Harmless Soul

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

Page 98

84 Harmless Souls into the sixth gunasthāna, which is the stage of taking the ascetic's vows (mahāvrata), are further subdivided into 11 pratimā.9 In other words, certain kinds of behaviour and attitude will enable the aspirant to make some progress towards liberation, but these have to be superseded or improved upon as he moves up to the next 'rung'.
The theoretical stress on internal discipline as the chief means of ascending the ladder clearly reflects the difficulty of achieving a completely inactive state short of death (i.e. short of the ideal goal of ritual death by fasting, sallekhanā). 10 It is true that to achieve final liberation the complete cessation of first external activity and then all activity has to be achieved, but only at the very end of life. For the laity, therefore, yoga has been effectively downgraded as a force in bondage - or, to be accurate, 'upgraded' so far that it is only to be reckoned with at the top of the soteriological ladder. It seems that they scarcely have to worry about it.
For the ascetic, however, the emphasis of the earliest doctrine on the centrality of physical action vis à vis bondage, keeps its force. The partially internalized doctrine, where what counts most is intention, is at a lower level soteriologically than the physical and material concerns of the monk. What distinguishes the monk most clearly from the lay person in 'classical' Jainism, in terms of daily practice, is still the strength of the monk's vow (vrata) concerning ahiņsā.11 And the authority for this mahāvrata of ahimsā is derived predominantly from the earliest canonical texts (the Ayāramga, etc.), i.e. it is the original doctrine concerning non-violence, aimed exclusively at renunciants.
It should be remembered, however, that the canonical texts, which reflect the monks' view of the world, and the Tattvārtha Sūtra, which (as I argue) reflects a wider view,
9 See JPP p. 186 for a full list; and R. Williams 1963, pp. 172-181. 10 On sallekhanā, see JPP pp. 227-223. 11 See JPP p. 241.