Jaina Ethics

Author(s): Dayanand Bhargav
Publisher: Motilal Banarasidas

Page 62

Metaphysical Background
45 types : (i) mobile and (ii) immobile. The latter include the four elemental-bodied jivas, viz. (a) earth-bodied (prthvikāyika), (b) water-bodied (apkājika), (c) fire-bodied (tejaskāyika), (d) air-bodied (vāyukāyika) and (e) vegetable-bodied (vanaspatikāyika).1 All these immobile jīvas have only one sense of touch. These jivas do not explicitly manifest the signs of life. But since they also show the tendency to grow and decay, they are supposed to be possessed of life. The Jaina doctrine of non-violence is, therefore, not confined only to men or animals but embraces these mute, immobile jīvas also.
The mobile souls, have two to five senses. The onesensed (ekendriya) souls have four prāņas (vitalities) viz. touch, power of body, age and respiration. The two-sensed souls have six prāņas, the above four plus the sense of taste and power of speech. The three-sensed souls add to these six, the sense of smell. The four-sensed souls add to the above seven, the sense of sight. All five-sensed souls add to the above eight, the sense of hearing: whereas the rational (samanaska) five-sensed souls have one more prāna, the power of mind. 3
Thus, though all souls are equal in their transcendental form, they vary in degrees of prāṇas from empirical point of view. It is this distinction which makes taking of vegetable life less violent than taking away animal life or human life. Western View Vs. Indian View
Though it is neither possible nor desirable to deal with Western view of self in detail here, yet some important points may be noted because Western thinkers have also contemplated on the problem of self with the same enthusiasm as Eastern thinkers have done.
The common-place view of man's personality, resembl. ing more or less Cārvāka way of thinking, is put by W. James in these words :
“In its widest possible sense, however, a man's ME is the sum-total of all that he can call his; not only his
1. Tattvārthas útra, 2.13. 2. Pujyapāda on Ibid., 2.30. 3. Ibid., 2.24.