Jaina Philosophy Historical Outline

Author(s): Narendra Nath Bhattacharya
Publisher: Munshiram Manoharlal Publisher's Pvt Ltd New Delhi

Page 101

80 Jain Philosophy in Historical Outline
Pakudha Kaccāyana. Perfection in wisdom and conduct, claimed by certain recluses and Brāhmaṇas of his times, appeared to him only stupid self-deceptions. 'It is a doctrine of fools, this talks of gifts. It is an empty lie, mere idle talk, when men say there is profit therein.' For everything led to death, and beyond death there was nothing. Again, if modern parallels are at all permissible, what Ajita propounded was only a philosophy of graveyard. Even in the fragmentary passage attributed to him by the Sāmaññaphala Sutta, Ajita was obsessed with the image of death".
Dr. Barua regards Ajita as the Indian Epicurus.” But how much baseless this claim should be may be proved if the following passage of the Sāmaññaphala Sutta, dealing with the philosophy of Ajita, can be taken into consideration. “There is no such thing, O King, as alms or sacrifice or offering. There is neither fruit nor result of good or evil deeds. There is no such things as this world or the next. There is neither father, nor mother, nor beings springing into life without them. There are in the world no recluses or Brāhmaṇas who have reached the highest point, who walk perfectly and who having understood and realised by themselves alone, both this world and the next, make their wisdom known to others. A human being is made of four elements. When he dies, the earthly in him returns and relapses to the earth, the fluid to the water, the heat to the fire, the wind to the air, and his faculties pass into space. The four bearers, on their bier as a fifth, take his dead body away; till they reach the burning ground men utter forth eulogies, but there his bones are bleached, and his offerings end in ashes. It is a doctrine of fools, this talk of gifts. It is an empty lie, mere idle talk, when men say there is profit therein. Fools and wise alike, on the dissolution of the body, are cut off, annihilated, and after death they are not."
Social Experiences of Mahāvīra
The views attributed by the Sāmaññaphala Sutta to Püraņa, Pakudha, Ajita and Sañjaya were expressions of a deep sense of frustration. Although their views were expressed in different ways with differences in metaphysical basis, the total implication was rather that of a cluster of amorphous philosophies shared indiscriminately by these
1 Chattopadhyaya, L, p. 518.
PIBP, p. 289. 'Rhys Davids, DB, I, pp. 73-74.