Beyond Anekantavada A Jain Approach to Religious Tolerance

Author(s): Paul Dundas
Publisher: Z_Lessons_of_Ahimsa_and_Anekanta_for_Contemporary_Life_014006.pdf

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Paul Dundas, "Beyond Anekantavada " cannot as an institutionalised and supposedly nonviolent religion, participate in this "general religion" because it claims an independent source of authority which only the jinas can have. Similarly, there can be no question of Jainism, which is the origin of all philosophical standpoints, incorporating morally inappropriate teachings such as Vedic injunctions about sacrificial killing. Jainism can be the source of all intellectual views only in the sense that it makes clear what its own teachings are and what are the teachings of others. What I have been drawing attention to is a Jain argument not couched in terms of anekantavada, possibly unparalleled in Indian thought up to this time, which concentrates on the qualities and the validity of praising upright individuals, even if they belong to a different and manifestly false religious path. As discussed in this paper, there is one side of this argument, as represented by Dharmasagara, which is unwilling to acknowledge the possibility of mitigating qualities in non-Jains and Jain sectarians. Yasovijaya, on the other hand, is more open to the positive qualities of non-Jains, no doubt as befits an individual who himself attempted in practical terms to smooth over sectarian differences within the Svetambara community. Yet in his inclusivism Yasovijaya never abandons a sense of the superiority of Jainism and can thus be seen to be applying the same sort of ranking perspective as found in Hinduism. It is Yasovijaya's image of Jainisin which has become the dominant one today," A full treatment of this subject will appear in my forthcoming study, Sudharman's Heirs: History, Scripture and Controversy in a Medicval Jain Sect. Jain Education International For Private & Perspoal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org