Book Title: Agam 05 Ang 05 Study Of Bhagvati Vyakhya Prajnapti Sutra
Author(s): Suzuko Ohira
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad
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113
Part 1 (b)
Nature of Jiva - General Aspect
257
The term jiva is not necessarily a technically fixed terminology in the first canonical stage. It is used there like an udaka-jiva or six jiva-nikayas. However, a set of its synonyms 'Prana-bhuta-jiva-sattva' appears more frequently to express living beings in general. The early Jainas thus maintained that a jiva is somewhat indistinguishable from its body, but no further thought was given to the nature of jiva. The word jiva distinguished from ajiva occurs decisively in the third canonical stage, where ajiva denotes pudgala on the whole. The usage of ajiva in the sense of astikayas minus jiva and addhasamaya arises in the fourth-fifth canonical stages. Inquiries into the nature of jiva begin in the third canonical stage onwards when its antithesis ajiva becomes the object of serious investigation.
258
It is discussed in VI.10.255 that a jiva (a living being) is necessarily jiva (caitanya, according to Abhayadeva) and jiva (caitanya) is necessarily a jiva (a living being), that H, for instance, is necessarily a jiva but a jiva may not be necessarily H, and that he who is alive Givati) is necessarily a jiva but a jiva may not necessarily be alive (for a siddha is beyond samsara). The Jainas insist in VI.10.360 that a samsari jiva is a pudgala (an individual) on the basis of being a jiva, and he is also a pudgali (a possessor of pudgala)on the basis of possessing indriyas, inasmuch as a person having a danda (stick) is called a dandi. A siddha is said to be neither a pudgala nor a pudgali. The word pudgala retains here the sense of an individual soul which is a well-known Buddhist technical term. The term pudgala in this sense also occurs in the synonyms of jivastikaya (cf. XX.2.663 in B-2). All these texts must belong to the third canonical stage.
259
Heretics argue in X VI.2.595 that a jiva's atma differs from the jiva qualified by abstinence or non-abstinence from 18 kriyas, buddhi and will, etc., up to upayoga (yavat here refers to the items listed in XI.5.448-49, which we placed in the fifth stage in B-2). MV refutes that atma is identical with jiva as such. These items cited here are said in XX.3.664 to transform in the atma alone but in no other place. All these passages fall in the fifth canonical stage.
260
X1.10.466 proposes atma in eight kinds, i.e., dravya ātmā, kasaya ã., yoga ā., upayoga a., jnana a., darsana a., caritra ā. and virya ã. It then examines each type of atma as to whether or not dravya ā. is identical with kaşaya ā., and whether or not kasaya ã. is identical with dravya ā. ... up to whether or not dravya a. is identical with virya 2., and vice versa. The succeeding sutra 467 poses a question whether atma is identical with jnana or with ajnana, then how is it in the case of the atma of H.A.M.G ? Darsana is also examined in like manner. The series of these two sutras exhibits a highly methodical skill in applying the anuyoga items, which cannot but belong to the final canonical
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