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254 Harmless Souls
7.3 Two 'two truths' doctrines
As we have seen, at least two conflicting patterns of application can be outlined for the 'two truths' distinction in the Samayasāra. According to one of these (I shall call it 'pattern one') the vyavahāra-naya is that viewpoint which considers entities in general, and the jīva in particular, from the perspective of modes (paryāya). The niscaya-naya, on the other hand, is that viewpoint which considers entities from the perspective of pure unified substance (dravya). According to orthodox Jaina doctrine, a substance is that which has qualities and modes .(gunaparyāyavad dravyam).43 The substance is the substratum for the qualities, and the qualities undergo modifications (pariņāma) through acquiring new and losing old modes. 44 P.S. Jaini explains :
Thus, any existent must be seen on three levels: the modes, which last only a moment and belong to the qualities; the qualities, which undergo changes and yet inhere forever in their substances; and the substance, which remains the abiding common ground of support for the qualities and their modes. 45
Any complete description of an entity's nature needs, therefore, to encompass all three levels, and this is what the anekāntvāda purports to do, although at any particular moment 'an ordinary (non-omniscient) person' can only 'be aware of the persistent unity (ekatva) of the substance or the transient multiplicity (anekatva) of its modes'. 46 Thus, from the vyavahāra view, the soul acts and experiences the fruits of action, whereas, from the niscaya view, it neither acts nor experiences fruits; yet neither statement contradicts
43 Tattvārtha Sūtra 5:38. 44 JPP p. 90. 45 Ibid. 46 Ibid.
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