Jainism in Buddhist Literature

Author(s): Bhagchandra Jain Bhaskar
Publisher: Alok Prakashan

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the Jainas in common with the Vaišeşikas and Nyaya schools. The Akriyavada means a doctrine, according to which the soul does not act or is not effected by acts. It is held, according to the Jaina view, by the Buddhists in common with the Vedānta, Sankhya and Yoga schools88 It is, therefore, in the light of the negation of a soul by the Buddha that Nigantha Nātaputta called him an Akriyāvādin.
Sīlanka appears to hold that the Buddhists fall into the akriyavada category, for they denied the existence of a soul. But, as a matter of fact, the mere denial of the existence of a soul does not mean that Buddhism should be included into akriyavada. The Buddha believes fully in moral responsibilia ties and the ethical consequences of both good and bad acts, words, and thoughts. He fully accepted the doctrine of karma which governs the cycles of rebirth. Apparently the Jainas were not fully aware of these facts of Buddhist ethics. But it is somewhat surprising as the contemporary philosophers should have known that the Buddha himself criticised bitterly the teachings of Makkhali Gosāla, a contemporary nihilist, on the ground of akriyāivada.
Another reference to the karma doctrine of Nigaptha Nātaputta is found in the Majjhima Nikaya. According to that the inflow of karmas can be stopped by performing severe penance with right knowledge. The familiarity with the karma theory of Jainas can also be traced in the Mahabodhi Jātaka? It is said there that once the Bodhisattva was born in the family of a Brāhmana. When he came of age, he renounced the world and became a mendicant and lived at the Himalayas. During the rainy season he came down and going on his begging rounds he gradually approached Benaras. There he took up his abode in the royal park, and on the following day he got his meal from the king. Afterwards, the king bad a hut of leaves built for him and used to come to pay his respect to the mendicant daily thrice a day. And so twelve years.