Ahimsa and Jainism

Author(s): Vijayvallabhsuri
Publisher: Vallabhsuri Smarak Nidhi

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lative predicates 'is' (asti) and is not' (nasti). A third predicate is 'inexpressible' (avaktavya ), for existent and non existent (sat and asat) belong to the same thing at the same time, and such a coexistence of mutually contradictory attributes cannot be expressed by any word in the language. These three predicates variously combined make up the seven propositions or saptabhangas of the Syadvada. I shall not abuse your patience by discussing this doctrine at length, it is enough to have shown that it is an outcome of the theory of indefiniteness of Being (anekantavada) and to have reminded you that the Jainas believe the Syadvada to be the key to the solution of all metaphysical questions.
10. The doctrine of the Nayas which I mentioned before is, as it were, the logical complement to the Syadvada. The nayas are ways of expressing the nature of things: all these ways of judgment are, according to the Jainas, one-sided, and they contain but a part of the truth. Three are seven nayas, four referring to concepts, and three to words. The reason for this variety is that Being is not simple, as the Vedantins believe, but is of a complicated nature; therefore, every statement and every denotation of a thing is necessarily incomplete and one-sided;