Chapter 1 · 35 sūtras
Right Faith and Right Knowledge
Samyag-darśana-jñāna Adhyāya
The opening chapter states the entire purpose of the text in one line: liberation is reached by the combined operation of right faith, right knowledge and right conduct. It then defines right faith as conviction in the seven tattvas, lists those tattvas, and gives the tools by which they are known — nikṣepa (four-fold placement), pramāṇa (valid knowledge) and naya (viewpoints). The larger half of the chapter is a complete map of knowledge: five kinds of jñāna, their subdivisions, their objects, their range, and the three kinds of wrong knowledge.
Learning objectives
- State the three jewels and why all three are needed together.
- List the seven tattvas in order and explain what each one does in the karmic process.
- Distinguish nisarga-ja from adhigama-ja samyag-darśana.
- Name the five kinds of knowledge and classify them as direct or indirect.
- Explain the four stages of mati-jñāna and the twelve subdivisions of śruta.
- Explain why the same knowledge becomes wrong knowledge without right faith.
Key concepts
- Ratnatraya — the three jewels
- Samyag-darśana (right faith), samyag-jñāna (right knowledge) and samyak-cāritra (right conduct) together, not separately, constitute the path. The Bhāṣya stresses the plural compound and singular 'mārgaḥ': one road with three lanes.
- Tattva-śraddhāna
- Right faith is not belief in a person but conviction in things as they are — the seven tattvas. It arises either spontaneously (nisarga) from the subsidence of darśana-mohanīya karma, or through instruction and reasoning (adhigama).
- Nikṣepa — four-fold placement
- Any term may be understood as nāma (name), sthāpanā (representation), dravya (potential/substance) and bhāva (actual present state). This is the standard Jain method of removing verbal ambiguity before debate.
- Pramāṇa and naya
- Pramāṇa grasps an object in its wholeness; naya grasps one intended aspect of it without denying the rest. Naya misused as an absolute claim becomes nayābhāsa — a fallacy.
- Five kinds of knowledge
- Mati, śruta, avadhi, manaḥparyāya, kevala. The first two are parokṣa (mediated, through senses and mind); the last three are pratyakṣa (direct to the soul, needing no sense organ).
Diagrams
One path, three inseparable components (1.1).
Two substances and the five stages between them (1.4).
Ascending purity, descending dependence (1.9-1.12).
Reference plates
Large master charts for this chapter. Tap to open full screen and zoom.
Anekāntavāda — the doctrine of non-one-sidedness
Dravya, guṇa and paryāya illustrated through gold; the seven nayas; syādvāda; and the sapta-bhaṅgī sevenfold predication with the pot as example (5.29-5.31).
Chapters 1, 5
Master summary sheet — the whole system on one page
Six dravyas, seven tattvas, eight karmas, twenty-eight mohanīya prakṛtis, fourteen guṇasthānas, samyagdarśana and its eight aṅgas, four kaṣāyas × four intensities, nine no-kaṣāyas, the ratnatraya, five samitis, three guptis and the full journey from mithyātva to mokṣa.
Chapters 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Six dravyas and seven tattvas — illustrated cards
Each substance and each fundamental truth with an icon and a plain-English meaning: jīva, pudgala, dharma, adharma, ākāśa, kāla; and jīva, ajīva, āsrava, bandha, saṃvara, nirjarā, mokṣa (1.4, 5.1-5.2).
Chapters 1, 5
Sūtras
35 key sūtras of this chapter, with word-level notes and cross-links.
- 1.1
सम्यग्दर्शनज्ञानचारित्राणि मोक्षमार्गः
samyagdarśanajñānacāritrāṇi mokṣamārgaḥ
Right faith, right knowledge and right conduct are the path to liberation.
The thesis statement of the whole scripture. 'Samyak' qualifies all three terms. The three are stated in the plural but the path in the singular, because they function as one cause; faith without knowledge is blind, knowledge without conduct is barren, conduct without faith is mere physical austerity.
- 1.2
तत्त्वार्थश्रद्धानं सम्यग्दर्शनम्
tattvārthaśraddhānaṃ samyagdarśanam
Conviction in things ascertained as they truly are is right faith.
Śraddhāna is settled conviction, not mere opinion or emotional devotion. Its object is 'tattvārtha' — the real nature of the categories listed in sūtra 4.
- 1.3
तन्निसर्गादधिगमाद्वा
tannisargādadhigamādvā
That arises either by nature or by acquisition.
Nisarga-ja arises without external instruction, from the subsidence-cum-destruction of darśana-mohanīya karma. Adhigama-ja arises through scripture, a teacher, or reasoning. Both are equally valid; the internal cause is identical in both.
- 1.4
जीवाजीवास्रवबन्धसंवरनिर्जरामोक्षास्तत्त्वम्
jīvājīvāsravabandhasaṃvaranirjarāmokṣāstattvam
Soul, non-soul, influx, bondage, stoppage, shedding and liberation are the tattvas.
The seven tattvas are also the skeleton of the remaining nine chapters. Two are substances (jīva, ajīva); the other five describe the process by which the first two entangle and then separate.
- 1.5
नामस्थापनाद्रव्यभावतस्तन्न्यासः
nāmasthāpanādravyabhāvatastannyāsaḥ
These are set forth by way of name, representation, potentiality and actual state.
The nikṣepa method. 'Jīva' as a name given to a person, as an image or symbol, as a soul that will be or was, and as a soul actually functioning now — four legitimate senses of one word.
- 1.6
प्रमाणनयैरधिगमः
pramāṇanayairadhigamaḥ
Knowledge of them is obtained through valid knowledge and viewpoints.
Two instruments of investigation. Pramāṇa is comprehensive apprehension; naya is partial, purpose-relative apprehension. Jain epistemology insists both are needed because reality is many-sided.
- 1.7
निर्देशस्वामित्वसाधनाधिकरणस्थितिविधानतः
nirdeśasvāmitvasādhanādhikaraṇasthitividhānataḥ
By description, ownership, cause, location, duration and varieties (they are examined).
A six-fold analytical grid applied to any tattva: what is it, whose is it, by what means, where does it reside, how long does it last, and how many kinds are there.
- 1.8
सत्संख्याक्षेत्रस्पर्शनकालान्तरभावाल्पबहुत्वैश्च
satsaṃkhyākṣetrasparśanakālāntarabhāvālpabahutvaiśca
And by existence, number, field, occupation, time, interval, state and relative numerical strength.
The eight anuyoga-dvāras — a second and finer grid used throughout the karma literature for statistical analysis of souls in each condition.
- 1.9
मतिश्रुतावधिमनःपर्यायकेवलानि ज्ञानम्
matiśrutāvadhimanaḥparyāyakevalāni jñānam
Sensory, scriptural, clairvoyant, mind-reading and omniscient knowledge — these are knowledge.
The five-fold division of jñāna. They are listed in ascending order of purity and descending order of dependence on external aids.
- 1.10
तत्प्रमाणे
tat pramāṇe
These are the two kinds of valid knowledge.
All five kinds fall under two heads of pramāṇa — indirect and direct — which the next two sūtras assign.
- 1.11
आद्ये परोक्षम्
ādye parokṣam
The first two are indirect.
Mati and śruta depend on the senses and the mind, which are external instruments; hence they are 'parokṣa' — mediated — even though in ordinary speech we call seeing 'direct'.
- 1.12
प्रत्यक्षमन्यत्
pratyakṣamanyat
The rest are direct.
Avadhi, manaḥparyāya and kevala arise in the soul itself without sense or mind. This is the distinctive Jain reversal of the usual meaning of pratyakṣa.
- 1.13
मतिः स्मृतिः संज्ञा चिन्ताभिनिबोध इत्यनर्थान्तरम्
matiḥ smṛtiḥ saṃjñā cintābhinibodha ityanarthāntaram
Mati, smṛti, saṃjñā, cintā and abhinibodha are synonyms.
Sensory-mental cognition, recollection, recognition, reflection and apprehension are one and the same faculty seen at different moments; the Bhāṣya lists the synonyms so later sūtras can use any of them interchangeably.
- 1.14
तदिन्द्रियानिन्द्रियनिमित्तम्
tadindriyānindriyanimittam
It (mati) is caused by the senses and the mind.
Mati-jñāna needs a sense organ or the quasi-sense (mind) as its instrumental cause, along with the object and light or other conditions.
- 1.15
अवग्रहेहापायधारणाः
avagrahehāpāyadhāraṇāḥ
Apprehension, speculation, judgement and retention.
The four successive stages of every sensory cognition: bare grasp of 'something', inquiry into what it might be, ascertainment of what it is, and retention allowing later recall. This is Jainism's psychology of perception.
- 1.16
बहुबहुविधक्षिप्रानिःसृतानुक्तध्रुवाणां सेतराणाम्
bahubahuvidhakṣiprāniḥsṛtānuktadhruvāṇāṃ setarāṇām
These four occur with respect to the many and the manifold, the quick and the slow, the manifest and the obscure, the stated and the unstated, and the fixed and the wavering, each with its opposite.
Each of the four stages (avagraha, īhā, apāya, dhāraṇā) admits twelve variations depending on whether the object is single or multiple, its manner simple or complex, its grasp quick or slow, and so on — giving mati-jñāna 336 total varieties.
- 1.17
अर्थस्य
arthasya
Of the object (there is avagraha as just described).
Clarifies that the twelve-fold variation of the previous sūtra applies specifically to artha-avagraha, the apprehension of an external object already distinguished by a sense.
- 1.18
व्यञ्जनस्यावग्रहः
vyañjanasyāvagrahaḥ
There is also apprehension of the unmanifest stimulus.
Before an object is even distinguished, there is a prior, subliminal contact-apprehension (vyañjanāvagraha) of the stimulus itself, occurring only through the sense organs that require physical contact.
- 1.19
न चक्षुरनिन्द्रियाभ्याम्
na cakṣuranindriyābhyām
Not through the eye or the mind.
Vyañjanāvagraha is impossible for sight and for the mind, since both apprehend their objects without physical contact; only touch, taste, smell and hearing register a stimulus before the object is distinguished.
- 1.20
श्रुतं मतिपूर्वं द्व्यनेकद्वादशभेदम्
śrutaṃ matipūrvaṃ dvyanekadvādaśabhedam
Scriptural knowledge is preceded by sensory knowledge, and is of two, many and twelve kinds.
Śruta always rests on a prior mati cognition — you must first hear or read something. Its two divisions are aṅga-praviṣṭa (the twelve Aṅgas) and aṅga-bāhya (texts outside them).
- 1.21
भवप्रत्ययोऽवधिर्देवनारकाणाम्
bhavapratyayo'vadhirdevanārakāṇām
Clairvoyance of celestial and infernal beings is by birth.
Avadhi in gods and hell-beings comes automatically with that birth, as wings come with a bird. In humans and animals it must be earned by the destruction-cum-subsidence of the karma that obscures it.
- 1.22
क्षयोपशमनिमित्तः षड्विधः शेषाणाम्
kṣayopaśamanimittaḥ ṣaḍvidhaḥ śeṣāṇām
For the rest, it is caused by destruction-cum-subsidence and is of six kinds.
In humans and animals avadhi-jñāna is not automatic but earned through the destruction-cum-subsidence of avadhi-jñānāvaraṇīya karma, and it manifests in six distinct varieties differing in origin, extent and stability.
- 1.23
विशुद्धिक्षेत्रस्वामिविषयेभ्योऽवधिमनःपर्याययोः
viśuddhikṣetrasvāmiviṣayebhyo'vadhimanaḥparyāyayoḥ
Avadhi and manaḥparyāya differ from one another in purity, spatial range, possessor and object.
Manaḥparyāya is purer, spatially more limited, possible only for a monk of high attainment, and restricted to the subtle matter of another's thought, unlike the broader but coarser avadhi-jñāna.
- 1.24
ऋजुविपुलमती मनःपर्यायः
ṛjuvipulamatī manaḥparyāyaḥ
Mind-reading knowledge is of two kinds: simple and complex.
Ṛju-mati grasps thoughts in a general way and may be lost again; vipula-mati is finer, more sustained, and once attained is never lost before omniscience.
- 1.25
विपुलमतेरप्रतिपाताच्च
vipulamaterapratipātācca
And vipula-mati, once attained, does not fall away before liberation.
Ṛju-mati mind-reading can be lost again, but vipula-mati, being subtler and more stable, persists uninterrupted until the possessor attains omniscience.
- 1.26
तदावरणक्षयोपशमे तद्भावः
tadāvaraṇakṣayopaśame tadbhāvaḥ
Its occurrence follows the destruction-cum-subsidence of the karma that obscures it.
Manaḥparyāya-jñāna, like avadhi, arises specifically when the corresponding obscuring karma is subdued and partly destroyed, not from bodily birth as with celestial beings.
- 1.27
मतिश्रुतयोर्निबन्धः सर्वद्रव्येष्वसर्वपर्यायेषु
matiśrutayornibandhaḥ sarvadravyeṣvasarvaparyāyeṣu
Mati and śruta engage all substances but not all their modes.
These two kinds of knowledge can, in principle, take any substance as their object, yet they never grasp every mode of that substance simultaneously, unlike the boundless scope of kevala-jñāna.
- 1.28
रूपिष्ववधेः
rūpiṣvavadheḥ
Avadhi-jñāna operates only among substances possessing form.
Clairvoyant knowledge is confined to material (rūpi) substances and cannot directly cognise the formless soul or the other non-material substances such as space and time.
- 1.29
तदनन्तभागे मनःपर्यायस्य
tadanantabhāge manaḥparyāyasya
The scope of manaḥparyāya-jñāna is an infinitesimal fraction of that of avadhi.
Although both are limited to material substance, manaḥparyāya-jñāna reaches only an infinitely small portion of what avadhi-jñāna can perceive, since it is confined to the subtle matter of another's thoughts.
- 1.30
सर्वद्रव्यपर्यायेषु केवलस्य
sarvadravyaparyāyeṣu kevalasya
Omniscience extends to all substances and all their modes.
Kevala-jñāna is unlimited in space, time, substance and mode. It is not an accumulation of information but the soul's own nature shining once the obscuring karma is annihilated.
- 1.31
एकादीनि भाज्यानि युगपदेकस्मिन्नाचतुर्भ्यः
ekādīni bhājyāni yugapadekasminnācaturbhyaḥ
One up to four kinds of knowledge may occur together, optionally, in a single soul, but never all five at once.
A soul may possess just mati, or mati-śruta, and so on up to any four of the first four kinds simultaneously; kevala-jñāna, however, never coexists with the other four, since it alone remains once they cease.
- 1.32
मतिश्रुतावधयो विपर्ययश्च
matiśrutāvadhayo viparyayaśca
Sensory, scriptural and clairvoyant knowledge may also be wrong.
The same three cognitions become mati-ajñāna, śruta-ajñāna and vibhaṅga-jñāna in a soul lacking right faith — not because the data is false but because it is organised around a false view of self.
- 1.33
सदसतोरविशेषाद्यदृच्छोपलब्धेरुन्मत्तवत्
sadasatoraviśeṣādyadṛcchopalabdherunmattavat
Because it fails to distinguish the real from the unreal and grasps things at random, like a madman.
Wrong knowledge is called wrong not for lack of information but because, absent right faith, it cannot tell true from false and seizes on things arbitrarily, the way a deranged person babbles without discernment.
- 1.34
नैगमसंग्रहव्यवहारर्जुसूत्रशब्दा नयाः
naigamasaṃgrahavyavahārarjusūtraśabdā nayāḥ
The viewpoints are: figurative, general, practical, straight-thread and verbal (with its subdivisions).
The naya scheme. Naigama takes purpose into account; saṅgraha takes the class; vyavahāra the practical division; ṛjusūtra only the present mode; and the three verbal nayas attend to word, synonym and precise etymology. Later teachers count seven.
- 1.35
शब्दसमभिरूढैवंभूता इति
śabdasamabhirūḍhaivaṃbhūtā iti
Word-usage, etymological-precision and actuality-of-function are the remaining three.
The fifth naya of the previous sūtra, śabda-naya, itself further divides into three refinements — śabda, samabhirūḍha and evaṃbhūta — bringing the naya scheme to the traditional total of seven.