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līluminator of Jaina Tenets
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purity, exactly as chaff is an incidental growth accompanying the corn which is the essential product of the seed. And, therefore, it is not proper to contend the necessary concomitance of merit with dharma. The contention that it is impossible, on the part of a perverse person, to practise the dharma, is untenable. Such persons also do practise partially the path of emancipation. The attainment of samyaktva is also impossible in the absence of the shaking off of the karman.
(Note) The argument that dharma in the form of shaking off the karman is not possible without the inhibition of the karman is also not tenable, because penance (tapas) is designated as the path of emancipation and an essential feature of dharma. In the same way, the belief that punya without dharma (i. e. penance) is possible in mundane acts is not consistent with the above-mentioned facts.
A mundane act unaccompanied with any kind of penance at its source cannot be considered as an act producing merit (punya). On the other hand, even acts of physical self-torture by persons of perverted religious faiths can acquire merit (punya), provided that it involves any kind of penance as its cause. This is supported by the description of the balatapaḥ and its meritorious results in the Jaina canon where ‘asarkiliffha pariņāma' is given as the cause of meritorious bondage. Some sort of samyama is a common feature of the balatapaḥ although it is done out of sheer ignorance and perverted knowledge. This has been made clear by the great Digambara logician, Akalanka in his Tattvārtha-Vārtikas. १४. अशुभं कर्म पापम् ।
अशुभं कर्म ज्ञानावरणादि पापमुच्यते । उपचारात् तद्हेतवोऽपि तत् शब्दवाच्याः। ततश्च तद् अष्टादशविधम्, यथा-प्राणातिपातजनितमशुभं कर्म प्राणातिपातपापम्, एवं मृषावादा- दत्तादान-मैथुन-परिग्रह-क्रोधमान-माया-लोभ-राग-द्वेष-कलहा-अभ्याख्यान-पैशुन्य-परपरिवाद-रत्यरतिमाया-मृषा-मिथ्यादर्शनशल्यपापान्यपि भावनीयानि । व्याख्यान्तरेणयदुदयेन भवेत् अशुभा प्रवृत्तिः, तन्मोहनीयं कर्मापि तत्तत् क्रियाशब्देनोच्यते । यथा-प्राणातिपातजनकं मोहनीयं कर्म प्राणातिपातपाप
मित्यादि। 1.14. asubham karma pāpam.
aśubham karma jñānāvaraņādi pāpam ucyate, upacārāt tad hetavo'pi " tat sabdavācyāh, tatas ca tad astadasavidham, yatha-pranatipata
janitam aśubham karma prāņātipātapāpam, evam mşşāvādā'datta
dana-maithuna-parigraha-krodha-māna-māyā - lobha - rāga - dveşa1 Ovavaiya Sutta (Suttagame ed.), p. 25. '2' Tattvārtha-Vārtika, 6/20.
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