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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CHAPTER IX
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balanced and systematic treatment of it being a special feature of Jainism–have been noticed with some degree
Nāgārjuna's Mülamadhyamikakārikā, Ed. la Vallee Poussin, Bib. Bud., St. Petersbourg, 1913); and (d) the critique, on the eight doctrines, of Gautama (vide ch. IV, Ähnika, sūtras 14-43 in Gautama's Nyāyasūtras, E.T. Ganganatha Jha, Poona Oriental Series, Poona, 1939). Despite the fact that these methods are treated in the respective systems with which they are severally associated, in the spirit and form resembling the Anekantavada, they have not been considered to be so fundamental and pervasive (vyāpaka) as they have been in Jainism. It is, therefore, no surprise that the early critics of Anekāntavāda like Dharmakīrti (see PVD, ch. III, kās. 180-1 and MV thereon, and f.n. 3), and Sankara, the earliest commentator on the Brahmasūtras of Bādarāyaṇa, make Jainism the target of their polemic against Anekantavada. This is done on an even more elaborate scale by Arcața also (HBT, pp. 104-107).
Furthermore, some schools like the Bhedabhedavāda, especially of Bhartsprapanca whose system is even referred to as anekānta' (vide PMHS, Bhaşāțippaņāni, p. 62, f.n. 3); the Bhatta-Mimāṁså and the Sārkhya have an anekānta bias with respect to some of their methods and ideas. While criticising the concept of 'vaicitrya' which is so vital to Anekāntavāda, śāntarakşita significantly attributes it to the Mimāṁsā (Vipra) as well as the Samkhya (Kapila) systems also (kalpanāracitasyaiva vaicitryasyopavarnane / ko nāmātiśayaḥ prokto vipranirgranthakāpilä// TSS, kå. 1776). Arcața, who also chiefly attributes it to Jainism and criticises, describes it as vaicitryam' or 'vicitram' as: vicitram hirūpan sabalamucyate; or, vicitrată ca nānāsvabhāvată (HBT, p. 104). These considerations indicate the influence which the notion of anekānta has, unwittingly or otherwise, in various forms and degrees, on the systems other than Jainism in Indian philosophy. For two further references bearing on this thesis see the next two footnotes. For a brief treatment (with occasional references to, and quotations from the texts) of this topic with regard to the non-Jaina systems see PMHS, Bhāṣātippanāni, pp. 61-63, NVVS, Prastāvanā, p. 11 ff.; and ST, Intro. 150-2.
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