Lecture 1: Chapter 1: The Doctrine

[Note: Samaya. This title is not found in MSS. at the end of the lecture, but it is given by the author of the Niryukti (verse 29). The subject of this lecture is more fully treated in §§ 15-33 of the First Lecture of the Second Book.]

One should know what causes the bondage of Soul, and knowing (it) one should remove^[1] it.

(Jambūsvāmin asked Sudharman):

What causes the bondage (of Soul) according to Mahāvīra? and what must one know in order to remove it? (1)

(Sudharman answered):

He who owns even a small property in living or lifeless things^[2], or consents to others holding it, will not be delivered from misery. (2) If a man kills living beings, or causes other men to kill them, or consents to their killing them, his iniquity will go on increasing. (3)

A sinner who makes the interests of his kinsmen^[3] and companions his own, will suffer much; for the number of those whose interest he takes to heart constantly increases. (4)

All this, his wealth and his nearest relations, cannot protect him (from future misery); knowing (this) and (the value of) life, he will get rid of Karman. (5)

Some men^[4], Śramaṇas and Brāhmaṇas, who ignore and deny these true words^[5], adhere (to their own tenets), and are given to pleasures. (6)

Some^[6] profess (the exclusive belief in) the five gross elements: earth, water, fire, wind, and air. (7)

'These five gross elements (are the original causes of things), from them arises another (thing, viz. ātman)^[7]; for on the dissolution of the (five elements) living beings cease to exist. (8)

‘And as the Earth, though it is but one pile, presents many forms, so the intelligent (principle, viz. the ātman) appears under various forms as the universe^[8].’ (9)

Thus say some fools. (But how can they explain on their theory that) the man engaging in undertakings, who has committed a sin, will himself suffer severe pain.^[9]? (10)

'Everybody, fool or sage, has an individual soul. These souls exist (as long as the body), but after death they are no more; there are no souls which are born again. (11)

‘There is neither virtue nor vice, there is no world beyond; on the dissolution of the body the individual ceases to be.’ (12)

‘When a man acts or causes another to act, it is not his soul (ātman) which acts or causes to act^[10].’ Thus they (viz. the adherents of the Sāṅkhya philosophy) boldly proclaim. (13)

How can those who hold such opinions explain (the variety of existence in) the world? They go from darkness to utter darkness, being fools and engaged in works. (14)

Some^[11] say that there are five elements and that the soul is a sixth (substance), but they contend that the soul and the world (i.e. the five elements) are eternal. (15)

‘These (six substances) do not perish neither (without nor with a cause); the non-existent does not come into existence, but all things are eternal by their very nature^[12].’ (16)

Some fools^[13] say that there are five skandhas of momentary existence. They do not admit that (the soul) is different from, nor identical^[14] with (the elements), that it is produced from a cause (i.e. the elements), nor that it is without a cause (i.e. that it is eternal). (17)

The Jāṇayas^[15] say that there are four elements: earth, water, fire, and wind, which combined form the body (or soul?). (18)

(All these heretics say): ‘Those who dwell in houses, in woods, or on hills, will be delivered from all misery if they adopt our creed.’ (19) But they do not cross the Flood of Life, who, ignoring the true relation of things, and not versed in the true Law, hold the above heretical opinions. (20)

They do not reach the end of the Saṃsāra, who, ignoring, &c. (21)

They do not reach the end of transmigration, who, &c. (22)

They do not put an end to birth, who, &c. (23)

They do not put an end to misery, who, &c. (24)

They do not put an end to death, who, &c. (25)

They will again and again experience manifold pains in this ring^[16] of the earth, which is full of death, disease, and old age. (26)

The highest Jina, Mahāvīra the Jñātṛputra, has said that they will undergo births without number, being placed in all sorts of existences. (27)

Thus I say.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Tiuṭṭijjā. The commentators translate this word troṭayet, but the true Sanskrit original is ativarteta, as is evident from the form atiuṭṭanti in I, 2, 22.

[2]:

Living and lifeless things as we understand these words, not p. 236 as the Jainas do. The original has: cittamantaṃ acittaṃ vā, beings possessed of intellect, and things without intellect. The latter are, according to Jaina notions, living beings jīva as well as inanimate matter.

[3]:

Literally, those in whose family he is born. Śīlāṅka, the author of the oldest Ṭīkā on the Sūtrakṛtāṅga, names the Rāṣṭrakūṭas or Rāṭhors in order to illustrate what is meant by family.'

[4]:

According to Śīlāṅka the Bauddhas, Bārhaspatyas, and others are intended.

[5]:

Grantha, passage in a book. The verses 2-5 are intended.

[6]:

They are the Nāstikas or Cārvākas.

[7]:

In other words: the Atman is produced by the elements. But there is, it would seem, but one Atman, for in verses 11, 12, we have another heretical philosophy which acknowledged a plurality of transient ātmans.

[8]:

This is the doctrine of the Vedāntins.

[9]:

If there were but one ātman common to all men, the fruit of works done by one man might accrue to another. For the ātman is the substratum of merit and demerit.

[10]:

Though there is no doubt about the meaning of this passage, still the construction is so elliptic that I may have failed to understand the connection of the parts of the sentence.

[11]:

This is the opinion expressed by Caraka and in the early law-books, see Professor Jolly’s paper in the Transactions of the Ninth International Congress of Orientalists, vol. i, p. 456. Śīlāṅka ascribes it to the Sāṅkhyas and Śaivādhikārins.

[12]:

Niyatībhāvam āgayā. Niyatī is explained by nityabhāva.

[13]:

Viz. the Bauddhas. The five skandhas are explained in the commentary as follows: 1. rūpaskandha, or substances and their qualities; 2. vedanāskandha, feelings, as pleasure and pain; 3. vijñānaskandha, perceptions of the qualities of things; 4. samgñāskandha, perception and knowledge of things; 5. saṃskāraskandha, merit and demerit.

[14]:

Identical, i.e. a product of the elements as the Cārvākas maintain.

[15]:

Jāṇaya, which is explained in the Dīpikā by jñānaka = paṇḍitaṃmanya, denotes the Bauddhas. I think that the word may be derived from yāna 'vehicle,' which the Buddhist used to designate the two sections of the church, viz. the Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna schools. The commentator quotes a various reading: āvare for jāṇayā, and explains it as referring to another sect of Bauddhas than those spoken of in the preceding verse. Śīlāṅka comments on the reading avvare first, and then on jāṇaya.

[16]:

Cakravāla.