Jaina Ontology

Author(s): K K Dixit
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

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JAINA ONTOLOGY appear in the Saptabhangi doctrine and yet the present discussion nothing to do with the doctrine in question ].
has
There are the cases (at least they are the most important such cases) where Prajñāpanā says things about matter as such. The question of matter as used by a living being should better be taken up in connection with the consideration of the nature of soul; for there a special sub-section will be devoted to the bodily activities undertaken by a living being.
(iv) Jiva
As has already been hinted, the whole of Prajñāpanā looks like a prolonged treatment of the nature of soul. Those parts of certain chapters which touch upon the problems of Loka-aloka, pañcāstikāya-cum-kala and pudgala we have already considered in some details; the six chapters dealing with the various aspects of the Karma doctrine we intend to take up separately. But barring these two text-portions it can certainly be said that the whole of Prajñāpanā says something or else about soul. It will be convenient to divide the Prajñāpapa treatment of soul into the following six parts and take them one by one for special consideration,
(1) General (2) Bodily activities (3) Cognitive activities
(4) Emotive activities (5) Conative activities (6) Affective activities
(1) General
Almost all general information that Prajñāpanā has to offer con. cerning the world of living beings is concentrated in its first five chapters that fittingly serve as an introduction to the whole text. This is to be supplemented by what is said in the important chapter 13th (viz. Pariņāmapada). The chapter 1st (viz. Prajñāpanāpada) presents an elaborate classification of the animate world (a world that naturally includes the earthbodied, water-bodied, fire-bodied, air-bodied and plant-bodied beings), the chapter 2nd (viz. Sthānapada) yields information as to which parts of the world are inhabited by this or that class of living beings, the chapter 3rd (viz. Alpabahutvapada) does the same about the relative numerical strength of the different classes of living beings, the chapter 4th (viz. Sthitipada) does the same about the life-duration of the different classes of living beings. All these details -- dogmatic for the most part -- deserve close perusal, for one ignorant of them can make little head or tail of much that goes in the name of Āgamic ontological speculation. But specially noteworthy in this connection are certain methodological tendencies. While undertaking a classification of the living world Prajñāpanā usually speaks of 24 types arranged according to their place of residence. Thus we have :