Aspect of Jainology Part 1 Lala Harjas Rai

Author(s): Sagarmal Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Shodhpith Varanasi

Page 62

The Philosophical Foundation of Religious Tolerance in Jainism
and thus a relativist adopts a tolerant outlook towards other faiths and ideologies. It is the doctrine of anekāntavāda or non-absolutism of the Jainas on which the concept of religioust olerance is based. For the Jainas non-violence is the essence of religion from which the concept of non-absolutism emanates. Absolutism represents "violence of thought", for, it negates the truth-value of its opponent's view and thus hurts the feeling of others. A non-violent search for truth finds non-absolutism.
Jaina thinkers are of the view that reality is a complex one. It has many facets, various attributes and various modes. It can be viewed and understood from different angles and thus various judgements may be made about it. Even two contradictory statements about an object may hold true. Since we are finite beings, we can know or experience only a few facets of reality at one time. The reality in its completeness cannot be grasped by us. Only a universal-observer-Sarvajña can comprehend it completely. Yet even for an Omniscient it is impossible to know it and to explain it without a standopint or viewpoint"10. This premise can be understood from the following example. Take it granted that every one of us has a camera for photographing a tree and we all use it. We can have hundreds of the photographs but still we find most portion of the tree photographically remains uncovered, and what is more, the photographs differ from each other unless they are taken from the same angle. So is the case with diversified human understanding and knowledge. We only can have a partial and relative view of reality. It is impossible for us to know and describe the reality without an angle or viewpoint. While every angle or viewpoint can claim that it gives a true picture of reality, each one only gives a partial and relative picture of reality. On the basis of partial and relative knowledge of reality one can claim no right to discard the views of his opponents as totally false. According to Jaina thinkers the truthvalue of opponents must be accepted and respected,
Non-absolutism of the Jainas forbids the individual to be dogmatic and one sided in approach. It pleads for a broader outlook and an open mindedness, which alone can resolve the conficts that emerge from differences in ideologies and faiths. Satkari Mookerjee rightly observes that Jainas do not believe in the extremist a priori logic of the absolutists.