Kundakunda

Kundakunda was a Digambara Jain monk and philosopher from South India, the most revered author of the Digambara tradition. The Prakrit works attributed to him, above all the Samayasāra (The Essence of the Self), treat the soul (jīva) as pure consciousness, untouched in its true nature by karma. He is known for distinguishing two standpoints: an ultimate one, which sees the pure self, and a conventional one, which describes the embodied soul caught up in action. His dates are disputed, and some scholars think the works under his name were written over several centuries.

Key ideas

• The soul in its true nature is pure consciousness, knowledge and bliss, distinct from the body and from karmic matter.
• Reality can be described from an ultimate standpoint (niścaya-naya) and from a conventional standpoint (vyavahāra-naya).
• Bondage arises when the soul identifies with what is not itself; discriminating knowledge of self and non-self begins liberation.
• Outward ritual and conduct are valuable only as aids to realising the self within.

Major works

• Samayasāra (The Essence of the Self) (date uncertain)
• Pravacanasāra (The Essence of the Teaching) (date uncertain)
• Niyamasāra (The Essence of Restraint) (date uncertain)
• Pañcāstikāyasāra (The Essence of the Five Existents) (date uncertain)

In the Book corner

• Samayasāra (The Essence of the Self) dates debated (estimates range from c. 1st century BCE to c. 8th century CE) · Intermediate
  One of the most revered philosophical texts of the Digambara Jain tradition, composed in Prakrit verse by the monk Kundakunda, whose dates…

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