Beyond One-Sidedness: Passion and Ethical Cultivation in the Kasāya-pāhuḍa (“Treatise on Passions”)

This paper focuses on selected sections of the Kasāya-pāhuḍa (“Treatise on Passions”) and its commentaries to explore the ways in which these texts define and discuss the concept of passions through the analytical method of naya (perspective) and nikṣepa (parameter). It will focus on the meaning of pejja and dosa, the Prakrit terms that denote categories that give rise to pleasure and pain, respectively, and which should not be understood in a one-sided way. While these states are often seen as causes of bad karma, some of the passages in the text suggest that pejja can have a positive valence in the Jain tradition and denote something that is karmically beneficial. I argue that the analytical framework of perspectivism allows certain passions, under specific perspectives, to contribute to ethical cultivation.