Bhagavati-sutra (Viyaha-pannatti)
by K. C. Lalwani | 1973 | 185,989 words
The English translation of the Bhagavati-sutra which is the fifth Jaina Agama (canonical literature). It is a large encyclopedic work in the form of a dialogue where Mahavira replies to various question. The present form of the Sutra dates to the fifth century A.D. Abhayadeva Suri wrote a vritti (commentary) on the Bhagavati in A.D. 1071. In his J...
Part 7 - Activities again
Q. 18. Bhante! When a monk who is without proper equipage (knowledge and faith) walks, stands, sits, prostrates, and, like this, picks up his clothes, bowl, blanket and duster, is he indulging in īriyāpathikī or sāmparāikī activity?
A. 18. Gautama! He is indulging, not in īriyāpathikī, but in sāmparāikī activity.
Q. 19. Bhante! What is the reason for this?
A. 19. Gautama! A soul whose anger, pride, attachment and greed are no longer in bloom (i. e., separated) indulges in īriyāpathikī, not sāmparāikī, activity. One whose endeavour is directed by the prescriptions of the canonical texts indulges in īriyapāthikī activity; one acting contrary to the texts indulges in sāmparāikī activity. It happens like that because the soul indulges in activity contrary to the texts.
Notes (based on commentary of Abhayadeva Sūri):
Q/A. 19. The word vocchinna (वोच्छिण्ण, vocchiṇṇa) in the text should mean ‘thin and dormant’. The commentator’s meaning as ‘dormant’ is not adequate. The reason is that in the eleventh through thirteenth guṇasthānas (ascending stages), there is only the iriyāpathikī, not sāmparāikī, activity. At the twelfth and the thirteenth stages, passions are completely exhausted. Even at the eleventh stage, passions stand tranquilised, and are no longer troublsome.