Outlines of Jainism

Author(s): J L Jaini, F W Thomas
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

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OUTLINES OF JAINISM
XIV. STAGES IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL
(GuŅA-STHĀNAS) (63-4) In Jainisin fourteen stages are indicated, through which the soul progresses from impurifying matter on to final liberation.
The psychical condition of the soul due to the rising, settling down, perishing, or partly settling down and partly perishing, of karmic matter (udaya, upuśama, kshaya, kshuyopaśuma) is called guna-sthāna.
The names of the fourteen stages are1. mithyātva.
8. apūrva-karana. 2. sās(v)ādana.
9. anivritti-kurana. 3. miśra.
10. sūkshma-samparūya. 4. avirata-samyaktva. 11. upaśnta-moha. 5. deśa-virata.
12. kshīna-moha. 6. pramatta-virata. 13. sayoga-kevalin. 7. apramatta-virata. 14. ayoga-kevalin.
1. Mithyātva In this the soul, affected by the manifestation of karmic matter which is due to delusion or infatuation arising out of false belief or false perception, does not
and fondness for elaborate and symmetrical classifications : e.g. the denizens of hell have the black leśyā ; the inhabitants of the best bhoga-bhūmi (like the first age of our arasarpini era) have white like the sun; those of the middle bhoga-bhumi have white like the moon: those of the lower bhoga-bhumi have grey; and the inhabitants of the heavens (angels) have leśyās according to their bhava-leśyās, or the colour of their thought-matter. Gross forms of water-life are said to have white leśya ; fire-souls have orange-red leśyā ; the three atmospheric envelopes of the world have it respectively pale-yellow, light emerald green, and a colour that is avyakta (incxpressible).