________________
Kundakunda in Samayasarais 175-77 stresses that it is the bhāvas (mental states like rāga, attachment, devșa, hatred etc.) that make the latent karma bandhas active or operative (175); the karmas cannot bind in the absence of mental inflows: aśrava bhava abhāve na pratyaya bandhaka bhanitaḥ (176) and aśrava bhāvena vină hetavo na pratyaya bhavanti (177).
More positively he asserts in Samayasara 262, 263 that the will to kill, to steal, to be unchaste, and to acquire property, whether these offences are actually committed or not, lead to bondage of evil karmas.
Thus, though the Jaina doctrine of karma is substantially different from that of the Buddhists, yet it would apper that, in the matter of ethics, punya or sukṛta (good actions) and papa or duşkṛta (evil actions), there is essential similarity.
It would be seen that Jainas propounded a doctrine of karma which is unique in many respects :
(i) Karman is extremely fine subtle matter. Karmas are born of mattar pudgala, karman's association with the jiva or soul.
(ii) Mind is material entity, a product of karman. Mind is a material attribute only of certain forms of creation. Tattvärtha 2.11. points out, "Worldly selves are (of two kinds) with mind and without mind".
(iii) The psychic states, as we usually understand them, such as anger, greed, pride etc., however intangible and subtle, are material in origin, born of matter. Hence the karmana pudgala has the property of movement (inflow) and accumulation; it is equally liable to be drained out or discharged (nirjarā).
(iv) The discharge or accumulated karman is brought about, through prayaścitta (expiation) and tapas (austerities), dhyana (meditation) and svadhyaya (study of sacred scriptures). It is the concept of nirjară which justifies external penance in the form of sallekhanā, religious suicide.
16 The Samayasara of Kundakunda with commentary of Amritcandra (ed. & tr) by A. Chakravarti, Bharatiya Jnanapitha, Kasi, 1950.
92/JAINTHOLOGY
