Tattvartha Sutra
Encyclopedia
Tattvartha Sutra is a Jain
Jainism
Jainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state...

 text written by Acharya
Acharya
In Indian religions and society, an acharya is a guide or instructor in religious matters; founder, or leader of a sect; or a highly learned man or a title affixed to the names of learned men...

 Umaswati
Umaswati
Umaswami is the author of Tattvartha Sutra, the best-known Jaina text. The details of his life are controversial. He is claimed by both the Digambara and Svetambara sects. He is known as Acharya Umaswami , which is a title prefixed to the names of learned men.A mathematician, he is thought to...

. It was an attempt to bring together the different elements of the Jain path, epistemological, metaphysical, cosmological, ethical and practical, otherwise unorganized around the scriptures in an unsystematic format. It is the first Jain text in sutra
Sutra
Sūtra is an aphorism or a collection of such aphorisms in the form of a manual. Literally it means a thread or line that holds things together and is derived from the verbal root siv-, meaning to sew , as does the medical term...

 or aphoristic form, and bring almost entire Jain doctrinal system in 350 sutras spread over 10 chapters. The term Tattvartha is composed of the Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

 words tattva
Tattva (Jainism)
Jain metaphysics is based on seven truths or fundamental principles also known as tattva or navatattva, which are an attempt to explain the nature and solution to the human predicament. The first two are the two ontological categories of the soul jīva and the non-soul ajīva, namely the axiom that...

"things, realities" and artha "true nature". Umaswami is accepted by all the sects of Jains and is said to have lived around the 2nd century.

Content

The Tattvartha Sutra is regarded as the most authoritative book on Jainism, and the only text authoritative in both the Svetambara
Svetambara
The Śvētāmbara is one of the two main sects of Jainism, the other being the Digambar. Śvētāmbara "white-clad" is a term describing its ascetics' practice of wearing white clothes, which sets it apart from the Digambara "sky-clad" Jainas, whose ascetic practitioners go naked...

 and Digambara
Digambara
Digambara "sky-clad" is one of the two main sects of Jainism. "Sky-clad" has many different meaning and associations throughout Indian religions. Many representations of deities within these traditions are depicted as sky-clad, e.g. Samantabhadra/Samantabhadrī in Yab-Yum...

 sects, and its position comparable with that of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali are 194 Indian sūtras that constitute the foundational text of Rāja Yoga. Yoga is one of the six orthodox āstika schools of Hindu philosophy, and Rāja Yoga is the highest practice....

 in Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

. It has the largest number of bhashya
Bhashya
Bhashya - It is especially used with reference to a text or religious work.A typical Bhashya would be an interpretation of a Sutra or other classical work...

s or commentaries in different Indian languages from the fifth century onward. The earliest extant Digambara commentary on the text is Sarvathasiddhi, by the sixth century CE grammarian, Devanandi, commonly known as Pujyapada
Pujyapada
Ācārya Pūjyapāda who lived in the 5th century of the Common Era was a renowned grammarian and saint belonging to the Digambara tradition of Jains. Before initiation as a Jain ascetic, he was known as Devanandi. Since it was believed that he was worshiped by demigods on account of his vast...

. It along with Akalanka's c. 780 CE Rajavartika and Vijayananda's 9th century Slokavarttika form the central texts of Digambara monastic students.

The first verse, "" summarizes Jainism by saying that right faith, right knowledge and right conduct collectively are the path of liberation or moksha
Moksa (Jainism)
' or Mokkha means liberation, salvation or emancipation of soul. It is a blissful state of existence of a soul, completely free from the karmic bondage, free from samsara, the cycle of birth and death. A liberated soul is said to have attained its true and pristine nature of infinite bliss,...

. The first chapter deals with the process of cognition and details about different types of knowledge. The next three chapters deal with the soul
Soul
A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...

, lower worlds, naraka, and celestial abodes, deva. The fifth chapter discusses Non-soul (Ajiva). The next three chapters deal with the karma
Karma
Karma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....

s and their manifestations and the inflow, asrava
Asrava
Asrava is one of the tattva or the fundamental reality of the world as per the Jain philosophy. It refers to the influence of body and mind causing the soul to generate karma....

, good and bad karma, shubha-ashubha karma and the bondage of the karmas. The ninth chapter describes the blocking, samvara
Samvara
Samvara is one of the tattva or the fundamental reality of the world as per the Jain philosophy. It means stoppage—the stoppage of the influx of the material karmas into the soul consciousness. The karmic process in Jainism is based on seven truths or fundamental principles of Jainism which...

and shedding of the karmas, nirjara
Nirjara
Nirjara is one of the nine fundamental principles, or Tattva in Jain philosophy, and refers to the shedding or destruction of accumulated karmas from the atma , essential for breaking free from samsara, the cycle of birth-death and rebirth, by achieving moksha, liberation.Literally meaning "falling...

. The final chapter discusses moksha or the liberation of the soul.

Further reading

  • That which is = Tattvārtha Sūtra, Umāsvāti, ca. 135-ca. 219. San Francisco: HarperCollinsPublishers, c1994. ISBN 0060689854
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