions have been made with regard to its presence and absence, along with mind and without mind.
Question - Does making a second division imply that all sentient beings (tras) are sentient (samanask) and all non-sentient beings (sthavar) are non-sentient (amanask)?
Answer - No, among sentient beings, only some are sentient, not all. All non-sentient beings are indeed non-sentient.
11-12. The three categories of non-sentient beings are: earth-bodied (prithvikaya), water-bodied (jalakaya), and plant-bodied (vanaspatikaya). The two categories of sentient beings are: fire-bodied (tejahkaya) and air-bodied (vayukaya), and there are also four categories: two-sensed (dvindriya), three-sensed (trindriya), four-sensed (chaturindriya), and five-sensed (panchendriya).
Question - What is the meaning of sentient and non-sentient?
Answer - A sentient being is one who has the rise of the sentient name-karm, while a non-sentient being is one who has the rise of the non-sentient name-karm.
Question - What is the identification of the rise of the sentient name-karm and the rise of the non-sentient name-karm?
Answer - The identification of the rise of the non-sentient name-karm is the abandonment of suffering and the appearance of happiness as well as its absence. The tendency to acquire manifests gradually in the rise of the sentient name-karm.
Question - Do the fire-bodied and air-bodied beings, like the two-sensed and others, clearly exhibit this tendency, making them considered sentient?
Answer - No.
Question - Then why are they not referred to as non-sentient like the earth-bodied and others?
Answer - According to the mentioned characteristics, they are indeed non-sentient. Here, by observing similarity in motion with the two-sensed, they are referred to as sentient; that is, there are two types of sentient—obtained-sentient (labdhi-tras) and moving-sentient (gati-tras). The sentient beings with the rise of the sentient name-karm are the obtained-sentient, which are the main sentient beings, such as those from two-sensed to five-sensed. Even with the rise of the non-sentient name-karm, those beings that are called sentient due to movement like sentients are...