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A Study af the Jaina Theory of the Knowledge-on Matijñāna
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totality of souls and non-souls; therefore there may be no trouble in understanding the sūtra 17 as 'dravyasya' in the place of Sarthasya'. Nevertheless, this term dravya is used in the text in the definite sense as observed above, and the author preferred the word artha in particular in the sutra 17. then it is more natural for us to take it in the sense referring to the knowledge of an object in general,
Then the text reads, "vyañjanasyāvagrahaḥ (18)' and 'na cakşuranindriyabhyam (19).' The sutrakāra explains that as to vyañjana, avagraha alone occurs, but not tha and the rest of the mental operations. So aygaraha is related to both vyanjana and artha, but tha and the rest to artha alone, Vyañjanävagraha does not take place by the eye and mind, but does take place by the rest of the sense organs i.e., the ear, nose, tongue and skin, It is said therefore that matijñanā is classified into 2, 4, 28, 168 and 336 kinds. Vyanjana or indistinct object here seems to mean the object of perception which is unascertainable, for instace, whether it was the sound of a gun or a firecracker when it sounded bang. When avagraha as such remains as avagraha, why the visual sense has to be excluded from having it, then ? According to Umāsvāti, the object apprehended by the eye and mind is necessarily distinct, and is limited to the image retained in mind as an idea upon having gone through the fourfold mental processes. But he does not indicate to us the reasons why auditory and tacticle senses etc. alone allow the disapperance of unascertainable perception as it is, but visual sense refuses it. At any rate, the author maintains that the subdivi. sions of matijnana amount to 2 to 336 kinds. This is explained by the commentaries of Haribhadra sūri and Siddhasenagani as follows: indriya + anindriya = 2; ayagraha + tha + a pāya + dharaņā = 4; (4 x 6 senses) 4. 4 vyañj anāvagrahas - 28; 28 x 6 categorical items = 168; 28 x 12 categorical Items -- 336. This can be briefly tabulated as below :
Artha
Vyañjana ..
Mind
Ski
Eye Ear as mind), (»),
Nose (
Tongue 630)
111
Avagraha Ihas para Apaya Dhāvanā
as a vagraha).
Bahu Bahuvidha ksipra Anisrita Anukta Dhruva Alpa) (Ekavidha) CĀksipra) (Nisrita) cukta) (Adhruva)
