Aspect of Jainology Part 2 Pandita Bechardas Doshi

Author(s): M A Dhaky, Sagarmal Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 423

ETHICAL PHILOSOPHY OF KUNDAKUNDA
Kamal Chand Sogani
In the history of Jainism, Kundakunda shines as a profound exponent of spiritualism. His thoughts are dedicated to evaluating objects and phenomena mystically. He justifies his approach by saying that people at large have not only listened to, and are intensely familiar with the dualities of life, but they also have experienced them a great deal; on the other hand they have not even chanced come across the mystical approach to life. Kundakunda's works, therefore, strike a tranquil but dynamic note of spiritual inwardness. For him, nothing short of spiritual realisation can serve as the highest objective of human life. Only those who are profoundly interested in the spiritual way of life can benefit from his writings. He pursues the whole subject with intense earnestness with a view to giving a thorough mystical turn to the ordinary ways of man's thinking. His writings often have not been comprehended by those who are not equipped and are not capable of meeting the challenge of life. The intent of his works, if these works are not studied in their entirety and in the totality of their context, would escape since there are găthās in his works which, taken singly, would mislead the reader. To illustrate : "the empirical viewpoint is false and the transcedental viewpoint is true.2 Both the auspicious and inauspicious actions are evil." There is no difference between merit and demerits. They are like the fetters of gold and iron respectively. 5 Again, repentance for past misconduct, pursuit of the good, self-censure, confession before the Guru etc -all these constitute the pot of poison. To say, 'our village, our town, our city, our nation' is self-delusion." On forming a consistent view of his utterances, we find that, although he advises the individuals to dive deep into the depths of human self after abandoning mundane career, he does not ignore the momentousness of moral attitude. He may be the champion of supper-empirical view of life; yet he does not absolutely cast aside empirical view of life. For instance, in the Samayasára, he says that the transcendental viewpoint which speaks about the real nature of objocts is fit to be known by the realisers of the highest spiritual experience. But those who fall short of the experience need be preached by means of empirical viewpoint. While it is not unlikely that we cannot find much in his works which may enable us to form a systematic view of his ethical philosophy; even then, from whatever is available in his works, may shed light on his ethical thinking. In the present paper I shall endeavour to reconstruct his view of ethical philosophy, so that his concepts of right and wrong, good and evil, are properly formulated. As for ethics, I seem to feel that it should be confined to the realm of right and wrong, good and evil. The realm beyond this is the realm of metaphysics and mysticism, not of ethics. I,