Agam 05 Ang 05 Study Of Bhagvati Vyakhya Prajnapti Sutra

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

Page 282

APPENDIX I
DHARMA-ADHARMA
Dharma and adharma constitute the Pancastikayas together with akasa, jiva and pudgala. The function of dharma is said to be the conditional cause of motion and that of adharma the conditional cause of rest. Each of them is the one unseparable substance from the standpoint of dravya, pervading in the lokaka'sa from the standpoint of kşetra, existing eternally in the three tenses of time from the standpoint of Kala, and devoid of material properties from the standpoint of bhava. All these are known to the Tattvarthasutra.'
Motion is, however, inherent not only in a jiva but in pudgala also according to the doctrines of the Jainas. The function of pudgala is said to provide for a jiva his body, speech, mind and respiration. And because Jainism stands on the animistic view of life since the beginning, we find pudgala either in the form of a jiva's living body at present, or in the form of his dead body in the past. For instance, each dust particle exists either in the form of an earth-being's living body at present, or in the form of its dead body from which life has already departed. And as long as pudgala coexists with a jiva as his living body, his motion is caused, consciously or unconsciously, by the jiva himself, for a jiva is of the size of his own body. The dead body in which a jiva is no more found consists of atoms and composites. And these matter particles are constantly undergoing the process of division and combination, which will be used by jivas again and again by way of forming their body, speech, mind and respiration in the eternal process of cosmic recycling of pudgala. According to the Jainas, atoms are eternal from the standpoint of dravya, but they are not eternal from the standpoint of bhava or from the constantly changing modes of their properties.
The cause of motion or dharma is thus a jiva himself and pudgala itself. Then, the cause of rest or adharma is no other than the absence of motion. It is therefore difficult to understand why the Jainas had to establish dharma and adharma as independent dravyas. Moreover, the word dharma usually connotes the 'order', 'law', 'virtue', 'good deed', and so on, and the word adharma its opposite. It is therefore very strange that quite abnormal meanings such as the 'cause of motion' and the 'cause of rest' are attached to dharma and adharma, which are the cosmic principles peculiar to the Jaina school alone. In this 'appendix', we would like to trace how these two principles came to be established in the Jaina sect.
The Bhagavatisutra XX.2.663 lists the synonyms of dharmastikaya as follows: dharma, dharmāstikaya, cessation of 18 Kriyas (5 aviratis, 4 Kaşayas, preya-dveşa, Kalahaabhyakhyana-paisunya-paraparivada, rati-arati, mayamrsamithyadarsana), 5 samitis and 3 guptis. It also lists the synonyms of adharmastikaya as follows: adharma, adharmastikaya, 18 kriyas, 5 asamitis and 3 aguptis. Dharma here connotes the rules of monks' ethical practice, and adharma transgressions of these rules. The
synonyms of the former mean 'order', 'law', 'virtue', 'good deed', and so on, in