Book Title: Studies in Indian Philosophy
Author(s): Dalsukh Malvania, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 178
________________ The unique Jaina doctrine of karma 151 kiteśvara will infallibly destroy all suffering of those who hear, see and regularly and constantly think of Avalokitesvara. In the Amitāyurdhyāna sūtra16 $19 it is said that meditation on Avalokitesvara will " utterly remove the obstacle that is caused by karma and will expiate sins which will involve them in births, deaths, for numberless kalpas". The ibid sutra § 32 repeats that the mere hearing of the names of the Buddha and bodhisattvus, Avalokitesvara and Mahāsthāmprāpta, would expiate sins that cause repeated births and deaths. Sāntidevalt in his Siksāsamuccaya reiterates that the bodhisattva resolves : "All the mass of pain and all evil karma I take in my own body... ..". Again certain schools of both the Hindu and the Buddhists sought to obtain liberation, nirvāṇa or moksa through nirvikalpa samadhi, that state of concentration when all thought activity is eliminated Thus the doctrine of bhakti, the concepts of avatāra and bodhisattva manāsattva and the technique of dhyāna yoga in Hinduism and Buddhism made inroads into the inexorable and relentless law of karma. The tāntrics, Hindu and Buddhists, carried these subtle attacks on the law of karma and on the usefulness of tapus to their logical conclusion. They discounted the utility of bodily mortifications and demolished the distinction between good and evil, moral and immoral conduct, yoga and bhoga. In fact they substituted a yoga of enjoyment (bhoga) for the yoga of abstinence and asceticism.''18 Vāmācāra19 justified and encouraged physical enjoyment, indulgence in passions and repudiated austerities. Saraha in his Dohākośa 9 specifically attacks the Jaina monks thus : “For these Jaina monks, there is no release. Deprived of the truth of happiness, They do not but afflict their own bodies.:' In Jainism, however, the peculiar conception of karma as Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352