Philosophy In Jain Agams: Akriyāvāda

A heretic philosophy which does not accept the existence of the soul is known as akriyāvāda. Those who recommend the purity of self, but, disregard the necessity of actions are Akriyāvādī. Buddhist philosophers fall under this category of akriyāvādī.^[1] In the first chapter of the Sūtrakṛtāṅga, the Buddhists are regarded as kriyāvādī^[2] and in the cūrṇi (commentary) of the chapter on Samavasaraṇa, Buddhists are considered as akriyāvādī.^[3] Muni Jambūvijaya has reconcilied both views based on relative expressions. He has written in Aṅguttaranikāya that the Buddha is regarded to be Akriyāvādī.^[4] Akriyāvādī believes in the complete extinction of kriyā i.e. existence. They are of the opinion that all objects are momentary. Nothing exists after a moment, hence, there is no possibility of kriyā. Hence, there cannot be an existence of eternal substances such as soul. Kokrula, Dviromaka, Kanhevi, etc. are prominent Akriyāvādis.^[5]

The Niryuktikāra has described akriyāvāda on the basis of nāsti (non-existence).^[6] There are four meanings of nāst:

1. Negation of the existence of Soul
2. Negation of the Soul as a doer
3. Negation of Karma and
4. Negation of Rebirth.^[7]

Akriyāvādīs are called as nāstikavādī, nāstikaprajña and nāstikadṛṣti.^[8]The Sthānāṅga Vṛtti considers the akriyāvādī as atheists.^[9]In the Sthānāṅga Vṛtti, there is a mention of eight kinds of akriyāvādīs:^[10]

In Sthānāṅga, akriyāvāda denotes both - disbelievers of the soul and the absolutists. Among the above mentioned eight streams, six are believers in eternality in absolutism. Samucchedavāda and asatparalokavāda - both reject the existence of soul. Upadhyaya Yashovijaya considered the Cārvaka philosophy as atheist from a substantial point of view and all other monist philosophies from an attributive point of view.

dharmyañśe nāstiko hyeko, bārhaspatyaḥ prakīrtitaḥ dharmāṅśe nāstikā jñeyaḥ, sarvepi paratīrthikaḥ^[11]

While compiling all these belief systems in the Sthānāṅga Sūtra, to understand which philosophical streams were in existence before the compiler is very difficult to decipher, but, at present the followers of those philosophies, are as follows:

1. Ekavādī - Monists.
   • Brahmādvaitavādī - Vedānta
   • Vijñānādvaitavādī - Buddhists
   • Śabdādvaitavādī - Grammarians

According to the Brahmādvaitavādī 'Brahma', the Vijñānādvaitavādī 'Vijñāna' and the śabdādvaitavādī 'śabda' is the ultimate reality and all the other objects of the world are unreal. Hence, all these philosophies are monists or absolutistic.

2. Anekavādī - The Vaiśeṣika philosophy is Anekavadī (pluralistic philosophy). According to them the attribute and the substance, the parts and the whole- are all radically different entities.^[12]
3. Mitavadī
   • Believers in limited number of living beings. This has been discussed in the Syadvada Mañjarī.^[13]
   • Believers in the existence of the universe upto seven oceans and continents. This is a paurāṇika belief.
   • Believers in the thumb sized or śyāmāka taṇḍula (a small grain of rice of śyāmāka brand) sized existense of the soul. This is the upaniṣadic belief.
4. Nirmitavadī - Naiyāyika, Vaiśeṣika etc. believe that this universe is a creation of īśvara i.e God.
5. Sātāvādī (Hedonists)- Buddhists
6. Samucchedavādī - Each object is momentary. It gets destructed within the next moment of its origination.
7. Nityavādī - According to Satkāryavāda (causal theory) of Sānkhya, every object of the universe is absolutely eternal. As a cause, every object exists. Nothing is newly originated nor completely gets destroyed. It is only a cycle of manifestation and dissolution.^[14]
8. Asat Paralokavādī - The Cārvāka philosophy rejects the existence of the other worlds like heaven or hell and also of mokṣa (liberation).^[15]

The Commentator (Cūrṇīkāra) has considered both the Sānkhya and Vaiśeṣika philosophy (believers in the universe as the creation of supreme god) as Akriyāvādī.^[16] Pañcabhūtavādī, Caturbhūtavādī, Skandhamātṛka, Śūnyavādī and Lokāyatika are also counted under the Akriyāvādī philosophy.^[17]

The Vaiśeṣika and Sānkhya philosophy believe in the existence of the soul, even then why are they counted under Akriyāvādī. There is no answer to this question that has been provided in Cūrṇi. In the Sānkhya philosophy, the soul is not the doer of karma and in the Vaiśeṣika philosophy, the soul is not independent to experience the results of karma. Perhaps for this reason, the commentator has listed them under the category of Akriyāvādī philosophies. This is the opinion of Acharya Mahapragya.

There are 84 kinds of akriyāvāda. This classification is also based on a mathematical method as it is done in the case of kriyāvāda.