Impact of Nyaya and Vaisesika School on Jaina Philosophy

SR No.: 269078
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Sagarmal Jain
Publisher: Z_Sagar_Jain_Vidya_Bharti_Part_6_001689.pdf
Publication Year: 2003
Total Pages: 7
Language: English
Classification: Article & Jainism
File Size: 331 KB

Page 6

The Impact of Nyaya and Vaiścşika School on Jaina : 191
prima facie it shows an impact of Vaiseṣika School on Jaina epistemology but in my humble opinion it would be a wrong supposition. Here the similarity is only regarding two broad categories or the numbers of Pramāņas and not in the concepts itself. For Jainas the knowledge itself is pramāņa but for Nyāya-Vaiseṣika pramāņa is the means of knowledge (p4qà sàn zfà pm). Secondly, for Umasvati, the meaning of pratyakṣa (direct knowledge) and paroksa (indirect knowledge) are totally different from that of Nyaya's definition of pratyakșa and parokṣa. Umās vāti maintains that the knowledge acquired through sense organs and mind is not a direct knowledge, but it is an indirect knowledge (parokṣa). On going through Tattvärthasutra, one can observe that though Umāsvāti also adopted some concept of epistemology prevalent that time, but he explained it according to his own Agamic tradition.
The first impact of Nyāya School on Jaina epistemology can be traced in the canonical works of later period (3 - 4th century A.D.) or in the late incorporated works of early canonical works.
The Jaina theory of pramāņas takes it birth from the scattered ideas found in the canonical works. In the Agamic period or the first phase, the five-fold division of knowledge, which later on considered as pramāņa, remained pure and unalloyed. In the second stage when the idea of two-fold classification came into existence, particularly in Niryukti literature and Tattvärthasūtra, it was certainly due to external influence, yet the spirit of Agamas remained dominating. For the first time, in Anuyogadvara-sūtra five-fold division of Agamic tradition goes into background and the four-told division of the Nyaya School came into prominence. Here, the Jaina thinkers adopted the view of Nyaya School in Toto. The four-fold pramāņas -Pratyakṣa, Anumāna, Agama and Upamāna, are mentioned in various canonical works such as Samavayanga, Bhagavati, Anuyogadvāra, etc. in the name of hetu (), vyavasaya or pramāņa. In the canonical works, we find mention of four-fold as well as three-fold divisions of pramāņas as of Nyāya and Samkhya School respectively. Siddhasena Divakara also followed this three-fold For Private & Personal Use Only