Sramana Tradation

Author(s): G C Pandey
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 50

Moral and Social Outlook of Śramanism
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suttanta of the Majjhima that the Buddhist view differed from the Nigantha view in as much as the latter held that a man's experiences depend not only on his present actions but also on circumstances determined by fate on the basis of his past life. However, one must remember that there are Buddhist canonical texts which place other factors by the side of Karman and also that the role of past deeds is certainly acceptable to the Buddhists. The Jātakas popularly illustrate this. The real difference between the Jaina and Buddhist views of Karman must be formulated in terms of the character of the dialectic accepted by them rather than simply in terms of the fact that Mahāvīra accepted a dialectical point of view. The Buddhist dialectic is negative. Karman is neither one's own nor another's; there is, in fact, no identical agent. The Buddhist dialectic seeks a middle way' between Asti and Nasti by rejecting the exclusive claims of each. The Jaina dialectic is positive and synthetic. It holds that karman may be looked upon from different points of view since the soul is identical as dravya but different as paryaya. Hence Karman may be described as belonging to the agent as well as not belonging to it. The two alternatives are here sought to be combined into a more flexible point of view. The Jainas seek to reach the state of the purity of the soul, the Buddhists to renounce the very notion of the soul. But both believe in the efficacy of action and the reality of moral responsibility.
Whether metaphysical belief by itself is sufficient to determine the moral character of one's actions must remain questionable. We hear of a materialist Ajita-Kesakambali and of an Agnostic Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta among the leaders of the Parivrajakas. They are like the others described as 'ganācariyo', 'titthakaro', 'sādhusammato' and 'cirappabajito'.30 Whatever the shade of their metaphysical belief they all showed a common pessimism towards life. Life and its pleasures are ephemeral and death unavoidable. There is no assurance of success and in so far as man seeks to win happiness through the satisfaction of desires he is at the mercy of forces over which he has no control. What brought together the different heretical philosophers was their common endorsement of asceticism in practice.
30. Digha (Nal. ed.), I, pp. 41-52.