Wisdom in Jain Tradition

Author(s): Nalini Joshi
Publisher: Nalini Joshi

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philosophical data which was available in Prakrit into Skt. aphorisms. Umäsväti's darśanika genius is unparallel up till now.
(iv) 'Doctrine of Karman' is common to all Indian systems except Cārvakas. In Jaina philosophy, 'Theory of Karman' is the base, backbone and a strong link between philosophy and practical conduct. Jainas negated creator god and accepted the concept of beginningless and endless universe. As a corollary they methodically developed the Karma-doctrine with minute details and spiritual mysticism. Unlike its Brahmanic and Buddhist counterparts, Jainas' wisdom is seen in developing a full-fledged branch of Karma-literature.
(v) When we consider Dhyāna and Yoga, Jaina writers wrote their treatises on this subject from 5th cen.A.D. up to 14th cen.A.D. Among them, Pūjyapāda, Haribhadra, Subhacandra and Hemcandra are prominent. The credit goes to Haribhadra to present Jaina thoughts on Yoga in altogether new manner, new classification and the spirit of synthesis with Brahmanic and Buddhist Yoga and Dhyāna. Recently, on the line of Vipaśyanā, some Jaina monks have developed the Jaina method of sadhana called Preksādhyāna.
(vi) The history of the study of Astrology starts from the canonical period in Jaina tradition. Four Ardhamāgadhi texts are important, viz. Süryaprajñpti, Candraprajñapti, Jyotişkarandaka and Ganividyā. According to Jaina mythology, Aryabhatta and Varāhamihira were brothers of the revered Jaina Ācārya Bhadrabāhu. The works of Haribhadra and Thakkura Pheru are noteworthy. When we go through the whole long list of Astrological texts, we find that though some of them are published, still a huge corpus is laying in unedited form. It is very curious that majority of manuscripts are preserved in the collection of L.D.Institute, Ahmedabad. Though fortune-telling was totally negated for monks, still the branch of Astrological studies is really strong in Jaina tradition. It puts light on the academic interest of Jaina
monks.
(vii) The same historical facts are true about the science of Nimitta (Prognostics). Arya Kalaka, Bhadrabahu and Dharasena possess the epithet 'Nimittavetta' Jayapähuda, Nimittaśästra, Angavijā and Ritthasamuccaya are some of the names of published texts on Nimitta. The language of all these can be designated as Arsa Prakrit influenced by Sauraseni. Most of the unpublished manuscripts are preserved in the Patana Grathabhändāra, Gujrath.
(viii) In the field of Logic or Nyāya, Buddhists were the first who applied logical methods in debates. Brahmanical texts of Khandana-mandana style were developed immediately after Buddhists. Jainas' entry in this field is a little later. Sanmati-tarka of Siddhasena is the only work in logic which is written in Prakrit (J.M.). Akalanka, Samantabhadra, Pujyapādā, Haribhadra etc. developed a new method of Syadvāda and Saptabhangi to refute others on the basis of the theory non-absolutism viz.