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Some Jaina Canonical Sutras c26: Chapter XXI: Nandī Sūtra and Anuyogadvāra

Some Jaina Canonical Sūtras c26

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Chapter XXI: Nandī Sūtra and Anuyogadvāra

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The Nandī Sūtra¹ and the Anuyogadvāra² are occasionally counted among the Prakīrnakas, but they really stand as two companion texts forming a group by themselves. The first sūtra as its title implies contains an ‘auspicious introduction’ to the study of the Śvetāmbara canonical texts, and as such its main bearing is on the Jain method of education. Like the Anuyogadvāra it is compiled partly in prose and partly in verse. One of the first forty-seven verses contains an eulogy of the tīrthankara, two that of Mahāvīra, fourteen that of the Jain Sangha, two introduce the twenty-four tīrthankaras, two mention the eleven ganadharas or leading disciples of Mahāvīra, one extols the order of Mahāvīra, and eleven supply us with a succession of 27 Jaina teachers from Sudharman to Dūsyagaṇi, the teacher of Devavācaka who is identified with Devarddhi-gaṇi under whose guidance the final redaction of the Śvetāmbara āgama was made in the Council of Valabhī. If Devavācaka-gaṇi, who is regarded as the author of the Nandī Sūtra, be the same person as Devarddhi-gaṇi, the work cannot be dated earlier than the 6th century A.D.

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¹ Edited with Malayagiri’s commentary in the Āgamodaya Samiti Series, Bombay, 1924

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² Edited with Hemacandra Sūri’s commentary in the Āgamodaya Samiti Series, 1924

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The succession of twenty-seven teachers traced from Sudharman the ganadhara, who survived the Master, is by itself an evidence to prove the lateness of the date of compilation of the Nandī Sūtra. Apart from giving the main themes of the different canonical texts, the Nandī Sūtra resembles the Anuyogadvāra in mentioning such secular Indian literature as represented by the two Sanskrit epics, and such treatises as the Kautilīya Arthaśāstra, the Kāmasūtra of Ghotakamukha, the Vaiśeṣika system of philosophy, the doctrine of Buddha, the Sāmkhya system of Kapila, the Lokāyata doctrine, the Yoga system of Patañjali, the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, the works on mathematics and dramaturgy, grammar, and poetics, besides the four Vedas and their later appendices, the Angas and Upāngas. Malayagiri wrote a commentary on the Nandī Sūtra which is helpful in understanding the meaning of the text.

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The distinctive contribution made in the sūtra to the exposition of Jainism as a system of thought consists, however, in the various classifications of knowledge (ñāṇam). In outlining its thesis on knowledge, it takes up for consideration the five kinds of knowledge recognized in the earlier texts of the Jain āgama. These are enumerated as ābhinibodhika, śruta, avadhi, manaḥparyāya and kevala. The first of them is the knowledge directed to the perception of the objects as they stand over against us. This knowledge is of two kinds, namely, direct (paccakkham) and indirect (parokkham). The direct knowledge is also of two kinds, namely, that which is accessible to sense perception (indiyapaccakkham), and that which is not accessible to sense perception (no-indiyapaccakkham). The knowledge which is accessible to sense perception is of five kinds, namely, that which is accessible to the sense of hearing, to that of sight, to that of smell, to that of taste, and to that of touch. The knowledge which is not accessible to sense perception is of three kinds, namely, that which is accessible to avadhi knowledge, that to manaḥparyāya and that to kevalañāṇa. The knowledge which is accessible to avadhiñāṇa is of two kinds, namely, that which leads to future states of existence (bhavapaccaiyaṃ) and that which leads to the destruction and cessation of the cause and process of rebirth (khāovasamiyam). By the word Bhava is meant in Jainism the three states of existence, namely, those of infernal beings, those of human beings, and those of celestial beings. The knowledge which brings about the states of existence is of two kinds: that which brings about the state of gods and that which brings about the state of infernal beings. The knowledge which brings about the destruction and cessation of the cause and process of rebirth is of two kinds: that which brings about the destruction and cessation of the cause of rebirth in the state of human beings, and that which brings about the destruction and cessation of the cause of rebirth as animals endowed with five senses. Here destruction means the destruction of the after-effects of the karmas darkening avadhi knowledge, which have arisen. Cessation means the stoppage of such karmas as have not yet arisen, when such karmas are either destroyed, if they have arisen, or are stopped, if they have not arisen, the avadhi knowledge arises, the avadhi knowledge of persons endowed with special qualities or that of one who has renounced the world. As defined in the Anuyogadvāra the ābhinibodhika knowledge is one which is directed to the objects (atthābhimuho) and determined (niyao). It is perceptual in its character in so far as the objects are known through the sense-perception. It is indirect when the objects are perceived without the aid of the five organs of sense. Immediacy is its distinctive characteristic. The ābhinibodhika knowledge may be a knowledge dependent on the scripture (suyanissiyam) or independent of the scripture (asuyanissiyam) These are really two kinds of matiñāna, the first of which arises immediately from the scripture irrespective of any scholastic interpretation of it, and the second arises independently of the scripture and is conducive to the destruction and cessation of the cause of rebirth The indirect ābhinibodhika knowledge is also accessible to avadhiñāna manaḥparyāya and kevalañāna.

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The śruta-ñāna is also a kind of ābhinibodhika knowledge which is indirect. It is a knowledge which is based upon study and derived from literature. There may be literature and literature, scripture and scripture. To the Jainas the scriptures other than the Jaina are false scriptures. So far as Jainism is concerned the śruta knowledge is either one embodied in the angas or that embodied in the works other than the angas. The works other than the angas are all auxiliaries to the angas.

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The ohi or avadhiñāna is a knowledge which is limited by the objects to which it is directed It operates on the whole in connection with substance (davva), place (khetta), time (kāla), and states of existence (bhava). It implies the internal perception of the objects from different angles, each implying a particular modus operandi

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The manaḥparyāyañāna is the same term as Pāli cetopariyāyañāṇam and both the terms suggest the knowledge of what is passing in the mind of others. So both really imply the idea of thought-reading Our sūtra discusses some important points in this connection. It opines that this kind of knowledge arises in human and not in superhuman beings, in the wise ascetics, and not in the stupid human beings, who are subject to rebirth.

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The kevalañāna is perfect knowledge. It is of two kinds, namely, bhavastha and siddha, meaning the knowledge which is within the reach of those, who are still in a certain human state of existence and the knowledge which is within the reach of perfect ones. The word bhavastha means an individual, who is in a certain state of existence in which he is liable to the effects of karma Here the individual must be taken to be human being because kevalañāna is not within the reach of beings in other states of existence Kevalañāna is a knowledge which arises without the aid of the senses, etc It is pure and stainless in the sense that it is not covered, tarnished, confounded or confused by any cause or factor. *Bhavasthas* are the persons who are in different stages of spiritual progress. Their position appears to be similar to that of the Buddhist *ariyapuggalas* occupying seven spiritual ranks below that of an *arhat* or elect. *Caramasamayasiddha* is evidently the same word as the Pāli *Caramabhavika*. The *siddhas* are all *arhats*. The perfect knowledge in the case of the *siddhas* is broadly distinguished as immediate (*anantara*) or gradual (*parampara*). From the classification of *kevalañāna* it appears that the Jains and the Buddhists alike kept before them a distinction between *tīrthakaras* or *sayambuddhasiddhas* on the one hand, and *pratyekabuddhas* and *buddhabodhitas* or *śrāvakabuddhas* on the other. Through *kevalañāna* Jainism aimed at the attainment of a kind of unaided knowledge by which omniscience could be gained. Whether this knowledge is arrived at through any discursive process of thought or intuitional is still a problem to be solved. But from its description it appears that whether its mode is intuitional or not, it is so much articulated that it can operate unaided, unobstructed, and unlimited.

Cites (5)