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SAMAYASARA
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purpose of helping such persons this Mokşamarga is prescribed as a spiritual remedy and the spiritual remedy therefore must be associated with all three characteristics of right faith, right knowledge and right conduct in order to be effective. These three constituent elements of the path to salvation are called Ratnatraya or the three jewels. These Ratnatraya or the three jewels of the Jaina Dharma should not be confounded with the three jewels or the Ratnatraya of the Bauddhas, where they mean three different thingsThe Buddha, founder of Buddhism and Dharma, the message revealed by Buddha, and the Sangha, the social federation organised by him. Therefore the three jewels of the Bauddhas are Buddha, Dharma and Sangha which are quite different from the Ratnatraya of the Jainas, which constitute the Mokşamarga.
What is Samyak Darśana or Right faith? Samyak Darśana is defined in the following sūtra :
Tattvärtha Śraddhanam, Samyak Darśanam: Faith or belief in the nature of the reality is right faith or Samyak Darśana. Belief in the Tattvas or the reals as they exist forms the foundation of Jaina faith. What are these Tattvas ? Belief in it is emphasised as the important foundation of Jainism. These tattvas or the reals are said to be seven in number. Jiva the living entity, Ajiva non-living entity, Aśrava, Bandha, Samvara, Nirjara and Mokşa. Aśrava means flow of karmic matter into the nature of self or soul. Bandha implies the mixture of the karmic matter with nature of the sole on account of which the soul looses its intrinsic purity and brilliance. Samvara represents the act of preventing the inflow of the karmic matter and hence it is the blocking of Aśrava. Nirjara represents the act of destroying the karmic matter which may adhere to the soul. As a result of blocking up the flow of fresh karmic matter and destruction of the old karmic matter clinging to the soul you have the emergence of the soul in its pure form, free from karmic upadhis, whose state is represented by the term Mokşa. These are the several fundamental realities proclaimed by the Jaina Darśana, which every Jaina is expected to believe. Of these the first two Jiva and Ajiva the living and the non-living, form the primary categories and the others are only secondary. The third and fourth represent the association of the first and the second. The fifth and the sixth represent partial dissociation of the first (JIva) from the second Ajiva or matter. The seventh represents the complete dissociation of the first.
Before examining these categories in detail let us explain some of the fundamental philosophical doctrines associated with Jaina Darśana. Let us take first the doctrine of Sat or Reality. The definition of Sat given in Jaina Metaphysics is that it is a permanent reality in the midst of change of appearance and disappearance. Utpada-vyaya-dhrauvya-yuktam Sat. This conception of reality is peculiar to Jainism. The only parallel that we can think of. is the Hegelian conception of reality in Western thought. The real
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