Jaina Concept Of Memory - Book Summary

Here's a comprehensive summary of the provided Jain text, "Jaina Concept of Memory" by Mohanlal Mehta, focusing on the concepts of Retention, Reproduction, Recognition, and Localisation:

The text begins by outlining the modern psychological understanding of memory, which encompasses four key factors: retention, reproduction, recognition, and localisation.

Retention is understood as the process of preserving past experiences as unconscious traces or dispositions in the mind. This is the foundation for memory, as an event must have been experienced and retained to be remembered.
Reproduction is the revival of these retained past experiences in the form of images or ideas. Simply retaining information isn't enough; it must be consciously brought back.
Recognition is the stage where the reproduced image is identified as a past perception, a recognition of familiarity and prior experience.
Localisation is the final step, where the recognized percept is associated with a specific point in time and space.

The text then delves into the Jaina perspective on these concepts, focusing primarily on Retention.

Jaina Concept of Retention:

The Jaina tradition views retention as a crucial element following perception. It's the act of holding onto the judgment or determination made during perception. Various Jain scholars and texts offer definitions:

Nandi-sutra: Defines retention as the act of retaining a perceptual judgment for a number of instants, whether countable or innumerable.
Tattvārtha-bhâsya (attributed to Umāsvāti): Views retention as a three-stage process:
1. Final determination of the object's nature.
2. Retention of this determination.
3. Recognition of the object on future occasions.
Jinabhadra: Defines retention as the absence of the lapse of perceptual cognition, meaning the judgment becomes so firm that it doesn't fade. He also suggests three stages: absence of lapse, formation of a mental trace, and future recollection.
Pajyapāda and Akalarika: Both define retention as the absence of forgetting what was cognized during perception.
Vidyānanda: Defines it as the "condition of recall."
Vādideva: Offers a critical perspective, seeing retention as the consolidation of perception for a certain duration, not the direct cause of recall. He argues that retention, as a category of perceptual cognition, cannot last until the moment of recollection. He suggests retention is a remote cause of recall, not the immediate one, and that the soul's capacity for remembering is the primary driver.
Hemacandra: Defines retention as the condition of recollection, which is the latent mental trace left by past experience. This trace is considered a species of cognition because it's a category of comprehension and can lead to recall, which is also a cognitive act. The trace must be cognitive in nature to be an attribute of the conscious soul.

Recollection (Smrti):

Recollection is described as a cognition stimulated by a latent mental trace. This trace is the disposition retained from past experience. Its emergence into consciousness serves as the stimulus for recollection. However, this latent impression needs another stimulus to become active. The Jain tradition identifies two types of stimuli:

Internal Competence: This refers to the destruction or subsidence of obscuring karmic veils, allowing the soul's inherent capacity for recollection to manifest.
External Conditions: These include observing similar objects or other environmental factors that bring the disposition to maturation.

The text emphasizes that both internal and external conditions are necessary for recollection. Mere external stimuli are insufficient without the internal capacity.

The content of recollection is typically expressed using pronouns like "that," referring to past percepts (e.g., "that jar"). The key differentiator from perception is that recollection refers to its content as existing in the past, whereas perception refers to the present.

Recognition (Pratyabhijñā):

Recognition is characterized as a synthetic judgment arising from the combination of perception and recollection. It's a complex cognitive act that involves both direct sensory observation and the revival of past experiences.

Recognition is expressed through judgments of:

Identity: "That necessarily is it" (e.g., "this is necessarily that jar"). This occurs when the same object is cognized on different occasions.
Similarity: "It is like that" (e.g., "this book is like that one"). This happens when an object resembles a previously experienced one.
Dissimilarity: "This is dissimilar to that" (e.g., "the buffalo is dissimilar to the cow").
Difference: Judgments comparing quantities or qualities (e.g., "ten is less than twenty").

An objection is raised that recognition isn't a separate category but merely a fusion of perception ("this") and recollection ("that"). The text counters that recognition is more than just a combination. It involves establishing the identity of a past datum with a present one, a unity that transcends the individual aspects of perception and recollection. This identity cannot be solely the content of recollection (which refers to "that") or perception (which is confined to the present). Therefore, recognition is considered a distinct, unitary cognition.

In summary, the Jaina concept of memory, as presented, breaks down into interconnected processes: retention as the preservation of past impressions, recollection as their revival stimulated by internal and external factors, and recognition as a higher-order synthetic judgment that establishes the identity of past and present experiences. The soul's inherent capacities, modified by karmic influences, play a crucial role in enabling these mnemonic functions.