Kundakunda

Kundakunda is the name given to the author or authorsTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn of sixteen influential Digambara texts, including Niyamasāra ("The Essence of the Restraint"), Pañcāstikāyasāra ("The Essence of the Five Existents"), Samayasāra ("The Essence of the Self"), and Pravacanasāra ("The Essence of the Teaching").Template:Sfn These attributions are questioned, and "only parts of some works are likely to have been written by him,"Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn showing "clear signs of interpolations"Template:Sfn and multiple authorship.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

While dates for "Kundakunda" range from scholarly datings in the 8th c. CETemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn to traditional datings in the 2nd–3rd c. CE,Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn texts attributed to him may reflect multiple authorship, containing layers dating from 350–400 (Pañcâstikāya-sangraha) and 550–600 CE (Samaya-sāra) up to 950–1150 CE.Template:Sfn The Kundakunda-core texts were anonymous compilations for several centuries, and it is not until Jayasena's (ca. 1150–1200Template:Sfn) commentary on the Pañcâstikāya that an author is explicitly mentionedTemplate:Sfn and a Kundakunda-narrative is created.Template:Sfn

The Kundakunda-attributed works show influences from Samkhya,Template:Sfn Mahayana Buddhism, and especially Advaita Vedanta,Template:Sfn reflected in the distinction between niścayanaya or ‘ultimate perspective’ and vyavahāranaya or ‘mundane perspective’, or the pure atman and the material world.Template:SfnTemplate:Efn

With the Kundakunda-texts the Digambara developed a mystical tradition focusing on the direct realization of the ultimate perspective of the pure soul,Template:Sfn and Kundakunda's emphasis on liberating knowledge has become a mainstream view in Digambara Jainism.Template:Sfn Kundakunda was an important inspiration for Shrimad Rajchandra (1867–1901), who in turn inspired Kanji Swami (1890–1980), Rakesh Jhaveri and the Shrimad Rajchandra Mission, and Dada Bhagwan (1908–1988).

Authorship, names, and dating

While Jain-tradition regards Kundakunda as an author from the 2nd or 3rd century who wrote numerous works, academic scholarship has questioned these datings and attributions, proposing later datesTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn and also proposing multiple authorship.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Balcerowicz discerns seven strata for the Pañcâstikāya-sangraha, starting in 350–400 CE and ending in 950–1150.Template:Sfn The Samaya-sāra contains four layers, from 550–600 CE to 950–1150 CE.Template:Sfn According to Balcerowicz Template:Blockquote

Likewise, Johnson states that Template:Blockquote

Johannes Bronkhorst disagrees with Johnson, stating "I do have the impression of being confronted with the work of someone who wished to incorporate into Jainism a notion that had become very useful and fruitful in other currents, primarily Samkhya, but also elsewhere."Template:Sfn

According to Dundas, following Dhaky (1991), Kundakunda can be dated to the 8th century CE, as his hagiography, and quotations from his influential and important work begin to appear around 8th-century CE, and his ideas can also be traced to this time-period.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Efn Jain scholars date him much earlier, with Natubhai Shah and A.N. Upadhye placing him in the second-century CE,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn and Jayandra Soni placing him in either the 2nd– or 3rd–century CE.Template:Sfn

Balcerowicz notes that the Kundakunda-core texts were anonymous compilations for several centuries. It is not until Jayasena's (ca. 1150–1200Template:Sfn) commentary on the Pañcâstikāya that an author is explicitly mentioned.Template:Sfn According to Balcerowicz, Jayasena had an important role in the creation of the Kundakunda-narrative, narrating a story about Kundakunda "the true essence of the Pure Soul (śuddhâtmatattva)"by means of an encounter in "the distant continent of Eastern Videha" with "the omniscient Tīrthakara Sīmandara-svāmin," whereafeter he returns and recites the Pañcâstikāya-prābhrta to the Mahārāja Śivakumāra.Template:Sfn The story seems to be modelled on Hindu motifs, and was popularized in modern times by Kanji Swami (1890–1980) who claimed to have been present at this occasion in a previous life, after his follower Campāben (1918–1993), who said she had been there too in a previous life.Template:Sfn

Kundakunda is known under various names, including Padmanandin.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The name Kundakunda is derived from the modern village of Konakondla in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh to which Padmanandin is related.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn He is also presumed to be the one being alluded to by names such as Elacarya, Vakragriva, Grdhrapiccha or Mahamati. According to Jayandra Soni these names are likely incorrect, because they have been used for other Jain scholars such as Umaswati in texts and others in inscriptions.Template:Sfn Balcerowicz states that the accounts on which these names are based are unreliable, but suggests "that these names perhaps preserve five different authors of various historical layers that were incorporated into the core works ascribed later to one of them, Kundakunda."Template:Sfn

Thought and influences

According to Balcerowicz, Template:Blockquote

Balcerowicz further notes that "a most decisive impact came from early (and even later) Advaita-Vedānta, primarily the ideas traceable to such works as Gaudapāda’s Verses (Gaudapāda-kārikā; c. 500 CE), Ādiśesa’s Quintessence of the Ultimate Reality (Paramârtha-sāra; early sixth century)."Template:Sfn These works contributed the idea of a dichotomy between a pure, free self (atman) and the material world, correlated with niścayanaya or ‘ultimate perspective’, and vyavahāranaya or ‘mundane perspective’.Template:Sfn

According to Long, Kundakunda was influenced by Buddhist philosophy, and developed a Jain version of the two truths doctrine.Template:Sfn In texts such as Pravacanasāra (‘The Essence of the Doctrine’) and Samayasāra (‘The Essence of the Soul’), Kundakunda distinguishes between two perspectives of truth:Template:Sfn

• niścayanaya or ‘ultimate perspective’, also called “supreme” (paramārtha) and “pure” (śuddha)
• vyavahāranaya or ‘mundane perspective’, also delusion (moha)

For Kundakunda, the mundane realm of truth is also the relative perspective of normal folk, where the workings of karma operate and where things emerge, last for a certain duration and perish. The mundane aspect is associated with the changing qualities of the soul mainly the influx of karmic particles. The ultimate perspective meanwhile, is that of the pure soul or atman, the jiva, which is "blissful, energetic, perceptive, and omniscient".Template:Sfn Delusion and bondage manifest when vyavahāranaya dominates and the true nature of the soul, which is always pure, is forgotten, in contrast to niścayanaya and Kevala Jnana, the perspective of a Jina.Template:Sfn Knowledge of this distinction is also called bhed-jnan,Template:Sfn bhedvijnan, bheda-vijnana, bhedvigyan, and bhedgnan.

According to Long, this view shows influence from Buddhism and Vedanta, which see bondage are arising from avidya, ignorance, and see the ultimate solution to this in a form of spiritual gnosis.Template:Sfn Johnson also notes that "his use of a vyavahara/niscaya distinction [...] has more in common with Madhyamaka Buddhism and even more with Advaita Vedanta than with the Jain philosophy of Anekantavada."Template:Sfn Bronkhorst sees here primarily influences of Samkhya, which were integrated by one author into a coherent Jain-system.Template:Sfn

His emphasis on the self as pure knowledge led him to deemphasize ascetic practice and focus "upon spiritual exercises that lead to salvific insight and self-realization."Template:Sfn Kundakunda uses a duality between self and other which was also used by Haribhadra, in which "the other" is not only material karma, but also the material aggregate of body and mind (namarupa) in which the soul is bound.Template:Sfn Cort, referring to Johnson, notes that "a minority position exemplified by Kundakunda has deemphasized conduct and focused upon knowledge alone."Template:Sfn

Works

File:Djtradition marhiaji.jpg

The Digambara Shruta tradition

Sixteen works are attributed to Kundakunda, but this attribution is questioned, and "only parts of some works are likely to have been written by him,"Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn and several texts "evince clear signs of interpolations."Template:Sfn

The works attributed to Kundakunda, all of them in Prakrit,Template:Sfn can be divided in three groups.

The first group comprises four original works described as "The Essence" (sara)—namely, the Niyamasāra (The Essence of the Restraint, in 187 verses), the Pañcāstikāyasāra (The Essence of the Five Existents, in 153 verses), the Samayasāra (The Essence of the Self, in 439 verses), and the Pravacanasāra (The Essence of the Teaching, in 275 verses).Template:Sfn

The second group is a collection of ten bhaktis (devotional prayers), short compositions in praise of the acharya (Acharyabhakti), the scriptures (Srutabhakti), the mendicant conduct (Charitrabhakti), and so forth. They form the standard liturgical texts used by the Digambaras in their daily rituals and bear close resemblance to similar, more ancient texts written by the Śvētāmbaras, suggesting the possibility of adoption of some ideas of devotional prayers from the Śvētāmbara canon.Template:Sfn

The last group consists of eight short texts called AstapahudaTemplate:Sfn or Prabhrta (Pkt. pahuda, i.e., a gift or a treatise), probably compilations from some older sources, on such topics as the right view (Darsanaprabhrta, in 36 verses), right conduct (Charitraprabhrta, in 44 verses), the scripture (Sutraprabhrta, in 27 verses), and so forth. The Astapahuda are "shown by Schubring to be later than Kundakunda on metrical and stylistic grounds."Template:Sfn

Influence

Digambara mysticism

According to Long, with Kundakunda "a distinctively Digambara bent towards mysticism emerges [...] a focus in religiois practice upon cultivating direct experience or realization of the ultimate reality [...] the pure nature of the liberated soul, or jiva."Template:Sfn While Kundakunda's emphasis on liberating knowledge is a somewhat heterodox view in light of Jainism's orthodox 'karmic realism', which sees karma as real physical particles which become attached to the soul, it has become a mainstream view in Digambara Jainism.Template:Sfn In the Digambara tradition, Kundakunda's texts are among the most important and treasured. The reverence for his scholarship is such that some later texts such as Pravachanasara list him third in importance, right after Mahavira and Mahavira's disciple Indrabhuti Gautama.Template:Sfn

Kundakunda-inspired lay-movements

The Kundakunda-corpus inspired two contemporary lay-movements within Jainism with the Mahayana BuddhismTemplate:Sfn and Advaita VedantaTemplate:Sfn inspired notion of two truths and his emphasis on direct insight into niścayanaya or ‘ultimate perspective’, also called “supreme” (paramārtha) and “pure” (śuddha).Template:Efn

Shrimad Rajchandra (1867–1901) was a Jain poet and mystic who was inspired by works of Kundakunda and Digambara mystical tradition. Nominally belonging to the Digambara tradition,Template:Sfn his followers sometimes consider his teaching as a new path of Jainism, neither Śvetāmbara nor Digambara, and revere him as a saint. His path is sometimes referred as Raj Bhakta Marg, Kavipanth, or Shrimadiya, which has mostly lay followers as was Rajchandra himself.Template:Sfn His teachings influenced Kanji Swami, Dada Bhagwan,Template:Sfn Rakesh Jhaveri (Shrimad Rajchandra Mission), Saubhagbhai, Lalluji Maharaj (Laghuraj Swami), Atmanandji and several other religious figures.

Kanji Panth is a lay movement founded by Kanji Swami (1890–1980).Template:Sfn Nominally it belongs to the Śvetāmbara but is inspired by Kundakunda and Shrimad Rajchandra (1867–1901), though "lacking a place in any Digambara ascetic lineage descending from Kundakunda."Template:Sfn Kanji Swami has many followers in the Jain diaspora.Template:Sfn They generally regard themselves simply as Digambara Jains, more popularly known as Mumukshu, following the mystical tradition of Kundakunda and Pandit Todarmal.Template:Sfn

Bauer notes that "[in] recent years there has been a convergence of the Kanji Swami Panth and the Shrimad Rajcandra movement, part of trend toward a more eucumenical and less sectarian Jainism among educated, mobile Jains living overseas."Template:Sfn

The Akram Vignan Movement established by Dada Bhagwan draws inspiration from teachings of Rajchandra and other Jain scriptures, though it is considered as a Jain-Vaishnava Hindu syncretistic movement.Template:Sfn

Publications and translations

• Niyamasāra, ed. and trans. U. Sain, Lucknow, 1931.
• Pravacanasāra with Amṛtacandra’s commentary, ed. A. N. Upadhye, Bombay, 1935.
• Samayasāra, text, trans. and comm. by A. Chakravarti, Banaras, 1930.

• Ācārya Kundakunda’s Bārasa Aṇuvekkhā – The Twelve Contemplations आचार्य कुन्दकुन्द विरचित बारस अणुवेक्खा (द्वादश अनुप्रेक्षा, बारह भावना){{#if:Jain|, Jain}. Vikalp Printers(2021). ISBN 978-93-5566-134-0
• Ācārya Kundakunda’s Niyamasāra – The Essence of Soul-adoration आचार्य कुन्दकुन्द विरचित "नियमसार"{{#if:Jain|, Jain}. Vikalp Printers(2019). ISBN 978-81-932726-3-3
• Ācārya Kundakunda’s Pańcāstikāya-saṃgraha – With Authentic Explanatory Notes in English (The Jaina Metaphysics){{#if:Jain|, Jain}. Vikalp Printers(2020). ISBN 978-81-932726-5-7
• Ācārya Kundakunda’s Pravacanasāra – Essence of the Doctrine{{#if:Jain|, Jain}. Vikalp Printers(2018). ISBN 978-81-932726-1-9
• Ācārya Kundakunda’s Rayaṇasāra आचार्य कुन्दकुन्द विरचित रयणसार{{#if:Jain|, Jain}. Vikalp Printers(2023). ISBN 978-93-5980-180-3
• Ācārya Kundakunda’s Samayasāra – with Hindi and English Translation आचार्य कुन्दकुन्द विरचित समयसार{{#if:Jain|, Jain}. Vikalp Printers(2022). ISBN 978-93-5680-382-4
• Âchârya Kundkund’s Samayasāra श्रीमदाचार्य कुन्दकुन्द विरचित समयसार{{#if:Jain|, Jain}. Vikalp Printers(2012). ISBN 81-903639-3-X

See also

• Simandhar Swami
• Devardhigani Kshamashraman
• Hemachandra
• Hiravijaya

Sources

• Pure Soul: The Jaina Spiritual Traditions{{#if:Balcerowicz|, Balcerowicz}. Centre of Jain Studies, SOAS(2023)
• Holy People of the World: A Cross-Cultural Encyclopedia{{#if:Bauer|, Bauer}. ABC-CLIO(2004). ISBN 9781576073551
• Yoga in Jainism{{#if:Bronkhorst|, Bronkhorst}. Routledge(2015)
• Open Boundaries: Jain Communities and Cultures in Indian History. SUNY Press(1998).
• The Jains{{#if:Dundas|, Dundas}. Routledge(2002). ISBN 978-0-415-26606-2
• The Intimate Other: Love Divine in the Indic Religions{{#if:Flügel|, Flügel}. Orient Longman(2005). ISBN 9788125028017
• Gender and Salvation: Jaina Debates on the Spiritual Liberation of Women. University of California Press.
• Jains in India and Abroad: A Sociological Introduction{{#if:Jain|, Jain}. DK Printworld(2025)
• Essays in Jaina Philosophy and Religion. Motilal Banarsidass(2003).
• [[[:Template:Google books]] Harmless Souls: Karmic Bondage and Religious Change in Early Jainism with Special Reference to Umāsvāti and Kundakunda]. Motilal Banarsidass.
• Jainism: An Introduction{{#if:Long|, Long}. I.B.Tauris(2013). ISBN 978-0-85771-392-6
• The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}
• Religious Individualisation: Historical Dimensions and Comparative Perspectives{{#if:Parson|, Parson}. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG(2019)
• Template:Cite thesis
• Jainism: The World of Conquerors. Motilal Banarsidass(2004).
• Kanji swami Panth, Shaw, Richard. Division of Religion and philosophy. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
• A history of ancient and early medieval India : from the Stone Age to the 12th century. Pearson Education(2008).
• A History of Indian Literature Vol. II. Buddhist Literature and Jaina Literature (2nd ed.){{#if:Winternitz|, Winternitz}. University of Calcutta(1972)

External links

• Jain Literature and Kundakunda
• Acharya Kundkund