Jain Journal 2004 01

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 15

140
JAIN JOURNAL : VOL-XXXVIII, NO. 3 JAN. 2004
sustenance, knowledge and vision, etc. They knew that due to the nature of their embodiment and bondage with karma the living beings were not able to see the Reality as such. Hence any study on a particular aspect of life will have its own reference points, given the limited grasping power of a living being. And from those reference points or points of view, their assertions may be true. But looking from a different angle, those assertions may be lapse or might be enriched. In brief, one cannot give a final answer to any problem. 34 Realisation of such a truth was a motivation factor for understanding the limited thoughts and actions of a living being, which further evokes sympathy, compassion, concern, etc. over all that survives under the cosmos.
Pluralism comes to the aid of Jaina belief and practice whenever internal contradictions needed to be resolved. For instance, the niscaya and vyavahāra points of view make distinction between the two levels of understanding and experiencing. Say, for instance, the code of conduct for achieving the end of life: Jaina ethics propounds and absolute way for the ascetic way of life and a practical way for the lay persons, as the latter are bound by family and social circumstances, responsibilities and obligations. Thus, there are pluralistic lifestructures, within which right action could be viewed from two different angles.
The same pluralistic theory comes to the aid of the Jains when they are to justify morally any action. The anekānta attitude takes into account the intention of the doer, the act proper, the effects of the act, and all the circumstances that enabled the person to act, besides
34. John E. Cort uses the term 'anekāntavāda' in a post modern perspective
allowing the po sibility of no single final answer. He points out the difference between the post modern usag and the traditional Jain usage of the term: the Jain insist on the possibility of a single true vision of the absolute truth perceived by the Jina in his all-knowing' infinite perception (anantadarsana) and infinite knowledge (anantajñāna). All Jains strive for this vision through right perception (samyagdarsana) and right knowledge (samyagjñāna). See John E. Cort (ed.): Open Boundaries --- Jain Communities and Cultures in Indian History, State University of New York Press, New York, 1998, Footnote 5 on p.14