Jaina Philosophy Historical Outline

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

Page 199

178 Jain Philosophy in Historical Outline
bhūmi, stages of human existence (manda, stupid stage, khidda, pleasure, vīmamsā, investigation, ujjugata, upright walking, sekha, learning, samana, monkhood, jina, enlightenment and pañña, the stage of the highest cognition; cf. Jain Gunasthāna); Ajiva; Paribbājaka; Nāgāvāsa, region of serpents; Indriya, senses, 2000 in number; Niraya purgatories; Rajo-dhatu (cf. Rajas of the Sāmkhya); Saññi-gabbha, the types of sentient births, such as camels, oxen, etc; Asaññi-gabbha, types of unconscious births, such as rice, wheat, barley, etc.; Niganthigabbħa types of birth from knots like sugar-cane, bamboo, reed, etc.; Deva, gods of seven classes; Mānuşa, men (?), souls (?), heavens (?), stages of birth (?); Pesāca, goblins; Sara or lakes; Patuvā; Papāta, precipices; Supina, dream; Mahākappa; great aeons, etc.
A few other Ājivika categories are found in the Jain Bhagvati Sūtra which include the four pāņagāim and the four apāņagāim rules governing the conduct of the ascetic in his last penance, eight cariņāim or finalities and six anaikkamaņijjāim or inevitable (lābha, gain; alābha, loss; suha, joy; dukkha, sorrow; jīviya, life and marana, death). The Ajivikas believed in the existence of seven elemental categories-earth, water, air, fire, joy, sorrow and life (cf. the doctrine of Pakudha mentioned in Part II). The seven elements are described as unmanufactured, barren and firm, neither moving, nor developing, nor affecting one another. The southern Ajīvikas developed a theory of atomism, which is proved by the evidence furnished by the Manimekalai, Nilakeci and Civañana-cittiyar. The atoms move and combine and may come together densely or loosely to form things of different kinds. The combination of atoms occurs in fixed ratios. The soul and also pleasure and pain are conceived in terms of atomic combination. The conception of soul's size and colour which had characterised Ājivikism has something to do with the Jain conception of soul. "The evidence of the Jain commentators shows that the Ājīvikas has their own epistemology and logic which had much in common with that of the Jain sect of Trairāśikas. The distinctive characteristic of the Ajīvika system of epistemology, like that of the Trairāśika Jains, was the division of propositions into three categories, in contrast with the orthodox Jain system, which allowed seven."2
1HDA, pp. 254 ff. 'ibid, pp. 262 ff., 274.