Jinamanjari 1998 09 No 18

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

Page 27

Jinamañjari, Volume 18, No.2, October 1998
JAINA THEORY OF TRANSMIGRAGTION
Kiyomi Nagao, Doctoral Student at Hiroshima University, Japan
The Jaina cosmos theory and its analysis of the psychology and destiny of man, represents the aboriginal and pre-Aryan Indian tradition, and accordingly, it is dualistic' in the view that the world is composed of jiva and ajiva, and their combination brings about transmigration (samsāra). The soul abandons one body and attains another. And the bodies of all living beings are said to be produced through the combination of jiva and karman, the latter being a form of pudgala (matter) and belonging to the domain of ajiva. In other words, jiva is absolutely different from ajiva-the karmic matter- bound down and withheld from liberation.
Based on Umāsvāti's work the Tattvārthādhigamasutra and the Gañadharavāda-chapter of Jinabhadra's Viseșāvasyakabhāsya, the present paper aims at a clarification of the Jaina concept of samsāra, with special reference to the attainment of a new body. Particular attention will be given to the relationship among the three factors jiva, karman and the body on the one hand and kārmaņaśarīra (karmic body) on the other.
The Seven Tattvās - Fundamentals In Jainism, the world is explained through the dualism of jiva and ajiva, so that everything that exists in the world should be either the one or the other. While jiva is sentient, ajiva is non-sentient. Therefore, seven tattvās are employed in order to classify the possible relationships between the two.
TAAS 1.4: jīvājīvāsravabandhasamvaranirjarāmokṣās tattvam ||
Jiva (sentient), ajiva (non-sentient), ásrava (inflow of the karman), bandha (bondage of karman), samvara (outflow of karman), nirjarā (shedding off of karman) and mokṣa (liberation) are the seven tattvās.
Physical, verbal and mental actions cause an inflow (āsrava) of karman or subtle karmic matter into jiva, which is pure by nature, is bound (bandha) with this inflow. Thus, jiva repeatedly undergoes rebirth, or samsāra. The two ways to escape from rebirth are protection against new inslow of karmic matter by control of action (samvara) and
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