Ahimsa and Jainism

Author(s): Vijayvallabhsuri
Publisher: Vallabhsuri Smarak Nidhi

Page 21

[ 14 ]
meet and can be reconciled to one another. This “Confluence of Opposites” as the reconciliation of the apparently conflicting religions may be termed, is not possible in other religions because they cling to Ekantavada (one-sided absolutism), the irreconcilable antithesis Anekantavada. The difference between the two views lies in this, that while a non-Jain would insist on the truth of his own faith and would deny the validity of a different view, the Jain would willingly try to understand the opposite vie wpoint.
SEVENFOLD LOGIC The following gives, in outline, the sevenfold syadvada logic of the Jains-the different forms of predicative judgement, regarding the same object :
1. 2.
3.
Syad-asti: somehow a substance exists, Syad-nasti: somehow a substance does not exist.
Syad-asti-nasti: somehow a substance exists and does not exist. Syad-avaktavyam: somehow a substance is indescribable (i. e., it is impossible to describe a thing without adopting any particular standpoint ).
&