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: Kundakunda: The Pravacanasāra 187 has transformed itself through dharma (i.e. through its internal attitude) is united with the pure manifestation of consciousness then it attains to the bliss of nirvāṇa.?
This definition of cãritra as part of the ratnatraya may be compared with that given in the Pañcāstikāya at gāthā 115, viz.:
Right faith is belief in the way things are (i.e. in the tattvas). Right knowledge is the acquisition of correct knowledge about things (adhigama).8 Right conduct is an attitude of indifference towards things on the part of those who are on the path.
In other words, when you know how things really are you realise that they have nothing to do with the self, and so you maintain a liberating attitude of indifference towards them. 9
This lack of interest in external conduct is indicative of Kundakunda's attitude throughout these works. Moreover, it is probable that this situation obtains not so much because he takes external practice for granted but because his own development of doctrine has led him to a position where the external is irrelevant. This will become clear when we try to find a place for his understanding of the roles of jñāna and dhyāna in the standard Jaina categorization of tapas (as imperfectly schematised in the Tattvārtha Sūtra).
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7 dhammeņa pariņadappă appā jadi suddhasampayogajudo
pāvadi ņivvāņasuham ... Pravac. 1:11. 8 On adhigama, see TS 1:3 and SS.
9 Here 'knowledge' may be being used in the vyavahāra or conventional sense, as opposed to the niscaya view of jñāna which refers to realisation of the self ('self-knowledge'); nevertheless, it is clear that knowledge and conduct are interdependent and inform each other at both levels. The crucial consideration, however, is how caritra is defined
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