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Samantabhadra (Jain monk)

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Samantabhadra
Samantabhadra
Personal
Born2nd century CE
ReligionJainism
SectDigambara
Notable work(s)Ratnakaranda śrāvakācāra, Āpta-mīmāṁsā, Jinaśatakam

Samantabhadra was a Digambara acharya (head of the monastic order) who lived about the later part of the second century CE.[1][2] He was a proponent of the Jaina doctrine of Anekantavada. The Ratnakaranda śrāvakācāra is the most popular work of Samantabhadra. Samantabhadra lived after Umaswami but before Pujyapada.

Life

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Samantabhadra is said to have lived from 150 CE to 250 CE. He was from southern India during the time of Chola dynasty. He was a poet, logician, eulogist and an accomplished linguist.[3] He is credited with spreading Jainism in southern India.[4]

Samantabhadra, in his early stage of asceticism, was attacked with a disease known as bhasmaka (the condition of insatiable hunger).[5] As, digambara monks don't eat more than once in a day, he endured great pain. Ultimately, he sought the permission of his preceptor to undertake the vow of Sallekhana.[6] The preceptor denied the permission and asked him to leave monasticism and get the disease cured.[5] After getting cured he again joined the monastic order and became a great Jain Acharya.[7]

Thought

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Samantabhadra affirmed Kundakunda's theory of the two nayas - vyavahāranaya (‘mundane') and niścayanaya (ultimate, omniscient). He argued however that the mundane view is not false, but is only a relative form of knowledge mediated by language and concepts, while the ultimate view is an immediate form of direct knowledge.[8] Samantabhadra also developed further the Jain theory of syādvāda.[citation needed]

Works

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English translation of the Ratnakaranda śrāvakācāra (1917) by Champat Rai Jain

Jain texts authored by Acharya Samantabhadra are:[9]

Praise

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Jinasena, in his celebrated work, Ādi purāṇa praises the Samantabhadra as[18]

Acharya Samantrabhadra’s glory reigned supreme among all poets, scholars, disputants, and preachers; he was like a jewel on their heads.

References

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Citations

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  1. ^ Gokulchandra Jain 2015, p. 82.
  2. ^ Champat Rai Jain 1917, p. iv.
  3. ^ Natubhai Shah 2004, p. 48.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Natubhai Shah 2004, p. 49.
  5. ^ a b Vijay K. Jain 2015, p. xviii.
  6. ^ Long 2009, p. 110.
  7. ^ Vijay K. Jain 2015, p. xx.
  8. ^ Long 2009, p. 130.
  9. ^ Gokulchandra Jain 2015, p. 84.
  10. ^ Samantabhadra, Ācārya (1 July 2006), Ratnakaranda Shravakacara, Hindi Granth Karyalay, ISBN 9788188769049
  11. ^ Champat Rai Jain 1917, p. v.
  12. ^ Ghoshal 2002, p. 7.
  13. ^ Vijay K. Jain 2015, p. xvii.
  14. ^ a b Orsini & Schofield 1981, p. 89.
  15. ^ Vijay K. Jain 2015, p. xi.
  16. ^ Samantabhadrasvāmī (1969), Kevalajñānapraśnacūḍāmaṇi
  17. ^ Gokulchandra Jain 2015, p. 92.
  18. ^ Vijay K. Jain 2015, p. xv.

Sources

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Further reading

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  • Jain, Vijay K. (2016). Ācārya Samantabhadra’s Āptamīmāmsā (Devāgamastotra) आचार्य समन्तभद्र विरचित "आप्तमीमांसा". Dehradun: Vikalp Printers. ISBN 81-903639-8-0.
  • Jain, Vijay K. (2016). Ācārya Samantabhadra’s Ratnakarandaka-śrāvakācāra. Dehradun: Vikalp Printers. ISBN 81-903639-9-9. OCLC 953615751.
  • Jain, Vijay K. (2015). Ācārya Samantabhadra’s Svayambhūstotra आचार्य समन्तभद्र विरचित "स्वयम्भूस्तोत्र". Dehradun: Vikalp Printers. ISBN 81-903639-7-2.