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Kevala jñāna means omniscience in Jainism and is roughly translated as absolute knowledge or supreme knowledge. Kevala jnana is believed to be an intrinsic quality of all souls. This quality is masked by karmic particles that surround the soul. Every soul has the potential to obtain omniscience by shedding off these karmic particles. Jain scriptures speak of twelve stages through which the soul achieves this goal. A soul who has attained kevala jnana is called a ''kevalin'' () According to the Jains, only kevalins can comprehend objects in all aspects and manifestations; others are only capable of partial knowledge. The views of two sects of Jainism, Digambara and Śvētāmbara Jains slightly differ on the subject of ''kevalins''. According to Digambaras, a kevalin does not experience hunger or thirst, whereas according to Svetambaras, a kevalin has normal human needs. According to both traditions, the last kevalin was a disciple of one of the eleven chief disciples of the last tirthankara, Mahāvīra; his name is recorded as Jambu. It is also believed that no one after Jambu will have the ability to obtain kevala jnana. ==Literary sources== The claim of existence of omniscience by Jains, who deny the existence of a creator god, is a unique phenomenon. The oldest text of the Svetambara school, the Acaranga Sutra, describes Mahavira as all-seeing but not all-knowing. The Sutrakritanga, however, elaborates the concept as all-knowing and provides details of his other qualities. Another text, the Kalpa Sūtra, gives details of Mahavira's omniscience Immediately after the death of Mahavira, his disciple Gautama became a kevalin. As per the tradition, the teachings of the tirthankara were memorized and preserved over many centuries. In the second Upanga Agama, the ''Rājapraśnīya'', there is a dialogue between Kesi, a disciple of Pārśva, and Payasi, a materialist king. In this dialogue, Kesi proves the existence of jiva and its ability to obtain kevala jñana to the king. The Jains have a long debate with Hindus and Buddhists regarding omniscience. Bhikkhu Dhamakriti criticized the Jain notion of omniscience in his ''Pramanavartika''. The Hindu philosopher Kumarila argued that only Veda had the authority to define human moral values since they were "beginningless, authorless and of self-sufficient validity". In response, the Jain monk Haribhadra (c. 8th century CE) wrote that humans already had knowledge of everything knowable. It only had to be illuminated or uncovered. Omniscience was, according to Haribhadra, inherent to living beings. Samantabhadra was the first philosopher-monk in the history of Indian philosophy who tried to use inference as a method to establish the existence of omniscience. Akalanka (c. 720 760 CE) put forward the concept of ''suniscita-asambhavad-badhaka-pramana'' as a reason for the existence of omniscience. This concept is a well-known fact which is "we have no valid methods of knowing to deny the existence of omniscience". Hemacandra (c. 1088 1173) combined Samantabhadra and Akalanka's ideas of ''sarvajña'' in his ''Pramanamimasa'' to establish the existence of omniscience. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kevala Jnana」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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