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Epistemology of Jainas
Though sammā.ditthi (right attitude) plays important part in Buddhism also, it is not the sole criterian of distinction between vidyā and avidyā.
Further, it should be observed that avidyā, according to Buddhism, is not a foreign matter that obscures the natural light of the self as it is according to the Jaina and Vedānta. According to Buddhism avidyā also is a natural state of the mind, i. e. self. It is a flow of psychical activities directed towards the so-called impious deeds (akusala). The same flow becomes vidyā when the direction is changed. So, vidyā does not rise as the destruction or disappearance of avidyā but the latter turns into vidyā. The distinction of purity and impurity also is merely discursive, based on social convictions.
According to the Vedānta jñāna and ajñāna are diametrically opposite to each other. One is intelligent, the other is nonintelligent. One is light, the other is darkness. One is internal, the other is changeable. One is beyond time and space, the other is within those limits. One is without any positive quality, the other is the cause of all conceptual thoughts. One is eternal, the other is external. According to Buddhism avidyā was a particular direction of the self. According to the Vedānta it is an obscurance of the natural state of Brahman. One is noumenal, the other is phenomenal. The Vedānta attributes ajñāna with two functions. It obscures the knowledge of reality and it projects a non-real matter for imposition. The latter function can be compared with mithyā drsti of the Jainas. But, the Jaina being a realist does not believe in phenomenal projection. He holds misconceptions in its place. The function of obscurance is comparable with jñānāvarana of the Jainas, to which we shall come shortly.
Vijñāna Bhiksu and Patañjali2 also interpret avidyā as the knowledge opposite to vidyā.
The Sarikhyasūtra maintains jñāna as the cause of salvation 1. Yogasūtra II. 3-4
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