Jaina Philosophy

Author(s): Virchand R Gandhi, Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: World Jain Confederation

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The Jaina Philosophy
thing there is being (of itself) and non-being (of other things), which means that a thing can be fully known only by knowing what it is and what it is not. Sankara, in fact, creates a man of straw, imputes to him certain imaginary doctrines, and by refuting them he knocks him down. That is his glory.
Let us now see what the Jainas have to say about the Vedic systems of philosophy. Gunaratna Suri, the commentator of a Jaina work on "Comparative Philosophy," says:
“Although the various schools of philosophy, through sectarian bigotry, differ from and contradict one another, still there are certain aspects of truth in them which would harmonize if they were joined [into an organic whole]. For instance, the Buddhists advocate momentarinesa of things; the Sankhyas maintain eternality Naiyyayikas and Vaiseshikas believe in independent eternalities and non-eteranalities, being and nonbeing, community and difference, and eternality of the Word. The Mimansakas affirm eternality and non-eternality, separateness and identity, being and non-being, community and difference, and the eternality of the Word. Some postulate either Time, Nature, Necessity, Karma, or Purusha as the origin of the Universe; and the Monists, who advocate the doctrine of Word-Brahma-Gnosis, believe in their identity. The different aspects of truth accepted by these sectarians, when related to one another, all together become one grand truth; but, if they do not join hands, they contradict one another, and in so doing they are changed into the flower of the sky' (which is not a real thing, but an illusion of the mind].”
The Jaina philosophy teaches that the universe - the totality of realities - is infinite in space and eternal in time; but the same universe, considered from the stand-point of the manifestations of the different realities, is finite in space and non-eternal in time. Particular parts of the universe have their cyclic laws corresponding to the laws of evolution and involution. At certain
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