________________
268
The Jaina Philosophy of Non-Absolutism
It must be remembered that the Jaina cannot be a party to the advocacy of a universal, existence not excluded, which is purely a unity. The Jaina does not believe in an unchanging principle. Existence as a characteristic of all entities is related to the latter by way of identity-cum-difference. And in so far as it is identical with the individuals, it is different in each case. But difference does not annul its unity as it is equally felt along with the former. The law of concomitance of opposites also involves that unity and plurality must coincide somehow. The charge of contradiction is simply dismissed by the Jaina as a creation of abstract logic. Thus the Jaina conception of universal is bound to differ from the Naiyāyika's conception. The universal is regarded by the Jaina as also dynamic. But the dyna
ot make away with its unity in spite of variation of the media. The Jaina can only affirm that the universal is not an unchanging unity existing as uniform and unaffected by the plurality of its substrates. What is asserted of existence equally holds good of the minor universal, e.g., substance-universal etc. They too are dynamic and related by way of identity-cum-difference with their substrates. Thus these universals are not impartite principles bereft of intrinsic plurality. So the common universal is also uncommon, singular as well as plural, identical as well as different.1
It will be a perversion of the fundamental Jaina position as well as of the plain deliverance of experience to declare that difference is incompatible with unity. Difference as a quality cannot at any rate be different from the substance to which it belongs, otherwise the relation of quality and substance will not hold between them. As has been explained in Chapter VII, relation presupposes that there must be a point in which the terms are identical. So difference and identity, separation and unification, are bound to go on pari passu.
1. sattaikā yugapad anekatra vartata ity apy asidhham, tadanantaparyayatvasādhanāt svaparyāyebhyo 'tyantabhedāsiddheś ca dravyatvādisāmănyam api naikam anaṁśam anekasvavyaktivștti. .,tasyåpi svāśrayātmakatayā kathancit sämśatvānekatvapratiteh. AS, p. 164.
2. pệthaktvaikantapakşe 'pi pệthaktväd apệthag hi tau – op. cit., v. XXVIII.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
