Agam 05 Ang 05 Study Of Bhagvati Vyakhya Prajnapti Sutra

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

Page 159

129
alone is said to be able to know and see either pure or impure lesya possessed by the other deva or devi by way of concentrating or half concentrating his thought. The parallel lines pertaining to an ascetic are located in the Jivajivabhigama 103. The Prajnapana X V.3.503 talks about the possessors of le'sya and the range of their avadhi. Our text above seems to be discussing the same theme even though it does not employ the term avadhi. Let us place this text in the fourth canonical stage at present.
311
Then VI.3.277 reads that a hellish being with black lesya may have less karma than a hellish being with blue le'sya from the standpoint of life span. A similar idea is expressed in the Prajnapanā X VI.1.477. X V1.3.617 says that earthbeings and plant-beings with grey lesya (or black or blue) may also have the chances of liberation if they take human birth next and attain kevalihood. We place VI.3.277 in the fourth canonical stage, and X VI.3.617 which is a part of the Makandiputra story referring to the Prajna pana in the fifth canonical stage.
312
As we have already mentioned, the Prajnapana XVI and the Uttara XXXIV distinguish bhava-le'sya from dravya-le'sya without employing these terms. Karma-le'sya or bhava-le'sya thus immediately came to have its antithesis dravya-le'sya. The terms bhava-le'sya and dravya-le'sya occur in XI.5.449 which we placed in the fifth stage (cf. B-2). In connection with brightness-darkness of day-night, V.9.223 (cf. B-1) poses a question whether beings in this and that class are bright or dark. The reply forthcoming is that H and Al- are dark due to their a'subha pudgala parinama, A-s and M are both dark and bright due to their a'subha-subha pudgala parinama, and Gare bright due to their 'subha pudgala parinama (cf. XIV.9.534 in C-1b for the nature of the material object of H.A.M.G). Their colouration is not mentioned in each case, however, the author is showing here the precise parallel between their dravya-le'syas (i.e., skin colours) and their bhava-le'syas. This text seems to belong to the late third canonical stage.
313
.
The original function assigned to le'sya is to determine a being's next place of birth in loka. However, this function can be easily forgotten once six le's yas are assigned to beings and the rule of the transformation of le'syas during their life span is established, because their next birth places are automatically and mechanically known from their le'syas and gati nama karmas. This can be likewise said about the additional role of le'sya in assisting the rebirth chart to pinpoint the more exact picture of jivas' mobility in the universe. For this reason, the original function vested on le'sya sunk into oblivion, and the fundamental concept of le'syā as the personality-index of beings came to the fore. Le'sya thus came to be treated independently as an anuyoga item in the capacity of a personality-index in the late canonical age, and talked about in relation to kaşaya and yoga, etc. in the list of 14 marganasthanas in the context of the