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A comparative study of Jainism and Buddhism (1932) -Karl Ludvig Reichelt, 1932 - Complete Book

English

Existence of the Soul 89 "The soul is neither BrahmaM nor Vaisya, noi Kdiainya, nor any other, neither it is man nor woman, nor of a commensex. The learned know it thoroughly.” 88. “ The soul IS -neither merit nor dement, nor time, space, medium of motion or rest, and neither bod}. It IS nothing e'ccept the (pure) conscious thought* actint} " 93. "Meditate upon the soul as pure; nhat will be the gain otherwise; by meditating upon that, the highest position can be procured in a moment.” 98. " 0 Monk, really realize the soul as non-matenal, full of knowledge with the nature of highest bhss, eternal and defectless.” 144. "As the perfect soul is full of knowledge, so 1 ^ the infinite God; as I am, so the perfect soul, meditate on this without any doubt.” 306. Sara Samuchchaya by Sn Kulabhadrachaija Achaiy’a ^ 5iTransr^ ^ ii n Jndna daraana sampanna dtmd cbaiko dliruvo mama, •iesd bhdv&scha me bdhyd sarvi samyogalaksa- nah 249. "My soul IS full of knowledge and perception, IS one, independent and eternal; all the other con- ditions outside me are due to connection with another.” li 90 Jainism and Buddhism Tattvamisisana by Sri Nigasena Mum. ^ < if Sqf5d : i li II ?frsR*nt i fRTrmt ST ^r wf^ll ^''.O II ^ra^re ^ ftt 3pra^ I 5T iR'^vs II Tathdht citetandasankhya pradiso mfirtivarjitaJi, Suddhatma stddha rupomi jndm-ditrsana laisa- nah 147. Ndnydsmi itdhamasfyaayS nanyasyaham na me parali, Anyastvanyo Hants vahamanyo-nya sydha mtca ms 148. Achetanam bhave ndhamnahamapyastya-chStanam, Jndndtmdiiam na ms baschinndha-manyasya bas- yachit 150. Saddravyantsmi cHidaham jnata drisfa saddpytt- dd^nah, Svopdttadehamatrastatah prathag-gagana r damurtah 153, Svayaniistam itacha dvtstam kintU'Ptksyamidam jagat, Nohamssfa nacha dxssta Urdu svaya mwpe- hsita 157. Existence of the Soul 91 “I am the pure soul, conscious, having innume- rable spacial units (in size), non-matenal, in the nature of the perfect soul and with the differentia of knowledge and perception ” 143 “ ‘ I ’ am not the other, nor the other is ‘ I ’, neither * I ’ belong to another, nor another belongs to me , another is another, I am the ‘ I another belongs to another, I belong to me " 148. “ I never become unconscious, nor unconscious- ness becomes ‘ I ', I am full of knowledge, nothing belongs to me, nor I belong to any other” ISO “ I am always an existing substance, conscious, knower, perceiver, and also unattached, I have the size of the body I reside m, even then free from the bodj, and non-matenal like the sky.” 153. “This universe neither loves nor hates me, nor is attached to me , 1 neither love nor hate it, but myself remain unattached to it " 157 Tatfvasdro b} Sn DevasSna qcf^ gpan ii ii 3!^ 'll ^ ^ fuit^ ^ art n ii ^ creH gfr 1 Wt t^iir (uKj^ II II 92 Jaixism axd Buddhism Hamsanananapaliano asamkhadesohu muttiparihino, Sagahiyadehapamano nayqwo eriso appa 17. Jassa na iolw mSiio mdya 16hS ya saIl<T lisad, Jdijdramaranam viya niranjand so aham hhamo 19. Phdsansaruvagandhd'saddddiya ya jassa natihi putio. Siiddhd cheyana bltdio niranjand so aham bhanio Nohammakammarahio keoalananaigunasamiddho jo. Sdham siddhd suddho ni^icho ehko nirdlambo, 27. “ This soul should be knonn to be ha\ing special qualities of perception and knowledge^ with innuinerable spacial units (like the univei^j, non-matenai. hanng size of the body it occupies “ 17. “That which has not anger, pride, deceit, greed, thorn in thought, thought-paints, birth, old age. death, and any drfect is ‘ I.’ “ 19. “That which has not touch, taste, colour, smell, sound etc., but is a pure, conscious and defecUess being is ‘I.”' 21. " I am devoid ot no-kamias (bod^- etc.) karmas, and full of independent knowledge and other attribute: I am perfect, pure, eternal, one, and mdepenoenL'' 27. Thus some quotations of Jain Literature ha've been given above in order to show how the soul is described in them from the real point of view. This is the pure souLand this is what is called Nirvana. There is no difference between pure soul and Nirvdna at all. Existence of the Soul 93 THE SOUL FROM THE PRACTICAL POINT OF VIEW. From the practical point of Mew, the soul is des- cribed in connection with bondage of the matend karmas All the attributes and conditions which do appear through karmas are described All this descrip- tion of the soul from the practical stand-point does almost agree with that of the five Shandhas of the Buddhists This impure condition of the soul is not its real nature When this condition is destrojed# then Ktreaua is procured. This is w hat the Buddhist Litera- ture sa}s that when these skandhas which are destruc- tible and are caused in connection with others are altogether destrojedi then NtnSm is attained. The Jam saint, Sri Nemichandra Acharja describes the nature of the soul in his Dravya Santgralia thus : ^ TO I ^ II Jivo nvaogamas mnuttt hattA sadehaparirndHO, Bhatta samsArattho stddho so vtssasoddha at (2). The soul has nine characteristics It is (1) living (2) has conscious attentiveness (3) is non-matenal (4) IS the doer of actions (5) enjoyer of the fruits of action ffi) has the size of the body it occupies (7) wanders in the world (8) can become liberated (9) has the natural tendenq to go upward. We maj descnbe these nine characteristics with some details, I Livw^The soul exists m any body 94 Jainism and Buddhism OQ account of matenal vitalities, Dravya Prana, and dies when they are destro}'ed. The^ are ten in numberi live senses, of touch, taste, smell, sight and heanng ; three powers of body, speech and mind; age and breathing. They are found in different degrees in the different kinds of mundane beings as below : — (1) One.sensed, beings such as earth-bodied, water- bodied, fire-bodied, air-bodied, and vegetable-bodied Th^ have got only one sense namely that of touch and have in all four vitalities, touch, phj'sical power, age and breathing. (2) Tw'o-sensed beings such as insects of nee shell and conches etc. They have senses of touch and taste, and have six vitalities in all. Sense of taste and speech-power are added to the four of the one-sensed. f3) Three-sensed beings such as ants, bugs, lice, etc., have three senses of touch, taste and smell and have seven vitalities. Sense of smell is added to the six of the former class. (4) Four-sensed beings such as flies, wasps, bees, moths etc., have four senses of touch, taste, smell, and sight and have eight vitalities Sense of sight is added to the seven of the former class (5) Five-sensed irrational beings such as some species of serpents which live in water; they have got all the five senses, and have nine vitalities, sense of hearing is added to the eight of the former class. Existekce of the Soul 95 (6) FiVe-sensed rational beings such as human beings, celestial beings, hellish beings; four-legged animals like cows, bufeloes, deer, dogs, cats , birds, such as pigeons, peacocks, crous, parrots, and fishes, croco- dile, tortoise, etc They have got mind also in addition and thus have all the ten vitalities. As the soul IS really indestructible, injury to any of these vitalities is called Htmsa As a substance, niaiter is also indestructible, only dis-arrangement of niatcnal vitalities is the material injury. Passionate thought-actmty is the internal cause of causing hurt to external vitalities The number and value of vitalities injured, means lesser or greater sin. The least injury \ IS caused in the destruction of one-sensed beings From the practical point of view, the soul is living on account of these vitalities. Really consciousness is the vitalitj' which never leaves the soul n* Conscious-attentiveness — It is of tw o kinds ‘ — Conati6n or perception and knowledge. Conation is of four kinds ' — (1) Conation through the qre (2) Conation through any sense other than the ®y6 or mind, (3) Clairvoj'ant conation, (4) Infinite conation. Knowledge is of eight kinds (1) Maii Jndnah knowledge derived through the senses and mind (2) Sruta Jndna is knowledge denved through ' objects known by sensitive knowledge or the knowledge cf the books 96 Jainism and Buddhism (3) Avadht Jtidna is knowledge of the past and the future lives through the psychic power of the soul (4) Manah~paryaya Jndna is the knowledge of the ideas and thoughts of others (5) Kevdla Jndna is omniscience or knowledge unlimited as to space, time or object The first three kinds of knowledge when associated with right belief, are called right knowledge and when associated with wrong belief, thej are called wrong knowledge Thus there are eight kinds of knowledge The living beings have got life, they are not dead — such recognition is done through anj of these twelve kinds of conscious attentiveness These are from the practical point of view. Pure conation and pure knowledge are the two real characteristics of a soul from the real point of view III The soul IS non-material from the real point of view, because it has not got colour, smell, taste and touch, the attributes of matter, but from the practical point of view’, it appears as material in mundane life, because it is wholly obscured bj the dirt of karmic matter The worldly conditions and all impurities are due to the karmic effects This impure condition is coming on from eternity, though new karmic matter IS mixed and old one is shed off at every instant IV. Doer — From the practical stand-point, it is said to be the doer of its impure thought-activities, delusion, love and hatred etc , which are really due to Existence of the Soul 97 the operation of the material karmas bound previouslj.