Jainism in Buddhist Literature

SR No.: 011023
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Bhagchandra Jain Bhaskar
Publisher: Alok Prakashan
Publication Year: 1972
Total Pages: 326
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 12 MB

Page 33

( 14 ) Would consider it as a sin, and would make expiation by consta tructing a mound of earth?'. () Sañjaya Belatthiputta
Saijaya Belatthiputta was the preacher of Ajflavada or Agnosticism. He says that if you asked me, "Is there another world ?" and if I believed that there was, I should tell you so. But that is not what I say. I do not say that is so, nor do I say that it is not so75.'
It is said that the Elders Sariputta and Moggalana were disciples of Sanjaya before they were converted to Buddhism Moggalāna and Sanjaya are mentioned as Jaina Munis in Jaina literature??
The Jaina doctrine of Syādvada is said to have been influenced by the teachings of Sañjaya. According to Malalaseker, "It is probable that Sanjaya suspended his judgements only with regard to those questions, the answers to which must always remain a matter of speculation. It my be that he wished to impress on his followers the fact that the final answer to these questions lay beyond the domain of speculation, and that he wished to divert their attention from fruitless inquiry and direct it towards the preservation of mental equanimity78''. But as a matter of fact Sajaya's teachings are based oo indeterminable characters, while the Syıdvada has a definite answer. That is why the Jaina philosophers criticised Sañjaya's theory7o. We can, however, say that whether Sañjaya was a Jaina muni or not, his teachings seem to be influenced to some extent by the Jaina doctrines. The sūtrakratānga does not mention his name in this context. Saijaya's view is criticised in Pali literature as an Amaravikkhepaval a theory of ecl-wrigglers80). (vi) Nigantha Nataputta:
In the Samaññaphala Sutla, Nigantha Nata-Putta is introduced as the teacher of Catuyamasamvara. "A Nigantha is surrounded by the barrier of four-fold restraint. How is he surrounded ?...He practises restraint with regard to water, he avoids allsin, by avoiding sin his sins are washed away, and he is filled with the sense of all sins avoideds 1...So Surrounded