Jain Journal 2007 10

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

Page 12

Satya Ranjan Banerjee:Contributionsofthe Jainstothe Vaiseṣika Philosophy
It is to be noted in a prima facie evidence that the main purpose of describing the philosophy of other schools of thought is to record the views of other schools and thereby to establish their own by criticising the views of others. While criticising the views of others, the Jains have incidentally expressed the other aspects of philosophy related to the path of salvation. In order to demonstrate how the Jains have preserved the views of other philosophies, I am recording here only the Jaina views of Vaiseṣika philosophy as embalmed and treasured up in the Yasastilaka of Somadeva Sūri. As in other treatises mentioned above, the Vaiseṣika school is described in a straigntforward way, I am relating the views of Somadeva who has recorded some special features which are not recorded by others. My study on this point is based on K.K. Handiqui's Yasastilaka and Indian Culture.
The Vaiseṣika doctrine as preserved by Somadeva in the sixth chapter of his Yasastilaka is mainly related to salvation (mokṣa). Somadeva has recorded these views of Vaiseṣika philosophy as were current in his time.
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Somadeva mentions two classes of Vaiseșika thinkers: Saiddhanta and Tarkika. The main diference between the two schools is that the Saiddhantas were the Saivas, laid stress on the worship of Śiva and faith in Him, while the Tarkikas represented the orthodox school with emphasis on knowledge. The Saiddhantas think that salvation (mokşa) is practically the outcome of faith manifested in initiation into the cult revealed by the omniscient Śiva in his two aspects, corporeal and incorporeal.
sakala-niṣkalāpta-prāpta-mantra-tantrāpekṣa-dīkṣā-lakṣanāc chraddha-mātrānusaraṇān mokṣaḥ iti Saiddhānta-vaiseṣikāḥ."
This conception of the Vaisesikas was also current at the time of Haribhadra who in his Sad-darśana-samuccaya (verses 13, 59) also said in the 8th century A.D. that both the Vaiseṣikas and the Naiyayikas were the worshippers of Śiva. Gunaratna or Guṇākara
8. Handiqui, ibid, p. 184 f.