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220 Harmless Souls greed and possessiveness. Amrtacandra's reading of mürcchā-ārambha-vimuktam, as negation of the development of the karmic consequences of the attitude of possession123 emphasises only one half of the classical theory of the equivalence of parigraha and mūrcchā as defined at Tattvārtha Sūtra 7:17 and Sarvārthasiddhi,124 where mürcchā is both the activity of preserving or acquiring possessions and an attitude of possessiveness towards them.
It is clear from these instances that neither division of the characteristics of the ascetic given at Pravacanasāra 3:5 and 3:6 falls exclusively into the 'external' and 'internal' categories which the Tattvadipikā attempts to impose. 125 I suggest that, historically, 3:5 represents an earlier understanding of the linga of an ascetic, while, given that upayoga appears to have originated with him, 3:6 is Kundakunda's revision or further internalisation of that earlier definition. It should also be noted that the next gāthā (3:7) begins with the words 'having taken this characteristic' (ādāya tampi limgam), singular, apparently referring (pace Amstacandra) to only one set of characteristics. Again, this suggests that 3:6 represents an interpolation by Kundakunda into a traditional description of the way in which one becomes a śramaņa. Moreover, Kundakunda leaves us in little doubt as to which set of characteristics he considers the more important, since he says of the highly if not totally internalised group which make up the Jaina-linga at 3:6 that they are 'the cause of the stoppage of rebirths' (apunabbhavakāraṇam).
Kundakunda's view on the relation of internal purity and external practice is, as we have seen, that the physical practice is only of value insofar as it is informed by and proceeds out of the correct internal attitude. To put it
123 mamatvakarmaprakramapariņāma - TD on Pravac 3:6. 124 See above, pp. 73ff.
125 This, of course, is not unexpected, given that Book 3 of the Pravacanasāra, in particular, appears to be of a compilatory nature.
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