Jain Psychology

Here's a comprehensive summary of the provided text on Jain Psychology by Prof. T.G. Kalghatgi:

The text introduces Jain Psychology as an academic and rational discipline that, while not relying on experimental methods, draws from introspection and the insights of spiritual seers. It acknowledges that modern psychology has become more empirical, but suggests parallels can be drawn between Jain psychological investigations and ancient Indian and Western thought.

Core Jain Philosophical Framework:

• Realism and Dichotomy: Jainism is characterized as a realistic philosophy with a fundamental division into soul (living) and non-soul (non-living).
• The Soul (Jiva): From a noumenal perspective, the soul is considered pure and perfect. Its essential characteristic is Upayoga, which signifies pure consciousness and the capacity to grasp a subject. Upayoga is the source of all experience, encompassing cognitive, conative, and affective aspects.
  • Types of Upayoga: Upayoga is categorized into anākār (formless) and sākār (possessed of form). This distinction is likened to 'Darshana' (indefinite cognition) and 'jñāna' (definite cognition) respectively.
  • Upayoga and Modern Psychology: The author suggests interpreting Upayoga as a conative drive, akin to the "horme" in modern psychology, which drives experience and behavior. However, the Jain conception is presented as more epistemologically and metaphysically oriented.
  • Cetana: This is identified as a fundamental quality of the soul, representing pure consciousness, eternal though manifested empirically.

Forms of Consciousness and the Unconscious:

• Multiple Forms of Consciousness: Jainism recognizes various forms of consciousness, distinguishing between knowing, feeling, experiencing karma, and willing. Conation and feeling are seen as closely linked, with a typical sequence of feeling, then conation, and finally knowledge.
• Awareness of the Unconscious: The text posits that Jainas were aware of the unconscious. The Nandi Sutras are cited as providing an illustration of the unconscious through an "earthen pot" analogy.
• Karma and the Collective Unconscious: The Jain concept of karma is compared to archetypes of the collective unconscious, as described by Carl Jung, suggesting a potential metaphysical resonance.

Sense Experience and Perception:

• Pratyaksha (Immediate Perception):
  • Indriya Pratyaksha: This refers to immediate cognition derived through the five sense organs (visual, auditory, tactual, olfactory, gustatory).
  • Anindriya Pratyaksha (True Pratyaksha): This is experience that does not require sense organs and is direct. It is further divided into three types: avadhi, manahparyaya, and kevala.
• Role of Sense Organs: Sense organs are viewed as instruments for sense perception, akin to a carpenter's axe.
• Conditions for Perception: Perception of a specific object is dependent on the destruction and subsidence of knowledge-obscuring karmas and the competency of the psychical factor, which is identified as selective attention or mental set.
• Stages of Sense Perception: Jainas have a detailed analysis of the stages of sense perception:
  • Avagraha: The initial stage of sensation.
  • Īhā: Involves greater awareness and the associative integration of sensory elements, organizing specific features of the object.
  • Avāya: Moves towards interpretation of the sensation, akin to perceptual judgment ("this is a jar").
  • Dhāraná: The final stage involving determination, retention, and future recognition of the perceived object. These stages are seen as a combined process leading to coherent experience.

Supersense Experience (Supernormal Perception):

• Beyond Sensory Limits: Jainism proposes that empirical experience, mediated by senses and mind, is indirect. The soul, in its pure form, has direct knowledge.
• Three Types of Supersense Perception:
  • Avadhi: Apprehending objects beyond the reach of sense organs, specifically those with form and shape. This is compared to clairvoyance. The text mentions modern psychical research and experiments with Zener cards as parallels. It also includes psychometry as a possible form of Avadhi, acknowledging the partial role of senses and mind.
  • Manahparyaya: Cognition of the mental states of others without the use of sense organs or mind. This is a rare capacity acquired by ascetics through merit and discipline. Even gods are not capable of it. The text cites experiments on telepathy by Prof. Oliver Lotze and the work of Duke University.
  • Kevala Jnana (Omniscience): The ultimate stage of perfect knowledge, attained by the total destruction of all obscuring karmas. This leads to the soul's pure consciousness and knowledge being fully manifested. In this state, the soul intuites all substances and their modes, with nothing remaining unknown.

In essence, Jain Psychology, as presented, offers a profound framework for understanding consciousness, perception, and the human mind, integrating metaphysical and epistemological considerations with insights that resonate with concepts explored in modern psychology, particularly regarding the unconscious and extrasensory perception.