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Part 3
Rebirth and Liberation
168
We have touched upon this theme of rebirth and liberation here and there in the previous sections as required by circumstances. According to MV's world view, the criterion for whether one repeats or cuts off samsara was as a whole based on the performance of himsa or ahimsa. This simple criterion developed into complexity in accordance with the doctrinal development made in various branches of knowledge in the subsequent course of time, and it came to be framed in the theory of karma that the presence or absence of karma decides whether one is to go through samsara or to achieve mokṣa. Thus nirjara of the total karma matter in eight types can release one from samsara, otherwise one is destined to remain in the cycle of rebirth. Meanwhile, a rule was established by the fourth canonical period that the acquisition of kevala jnanadarsana is the proviso for accomplishing emancipation. Added to this by the time of Umasvati was that acquisition of the knowledge of the 14 Purvas is a necessary requirement for the same. And since the Purvas are said to have long since been lost, Jaina idealism of mokṣa came to be at a loss. This was rescued by way of creating a rule that it is attainable to anyone who takes birth in Mahavideha. Needless to say, this escape into the mythological sphere is a desperate excuse that the Jaina theoreticians had to make in order to defend the raison d'etre of their religious sect.
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Let us leave aside the texts relevant to this theme which have already been handled in the previous sections. II.1.87 reads that if a Jaina monk who takes pure food has not reduced or cut off the cycle of rebirth and feeling(vedaniya) towards samsara, and if he has not yet attained his end-in-view, he must repeat transmigration: but he who acts up in the opposite ways is said in sutra 89 to accomplish salvation. Sutras 88 and 89 offer synonyms of samsari jiva (cf.II. 2.663 in B-2) and siddha. I.9.74 enumerates laghavikam, alpopadhikam, amurccha, agṛddha, apratibaddha and akaṣaya in four divisions to be the praiseworthy qualities for a monk. It is said that after a monk becomes free from kankṣa-praduesa (raga-doga), he will be soon released from the misery of samsara. All these sutras seem to belong to the late third-fourth canonical stages.
XVII.3.599 enumerates ideal ethical concepts such as samwega which lead a monk to emancipation. These numerous categorical items relevant to ascetic ethics and conduct are in the majority found in the Uttara XXIX (Samyaktuaparakrama) which belongs to the final canonical stage. Sutras II.5.106-11, which are composed in a story style, have the Parsvan elders saying that samyama and tapas performed in the previous life, karma and attachment (sangi, having attachment) are the causes that lead one to devaloka (cf. T.S. VI.20). This is approved by MV. In continuation of the Parsvan elders' exposition of the results of samyama-tapas, MV preaches the causal relation held For Private & Personal Use Only
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