Harmless Soul

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

Page 91

Umāsvāti's Jainism 77 harming activity. Thus absence of greed means the absence of harming activity and of the potential for it. It is this condition which is considered to be a state of purity, and by definition it is only the monk or nun who experiences this greed-free state. In other words, in the earliest texts greed is seen as the polluting, himsā-initiating, bondage-causing vice. This connection is retained in the Tattvārtha Sūtra, where lobha is, by implication, synonymous with impurity, and freedom from greed is defined as sauca, although now the context has been internalised, in that the emphasis is placed on the stoppage of kaşāya, the attitude which is seen as instrumental in bondage. However, it is clear that originally the distinction between 'pure' and 'impure' was an existential distinction between the life of the monk and the life of the householder. And this earlier distinction resurfaces in the Sarvārthasiddhi when sauca is defined as 'freedom from greed'.
There may also be a suggestion here of a polemical statement aimed at Brahmanical ideas of what constitutes purity and dharma. That is to say, the Jains are reinterpreting sauca in a manner which shows that they are the truly pure, and it is the brahmans who are succumbing to greed, the antithesis of purity, just when they claim to be most pure. In both cases, impurity leads to further karmic bondage; the difference arises over how purity is defined. Brahman sacrificers cause himsā, therefore they are impure. Himsā (= impurity) is generated by greed, i.e., greed for results from the sacrifice. It is sacrifice, the characteristic mark of the śrauta brahman, which makes the brahman impure in the Jaina's eyes. And from the Jaina ascetic's point of view, the brahman is doubly impure, for in order to be qualified to sacrifice he has to be a householder.
In short, the behaviour of Jaina ascetics continues to be conditioned by the earliest beliefs about the conditions under which bondage takes place. (This is, of course,