Part 3 - On bondage

Q. 241. Bhante! How many are the bondages?

A. 241. Gautama! Two, viz., due to iriyapathikī activity and due to sāmparaikī activity, (the former for one who is free from attachment and the latter the outcome of passions).

Q. 242. Bhante! Is the bondage due to the iriyapathikī or attachment-free activity acquired by an infernal, by an animal, male as well as female, by a man, male as well as female, by a god, male as well as female?

A. 242. Gautama! It is acquired neither by an infernal, nor by an animals, male or female, nor by a god, male or female. Relative to the past, it is acquired by men, male as well as female; and relative to the present, it is acquired by a man, or a woman, or men, or women, or a man as well as a woman, or a man as well as women, or men as well as a woman, or men as well as women.

Q. 243. Bhante! Is the bondage due to the iriyāpathikī activity acquired by a woman, or by a man, or by an eunuch, or by women, or by men, or by eunuchs, or by no-woman no-man no-eunuch?

A. 243. Gautama! Not by a woman, nor by a man, till not by an eunoch. Relative to the past, it is acquired by living beings who have outlived the use of their sex; relative to the present, it is acquired by a living being/beings who have outlived the use of their sex.

Q. 244. Bhante! If a living being/beings who have outlived their sex acquire the bondage due to the iriyāpathiki activity, is it acquired by one who had previously been a woman, or a man, or a eunuch, or women, or men or enunchs, or one woman and one man, or one woman and many men, or many women and one man, or many women and many men, or one woman and one eunuch, or one woman and many eunuchs, or many women and one eunuch, or many women and many eunuchs, or one man and one eunuch, or one man and many eunuchs, or many men and one eunuch, or many men and many eunuchs, or one woman, one man and one eunuch, or one woman, one man and many eunuchs, or one woman, many men and one eunuch, or one woman, many men and many eunuchs, or many women, one man and one eunuch, or many women, one man and many eunuchs, or many women, many men and one eunuch, these twenty-six groups, till many women, many me a and many eunuchs?

A. 244. Gautama! It is acquired by all the twenty-six forms, by a woman, till by many women, many men and many eunuchs who had previously had the use of sex.

Q. 245. Bhante! Is this bondage acquired in the past, the present and the future, or in the past and the present but not in the future, or in the past, not in the present, but again in the future, or in the past, not in the present, nor in the future, or not in the past, but in the present and in the future, or not in the past, but in the present, and not in the future, or ṇot in the past, nor in the present, but in the future, or not in the past, not in the present, not in the future?

A. 245. Gautama! Re. attracting iriyāpathiki karma over several lives, for some living beings all the eight forms, from acquired in the past, the present and the future, till did not acquire in the past, do not acquire in the present and will not acquire in the future, will hold. Re. attracting iriyāpathiki karma over a single life, however, what holds is that a particular living being acquired, acquires and will acquire, till did not acquire, but acquires and will acquire; but in this case, (the sixth form, viz.,) did not acquire in the past, but acquires in the present, and will not acquire in the future is not to be stated. Again, a particular living being did not acquire, does not acquire, but will acquire. Again, some other being did not acquire, does not acquire and will not acquire.

Q. 246. Bhante! Is this bondage due to the iriyāpathikī activity with a beginning and with an end, or with a beginning but without an end, or without a beginning but with an end, or without a beginning and without an end?

A. 246. Gautama! It is with a beginning and with an end, not the other three.

Q. 247. Bhante! Does this bondage of the iriyāpathikī activity bind by a part a part or the whole of the soul, or by the whole a part or the whole of the soul?

A. 247. Gautama! Not by a part a part of the soul nor by a part the whole of the soul, nor by the whole a part of the soul, but by the whole the whole of the soul.

Q. 248. Bhante! Is kārma due to sāmparāikī activity (which are the outcome of passions) acquired by the infernal beings, or by subhuman beings (animals), till by goddesses?

A. 248. Gautama! It is acquired by infernal beings, by subhuman beings, both male and female, by human beings, both male and female, also by heavenly beings, both male and female.

Q. 249. Bhante! Is it acquired by a woman, by a man, till by no-woman, no-man, no-eunuch?

A. 249. Gautama! It is acquired by a woman, by a man, till by an eunuch, by one of these with sex and by one who has outlived the use of sex, or by one of these with sex and by many who have outlived the use of sex.

Q. 250. Bhante! If it is acquired by one or many who have outlived the use of sex, then does it apply to one who had been a woman, or a man, et. seq.?

A. 250. What has been said about the iriyāpathikī activity will hold true here too without any omission, till acquired by many who had been women, who had been men and who had been eunuchs.

Q. 251. Bhante! Was it acquired in the past, is it acquired in the present or will it be acquired in the future; or past, present, not future; or past, not present, but future; or past, not present, not future?

A. 251. Gautama! Some acquired in the past, acquire in the present and will acquire in the future; some acquired in the past, acquire in the present but will not acquire in the future; some acquired in the past, do not acquire in the present, but will again acquire in the future; and some acquired in the past, but do not acquire either in the present or in the future.

Q. 252. Bhante! Is this bondage (due to sāmparāikī activity) with a beginning and with an end, et. seq?.

A. 252. Gautama! It may have a beginning and an end, or it may be without a beginning and with an end, or without a beginning and without an end, but never with a beginning and without an end.

Q. 253, Bhante! Does it bind a part by a part?

A. 253. Gautama! As stated in ‘the case of iriyāpathikī activity, so here too, binds the whole by the whole.

Notes (based on commentary of Abhayadeva Sūri):

Q. 241. Bandha or bondage in the Jaina context does not mean a bondage with an object like a rope or a chain, (dravya-bandha) but the bondage of the soul by karma (bhāva-bandha). The iriyāpathikī type of bondage is due to the activities of the body, mind and speech and the sāmparāyiki type of bondage is due to passions. The iriyāpathikī bondage may have been acquired in one birth when it is called grahaṇākarṣa or in several births when it is called bhāvākarṣa.

Q. 241. Another two bondages with which Chapter Nine starts are prayoga-bandha which is acquired and visrasā-bandha which is natural. Natural bondage exists in case of the space-points in Motion, Rest and Space, due to inhered grease binding one atom with another called bandhana-pratyayika-bandha, due to being kept in a pot called bhājana-pratyayika-bandha, due to transformation called pariṇāma-pratyayika-bandha.

As to bandhana-pratyayika-bandha we have the following couplets which may be deserving of scientific test:

samaṇiddhayāe baṃdho ṇa hoi samalukkhayāe vi ṇa hoi |
vemāyaṇiddhalukkhattaṇeṇa baṃdho u khandhāṇaṃ || 1 ||
ṇiddhassa ṇiddheṇa duyāhiyeṇaṃ lukkhassa lukkheṇa duvāhieṇaṃ |
ṇiddhassa lukkheṇa uvei baṃdho jahaṇṇa vajjo visamo samo vā || 2 ||

Roughly, the point is that two atoms with the same sap or same roughness do not bind. They bind with each other only when these are similar, and so on.