佛教與耆那教之消業與入滅法門初探

佛教的創教者釋迦牟尼佛與當那教的二十四千且大雄在出身背景及修道過程等方面有許多相似之處，本文遂以宮那教經典與早期佛教經典為範圍，整理其消業與人滅法門，進行比對與討論。當那教認為業力束縛使人無法解脫，因此修行之要務首在「清除舊業，不造新業」主張苦行可將附著於靈魂的各種業力消除，該教以身業為重，由於同情心與同理心，身業中又特重殺業，故該教力行專注行動細節，以免無意殺生而造新業。其修行至最高境界之全知者，即達到身心皆靜止狀態，行為合法，不再造業。佛教同樣認為業力使人不得解脫，其防止造業的方式歸於內觀，以內觀專注體證六人處及五蘊身心活動，可發現其並非一恆常不變的狀態，以此體證「我」是由真有生滅性質的不同身心功能運轉重疊的結果，並不具恆久性；主要著眼於觀察心理功能運作的生滅現象，不進人產生貪愛或瞋恨的無明程式。經由如此的體證，得知一切有為法均為生滅法，在此立場上並無分別，故不起貪、瞋，不造意業。人滅方面，當那教由於護生愛生而不重視飲食，以動植物為食亦屬直接或間接造業，因此禪定人滅被認為是一種勝利，亦為其發自內心護生的表現，此法由於伴隨著禪定，沒有貪瞋等熱情成份在內，因此與一般在激情下的自殺完全不同。而佛教的人滅是以順逆出人九次地定並止於四禪人滅而告完成，因此佛教的終極解脫也可說是另一種禪定人滅。整體比較來講，佛教傾向從心理解決業力的問題，看那教是以生理的角度進行，雖然外在看來二教皆修持禪定，皆講求戒律以及解脫，甚至連宗教領袖的出身背景都非常相似，但其實質的概念與實現卻有明顯差異。

關鍵字

耆那教；苦行；斷食；全知者

並列摘要

When comparing histories of Sakaymuni Buddha, founder of Buddhism, and Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara and the founder of Jainism, there are many similarities in their life and journey to enlightenment. Based on the sacred scriptures of Jainism and the early collection of Buddhist writings, this article will discuss the differences in their approach to remove karma and the way to reach Nirvana.The Jains consider karma as bondage to prevent living beings from attaining liberation. According to Jain doctrine, the aim of cultivating oneself is to remove and avoid karma attached to the soul. To get rid of all the karma, Jains advocate ascetic practices by observing right conducts: by acting correctly, one could avoid karma; by practicing ascetic, karma sticking to the soul could be completely cleared up. The soul who has achieved liberation could attain the highest stage of knowledge, called Kevalin. A Kevalin is detached from all desires and free from all karma.Jain ideas place emphasis on the karma caused by the activity of body. With compassion and empathy as spiritual goals, Jains are always vigilant in avoiding harm to any living beings under any circumstances, to prevent inflow of new karma by accident. They believe an act of killing attracts more karma. In line with this faith, Jains do not attach importance to diet. They are even forbidden to take meat and certain vegetables. Sallekhana, death through samadhi, is considered as the final victory. Realized by fasting to die with samadhi, it is described as a state of deep absorption in meditation at the time of death in which mind becomes very still. In Jian tradition, this is not regarded as an act of suicide which involves passion.The theory of karma is also a fundamental doctrine in Buddhism. The way for Buddhists to stop new karma is using introspection as a technique to understand the stream of consciousness which is associated with one's physique and mental activities via the five aggregates and six organs.Through introspection, it is possible to realize that the ”self ' is not permanently invariable. The illusion of a permanent and substantial existence of ”self ' is created by the functions through the aggregates, which are also ”impermanent” and ”conditioned.” According to Buddhism, what is important is to observe our mind stream and prevent it polluted by greed, hatred and ignorance, the cause of human suffering. Those who have witnessed all the rising and falling of mental process with yathabhutananadassana would not generate any further karma.The state of Nirvana, parinibbana, is the ultimate aim of all Buddhist practices, occurring upon the death and also passing through several stages of samadhi. While the time is coming, one should go through nine levels of meditative attainment, and enter his parinibbana from the fourth jhana withequanimity, mindfulness and purity (upekkha-sati-parisuddhi). To sum up, although the practices and goals of Jainism and Buddhism have similarities-both emphasize meditation, the observance of certain moral precepts and are in pursuit of final liberation, even their spiritual leaders came from similar backgrounds, there exist differences between these two religions in their philosophy. In Jainism, the path to liberation is influenced by their concept of karma, especially the kaya-kamma, karma caused by body activities, while, in Buddhism, the way to reach Nirvana is conditioned by the ideas of citta-kamma, karma caused by mind activities.