A distinctive feature of Jain philosophy, one critical to its soteriology and ethics, is its assertion of karma(s) as a material substance (pudgala). While other dharma traditions such as Buddhism and Hinduism regard karma as a type of mental imprint located in the mind (however so conceived), Jainism holds that karma exists as bondable (yogya) external units (aṇu) of matter. Karmas “stick” to the jīva, weigh it down, and thereby prevent its accent to the siddhaloka, the realm of the Jinas who have “conquered” saṃsāra, the cycle of birth and death. Infinite karma particles pervade the world, flowing toward and gluing themselves to individual souls. But what determines the inflow and adhesion of some karmas and not others, and to some jīvas and not others?

Umāsvāti states that there are five “causes” (hetu) of the entire process of samṣāric bondage: wrong worldview (mithyā darśana), nonabstinence (avirati); carelessness (pramāda), passions (kaṣāya), and action (yoga) (Tattvārtha Sūtra 8.1). The fifth cause, action (also termed karma), is executed by the threefold means of body, speech, and mind. One’s performance of various actions instigates the flowing-toward (āsrava) of karma particles to their soul (TS 6.1–2). Operating like a moral magnet, good action (puṇya) attracts helpful (śubha) karmas and bad action (pāpa) attracts obstructive (aśubha) karmas (TS 6.3–4).

Importantly, inflow and binding are two distinct phenomena with two distinct sources. While action is the driver of karmic inflow, the precise determinant for karmic binding is the fourth cause in the list, kaṣāya (“passions”). Umāsvatī states: “Because of its passions, the soul attracts and assimilates the material particles of karmic bondage” (TS 8.2). Technically speaking, the binding of karma to the jīva is of two types: short-term (īryāpatha) and long-term (sāmparāyika) (TS 6.5). Short-term binding only occurs in the absence of the passions, is virtually instantaneous, and produces minimal effects: “[T]he karma takes one unit of time to bind, one unit to be experienced, and one to wear off” (Tatia 2011, 152). By contrast, long-term karma affixes itself strongly to the jīva with much more significant consequences, including rebirth.

The traditional enumeration lists four main kaṣāyas: anger (krodha), pride (māna), deceitfulness (māyā) and greed (lobha), each of which has several subtypes (Jain 2019, 146–49; see 150–53 for the types of bondage corresponding to each kaṣāya). Parveen Jain describes the four passions as follows: 

Krodha is a mental state of intense emotional turbulence . . . This emotional state of excitement may induce feelings of enmity resulting in hostility and anguish, which may further lead to aggression or fear.

Māna is the feeling that results when one feels arrogant due to one’s birth in an esteemed family and/or arrogant about one’s capabilities such as knowledge, strength, fame, wealth, and intellect. 

The accumulation of karmic bondages due to deceptive or insincere tendencies is defined as māya. 

Lobha is one of the first auspicious traits of craving and yearning to emerge or strengthen when one experiences the effects of deluding (mohanīya) karma. It manifests in the form of an urge to hoard, expand, or enhance wealth, fame, family, lifestyle, world items, etc. 

Jain thinkers have offered several metaphors to describe the threefold action/inflow-fourfold passion/binding process. One example is dust (=karma) collecting on a cloth (=jīva) due to the presence or absence of moisture (=kaṣāya) in the cloth. A second and more dynamic example is supplied by Hemacandra, who describes the jīva and kaṣāyas as “self-made snares of karma, like a spider with webs made from its own saliva” (quoted in Donaldson and Bajželj 2021, 21). Spinning a sticky web of its own passions, the soul accumulates the long-term karmas that further entrench its own imprisonment in the phenomenal world. Understood as such, the aspirant’s eventual “conquering” of saṃsāra is more precisely a “victory” over the forces—the passions—responsible for long-term karmic adhesion.

The clearest evidence for both the centrality of the passions in Jain soteriology and the immense difficulty of their overcoming is found in the fourteen guṇasthānas or stages of spiritual development (Donaldson and Bajželj 202, 54–69; Jain 2019, 184–94; Tatia 2011, 279–85). These stages collectively constitute the path to eradicating the aforementioned five causes of bondage: wrong worldview, nonabstinence, carelessness, passions, and action. The erosion of the kaṣāyas begins as early as stage four but they are not completely overcome until stage twelve of the process. It is a long ordeal indeed. Critically, at this later point, only when one’s passions are fully eradicated, is the aspirant incapable of backsliding and their liberation is definitively guaranteed. 

While beyond the scope of this blog entry, understanding Jain karma theory and the kaṣāyas also helps clarify key questions in Jain ethics. While the Jain vow of nonviolence (ahiṃsā) is based on the acceptance of the intrinsic badness of suffering (duḥkha)—thereby generating a duty to avoid causing harm to sentient beings—it is also attentive to the karmic effects for the person causing harm under the sway of the passions. To return to Hemacandra’s spider, the salival snares of the passions capture both prey and particles (of karma), inflicting suffering on others while simultaneously binding the spinner to saṃsāra. By acknowledging, diminishing, and eventually eradicating this web-weaving process, one liberates others from their harmful actions while freeing themselves from further karmic accumulation. 

WORKS CITED:

Donaldson, Brianne, and Ana Bajželj. 2021. Insistent Life: Principles for Bioethics in 

the Jain Tradition. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Jain, Parveen. 2019. An Introduction to Jain Philosophy. Delhi: D.K. Printworld.

Tatia, Nathmal. 2011. That Which Is: Tattvārtha Sūtra. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Jonathan Dickstein, Assistant Professor at Arihanta Institute, completed his PhD in Religious Studies at the University of California-Santa Barbara. He specializes  in South Asian Religions, Animals and Religion, and Comparative Ethics. His current work focuses on Jainism and contemporary ecological issues, extending into Critical Animal Studies, Food Studies, and Diaspora Studies. 

Professor Dickstein's course 1014 | Jainism, Veganism, and Engaged Religion, co-taught with Professor Christopher Jain Miller, PhD is available now for self-study. 

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