The Doctrine of the Jainas, Described after the Old Sources c8.229

Language: English

c8.229.1

§96. The samaya dealt with above form an intermediate time (antara) between the existences. The antara is taught by Viy. 439 a=Pannav. 207 a and Viy. 632 b, and it is obvious that the beings are both santara and nirantara, the latter being the case when they are able to avail themselves either of the ega-samaiya-or the ujjuy’āyaya- course. In contrast to this it is not clear why there is explicitly no intermediate time given for the one-sensed beings since we know them to move in 4 sam.² With the last of all travel-samaya there begins the taking in of matter, the āhāra (Viy. 287 a). That is why the souls on the way are considered to be aṇāhāraga as follows from Pannav. 512a. It happens, though, that the intake of matter precedes the change of place (Viy. 729a, 789 a), i.e. when an earth-, water- or wind-being has performed the māraṇa-samugghāya imperfectly (deseṇam). We are not told why and when this happens. The intake of matter is understood to be an activity, joga (Viy. 854 a), and the joga of two beings in the first samaya of reincarnation (paḍhama-samaovavannaga) is unequal in kind when the one has arrived without and the other with a change of direction. By starting earlier the one is ahead of the other (abhāhiya). āhāra (acc. to Ṭhāṇ. 120 a one of the movements of the poggala happening without a force acting from without means) both the intake of matter for the purpose of reincarnation (comp. Viy. 701 b) and the attraction of atoms on the whole, especially for eating.

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This in the first line follows from the Āhāra-paya Pannav. 28 (498 b). The theory distinguishes between the āhāra in ābhoga-nivvattiya and anābhoga-n. (498 b), i.e. between the āhāra which, or, rather, the satisfaction of a demand for being supplied with matter (āhārattha), rests on intention (ābhoga) (comp. also Pannav. 544 b), and the one that happens unintentionally. In the first case we find a.o. the omission of the meal in the fast of the cauttha-bhatta (§ 156). The attracted mass is called avīci-davva acc. to Viy. 644a when being complete, and vici-d. when lacking one or more paesa; but we hear nothing more in detail about it. Moreover the āhāra is lom’āh. (first mentioned in 506b) and pakkhev’āh., and we are tempted to understand by it either continuous or dosed supplies. But the loma concerns undifferentiated appropriation, whereas the pakkheva concerns the taking of food through the mouth.¹ In addition to these two ways of taking in matter (oy’āhāra)² there is the quality of maṇa-bhakkhi pertaining to gods who attract matter by mere wishing.³ Regarding the remaining contents of Pannav. 28 we may but mention that those beings owning a body of transformation take in inanimate matter only, while those having an earthly body take in both animate and semi-animate matter (mīsa) additionally (498 b).

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The beings take in such matter as is found within the range going to be occupied by their bodies, at least this may be supposed to be the meaning of atta-māyāe and āya-sarīra-khetta (Viy. 286a). Any more closely or more distantly neighbouring ranges are out of the question, and thus for special magic cases it is always being expressly stressed that it concerns bāhirayā poggala, so Viy. 189a, 190a, 282b. The actual process of reincarnation, however, appears to be described, in the beginning of Pannav. 34 (534a—Samav. 145b), as follows: “(beings of hell and five-sensed beings) start on their way by taking in matter immediately after having reached the place (*aṇantar’āhāra*). Then they are busy with developing the body (*tao nivvattaṇā*), then they let the stages of development follow one another (? *tao pariyāiṇayā*), then they produce the details (*tao pariṇamayā*), then they allow their faculties to act (*tao pariyāraṇayā*),¹ then, finally, they convert what has been acquired into individual materiality (? *tao pacchā viuvvaṇayā*)². As to gods the two last stages have changed places. The place where this process happens is, of course, the resp. place of origin (§ 63). From here the soul once again starts on its course. As (Viy. 927a) the monkey (*pavaga*) swings from one place to the next, so the soul wanders from one existence to another, and like the monkey it does so on its own determination (*ajjavasāṇa-joga-nivvattieṇaṃ karaṇūvaēṇaṃ*).

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It enters into the new life as a whole (*savveṇa savvaṃ uvavajjai*), real (*santo*), independent (*sao*), by itself (*sayaṃ*), on its own responsibility, and through its own Karman (*ā’iddhie, āya-kammuṇā*), by force of good (*subha*), evil and mixed deeds (Viy. 84a, 454a, 796a, 927b).