Harmless Soul

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

Page 74

60 Harmless Souls
coming and going. 42
However, when he comes to deal with iryāpatha-kriyā at Tattvārtha Sūtra 6:5 (6), Sukhlalji glosses it in exactly the same way, as 'kriyā which causes either the bondage or the experiencing of iryāpatha karma - that is, karma of a duration of one samaya'. Such a reading leads to the incompatibility between the two sūtras outlined above (i.e. how can this be included in a list of sāmparāyika karma / āsrava, when it is apparently of the other type of āsrava / karma - īryāpatha?). Sukhlalji is aware of the problem, but is unable to resolve it. He comments on the exceptional position of īryāpatha kriyā on this list:
Of the kriyās ...(mentioned above)... there is only one - viz. īryāpatha kriyā - that is not āsrava for a sāmparāyika karma: as for the remaining ones since they are all impelled by kaşāya they are all cause-of-bondage for sāmparāyika karma. And when all these kriyās are here called āsrava for a sāmparāyika karma that is done simply because most of them (really all of them except īryapathiki) are in fact so.43
In other words, he can offer no explanation at all. But this does highlight the problem, and indicates that the list of kriyā was probably taken over in its entirety from an earlier source which does not fit the later division into sāmparāyika and iryāpatha āsrava.
In the context of a list of kriyā , the correct interpretation of Tattvārtha Sūtra 6:5 (6) is probably that of the Sarvārthasiddhi , viz. 'īryāpathakriyā is walking carefully, by looking on the ground (for living beings which may be trodden and injured)'. 44 But this in turn raises two problems: 1) why does the same term apparently
42 Sukhlalji (TS 1974), p. 233. 43Ibid. p. 236. 44 S.A. Jain's trans., p. 170 (cf. J.L. Jain (1920) p. 125) of: īryāpathanimitteryāpathakriyā - SS on TS 6:5.