________________
Lord-Mahavira
consciousness, and verbal structure; (3) avadhi (clairvoyance, or direct knowledge of things at a distance in space and time); (4) manahparyaya (telepathy, or direct knowledge of the thoughts of others) ; and (5) kevala-jnana (Direct comprehensive knowledge). Of these the first three are liable to error, but not the last two. (Discourse on "The Road to Final Liberation”).
The Selections included in this section are taken from the Jain Agama : (A) Acaranga Sutra (First of the Angas), trans. Hermann Jacobi, Jain Sutrás, Part I. in Sacred Books of the East, ed. F. Max Mulier, Oxford University Press, 1884, Vol. XXII. "Respect for Life : Knowledge of the Weapon", I.I.1-7, p. 14; “Pancha Vrata : Five Vows or Virtues : II. iii. 15, pp. 200-210. (B). Uttaradhyayana (first of the Mula Sutras), trans. Hermann Jacobi, Jain Sutras, Part II, in SBE, 1895. Vol. XLV. "The Young Ascetic”, VI. p. 24-27; "The Leaf and the Tree," X. pp. 41-46; and "The Road to Final Deliverance,” XXVIII. pp. 152-157 II. 10. i. Respect for Life : Knowledge of the Weapon?
FIRST LESSON
1. O long-lived (Jambusvamin?) ! I (Sudharman) have heard the following discourse from the venerable (Mahâvîra”) :
2. Here many do not remember whether they have descended in an eastern direction (when they were born in this world), or in a southern, or in a western, or in a northern direction, or in the direction from above, or in the direction from below, or in a direction intermediate (between the cardinal points), or in a direction intermediate between these and the cardinal points).
3. Similarly, some do not know whether their soul is born again and again or not; nor what they were formerly, nor what they will become after having died and left this world.
4. Now this is what one should know, either by one's own knowledge or through the instruction of the highest (i.e. a Tirthankara), or having heard it from others : that he descended in an eastern direction, or in any other direction (particularised above). Similarly, some know that their soul is born again and again, that it arrives in this or that direction, whatever direction that may be.
