Indologica Taurinensia

Author(s): Colette Caillat, Siegfried Lienhard, Irma Piovano, Saverio Sani
Publisher: Comitato AIT

Page 37

On the Relationship of the Nyāyâvatāra and the Sammati-tarka-prakarāņa
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considered the most perfect and full representation of the complexity of the world. For this very reason, extrasensory cognition of kevalajñana (NA 27), being the paramount representation of anekānta, is followed almost immediately by its mundane equivalent, viz. the naya-vāda (NA 29), that also proves anekānta, albeit in an imperfect manner.
The soteriological dimension of kevala was equally important. Absolute cognition served as a necessary link to prove that liberation is possible, and was used in the so-called “purification argument'. The full argument boils down to the following: 'You can purify yourself completely, because there is a method. Since your nature is consciousness, when you become absolutely pure, you are by nature endowed with absolute knowledge.' This kind of popular proof was possible only within Jaina ontology thanks to two crucial elements: (1) peculiar understanding of the soul's nature as intrinsically pure and omniscient and (2) the idea of karman as subtle matter, or dirt, that obstructs innate capacities of the soul. In Jainism ātman was conceived of as both the cognitive subject and cognitive instrument %.
yatra pratibhāti, tad eva tad-gocaratayâbhyupagantavyam; tad - yathā nirādinavanayana-prabhava-darśane pratibhāsamānam pātalatayā japā-kusumam tathaiva tadgocaratayâbhyupagamyate; parasparâvibhaktâneka-svabhāvākrânta-mārtikam ca bahir antaś ca vastu sarva-pramānesu prathata ity; atas tad eva teşām gocarah. - '[1. The thesis:) in this world, whatever is a cognitive criterion, it (also) grasps the real thing that is accompanied by multiple properties not detached from each other; (2. the logical reason:) because this (multiplex object] alone is represented in that (cognitive criterion); [3. the invariable concomitance accompanied by the example:) in this world, (if an object] x occurs in a cognitive criterion (cognition)] y, this (object) x alone should be accepted as the domain of this (cognitive criterion (cognition)] y; thus, [for instance]: just the way a (scarlet] China rose flower is being represented as roseate in perception having its origin in flawless eyesight, exactly as such (sc. as a roseate object) it is accepted as the domain of that (cognitive criterion]; [4. the application:) and (similarly, the real thing, both external and internal, endowed with a form that is under the sway, of multiplex essential natures not separate from each other, unfolds itself in all cognitive criteria; (5. the conclusion:] hence, this (multiplex object] alone is the domain of those (all cognitive criteria).' (3) NAV 29.9: tasmāt tasyaiva tatra pratibhāsanāt "sarva-samvidām anekântâtmakam vastu gocara" iti sthitam. - 'Hence, it is established that the real thing, whose essence is multiplex, [forms] the domain of all acts of awareness, because this (multiplex object] alone is represented in that (cognitive criterion).'
96. In its elaborate form it runs in two stages. The first stage has the form: 'The cognitive subject is such whose complete purification is possible, because the means