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JAINA THEORIES OF REALITY AND KNOWLEDGE
The second fundamental concept is 'non-being' (asat). It is embodied in the second predication, viz., “the jar is not'. This concept is easier to understand after recognising the nature and function of its positive counterpart (vidhipratigogi), viz., 'being' (sat). It is the negative (nişedha) element in the determinate context of the concrete nature of the jar in the example. That is, despite its name “negative element' this concept is a co-ordinate and constituent element in the full make-up of the jar. The fact that negation constitutes a necessary element in reality has already been dealt with, at some length, in an earlier chapter' and, therefore, nothing more than the mere mention of it is called for here. This important fact warrants the formulation of a distinctive conditional predication which is provided for in the second mode. The main significance of the second mode lies not in the false statement that the jar does not exist as the jar but in the irrefutable statement that the jar does not exist as linen or anything else. When we focus our attention exclusively (pradhānatayā) on this negative aspect of the jar, as we do under certain conditions, we are said to be viewing the jar in the perspective of the second mode. Nonexistence in the second predication is not, therefore, a vacuous predicate but is the obverse of the existent side of the object. In other words, non-existence or ‘non-being' is a determinate fact with a content and not a void. This is so because under the category of the 'non-being' all that should not figure within the 'being' of the jar is sought to be ruled out.
1. For a discussion on negation see supra, pp. 153 ff.
