Jaina Theories of Reality and Knowledge

SR No.: 001608
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Y J Padmarajiah
Publisher: Jain Sahitya Vikas Mandal
Publication Year: 1963
Total Pages: 444
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Philosophy, Epistemology, & Anekantvad
File Size: 23 MB

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JAINA THEORIES OF REALITY AND KNOWLEDGE
the Naiyāyika äkāśa or "ether'' is one (eka)' or partless (na nánā or niravayavi) and, consequently, it is all-pervading (vibhu) and eternal (nitya) —the distinctions, therefore, like ghațākāśa and mathākāśa are, like the concepts here' and 'there', a superimposition (upādhi) upon that eternally unchanging medium.
But the Jaina believes in the genuine divisions of infinite pradeśas which are as much objectively existent as the medium of which they are divisions. Were it not so, the two towns, say, Pataliputra and Mathurā which, like the two mountains, the Himavat and the Vindhya, occupy different locations of space (nänäkāśapradesäh), would, he affirms,
1.
Besides ākāśa or ether' the Naiyāyika recognises another entity, viz., dik, which is translated as 'space'. But in actual fact it is ākāśa, not dik, which corresponds to the Jaina conception of space'. nanvākāśamapi kií prthivyādivan nānā/netyäha-taccaikamiti / bhede pramānābhāvādityarthan/ Tarkadipikä on the sū. 14 of TS (text, p. 11) which runs as: sabdaguņamākāśam/ taccaikaṁ vibhu nityam ca // ekatvādeva sarvatropalabdher vibhutvamangikartavyamityäha
vibhviti / Ibid. 4. vibhutvādevātmavan nityamityäha- nityam ceti / Ibid. 5. Cf. "The epithetoneimplies that the mention of numerous äkäśas
such as ghatākāśa and mathākāśa in common parlance is due to upādhi and cannot be real". Ibid., Notes, pp. 127-128. Akalanka's term for 'upādhi' is 'aupacāriki' or 'adhyāropa'. Calling the person 'Mänavaka'a 'lion' because of the former's fierceness (kraurya) and bravery (saurya) etc., is cited as an example of upacara. Similarly, the attribution of pradeśas or parts to the partless medium of ākāśa is from the point of view of the Naiyāyika, a case of upādhi, or upacāra: pradeśa-kalpanā
niravayavatvadaupacārikī simhavat // TRAG, p. 202, kā. 9. 6. Vide TBV, p. 642. .