Chapter 10 · 9 sūtras
Liberation
Mokṣa Adhyāya
The closing chapter is the shortest and the most exalted. Omniscience arises when the four destructive karmas are annihilated through the destruction of delusion. Liberation itself is the total absence of all karma, brought about when the causes of bondage are absent and shedding is complete. On release the soul immediately rises to the summit of the universe, because upward motion is its nature once nothing weighs it down. It stops there only because the medium of motion does not extend beyond. The chapter closes by describing how liberated souls are distinguished — by field, time, realm and other criteria — although all are equal in their perfection.
Learning objectives
- State the precise cause of kevala-jñāna.
- Give the two-fold definition of mokṣa.
- Explain the four causes of upward motion with their analogies.
- Explain why the liberated soul stops at the siddha-śilā.
- List the criteria by which siddhas are differentiated.
- Explain what the liberated soul retains and what it loses.
Key concepts
- Kevala-jñāna
- Arises from the destruction of mohanīya first, then jñānāvaraṇīya, darśanāvaraṇīya and antarāya together in an antarmuhūrta. It is not a gain of new content but the removal of all veils.
- Mokṣa defined
- 'Bandha-hetu-abhāva-nirjarābhyāṃ kṛtsna-karma-vipramokṣo mokṣaḥ' — the absence of the causes of bondage plus the shedding of remaining karma equals total release.
- Ūrdhva-gamana
- Four causes of upward motion: previous impetus, absence of attachment, breaking of the bond, and natural upward tendency — illustrated by a potter's wheel, a gourd freed of clay, a seed released from its pod, and a flame.
- Siddha-śilā
- The soul rises to the very top of lokākāśa and stops there, not because of a barrier but because dharmāstikāya, the medium of motion, does not exist beyond the occupied universe.
- The liberated soul
- It retains infinite knowledge, infinite perception, infinite bliss and infinite energy; it loses body, mind, speech, karma, rebirth and all suffering. It keeps its individuality — siddhas are not merged into one.
Diagrams
From the destruction of delusion to the summit (10.1-10.6).
Four causes of rising, one cause of stopping (10.5-10.6).
Reference plates
Large master charts for this chapter. Tap to open full screen and zoom.
Karma and the fourteen guṇasthānas — complete map
The eight karmas split into ghātiyā and aghātiyā, the state of the soul at each stage, the detail of darśana- and cāritra-mohanīya, and the journey from bondage to liberation.
Chapters 8, 9, 10
The four ghātiyā karmas compared
Jñānāvaraṇīya, darśanāvaraṇīya, mohanīya and antarāya side by side — what each obstructs, its everyday analogy, where it is destroyed and what its destruction yields.
Chapters 8, 10
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
Sūtras
9 key sūtras of this chapter, with word-level notes and cross-links.
- 10.1
मोहक्षयाज्ज्ञानदर्शनावरणान्तरायक्षयाच्च केवलम्
mohakṣayājjñānadarśanāvaraṇāntarāyakṣayācca kevalam
Omniscience arises from the destruction of delusion, and from the destruction of knowledge-obscuring, perception-obscuring and obstructive karmas.
Order matters. Delusion must go first; once it does, the remaining three destructive karmas fall simultaneously within an antarmuhūrta. This is the moment of kevala-jñāna, at the thirteenth guṇasthāna.
- 10.2
बन्धहेत्वभावनिर्जराभ्यां कृत्स्नकर्मविप्रमोक्षो मोक्षः
bandhahetvabhāvanirjarābhyāṃ kṛtsnakarmavipramokṣo mokṣaḥ
Liberation is the complete release from all karma, through the absence of the causes of bondage and through shedding.
Two conditions, both required: no new karma coming in, and all old karma exhausted. The word 'kṛtsna' — entire — excludes any residue whatever.
- 10.3
औपशमिकादिभव्यत्वाभावाच्चान्यत्र केवलसम्यक्त्वज्ञानदर्शनसिद्धत्वेभ्यः
aupaśamikādibhavyatvābhāvāccānyatra kevalasamyaktvajñānadarśanasiddhatvebhyaḥ
Liberation also involves the absence of the subsidential and other states and of potentiality, except perfect right faith, knowledge, perception and perfection itself.
A precise accounting of what remains. Even bhavyatva — the capacity for liberation — is dropped, since a capacity is meaningless once actualised. What remains is kṣāyika: perfect and irreversible.
- 10.4
तदनन्तरमूर्ध्वं गच्छत्यालोकान्तात्
tadanantaramūrdhvaṃ gacchatyālokāntāt
Immediately thereafter the soul goes upwards to the end of the occupied universe.
'Immediately' — in one samaya, the smallest unit of time, with no interval and no intermediate state. The soul travels in a straight line, unobstructed.
- 10.5
पूर्वप्रयोगादसङ्गत्वाद्बन्धच्छेदात्तथागतिपरिणामाच्च
pūrvaprayogādasaṅgatvādbandhacchedāttathāgatipariṇāmācca
Because of previous impetus, absence of attachment, severance of bondage, and its natural tendency to move thus.
Four causes with four classic analogies: the wheel that spins on after the potter stops; the gourd that surfaces once its clay coating dissolves; the castor seed that leaps when its pod splits; and the flame that always burns upward. None of them requires an external mover.
- 10.6
धर्मास्तिकायाभावात्
dharmāstikāyābhāvāt
(It stops there) because the medium of motion is absent beyond.
An elegant closing of the metaphysical circle back to chapter 5. Nothing holds the siddha in place; there is simply no medium in which further motion could occur.
- 10.7
क्षेत्रकालगतिलिङ्गतीर्थचारित्रप्रत्येकबुद्धबोधितज्ञानावगाहनान्तरसंख्याल्पबहुत्वतः साध्याः
kṣetrakālagatiliṅgatīrthacāritrapratyekabuddhabodhitajñānāvagāhanāntarasaṃkhyālpabahutvataḥ sādhyāḥ
Liberated souls are distinguished by field, time, realm, sign, tīrtha, conduct, self-enlightened or enlightened-by-others, knowledge, dimension, interval, number and relative numerical strength.
Twelve criteria — but only for description, from the standpoint of their last embodied life. In their attained state all siddhas are identical in quality and differ only in individuality.
- 10.8
साध्यत्वे साद्यनन्तं समयादिसंख्येयासंख्येयानन्तभागोऽवगाहनास्तोकाः
sādhyatve sādyanantaṃ samayādisaṃkhyeyāsaṃkhyeyānantabhāgo'vagāhanāstokāḥ
In respect of these categories, the number of siddhas at each successive stretch of time gradually decreases from a numerable to an innumerable part, down to the fewest by dimension.
A technical elaboration of the twelfth criterion, alpa-bahutva, ranking the categories of sūtra 7 by relative numerical strength — the count moves from beginningless-endless through numerable and innumerable fractions to the smallest classes.
- 10.9
सम्यक्त्वचारित्रज्ञानदर्शनाधिक्यात्तेभ्योऽनन्तगुणं प्रधानम्
samyaktvacāritrajñānadarśanādhikyāttebhyo'nantaguṇaṃ pradhānam
Because of the surpassing perfection of right faith, conduct, knowledge and perception, the siddha state is infinitely superior and supreme to all these worldly states.
Umāsvāti's closing verse: whatever excellence exists among embodied souls in faith, conduct, knowledge and perception is finite and partial, while the siddha's attainment is infinite and complete, making liberation the highest good.