Harmless Soul

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

Page 49

Early Jainism 35 At Sūyagadamga 1.6.26, for instance, it is said of the Arhat that, having expunged the passions which defile the soul, viz. wrath, pride, deceit and greed, he does not commit any wrong, nor does he cause it to be committed. 95 This is typical in that although it sees the four passions as the instigators of wrong (i.e. harmful) behaviour they are not tied directly to bondage in any technical sense, but to himsā; and it is himsā that causes the soul to be bound by karma. This is borne out by passages such as Ayāramga 1.3.4.1, where the conquest of anger, etc. is described as the 'doctrine of the Seer who does not injure living beings and has put an end to acts and to samsāra)': 96 In other words, motivation is still not seen as directly binding in itself; it is the act (killing, etc.) which remains soteriologically crucial. The important thing is control: control of physical action and therefore also control of the passions which may lead to the loss of such physical restraint and the consequent destruction of living creatures. . In the Dasaveyāliya Sutta, the term kaşāya is applied to the four vices (krodha, etc.). Dixit argues that because kaşāya is used in a technical sense here, a relatively late date should be assigned to the passage.97 However, whether Dixit is right about the dating or not - and prima facie his argument seems to be at best circular - kaşāya still has no direct connection with bondage in the sense of providing conditions for karmic matter to stick to the jīva, which is the later technical sense of the term (see below). Thus at Dasaveyāliya 7:57 there is the passage:
from the way in which they are supposed to act upon the soul' (1895, p. 302 fn. 5). These are passages which clearly need further investigation.
95 See Jacobi's trans. (1895, p. 291) of: koham ca mānam ca taheva māyam lobham cauttham ajjhattadosā| . eyāni vantā arahā mahesi na kuvvai pāva na kāravei || Sūy. 1.6.26||
96 Jacobi's trans. (1884, p. 33) of:
se vantā koham ca mānam ca māyam ca lobham ca eyam pāsagassa damsanam uvarayasatthassa paliyantakarassa.
97 Dixit 1978, p. 29.