Some Jaina Canonical Sutras

SR No.: 011033
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Bimla Charn Law
Publisher: Royal Asiatic Society
Publication Year: 1949
Total Pages: 229
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Agam, & Canon
File Size: 24 MB

Page 206

192
SOME JAINA CANONICAL SUTRAS
believes by reality. There is no right conduct without right belief, it must be cultivated for obtaining the right faith; righteousness and conduct originate together or righteousness precedes conduct. Without right faith there is no right knowledge, without right knowledge there is no virtuous conduct, without virtues there is no deliverance and without deliverance (mokṣa) there is no perfection.2
Austerities are two-fold: external and internal. By knowledge one knows things, by faith one believes in them, by conduct one gets freedom from karma and by austerities one reaches purity. Great sages whose object is to get rid of all misery proceed to perfection having destroyed their karma by control and austerities.
Mahavira has given instructions regarding exertion in righteousness. Those who believe in it, accept it, practise it, comply with it, study it, and understand it, have obtained perfection, enlightenment, deliverance and final beatitude. He has dealt with the following subjects:
(1) Longing for liberation: By longing for liberation, the soul obtains an intense desire of the Law. By an intense desire of the Law, he quickly arrives at an increased longing for liberation. He destroys anger, pride, deceit and greed. He becomes possessed of right faith and by the purity of faith, he will reach perfection after one birth.
(2) Disregard of worldly objects: By disregard of worldly objects, the soul quickly feels disgust for pleasures enjoyed by men, gods and animals. He becomes indifferent to all objects; thereby he ceases to engage in any undertaking with the result that he enters the road to perfection.
(3) Desire of the Law: By the desire of the Law, the soul becomes indifferent to pleasures. He abandons the life of a householder and as a houseless monk, he puts an end to all pains, mental and bodily.
(4) Obedience to the co-religionists and to the guru: By obedience to them, the soul obtains discipline. By discipline and avoidance of misconduct he avoids being born as a denizen of hell; by devotion to the guru, he obtains truth as a good man and gains perfection and beatitude.
(5) Confession of sins before the guru: By this act the soul gets rid of the thorns of deceit, wrong belief, etc. He obtains simplicity and annihilates karma.
(6) Repenting for one's sins to oneself: By this act the soul obtains repentance and becoming indifferent by repentance,
1 Uttaradhyayana, XXVIII, 29. 3 Ibid., XXVIII, 34.
2 Ibid., XXVIII, 30.