Jaina Theory of Multiple Facets of Reality and Truth

SR No.: 001746
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Nagin J Shah
Publisher: B L Institute of Indology
Publication Year: 2000
Total Pages: 168
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Philosophy, & Nyay
File Size: 12 MB

Page 53

A Study of Syadvāda
(pramana-nayair adhigamaḥ)', but no term like syādvāda is mentioned in it. Some scholars suggest that the notion of syādvada is implicitly shown in the aphorism V.32 Because [the contradictory characteristics] are established from primary as well as secondary points of view (arpitanarpita-siddheḥ)'. Yet, the aphorism as such only indicates the manifold nature or point of view attributed to an entity, even according to most of the commentaries thereof, and it is quite unlikely that the author had in mind the notion of syadvada composed of seven formulae. 3. Kundakunda (Dig. 3-4? cent. A.D.) does not mention the term syadvāda in any of his works, but the following two verses explicitly show the sevenfold formula.
siya atthi natthi ubhayaṁ avattavvam puno ya tattidayam/davvaṁ khu sattabhamgam adesa-vasena sambhavadi//(Pancatthikāyasāra I.14) Atthi tti ya natthi tti ya bhavadi avattavvam idi puno davvaṁ/pajjāyeņa du kena vi tad-ubhayam ādiṭṭham aṇṇam vā//(Pavayaṇasāra II.23).
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4. Siddhasena Divakara (Śvet. 6-7 cent.) describes in his Nyāyāvatāra as follows: 'Object of Omniscient knowledge is composed of infinite attributes, while that of naya (knowledge based on particular standpoint) consists of a single aspect. And since the naya, rolling on the course of the scriptural knowledge (śruta), determines the partial aspect of object, the knowledge which ascertains the whole aspect of object is called syādvāda-śruta.' ($29,30) Thus two kinds of śruta are accepted; one is syādvāda, and the other is naya. Though it is not clear, only from the above verses, whether the author had in mind three varieties of śruta as are mentioned in Siddhasena Gani's commentary, viz. mithya-śruta (=durnaya), naya-śruta and syādvāda-śruta, yet it might be safely concluded that such division appears only after Akalanka Deva. Siddhasena Divākara was, to the writer's knowledge, the first to use the term 'syādvāda', and it is understood by him to be a specific means to comprehend an object, together with naya, both being dependent on verbal expression.
5. Samantabhadra (Dig. c. 600 A.D.) repeats in his Āptamīmāṁsāconsisting of 115 stanzas, a stanza to the following effect: 'Even if those who hate the system of syadvāda maintain the absolute "inexpressibility" in saying