Harmless Soul

Author(s): W J Johnson, Dayanand Bhargav
Publisher: Motilal Banarasidas

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Early Jainism 1.5 The householder in the earliest texts
i) The status of the householder Although the doctrine of karma, with the doctrine of rebirth and liberation (mokşa) as its corollary, is the most prominent feature of the earliest Jaina texts, it is not developed systematically and there is no discussion at all of its precise mechanism.53 Moreover, the earliest detectable stream of doctrine holds an uncompromisingly negative view of the householder because he is a householder. The prospect of a better rebirth in heaven or on earth, as a result of good activity which attracts good karma, is hardly admitted, and the four possible births (gatis) seem to have only a theoretical significance at this stage.54 As Dixit puts it, all action leads inevitably to a 'more or less inauspicious' rebirth, and is ipso facto bad.55 This contrasts with the position found in later doctrinal layers where the pious householder and the good monk who is not yet good enough to attain mokşa are promised auspicious rebirths. 56
Given that the ultimate soteriological goal of Jainism is total liberation from samsāra, the idea that any rebirth is relatively undesirable remains a constant component of doctrine. However, what is largely absent from the earliest texts is the idea that there is any gradation or progression through a series of births to ultimate liberation. Instead, what is emphasised is the critical nature of the present birth and, necessarily (since these texts are addressed to ascetics), those kinds of ascetic restraint which will ensure that there is no further rebirth. Thus Āyāramga Sutta 1.6.2, for instance, apparently considers that there are only two possibilities after death: 1) birth among hellish beings
53 See Dixit 1978, p. 9.
54 References to the gatis in the very earliest parts of the canon are few and far between and cannot be dated with any certainty. See, for example, Sūy. 1.2.3.13, 2.2.60ff. and Utt. 5.19ff.
55 Dixit 1978, p. 9. 56 See ibid.