Agam 05 Ang 05 Study Of Bhagvati Vyakhya Prajnapti Sutra

Author(s): Suzuko Ohira
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad

Page 110

161 We shall now take up the theory of directions expressed in the Bhagavati. x.
1.393 informs us that jiva-ajiva exist in the ten directions, which is quoted by X1.10.419, X III.4.478-79 and X V1.8.582. Here, the ten directions are expressed in terms of each having its own spatial limits with a definite shape and with their starting point at the centre of the middle world, which is explained in XI. 4.478-79. Without the exposition of this technical concept, X.1.393 and XVI. 8.582 are difficult to comprehend. Also X.1.393 repeats the classification of jiva-ajiva made in 11.10.120 (cf. B-2), which is again essential to understanding the topics discussed in the relevant sutras now to be dealt with.
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Jiva is thus classified into jiva, jiva-de'sa (part) and jiva-prade'sa (spatial unit), each of which is subclassified into one to five-sensed beings and siddhas (anindriyas). Ajiva is likewise classified into ajiva, ajiva-desa and ajivaprade'sa, which are each divided into rupi and arupi. Rupi ajiva is then subdivided into skandha, skandha-desa, skandha-pradesa and paramanu; arupi ajiva is subdivided into dharmastikaya, its des a and prade's a, adharmastikaya, its de'sa and prade'sa, akasastikaya, its desa and prade'sa and addhasamaya. X. 1.393 attempts to examine which types of jiva-ajiva as such are locatable in the loka in the ten directions, and X VI.8.582( which repeats the content of X.1.393 by referring to it) tries to consider the same for the regions in the upper and the lower worlds.
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According to X I.4.478-79, the directions start from the central point in the middle world, which is situated in the middle of two thin layers at the top of Ratnaprabha. The central point consists of a cube with eight prade'sas in all ( Actually, no space is allowed between the dots representing prade'sas. This figure of asta-prade'sika-rucaka is drawn with space to facilitate our explanation), each square surface of which consists of four prade'sas. The upper and lower directions which start from the square surface on the top and bottom of the cube form an infinite line upwards and downwards consisting of four prade'sas throughout loka-aloka. Four intermediate directions start from the four corners of the upper and lower surface in the form of a fan, thus drawing four continuous lines upwards and downwards, each consisting of one prade'sa throughout loka-aloka. A fan-shaped spatial dimension between the two intermediate quarters is the cardinal direction, of which the total number is four. Four quarters, four intermediate quarters and the upper-lower directions are thus expressed in terms of spatial units according to this strange theory of directions.
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With this knowledge in mind, X.1.393 and X V.8.582 argue, for instance, as to whether or not a five-sensed being or a skandha is locatable in an intermediate quarter which consists of a continuous line of one prade'sa, and whether or not the simultaneous existence of a part of a one-sensed being and a part of a two-sensed being is possible therein. The questions posed here are absurd, and