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Some Remarks on the Ana!ysis of the Sensuous Cognition ( Mati-jñāna ) Process
Piotr Balcerowicz*
In the Tattvārthādhigamabhāsya commenting upon the sūtra l. 15, that deals with the successive stages of mati-jñāna ( sensuous, perceptual cognition), we find a brief description of the cognitive process leading to the finally formed perceptual knowledge (or cognition; mati-jñāna ) acquired with the help of the five senses and a quasi-sense organ or mind'; the four stages are namely — avagraha (perception, sensation), ihā (speculation, stage of hypotheses), apāya? (perceptual judgement ) and dhāranā (retention, memorizing enabling future recollection ). The method employed in the description of the each stage by the author of the T.S.Bhis two-fold : insertion of synonyms of the technical terms concerned, and a definition or a brief characteristic of a given step.
Thus the synonyms of the perceptual judgement, the third stage of the sensuous cognition, given in the Bhāşya are as following : apaya, apagama, apanoda, apavyādha, apeta, apagata, apaviddha and apanutta. It is evident, that we can group them in two sets, each of them numbering four synonyms, and - besides - one can group them into four pairs, each pair derived from the same root or derivative basis, namely — apa Vi, apa Vgam, apa Vnud, apa v vyadh, all meaning etymologically "to destroy; to remove'. The four synonyms of the first division are formed with the help of krt-affixes* denoting nomena agenti or abstract nouns, for instance :
(a) 'apāya' is formed with the help of ac-suffix and therefore it means literary : 'going away; destruction; annihilation' ( the Prākrt form 'avāa' having similar meaning );
(b) 'apagama', being formed with the ap-suffix forming abstract nouns, has therefore, the meaning 'going away; departure; destruction' (the Prākt form has got similar meaning);
(c) 'apanoda' as well as 'apavyādha' take ghan-suffixs and bear the meaning 'removing; taking away' (the Prākt form avanoya' meaning 'eliminating; elimination') and 'piercing; removing; removal', respectively,
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