Agam 05 Ang 05 Study Of Bhagvati Vyakhya Prajnapti Sutra

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

Page 140

SECTION
C
JVA
Part 1 (a) Classes
General Aspects
of Beings
249
It was MV himself who classified living beings into sixfold jiva-nikayas, i.e., earth-beings, water-beings, fire-beings, wind-beings, plant-beings and mobile beings. Their classification into H.A.M.G based on gati was probably accepted by or in the second stage. Their subclassification into 24 dandakas, which is popularly known to the canonical texts in the fourth stage, must have been ready during the third canonical stage, keeping abreast with the cosmographical developoment of the Jainas. A classification of beings into one to five-sensed beings is again current in the fourth canonical period. The Sutrakrta 1.3 employs the term five-sensed being while enumerating its species, however the terms one to four-sensed beings do not make their appearance yet. This classification of beings based on indriya, therefore, must have come into being in the third canonical stage. (Incidentally, the Uttara X passages relevant to two to five-sensed beings along with their life span are later additions.) In the post-canonical period, one-sensed beings are, as a rule, placed in the sthavara class. In the canonical period, opinions are divided in two in this respect, i.e., the one representing the old view that includes tejo-vayu in the trasa class and the other that absorbs them in the sthavara class. Some classes of beings are taken up in the following Bhagavati passages.
250
Heretics argue in 1.5.112 that the overflow of a hot spring (Mahatapopatira prabhava) at the foot of Mt. Vaibhara near Rajagrha is caused by the showering activities of clouds which are formed and mixed therein. Against this, MV comes out with his view that it is caused by the activities of uşna-yonija-jivas, who together with pudgala take the shape of udaka-jivas. This text may share the age of the Sutrakrta 11.3 which explains the birth of subtle beings in a similar way. We should note here that the term pudgala makes its appearance in this way in the second canonical stage. We have already touched upon the topic of sūkşma-sneha-kayas or subtle water-bodied beings occurring in 1.6. 56 in Section B-1. We should be aware in this connection that the canonical authors do not distinguish a water-being or a water-bodied being from a water-body, for instance. It is probably due to the Jaina view since olden days that the jiva is somehow indistinguishable from its body.
251
When a lamp burns, it is explained in V1.6.334, only fire (jyoti) burns, but not its lamp stand, wick, oil nor lid. A similar explanation is made as to the case of a house on fire. This text is couched in non-technical terms, and it can be placed in the second canonical stage. V.2.180 discusses that anything can be transformed into fire-bodies when burnt, for instance, rice and pulse, liquid, iron and copper, bone and skin, hay and cow dung, and one-sensed beings up