Jain Shwetambar Conference Herald 1916 Book 12

Author(s): Mohanlal Dalichand Desai
Publisher: Jain Shwetambar Conference

Page 211

The Metaphysics and Ethics of the Jainas.
367
continuation, and destruction ( sad utpada-dhrauvya vinashayuktam ), and they call their theory the theory of indefiniteness ( anekantavada ), in contradistinction to the theory of permanency ( nityavada ) of the Vedantists, and to the the. ory of transitoriness (rinashavada) of the Buddhists. Their opinion comes to this. Existing things are permanent only as regards their substance, but their accidents or qualities origi. nate and perish. To explain; any material thing continues for ever to exist as matter; which matter, however, may assume any shape and quality. Thus lay as substance may be regarded as permanent, but the form of a jar of clay, or its colour,may come into existence an: erish.
The Jain theory of Being appears thus to be merely the statement of the common-sense view, and it would be hard to believe that great importance was attached to it. Still it is regarded as the metaphysical basis of their philosophy, Its significance comes out more clearly when we regard it in relation to the doctrines of Syadvada, and of the Nayas.
Syadvada is freque:ily used as a synonym of Jaina pravachana (e. g. at a later ate in the title of a well-known exposition of the Jain philiphy entitled Syaavada-Manjari ) and it is much boaster of as the saving truth leading cut of the ladyrinth of sophisms. The idea underlying the Syad. vada is briefly this. Since the nature of Being is intrinsically indefinite and made up of the contradictory attributes of originating, continuance, au perisbing, any proposition about an existing thing must, somehow, reflect the indefiniteness of Being, i. e. any metaphysical proposition is right from one point of view, and the contrary proposition is also right from another. There are, according to this doctrine, seven forms of metaphysical propositions, and all contain the word syat, e. g. syadasti sarvam, syad rusii sarvam. Syat means 'nay be', and is explained by kathamchil, which in this connexion may be translated 'somehow'. The word syat here qualifies the word asti, and indicates the indefiniteness of Being (or astitvam). For example, we say, 8 jar is somehow, i. e. it exists, if we mean