Book Title: Jaina Philosophy Historical Outline
Author(s): Narendra Nath Bhattacharya
Publisher: Munshiram Manoharlal Publisher's Pvt Ltd New Delhi
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The Incipient Stage 79 truth continues, or not, after death--to each or any of these questions, do I give the same reply."'1
Sañjaya is generally described as an agnostic (ajñānavādin), a sceptic unwilling to give any definite answer to the ultimate problems which were, according to him, indeterminable. In the Sūyagada2 the Ajñānavādins are criticised as blind persons, who, having no vision of their own, misguide others. In the Buddhist texts Sañjaya has been criticised as an Amarā-vikkhepika (eel-wriggler).# It appears that he is same as Sañjaya the wanderer who was the previous teacher of Sāriputta.From the Buddhist accounts it is known that when Sāriputta, accompanied by Moggallāna and two hundred and fifty other disciples, left the school of Sañjaya and joined the order of the Buddha, Sanjaya became so angry that he began to vomit blood which caused his sudden death. Buddhaghoṣa informs us that a certain wanderer named Supriya was a disciple of Sañjaya Paribbājaka, i.e.. Sañjaya the wanderer. 5
Although in the Buddhist and Jain texts the views of the Amarāvikkhepikas and Ajñānavādins, those who declined to give categorical answers to the questions put to them, are severely criticised, it can be said with certainty that the method of Sañjaya's arguments was partly accepted by the Buddha and Mahāvīra. Both of them were unanimous in declaring that there are some mooted questions on which any opinion should not be given. But side by side it must be admitted that what we get from the Sāmaññaphalasutta as the philosophy of Sañjaya, was a philosophy of total mental chaos. It was an expression of futility, a typical product of the age he represented.
Ajita Kesakambalin
Although regarded by the scholars as one of the ancient founders of materialism, Ajita Kesakambalin, like most of his contemporaries, was really a believer in the doctrine of non-action. "Like the other contemporaries of the Buddha and Mahāvīra, Ajita too, was taking a desperately gloomy view of human existence. He was no less a philosopher of futility and moral collapse than Pūraņa Kassapa and
Rhys Davids, DB, I, p. 75. 21. 12; cf 1. 6.27; II. 2.79; Uttara, XVIII, 22-23. *Digha, I, pp. 24-28; 1, p. 58, Sum. Vil., 1, p. 168. *cf. Mahāvagga, 1, 23-24. *Sum. Vil., I, p. 35.
