Âkârâ?ga Sûtra-1st Bk, 1st Lec,1-2 L-Knowledge of the Weapon

[Anne Terri]

God's Living Bible - The Third Testament - Research Library - Jainism

p. 1

ÂKÂRÂ?GA SÛTRA

FIRST BOOK
FIRST LECTURE

CALLED
KNOWLEDGE OF THE WEAPON

FIRST LESSON

O long-lived (Gambûsvâmin 4)! I (Sudharman) have heard the following discourse from the venerable (Mahâvîra): (1)

Here many do not remember whether they have descended in an eastern direction (when they were born in this world), or in a southern, or in a western, or in a northern direction, or in the direction from above, or in the direction from below, or in a direction intermediate (between the cardinal points), or in a direction intermediate between these (and the

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cardinal points). (2) Similarly, some do not know whether their soul is born again and again or not; nor what they were formerly, nor what they will become after having died and left this world. (3) Now this is what one should know, either by one's own knowledge or through the instruction of the highest (i.e. a Tîrthakara), or having heard it from others: that he descended in an eastern direction, or in any other direction (particularised above). Similarly, some know that their soul is born again and again, that it arrives in this or that direction, whatever direction that may be. (4) He believes in soul 1, believes in the world 2, believes in reward 3, believes in action (acknowledged to be our own doing in such judgments as these): 'I did it;' 'I shall cause another to do it;' 'I shall allow another to do it 4.' In the world, these are all the causes of sin 5, which must be comprehended and renounced. (5) A man that does not comprehend and renounce the causes of sin, descends in a cardinal or intermediate direction, wanders to all cardinal or intermediate directions, is born again and again in manifold births, experiences all painful feelings. (6) About this the Revered One has taught

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the truth (comprehension and renunciation). For the sake of the splendour, honour, and glory of this life, for the sake of birth, death, and final liberation, for the removal of pain, all these causes of sin are at work, which are to be comprehended and renounced in this world. He who, in the world, comprehends and renounces these causes of sin, is called a reward-knowing sage (muni). Thus I say 1. (7)

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Footnotes

1:1 Suyakkhamdha, srutaskandha.

1:2 Agghayana, adhyayana. The first lecture is called sattha-parinnâ (sastra-parigñâ),'knowledge of the weapon.' Weapons are divided into material weapon and weapon consisting in a state (bhâva). The latter is explained to be non-control (asamyama) or the wrong use of mind, speech, and body. Knowledge (parigñâ) is twofold: comprehension and renunciation. The subject of the first lecture is, therefore, the comprehension and renunciation of everything that hurts other beings.

1:3 Uddesaya, uddesaka.

1:4 Gambûsvâmin was the disciple of Sudharman, one of the eleven chief disciples (ganadhara) of Mahâvira.

2:1 I.e. in a permanent soul, different from the body. This is said against the Kârvâkas.

2:2 I.e. the plurality of souls, not in one all-soul, as the Vedântins.

2:3 Kamma (karma) is that which darkens our intellect, &c. Its result is the suffering condition of men, its cause is action (kiriyâ, kriyâ).

2:4 The different tenses employed in these sentences imply, according to the commentators, the acknowledgment of the reality of time, as past, present, future.

2:5 Kamma-samârambha. Kamma has been explained above. Samârambha, a special action (kriyâ), is the engaging in something blamable (sâvadyânushthâna).

3:1 These words (tti bemi) stand at the end of every lesson. The commentators supply them also for the beginning of each lesson.

The Sacred Books of the East -translated by various Oriental scholars and edited by F. Max Müller Vol. xxii
Gaina Sutras Translated from Prakrit by Hermann Jacobi in two parts -Part I -The Âkârâ?ga Sûtra
FIRST BOOK 1- FIRST LECTURE 2, CALLED KNOWLEDGE OF THE WEAPON FIRST LESSON 3

God's Living Bible - The Third Testament - Research Library - Jainism
Jaina Sutras, Part I (SBE22), translated by Hermann Georg Jacob Jacobi - 1884

This text is in the public domain within the United States, because it was published prior to 1923

[Anne Terri]

God's Living Bible - The Third Testament - Research Library - Jainism

SECOND LESSON

The (living) world is afflicted, miserable, difficult to instruct, and without discrimination. In this world full of pain, suffering by their different acts, see the benighted ones cause great pain. (1) See! there are beings individually embodied (in earth; not one all-soul). See! there are men who

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control themselves, (whilst others only) pretend to be houseless (i.e. monks, such as the Bauddhas, whose conduct differs not from that of householders), because one destroys this (earth-body) by bad and injurious doings, and many other beings, besides, which he hurts by means of earth, through his doing acts relating to earth. (2) About this the Revered One has taught the truth: for the sake of the splendour, honour, and glory of this life, for the sake of birth, death, and final liberation, for the removal of pain, man acts sinfully towards earth, or causes others to act so, or allows others to act so. This deprives him of happiness and perfect wisdom. About this he is informed when he has understood or heard, either from the Revered One or from the monks, the faith to be coveted. (3) There are some who, of a truth, know this (i.e. injuring) to be the bondage, the delusion, the death, the hell. For this 1 a man is longing when he destroys this (earth-body) by bad, injurious doings, and many other beings, besides, which he hurts by means of earth, through his doing acts relating to earth. Thus I say. (4)

As somebody may cut or strike a blind man (who cannot see the wound), as somebody may cut or strike the foot, the ankle, the knee, the thigh, the hip, the navel, the belly, the flank, the back, the bosom, the heart, the breast, the neck, the arm, the finger, the nail, the eye, the brow, the forehead, the head, as some kill (openly), as some extirpate

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[paragraph continues] (secretly), (thus the earth-bodies are cut, struck, and killed though their feeling is not manifest). (5)

He who injures these (earth-bodies) does not comprehend and renounce the sinful acts; he who does not injure these, comprehends and renounces the sinful acts. Knowing them, a wise man should not act sinfully towards earth, nor cause others to act so, nor allow others to act so. H e who knows these causes of sin relating to earth, is called a reward-knowing sage. Thus I say. (6)
Footnotes

3:2 After the chief tenets of Gainism with regard to soul and actions have briefly been stated in the first lesson, the six remaining lessons of the first lecture treat of the actions which injure the six classes of lives or souls. The Gainas seem to have arrived at their concept of soul, not through the search after the Self, the self-existing unchangeable principle in the ever-changing world of phenomena, but through the perception of life. For the most general Gaina term for soul is life (gîva), which is identical with self (âyâ, âtman). There are numberless lives or souls, not only embodied in animals, men, gods, hell-beings (tasa, trasa), and plants (vanassaî, vanaspati), but also in the four elements--earth, water, fire, wind. Earth, &c., regarded as the abode of lives is called earth-body, &c. These bodies are only perceptible when an infinite number of them is united in one place. The earth-lives, &c., possess only one organ, that of feeling; they have undeveloped (avyakta)intellect and feelings (vedanâ), but no limbs, &c. The doctrines about these elementary lives are laid down in Bhadrabâhu's Niryukti of our Sûtra, and are commented upon in Sîlâ?ka's great commentary of it. They are very abstruse, and deal in the most minute distinctions, which baffle our comprehension.

4:1 Ikk’ attham. The commentators think this to be a reference to the sentence, For the sake of the splendour, &c. It would be more natural to connect it with the foregoing sentence; the meaning is, For bondage, &c., men commit violence, though they believe it to be for the happiness of this life.

The Sacred Books of the East -translated by various Oriental scholars and edited by F. Max Müller Vol. xxii
Gaina Sutras Translated from Prakrit by Hermann Jacobi in two parts -Part I -The Âkârâ?ga Sûtra
1st Bk, 1st Lecture-2nd Lesson


God's Living Bible - The Third Testament - Research Library - Jainism
Jaina Sutras, Part I (SBE22), translated by Hermann Georg Jacob Jacobi - 1884

This text is in the public domain within the United States, because it was published prior to 1923