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10
NON-ABSOLUTISTIC ATTITUDE OF THE JAINAS
(CH.
Then the Buddha expounded the position in the following way:
If he who suffers is the same as he who does, then, O Kassapa, it is admitted that the sorrow is due to one who was existent, and consequently the agent is admitted as eternal (sassata). If again someone does, and someone else suffers, then, O Kassapa, it is admitted that one suffers for what is done
by another, and consequently the agent is admitted as extinct . (ucchedam etam).
The Tathāgata, O Kassapa, avoids both these ends and preaches the Law (dhammam) by adopting the middle course (majjhena). Avijjā (ignorance) causes sankhāra (tendencies), sankhāra causes viññanal (resultant consciousness) and so on. Thus originates this khandha (aggregate) of absolute sorrow. By the total cessation of ignorance tendencies (sankhāras) cease. By the cessation of tendencies, viññāna (consciousness) ceases, and so on. Thus the khandha (aggregate) of
absolute sorrow ceases (nirodho hoti).'2 The Buddha, consistently with his doctrine of the Middle Path, could not give his reply either in the affirmative or in the negative. For, if it were in the former it would be eternalism (śāśvatavāda), while in the latter it would be nihilism (ucchedavāda). But he accepted neither of them, as his doctrine is free from both of them.3
The problem of finiteness and infiniteness of the world is also treated in the same way. It is also regarded as an unanswerable question. The problem arises in the mind due to the absurd presuppositions and imaginary constructions. The imagination gives various dimensions, finite and infinite, limited and unlimited, to the world and consequently our intellect forms various conceptions which do not deserve affirmation or negation. They are only fictions of the mind.
The Buddha's attitude towards the problem of the relation of body (sarira) and soul (jiva) is revealed from the following di
What, O Lord, is jarāmarana (decay-and-death)? Whom again does this decay-and-death belong to?' It is not a proper question'—said the Lord. If one, O Bhikkhu, would ask "What is decay-and-death, and whom does this decay-and-death belong to?', and if one, O Bhikkhu, would ask 'Is decay-and-death different, and is one
1 pațisandhivasena ekūnavīsatividham pavattivasena dvatimsavidham vipākacittam viññāņam nāma--Abhidhammatthavibhāvini-ţikā, Sinhalese edition, 1933, p. 134.
2 SNi, XII. 17. 7-15. Also see Madhyamakakärikā, XII, I. 3 The Basic Conception of Buddhism, p. 15 and the footnotes.
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