________________
JAIN JOURNAL : VOL-XLII. NO.2 OCTOBER 2007
great philosophical dispute will be unearthed. However, in this seminar before this learned assembly, I would like to focus that sort of philosophy which will stimulate the philosophers at large.
In mediaeval India, particularly from the eighth century A.D. onwards, it should be noted that there were lots of non-Jain schools of thoughts which were current at the time and which were so forceful that the Jains had to comment on their genuineness or voidness of these philosophical doctrines. A brief survey of those Jain philosophers who have treasured up the views of non-Jain philosophies is given bellow.
The first scholar who made a note on the non-Jain systems of thought is Haribhadra Sūri (705-775 A.D.). In the 8th century A.D. in his Șad-darsana-samuccaya, as the name implies, he had a summary of the six philosophical systems. He says
Bauddham Naivāyikam Samkhyam Jainam Vaiseșikam tathā! Jaiminiyam ca nāmāni darsanānām amūnyaho 1/3//
i.e. the six systems of philosophy, he has dealt with, are Bauddha, Nyāya, Sāṁkhya (also called Kalipa), Jaina, Vaišeșika and Jaimnini. In a short appendix he has also discussed the materialism of Cārvāka (verses 80-87). In one short section, i.e. the fourth (verses 45-58), he has discussed the views of Jaina metaphysics.
Haribhadra Sūri in eight verses (60-67) has described the philosophy of Vaiseșika system. He describes the six tattvas (principles) of the Vaiseșika philosophy. He mentions the six principles thus :
dravyam gunas tathā karma sāmānyam ca caturthakam / višeșa-samavāvāu ca tattva-șațkam hi tanmate 1/601/
Then he goes on describing each principle step by step. For example, dravja is of nine kinds, guma (quality) is of 24 kinds, karmas are five, sāmānya is of two kinds, and so on (61-66). Then he talks about pramāņa (proof) which is of two kinds-laingika and pratvakșa (67). In fact, the description of Vaiseșika philosophy, as given by Haribhadra Sūri, is simple and straightforward, and nothing could be
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
