Ahimsa and Jainism

Author(s): Vijayvallabhsuri
Publisher: Vallabhsuri Smarak Nidhi

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title of a wellknown exposition of the Jain philosophy entitled Syadvada-Manjari) and it is much boasted of as the saving truth leading out of the labyrinth of sophisms. The idea underlying the Syadvada is briefly this. Since the nature of Being is intrinsically indefinite and made up of the contradictory attributes of originating, continuance, and perishing, any proposition about an existing thing must, somehow, reflect the indefiniteness of Being, 2. e, any metaphysical proposition, is right from one point of view, and the contrary proposition is also right from another. There are, according to this doctrine, seven forms of metaphysical propositions, and all contain the word syat, ė. g. syad asti sarvam, syad nasti sarvam. Syat means 'may be,' and is explained by kathamchit, which in this connection may be translated 'somehow.' The word syat here qualifies the word astı, and indicates the indefiniteness of Being (or astitvam ). For example, we say, a jar is somehow, i e, it exists, if we mean thereby that it exists as a jar, but it does not exist somehow, it we mean thereby that it exists as a cloth or the like.
9. The purpose of these seeming truisms is to guard against the assumption made by the Vedantins that Being is one without a second,
the same in all things. Thus we have the corre