Studies in Jainism

Author(s): Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta
Publisher: Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta

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STUDIES IN JAINISM
divisions: Sāmāyika, Caturvinsati-stava, Vandana, Prati kramaņa, Vatnayika, Krtikarma, Dasa-valkālika, Anuttarādhyayana, Kalpya-vyavahāra, Kalpyākalpya, Mahakalpya, Pundartka, Mahăpundarlka, Padma, Mahapadma, and Cinyasitikā.*
Besides the foregoing classification of Agamas, there is another classification. According to this, the Agamas are of four kinds: Prathamānuyoga, Caraṇānuyoga, Karaņānuyoga, and Dravyānuyoga. Prathamănuyoga contains the biographies of the firthankaras, the emperors, and other great historical personages relating to India. Such a lifehistory of the great personages is represented by the Mahapurana. Caranānuyoga deals with the course of conduct prescribed for the householder as well as the homeless ascetic. Karananuyaga treats of the cosmos and the constituent elements which build up the cosmos. The fourth, Dravyānuyoga, is a metaphysical treatise describing the nature of life, matter, and other primary categories of reality.
I. JAINA METAPHYSICS Metaphysics forms an important portion of Jaina sacred literature. The reality, according to Jaina philosophy, is uncreated and eternal. According to the Tattvärthādhigama-Sutra, 'Utpada-vyaya-dhrauvya-laksanam sat-reality is that which is characterized by origination, decay, and permanence, i.e. appearance and disappearance in the midst of permanence. The only parallel to this in western thought is the Hegelian doctrine of the dialectical nature of reality-the thesis and antithesis reconciled and held together by synthesis.
Every real object embodies in itself an affirmative and a negative aspect synthesized and held together by its own complex nature, quite analogous to the biological principle of metabolism comprehending and reconciling in itself the two opposite processes of katabolism and anabolism. It maintains its identity and permanence only through the continued process of change consisting of origin and de
*
For a different account and classification of the canonical works, see Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, VII. p. 467 (Jainism)-Ed.