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Jaina Philosophy and Religion
of a thing existence and non-existence simultaneously. Hence a thing is certainly inexpressible from this standpoint. Here someone may raise a question: What to talk of two words expressive of two characters? Even one word expressive of a single character cannot be uttered at a time in one moment in one sweep. Take, for instance, the word 'existent'. The letters constituting it can never be uttered simultaneously. In that case, even existence alone or non-existence alone could not be predicated of a thing in one sweep. Thus, if it were impossible for us to predicate of a thing any one character, a thing would become absolutely inexpressible.
Just as it is accepted that a word 'existence' expresses existence in one sweep, even though its letters are uttered successively, so also it should be accepted that two words 'existence' and 'non-existence' can express their respective meanings, viz., existence and non-existence simultaneously, even though they are uttered one after another. The characteristic existence is predicated of a thing in one sweep, and the characteristic nonexistence is also predicated of a thing in one sweep. Similarly, both the characteristics existence and non-existence can also be predicated of a thing in one sweep. This being the case, how can a thing be inexpressible?
The existence of a thing is so unfathomable, so vast and so immense, and similarly its non-existence, since it is of the nature of exclusion from all other things, is so deep, so extensive and so great, that it is quite impossible for us to describe them as they are. And we can think in the same way in connection with other characters of a thing, viz., permanence, impermanence, generality, particularity, etc.
Apart from this, there are not as many words as are the characters of a thing. Again, all the characters can never be known by us. Even one who has gained the supreme knowledge cannot express in language all the characters which he knows. In this sense, a thing always remains inexpressible or indescribable. Let us think a little more about this point.
The characters of a thing are of two kinds—positive and negative. Positive characters are positive qualities or attributes. Negative characters are of the nature of absence of the characters of other things. A thing has infinite positive characters and infinite negative characters. So it is of the nature of infinite characters. When we describe a thing, we do so by stating some of its positive characters (I Mode), or by stating some of its negative characters (II Mode), or by stating some positive and some negative characters conjointly (III Mode). But in whatever manner we
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