On The Term Darsana In Jainism

By Mr. K. P. Sinha

In Jainism, the term darsana is used in three remarkable cases, namely, darsana-upayoga, kevala-darsana or ananta-darsana and samyak-darsana. In the first two cases, the term darsana carries more or less the same meaning, namely, a general grasping of the object, which clearly shows that it is a cognitive fact. The difference between the two is simply this that, in the case of darsana- upayoga, cognition is limited, while in the case of darsana-upayoga, cognition is limited, while in the case of kevala-darsana, it is unlimited. In the case of samayak-darsana, however, the term darsana is explained as bearing a different meaning, i.e. sraddhana. The term sraddhana in its turn is explained differently by different commentators and writers as will be found in our following discourse.

Now, the problems before us are these: First, why has the same term darsana been used in the case of samyak-darsana to give a meaning different from that in the other two cases? Secondly, does the meaning of the term darsana used in samyak-darsana have got any relation with that of the same term in the other two cases? To solve the problems, let us discuss in detail the meanings of darsana-upayoga, kevala-darsana and samyak-darsana, with special attention to the last one, i.e. samyak-darsana.

1. Darsana-Upayoga : Upayoga, the laksana or characteristic mark of the self, I a manifestation or transformation or effect of caitanya or consciousness which is both the essence and the essential attribute of the self. It is consciousness that manifests itself as upayoga, because of internal or external causes or conditions, at the time of grasping an object. Upayoga is divided into two types, namely, darsana and jnana, which means that darsana and jnana are themselves called upayoga. According to some, Upayoga is the essence of the self, and the self transforms iitself into darsana and jnana, without giving up its nature of upayoga.

It is accepted on all hands that darsana is the general grasping of an object and is, therefore, devoid of any akara of form, while jnana is the detailed grasping of an object and, hence, is endowed with an akara or form. Darsana is the first and indeterminate awareness of an object; it does not give any detailed information about the object, since upayoga in this stage does not take the form of the object. Jnana, on the other hand, gives detailed information of the object, since upayoga at this stage takes the form of the object. Brahmadeva says that when the self of consciousness makes an effort in the form of avalokana or glimpse for the acquisition of knowledge of an object as distinct from that of some earlier knowledge, them that avalokana or glimpse is called darsana-upayoga, and when, after that, consciousness grasps the object with all its specialties, it is called jnana. Darsana is said to exist only for a moment after which jnana arises. Darsana and jnana correspond more of less to the nirvikalpa-pratyaksa and the savikalpapratyaksa, respectively, of the Naiyayikas.

From this, it is clear that darsana, like jnana, is a fact of cognition, and that it is simply an indeterminate state existing for a moment before jnana, the determinate cognition. In other words, these two are but two stages of the same cognitive fact, and are distinguishable only logically and not factually.

2. Kevala-Darsana or Ananta-Darsana : Gommata-sara says that kevala-darsana means the general revelation of both the spheres of loka or limited space and aloka or unlimited space. In other words, it is the general manifestation or vision of all the objects of the world, as distinct from kevala-jnana or ananta-jnana or omniscience which is a detailed knowledge of all the objects of the world. Like kevala-jnana, kevala-darsana is also unlimited and is attained by the elf when it is freed from karma-matter.

Here, a problem is this : Ananta-darsana is one of the anantacatustayas or four infinite characteristics of the self, the other three infinite characteristics being ananta-jnana, ananta-virya and ananta-sukha, i.e. infinite knowledge, infinite prowess and infinite bliss, respectively. And like the other infinite characteristics, ananta-darsana also forms the essence of the self and exists for ever in the real self realized in liberation. Now, if ananta-darsana be related toe anantajnana like darsana-upayoga to jnana-upayoga, i.e. if ananta-darsana be a momentary flash prior to ananta-jnana, than ananta-darsana cannot be an ever-present characteristic of the real or liberated self. For the liberated self being always endowed with ananta-Jnana or infinite and detailed knowledge of all the objects, a general grasping of all the objects will be present in the self only at the moment immediately preceding omniscience but cannot be an ever-present characteristic of it. To solve the problem, we may refer to the Jaina-view that in the case of the self freed from karma-matter, darsana and jnana arise simultaneously. This means that ananta- darsana and ananta-jnana are but two aspects of the same cognitive fact: ananta-darsana flashes things or keeps things unveiled, and ananta-jnana grasps the details of the objects. That is why Brahmadeva and Nemichandra describe ananta-darsana simply as a prakasa or flash of consciousness. The Vedantins do not feel the necessity of accepting darsana as a separate fact, as they include it in the concept of cit or jnana itself.

Thus, it is clear that. as in the case of darsana-upayoga, so in the case of ananta-darsana also, darsana is a cognitive aspect inseparable from jnana.

3. Samyak-darsana : Samyak-darsana, samyak-Jnana and samyak-caritra are described by the Jainas as ratna-traya or three gems, which are essential for the attainment of liberation. For the present discussion, we are not concerned with samyak-caritra which consists in the checking of all kinds of activities - mental, physical and vocal-through proper practices. We are here directly concerned with samyak-darsana for the clarification of which, however, we are required to deal at some length with samyak-jnana also.

Samyak-darsana is explained as tattvartha-sraddhana or sraddhana about the tattvas or categories like jiva, ajiva, etc., just as they are described by the enlightened persons or arhats. Samyak -jnana, on the other hand, is the acquisition of proper knowledge about those categories just as they are described by the arhats. This knowledge categories just as they are described by the arhats. This knowledge is to be acquired through the nayas and pramanas and should be free from illusion and doubts. Tattvartha-raja-vartika says that these two samyak-darsana and samyak-jnana- are but transformations of the self.

Succession Between Darsana and Jnana : As regards the succession between samyak-darsana and samyak-jnana, some say that samyak-jnana precedes samayak-darsana, some maintain the opposite view, while according to some other, both of them arise simultaneously.

(1) Samaya-sara says that just as a person first knows a king, then respects him, and then acts in his favour, so one should first know the jiva-king, then honor it, and then act in favour of it. Amrtacandra also in his commentary on the above passage says that one should first know the self, then honor it, and then act in favour of it. Uttaradhyayana-sutra describing samyakdarsana and samyak-jnana in succession also seems to hold the same view. In the Heart of Jainism, Mrs. S. Stevenson maintains that samayak-jnana precedes samyak-darsana, and in support of her view, she refers to a saying by Mahavira which runs as:

‘(1) Knowledge and them mercy.’

(2) While dealing with these two concepts, Nemicandra’s Brhad-dravyasamgraha nd Brahmadeva’s commentary on it always maintain the succession as samyak-darsana and samyak-jnana without giving any explicit view as to which of them comes first. From this, it can well be surmised that according to both Nemicandra and Brahmadeva, samyak-darsana precedes samyak-jnana. Kundakunda and Madhavacarya also follow the same path in their respective works: Pancastikaya-sara and Sarva-darsana-samgraha. The commentary on the Tattvarthadhigama-sutra, however, clearly says that samyak-jnana arises after samyak-darsana. (3) In the view of Pujyapada, the author of the Sarvartha-siddhi, and Akalankadeva, the author of the Tattvartha-raja-siddhi, and Akalankadeva, the author of the Tattvartha-raja-vartika, both samyak-darsana and samyak-jnana arise simultaneously like heat and light of the sun. But, proceeding a bit further, Akalankadeva says, like Umasvati, that samyak-jnana arises after the acquisition of samyak-darsana. He, then, adds that here the succession of samyak-darsana and samyak-jnana is to be understood from the view-point of sabda-naya. From this view-point, samyak-darsana, etc. are to be taken in their ksayika or pure and paripurna or complete aspects. That means, pure and complete samyak-jnana arises after pure and complete samyak-darsana. it is notable that in all the discourses on this issue, samyak-darsana is always mentioned before samyak-jnana.

Meaning of Tattvartha-Sraddhana : As said above, samyak-darsana is always explained as tattvarthasraddhana, where tattvartha means the categories like jiva, ajiva, etc., as described by the arhats. Accordingly, samyak-darsana means sraddhana for the categories as narrated by the Jaina sages. The term sraddhana, however, has been explained differently by different commentators. In general usage, sraddhana means visvasa, i.e. ‘belief’ or ‘faith’, and, accordingly many modern writers have rendered the term into English as ‘belief’ or ‘faith’. But the Jaina works do not seem to be in accordance with this view. In the Jaina works, sraddhana is generally explained as ruci which means live, and as such, tattvartha-sraddhana means ‘love for truth’. Brahmadeva explains sraddhana as ruci which he further explains as niscayabuddhi or definite understanding. Prabhacandra also in his commentary on Atmanusasana seems to explain it in the same way. He further remarks that samyak-darsana forms the essence of the self. While explaining the term samyak-darsana, sarvartha-siddhi and Tattvartha-raja-vartika say that darsana here may mean ‘that by which the self reveals something’, or it may mean simply ‘revelation’ itself. It is further said that darsana is a transformation of the self-atma-parinama and that it forms the essence of the self. The Tattvartha-raja-vartika divides samayak-darsana into two kinds - saraga and vitaraga. The marks of saraga-samyak-darsana are: prasama or suppression of mental defects like attachment, envy, anger, etc., samvega or fear from birth and death, nirveda or desire to give up all enjoyments, anukampa or pity and astikya or faith in the words of the arhats. Vitaraga-samyak-darsana consists in the attainment of the purity of the self. It is added that, of these two, the first is the sadhana or means, while the second is both the sadhana and the sadhya, i.e. both the means and the end. The Tattvarthadhigama-sutra explains sraddhana as pratyayavadharana or discursive determination and as an invariable grasping of all the objects of the sense-organs and the mind.

From the explanations referred to above, we find two aspects of samyak-darsana. On the one hand, it is right attitude or inclination to truth or love for truth, and, on the other hand, it is definite and correct grasping of truth. This will help us solve the problem of the succession between samyak-darsana and samyak-jnana. That is to say, samyak-darsana in the sense of right attitude of love for truth precedes samyak-jnana, and samyak-darsana in the sense of definite and correct grasping succeeds samyak-jnana. But how can right attitude arise without correct knowledge or samyak-jnana? Our reply is that, some amount of right attitude cannot arise without right knowledge. On the other hand, right knowledge also cannot arise without right attitude. This will finally lead us to the position that samyak-darsana and samyak-jnana arise simultaneously and are related to each other as cause and effect. If however, we are to show the starting of the process logically, we shall have to place samyak-darsana first, for it is right attitude - which includes an aspect of psychological taste also that directs a person to know truth in the line of a particular system of thought.

We may now come back to our original problem. i.e. whether the meaning to the term darsana in samyak-darsana has any relation with that of the same term in darsana-upayoga and ananta-darsana. In solving the problem, namely, right attitude, love for truth, definite and correct grasping of truth, etc., point to the fact that in this case also the term darsana denotes a cognitive fact, and, as such, the meaning of the term darsana in samyak-darsana is on a par with the meaning of the same term in the other two cases. Here again, two more questions pose themselves:

(1) If both samyak-darsana and samyak-jnana are cognitive facts, what is the difference between the two?

(2) If samyak-darsana is a cognitive fact, why has it been explained in a round bout way as sraddhana, ruci, etc., and not directly as a cognitive fact? To the first question, our reply is that samyak-jnana means simply correct grasping of truth, while samyak-darsana consists in a psychological inclination towards truth and an affirmation of the same. As to the second question, we are to say that samyak-darsana has been explained not directly as a cognitive fact but as sraddhana, ruci, etc., to show the predominance of ‘love’ or ‘inclination’ for truth, which is essential for spiritual progress.

-----------------------------------------------------

Mail to : Ahimsa Foundation
www.jainsamaj.org
R1432