Outlines of Jainism

SR No.: 007012
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: S Gopalan
Publisher: Wiley Eastern Private Limited New Delhi
Publication Year: 1973
Total Pages: 216
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 9 MB

Page 106

SENSATION AND PERCEPTION
97
mati-jñāna. For example the Tattvārtha-Sūtra points out : “mati or perception, smrti or memory, samjñā or conception, cintā or induction and abhinibodha or deduction are essentially one."'12
It is because of these various constituents that perception as a psychological process is complicated. In regard to the three-fold
pects of perception referred to above : though the terms “perception', 'memory' and 'understanding' have definitely different connotations, without the latter two perception itself will not be possible,
as such they can be considered to have contributed to its very structure. A similar view-point can be maintained in regard to the five-fold aspect of perception. Furthermore, both the types of analysis go to show that perception is dependent not merely on the functioning of the sense organs but also on the mind. This is clear
tated in the Tattvārtha-Sūtra which maintains that perception is dependent on either the sense organs or the mind. The former is referred to as indriya-nimitta-mati-jñāna and the latter, as anīndriyanimitta-mati-jñāna.13 In the light of the analysis of the various aspects of perception given above, the view that "the Jaina p logists are far from maintaining that a fully developed perception is a simple psychosis"'14 can be accepted as clearly reflecting the Jaina theory of perception.
Thus it is clear that the Jaina psychology of sensation and perception is not gathered fully from the concepts of darśana and jñāna. The parallellism between darśana and jñāna on the one hand and sensation and perception on the other can be emphasized, but not without noting the limitations involved.
12 Tattvārtha-Sutra, I. 10 13 Ibid., I. 14 14 H.S. Bhattacharya, op. cit., p. 299