Book Title: Harmless Soul
Author(s): W J Johnson, Dayanand Bhargav
Publisher: Motilal Banarasidas

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Page 165
________________ Kundakunda: The Pravacanasāra 151 Thus, as P S. Jaini puts it, the mithyātva state, eigendered by darśana-mohanīya-karman, is manifested as a 'fundamental tendency to see things other than as they really are! 58 Cāritra-mohanīya-karman generates the various passions (kaşāya), and these two forms of mohanīyakarman combine to produce a 'condition of spiritual stupefaction' or defilement. 59 In this state the soul is open to the influence of other types of karman, affecting its remaining qualities and, indeed, generating its state of embodiment.60 Thus mohaniya-karman is of central importance to the classical theory of bondage; and although, as Jaini points out, it cannot be given first place in a beginningless cycle, it is impossible to eliminate other karmic influences 'as long as deluding factors remain'.61 However, although the importance of mohanīyakarman can hardly be denied in the classical theory, I should like to stress that it is the second term in the compound, 'karman', upon which the emphasis falls in terms of achieving liberation from such bondage. It is the fact that it is caused by deluding-(material)-karman that is of crucial significance, not the delusion itself, which is simply the particular form that karman takes. This becomes clearer if we look at the question of caritra cognition' or 'perception' - see Glasenapp pp. 6-8. 58 JPP p. 118. 59 Ibid. p. 119. 60 Ibid. pp. 120-121. 61 Ibid. In this respect, mohanīya-karman has exactly analogous status to that held by avijjā ('ignorance and a synonym for moha) in the Buddhist formula of Dependent Origination (pațicca-samuppāda): aviijā stands first in the latter because it is the 'primary root of all evil and suffering in the world' [Buddhist Dictionary p. 31), and whereas it cannot be viewed as the 'causeless cause of the world (Visuddhi Magga XVII, 36f., quoted in ibid.), it is, figuratively speaking, a root-cause. In particular, it is the root-cause of lobha / rāga and dosa, 'consequently all unwholesome states of mind are inseparably bound up with it' (ibid. p. 32). Cf. the identical Jaina view given by the TD on Pravac. 2:103. Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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