Fundamental Principles of Jainism

Author(s): B C Law
Publisher: Z_Vijay_Vallabh_suri_Smarak_Granth_012060.pdf

Page 9

JAINISM
existence to their own karma. According to the Sütrakstānga (1.12.15), the sinners cannot annihilate their work by new work; the pious annihilate their work by abstention from work. Karma consists of acts, intentional and unintentional, that produce effects on the nature of soul. The soul is susceptible to the influences of karma. The Jaina doctrine of nine terms (navatattva) developed from the necessity for a systematic exposition of kriyāvada, which is in its essential feature only a theory of soul and karma. The categories of merit and demerit comprehend all acts, pious and painful, which keep the soul confined to the circle of births and deaths. The Uttarādhyayanasūtra (XXVIII, 11) points out that the wearing out of the accumulated effects of karma on the soul by the practice of austerities lies in nirjara (tapaså nirjara ca).
All the Indian systems believe that whatever action is done by an individual, leaves behind it some sort of potency, which has the power to ordain for him joy or sorrow in the future, according as it is good or bad. According to the Samhitas he who commits wicked deeds suffers in another world, whereas he who performs good deeds, enjoys the highest material pleasures. According to the popular Hindu belief karma is a sum-total of man's action in a previous birth, determining his future destiny which is unalterable. Its effect remains until it is exhausted through suffering or enjoyment. The doctrine of karma is accepted in all the main systems of Indian philosophy and religion as an article of faith, The Buddha is generally credited with the propounding of the doctrine, but there is a clear statement in the Majjhima Nikāya (Vol. I, p. 483) to show that the doctrine had not originated with the Buddha. It was propounded before his advent by an Indian teacher who was a householder. In the BȚhadaranyaka Upanişad and in the teachings of Yājñavalkya, we meet with a clear formulation of the doctrine of karma. The Buddhist doctrine of karma is nothing but a further elucidation of that in the Upanişad. According to the Majjhima Nikaya (III, p. 203), the doctrine is emphatically formulated thus : 'Karma is one's own, a man is an inheritor of his karma, one finds one's birth according to his or her karma, karma is one's own kith and karma is one's own refuge, karma divides beings into higher or lower.' The Buddhists approached the problem from a purely mental point of view. The Mahāniddesa (I, pp. 117-118) points out that a man need not be afraid of the vast accumulation of karma through a long 1. Das Gupta, History of Indian Philosophy, pp. 71-72.