Jain Journal 1997 04

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 23

JAIN JOURNAL: Vol-XXXI, No. 4 April 1997 (dvaṭth-antarakappā) he means to say that there are sixty-two subperiods in his one (kind of) mundane period (kappa). And this he says, because he does not recognize the two other (kinds of mundane periods)
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The expression six classes (chal-abhijātiyo) refers to his tenet, that there are the following six classes: the black, the dark-blue, the red, the yellow, the white and the supremely white. Among these he denotes, by the "black class" (kanhabhijāti), the sheep-butchers, the boarhunters, the bird-catchers, the deer-stalkers, the hunters, the fishkillers, the thieves, the murderers for the sake of robbery, the prisonkeepers, and in fact all other workers of wickedness. The Bhikkhus (or Buddhist mendicants), according to him, constitute the "blue class" nilābhijāti); they are said to eat after inserting thorns into their four necessaries. For the Sacred Text (Pāli) itself says on the subject, that "the mendicants are those who practise the insertion of thorns" (bhikkhu kantaka-vuttika). Or it may be that he designates by the name
and finally undergoes seven re-animations.' The fourteen alternative births are thus specified: 1, as a deva in the upper Manasa embodiment (mänase sanjuhe): 2, as a sentient being of the first kind; 3, as a deva in the middle. Māṇasa embodiment; 4, as a sentient being of the second kind; 5, as a deva in the lower Manasa embodiment; 6, as a sentient being of the third kind; 7, as a deva in the upper Manasuttara embodiment; 8, as a sentient being of the fourth kind; 9. as a deva in the middle Manasuttara embodiment; 10, as a sentient being of the fifth kind; 11. as a deva in the lower Manasuttara embodiment; 12, as a sentient being of the sixth kind; 13, as a deva in the Brahma-world (not 'embodiment'); 14, as a sentient being of the seventh kind. These two enumerations have an appearance of inconsistency. The commentator, Abhayadeva, reconciles it thus: in the list of fourteen births there are mentioned 6 embodiments; these in addition to the 'endless embodiments' mentioned previously, make up a total of 7 embodiments (sanjuha); again in that list are mentioned 7 births as devas and 7 births as sentients: and the list is followed by 7 reanimations; thus we obtain the four sets of sevens of the first enumeration. I cannot say, that this reconcilement strikes one as quite satisfactory; still its tendency is to prove a series of 'fourteen principal births', and, thus far, to establish an agreement with the Buddhist accounts. Even thus, however, after all has been said, Gosala's doctrine on the point remains obscure.
6. The text has chatu-satthi 'sixty-four', which I do not understand. One would expect dva-saṭṭhi.
7. The Buddhists recognize three kinds of periods, the mahākappa, the asankheyyakappa, and the antarakappa. Gosala only recognized the mahäkappa; see below, p. 124.
8. Pāli chora-ghātaka, German Raubmörder, modern thag.