________________
A Vista of the Path
277
jinas on the means one must employ to control, master and finally stop all forms of external and internal activities which tarnish the ätman.41
We return now, after this brief account of each of the Three Jewels, to the ideas mentioned at the start: vyavahāra and niscaya. Here our special interest, because we desire to understand the essential nature of the Jewels which lead to mokșa, is in niscaya, without, of course, ignoring vyavahāra, for the two form a pair together.42 Ācārya Kundakunda, at the beginning of his admirable treatise the Samayasăra,43 makes a clear distinction between what he calls svasamaya, the atman in its pure and essential being, that is to say, the real, and para-samaya, all that is other than atman; he says, furthermore, that the jiva which is grounded in the Three Jewels is sva-samaya, while all that is conditioned by material karman is parasamaya.44 One may also, to be more precise, say that, according to vyavahāra, the Three Jewels are the cause of mokṣa but in reality, according to niscaya, it is the ātman who possesses the Three that is the cause of moksa. 45 Kundakunda further affirms that the one who possesses right vision knows the nature of the knower, which is to say
41 A large portion of this study will be devoted to the means leading to samyak-caritra, means which the sādhvis must use, not as ends in themselves, but as guides, while using also those which lead to the attainment of the two other Jewels. 42 The Sūtras, which act as guides for the ascetics, though emphasising strongly niscaya, go at length into the vyavahāra aspect also. This is to be expected, but all these minute regulations must never make us lose sight of the essential. ADh consecrates a whole ch. to each of the Three Jewels, maintaining a good equilibrium between the two aspects; cf. AD II-IV.
43 Samaya means: doctrine, which is then identified with the atman; samayasära: the quintessence of the atman.
44 Cf. SamSa 2.
45 Cf. DravSam 39; and:
rayaņattayam ņa vattai appānaí muyattu annadaviyamhi tamhă tattiyamaio hodi hu mokkhassa karanam ādā. DravSam 40; cf. SamSa 7; 16.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
