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Some Jaina Canonical Sutras c17: Chapter XII: Vipāka Sūtra (Vivāga-Sūya)

Some Jaina Canonical Sūtras c17

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Chapter XII: Vipāka Sūtra (Vivāga-Sūya)

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The *Vivāga-sūya*¹ (*Vipāka Sūtra*) is counted as the eleventh *aṅga* of the Śvetāmbara Jain *āgama*. Winternitz calls it the text of the ripening of actions. As its name implies, it deals with the consequences or resultants, painful or happy, of past deeds. It contains stories on the retribution of good and bad deeds after the manner of the Buddhist karma stories in the *Avadāna-Śataka* and *Karma-Śataka*. The *sūtra* illustrates the painful consequences by ten anecdotes and happy resultants by ten stories, each illustrative anecdote or story forming a distinct section of two parts into which the text is divided. The stories after narrating the careers of persons concerned as human beings proceed to describe the courses of their transmigration until their attainment of liberation in the end. In the first part dealing with the painful consequences, eight out of ten persons concerned are males and two females, while in the second part all the ten persons concerned happen to be males. The *sūtra* is judged as a *kathānuyoga* type, inasmuch as it develops its themes with the help of appropriate narratives that are presented mostly in their bare outlines. As Siddhasena in his commentary on the *Tatthvārtha* (I, 20) explains, the title of the *sūtra* means that the text indicates and sets forth the felt consequences of deeds: *Vipākaḥ karmāṇām anubhavastam sūtrayati darśayati tad Vipākasūtram*. Although the word *karmaphala*, meaning the fruits or results of deeds, may be taken broadly as a synonym of *karmavipāka*, in the Pāli *Nikāyas* a distinction is generally made between *phala* and *vipāka*, the first is taken to mean immediate results and the second after effects or results that follow as consequences. The word *vipāka* carries with it the notion of maturity. Accordingly the word *vipāka* implies the resultants that become ripe from the totality of deeds in a particular birth.

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¹ Edited along with the *Aṃtagadadasāo* and *Anuttarovavāiyadasāo* with Abhayadeva's commentary and published by the Āgamodaya Samiti of Bombay (1920). A T Upadhye's edition (1935) is very useful

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The ten narratives in part I are the stories of Mṛgāputra, Ujjitaka, Abhagnasena, Sakaṭa, Bṛhaspatidatta, Nandivardhana, Umbaradatta, Śaurikadatta, Devadatta and Añjusuta and those in part II are the stories of Suvāhu, Bhadranandī, Sujāta, Vāsava, Jinadāsa, Dhanapati, Mahadbala, Mahaccandra and Varadatta. In general outlines the stories in each part are similar. Whether the course of transmigration starts in each case from past misdeeds or from past good deeds, it ends in the attainment of liberation. The turning point in each career takes place at a happy juncture where the person concerned is brought somehow or other into the august presence of Mahāvīra. The adoption of the life of a Jain recluse and the fulfilment of the duties incumbent thereon bring about the final liberation. Considered from this point of view the purpose of the stories is the same as that of the Pāli Apadānas of the early Buddhist brothers and sisters. But as compared with them the Jain stories are uninteresting. An important point of distinction between them is that the Apadānas are related by the theras and therīs themselves, whereas in the Jain stories the course of transmigration is recounted by the Jain author and partly predicted by Mahāvīra himself.

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The scenes of action of different stories are laid in a few cities of northern India bounded evidently on the south by the Vaitādhya (Vindhya) mountain. Their presiding deities are said to have been certain Yakkhas. The sūtra speaks of some Dhammaghosa class of Jain theras (II, 1) who are said to have wandered about with a retinue of 500 recluses. Whether it was their duty to preach the doctrine or to convey the message of piety is to be ascertained. From the description given in the sūtra it appears that the intention is to describe them as wandering teachers preaching the doctrine. The story of a Dhammaghosaka as met with in the Pāli commentary on the Dhammapada¹ leads us to think that it was the duty of a Dhammaghosaka to convey the message of piety to the people. The same may be inferred from the duty assigned by Aśoka to the agents employed for the purpose (M.R.E. Yerragudi version). Incidentally as noted by Mr. Kapadia² there are a few references having bearing upon social and religious life of the people but these are of very minor importance. From Jain doctrinal point of view the sūtra contains nothing new or important. Its purpose evidently is to discourage indulgence in five sinful deeds and to encourage the practice of five great vows, both of which have received a systematic treatment in the *Praśna-vyākaraṇa Sūtra*.

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¹ Dhammapada Commentary, Vol III, p 81

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² The Canonical Literature of the Jainas, p 116 f n The sūtra mentions 16 kinds of diseases (section 22) asthma, cough, fever, burning sensation in the body, pain in the stomach or belly, fistula, piles, indigestion, an eye disease, headache, loss of appetite, pain in eyes and ears, itching, dropsy, leprosy and a disease which rapidly consumes anything when eaten The remedies are prescribed in section 23 Besides, the sūtra refers to human sacrifices (section 107), cruel ways of inflicting punishments for theft and adultery (sections 37, 63), various instruments used by jailors for inflicting corporal punishments (sections 120-21), etc Vide also The Canonical Literature of the Jainas, pp 136-37

Cites (7)