Facets of Jain Philosophy Religion and Culture

Author(s): Shreechand Rampuriya, Ashwini Kumar, T M Dak, Anil Dutt Mishra
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

Page 26

The Axioms of Non-absolutism
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speakable and the unspeakable. A substance is possessed of an infinite number of attributes. It is, however, not possible to express in language those infinite number of attributes taking place every moment. Besides, our span of life and also the range of language have their own limitations. A substance is unspeakable on account of this infinitude of the aspects of a thing. Only one attribute can at best be spoken of in one moment and many in many moments, but never all during any stretch of time. A thing is thus speakable with reference to only a limited number of its auributes.
The Wide Range of Non-absolutism The above four axioms are the foundations of non-absolutism. In the speculative period of Jaina philosophy this tetrad of axioms was fully exploited in the solution of logical problems. The growth and development of the epistemological apparatus also did not detract from the importance of these basic axioms. It was always appreciated that the epistemological apparatus itself needed the service of non-absolutism for its own systematic development. Non-absolutism, in fact, was a most comprehensive principle that determined the nature of Jaina thought in all its branches, social, ethical, psychological, ontological, metaphysical and the like. It was Acārya Siddhasena with whom the application of non-absolutism to the various branches of Jaina thought started. After dealing with the nature of varieties of the valid sources of knowledge, Siddhasena added, at the end of his Nyāyāvatära, an investigation into the nature of non-absolutism signifying its unavoidability in every such treatise. Akalanka,
nanda, Haribhadra, Mānikyanandi, Vādideva, Hemacandra and others also discussed the problem of valid knowledge in the light of non-absolutism. The principle of non-absolutism was not in the least adversely affected with the development of the science of logic and epistemology, but its importance was rather enhanced as a criterion of the investigation of the nature of logico-epistemological tools. And as a result the concomitance of being and non-being, one and many etc. was gradually firmly established, and Jaina metaphysics developed with the growth of the logical thought.
There is, however, no reason to believe that these axioms of 10. Višesävaśyakabhāşya, gathā 450 (svopajñavrtti.).
ukkosayasutanāņi vi jāņamāṇo vi te' bhilappe vi/ na tarati savve vottum na pahuppati jena kalo sell ---iha tänutkrstaśruto jānāno' bhiläpyānapi sarvän (na) bhāşate, anantatvāt, parimitatvāccäyusah, kramavartinītvād vāca iti.