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from the state of complete dependence upon karma to the state of complete dissociation from it. These stages are know as the 'states of virtue', i.e., guṇasthānas. Here the word 'virtue' does not mean an ordinary moral quality but stands for the nature of soul, i.e., knowledge, belief and conduct.'
JAINA PHILOSOPHY: AN INTRODUCTION
Through these fourteen stages of development, the soul gradually frees itself, firstly from the worst, then from the less bad and finally from all kinds of karma, and manifests the innate qualities of knowledge, belief and conduct in a more and more perfect form. The owners of these stages are the following:2
1. Wrong believer (mithyādṛṣṭi).
2. One who has slight taste of right belief (sāsvādana samyagdṛṣṭi).
3. One who has a mixed belief (miśradṛṣṭi).
4. One who has true belief but has not yet self-discipline (avirata samyagdṛṣṭi).
5. One who has partial self-control (deśavirata).
6. One who has complete self-discipline, although sometimes brought into wavering through negligence (pramatta samyata).
7. One who has self-control without negligence (apramatta samyata).
8. One who practises the process called 'apūrva karaṇa' and in whom, however, the passions are still occurring in a gross form (nivṛtti bādara samparāya).
9. One who practises the process called 'anivṛtti karaṇa' and in whom, however the passions are still occurring (anivṛtti bādara samparāya).
10. One in whom the passions occur in a subtle form (sūkṣma samparāya).
1. Tatra guṇaḥ jñānadarśanacāritrarūpāḥ jīvasvabhāvaviseṣāḥKarma-grantha, II. 2 (commentary).
2. Ibid.
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