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JAINA THEORIES OF REALITY AND KNOWLEDGE
3. The Philosophy subordinating Difference to Identity. 4. The Philosophy subordinating Identity to Difference. 5. The Philosophy co-ordinating both Identity and
Difference.
The Vedānta (Advaitism) as the school of Identity par excellence and Buddhism as the school of Difference par excellence are respectively brought under the first and the second categories in the above classification. The Sānkhya, the Bhedābhedavāda (of Bhartsprapañca, Bhāskara, Yādava and Nimbārka) and the Visiştādvaitavāda (of Rāmānuja) figure under the third category. The Vaiseșika and the Dvaita (of Madhva) systems come under the fourth type and Jainism under the last. Hegelianism, though a school of Western philosophy, will also be brought into this scheme owing to its being frequently cited as a close Western analogue or parallel of Jainism. On examination it will be found to align itself with the third category despite its agreement with Jainism in certain vital points. Incidentally the Śuddhādvaita of Vallabha (distinguished from the Kevalādvaita of Sankara) will be referred to in a small footnote under Advaitism because of its exclusive emphasis on identity (Brahman) as in Advaitism. Where it differs from the latter is in being a brahmapariņāmavāda and, therefore, in recognising the reality of the jīva (the finite self) and the jaļa (physical world) as identical with Brahman (brahmatmaka). After the necessarily brief treatment, separate or incidental, of the various schools coming under the five categories of the classification, the Jaina theory of reality as a case of the meeting of extremes, and its answer to the common charge of self-contradiction and other errors believed
