Mahavira His Life and Teachings

Author(s): Bimla Charn Law
Publisher: Luzac and Co UK

Page 93

86 MAHĀVĪRA : HIS LIFE AND TEACHINGS thought or understanding ; (3) avadhı, or that which is co-extensive with the object ; (4) manahparyāya, or knowledge of the thoughts of other people ; and (5) kevala, or the highest, unlimited knowledge. The first kind of knowledge corresponds to what the Buddhists call sutamaya paññā; the second kind, to what they call cintāmaya paññā , the third kind, to what they call vilokana ; the fourth kind, to what they call cetopariyā-ñāna; and the fifth kind, to what they call sabbaññutā or omniscience consisting in three faculties of reviewing and recalling to mind all past existences with details, of perceiving the destiny of other beings according to their deeds, and of being conscious of the final destruction of sins.
The Avadhi-jñāna is rather knowledge which is co-extensive with the object rather than knowledge which is supernatural. The Kalpa-Sūtra, for instance, says he viewed the whole Jambudvipa with his knowledge called avadhi. Here aradhi means that which is limited by the object, that which is just sufficient to survey the field of observation.
The manahparyāya-qñāna is defined in the Ācārāäga-Sūtra as a knowledge of the thoughts of
1 Kalpa-Sūtra, 15 , Jaina-Sūtras, I, p. 223.