Agam 05 Ang 05 Study Of Bhagvati Vyakhya Prajnapti Sutra

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

Page 171

141
SECTION D
ETHICAL PROBLEMS
Part 1
(a)
Action Kriya
349
We have shown in Ch. I, Section II that the term karma, which was used in the sense of action in general in the first canonical stage, developed into three distinct concepts in the second canonical stage, i.e. karma in the special sense of matter, yoga denoting the totality of a being's actions (in the sense of neutral actions which are neither good or bad), and kriya denoting an evil deed. A presentation of kriya in the form of eighteen divisions (1-5: five aviratis, 6-9: four kaşayas, 10-11: preya-dveșa, 12-15: kalaha-abhyakhyana-paisunyaparaparivada, 16-17: rati-arati, 18: mayamrşa-mithyadarsana) surfaces, rather frequently, in the second canonical stage. Another set of kriyas (12 divisions) was also formulated at this stage: artha-danda, anartha-d., himsa-d., akasmad-d., drst iviparyasa-d., mrşa-vrtti, adinnadana-v., adhyatmika-v., mana-v., mitradueşaU., maya-v., and lobha-v. However, this second set failed to establish itself as a popular categorical form of kriya. It is nevertheless obvious that the early canonical authors were keenly interested in the problem of kriya.
350
Two sets of fivefold kriyas which later became standardized do not yet occur in the second canonical stage and must therefore have been formulated in the succeeding period: these are (1) kayiki-adhikaraniki-pradveşiki-paritapanikipranatipata, and (2) arambhiki-parigrahiki-mayiurtti-apratyakhyanikimithyadarsanaurtti. The former, which emphasizes the physical aspect of kriya, was probably formulated on the basis of himsa, and the latter which lays stress on the mental aspect of kriya, was probably formulated on the basis of parigraha. One set of eighteen kriyas and two sets of five kriyas each became standardized by the time of the Prajnapana, where Ch. XXI is devoted to their treatment. All these kriyas express evil actions.
351
Another set of kriyas which receives treatment in the Bhagavati consists of the iryapatha-sampara yika couplet. Iryapatha, meaning the "path of careful movement", belongs to the ascetics who are free from kasayas; samparayika, meaning "disastrous", belongs to those human beings who are obsessed by kasayas and thereby destined to migrate in samsara. This kriya couplet, naturally, evolved from a totally different line of thought. We should remember in this connection that the T.S. counts twenty-five kriyas in VI.6.
352
There are several sutras in the Bhagavati which are not based on these formal groups of kriyas. Let us dispose of them first. A man who kills another man, for instance, is said in IX. 34.390 to also slaughter other living beings affected by the process of killing. The passage goes on to say that such a man is necessarily touched by the dead man's vaira, or he is touched by the dead man's