Book Title: ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 04
Author(s): International School for Jain Studies
Publisher: International School for Jain Studies

Previous | Next

Page 281
________________ states of imperfection and perfection, expressed by such terms as mati jñ na and kevala jñ na are in turn the modes of the attribute knowledge in partial or complete states. The empirical soul being defiled by knowledge obscuring karmas therefore needs certain media or external devices to acquire knowledge of others. Also there are limitations to its knowledge capabilities in terms of place, area, time or the substance type. Knowledge as a system in Jain philosophy: Object of knowledge What we want to know? (prameya or jñeya) Jñana definition Black box Consciousness, its manifestation (pram t / tm & pram a) Result of knowledge / output pramiti / result /just knowledge Some of the definitions and benefits of knowledge in Jain literature are given below: ⚫ Jň na is an attribute of soul, which is capable of knowing both self and others.[1] a arassa s ro [2] says that the sole purpose of human mode is to acquire knowledge, as jn na and soul are concomitant. Niryuktik ra Bhadra B hu II says assa s rm y ro or the sole purpose of knowledge is to develop and practice right conduct to achieve the ultimate objective'. utra-k t ga, the second canonical text starts with Bujjhejja meaning to know or try to know and then practice to destroy the bondage. Thus we see that Jň na is defined by different c ryas from time to time. P jya P da [3] defines it as, 'The means by which cognition takes place', 'one who knows' and 'the knowledge'. Dhaval [4] defines jn na as 'The specific entity which provides the true knowledge of the object', 'entity which enables to decide the true nature of a substance' and 'means of cognizing substance, modes and attributes'. Nand Cri on the other hand defines jñ na as 'Just cognizing', 'means of cognizing' and 'the cognizer'. Other scriptures also define jñ na similarly. So we can define in na all inclusive as the: Process of knowing or cognition can thus be viewed as measurement system, the measure or standard also, knower (owner or the processor of knowledge)? Result of cognizing (knowledge): i.e. elimination of ignorance about the characteristics of the object. Jň na here implies acquiring the knowledge about what is good for adoption and what is bad to be given up for achieving the ultimate objective. Further jñ na is a capacity (of soul) to know completely and directly as state (gross or subtle), distance, spatial and temporal constraints are not hindrances. Status of knowledge as right (samyak) or wrong (mithy) depends on the attitude of the owner of knowledge. An individual with right attitude (samyak d i) will have right knowledge and vice versa. Caitanya or consciousness is the essence of Jva. The two manifestations of consciousness are intuition / dar ana and knowledge/jñ na, the former is simple apprehension and the latter conceptual knowledge. The consciousness itself takes two forms namely attainment (labdhi) and utilization (upyoga). Attainment is the capacity to know whereas utilization involves its application for the purpose of knowing. The utilization of consciousness itself takes two terms namely intuition or dar ana (which is indeterminate i.e. not definitive cognition) and knowledge (which is determinate, is Anfinitiunl Dor and in cimala intuition of annaralition of things while knowleden in with particular or

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567