________________
The Jaina Philosophy of Non-Absolutism
simple co-incidence. It is argued that the universal is different from the individual and the identity of the universal is only a case of its coincidence with the specific character of the individual in the same substratum. The criterion of difference is the distinction of the locus of the incidence of attributes. The very fact that the universal has no locus independent of the individuals shows that the universal is not distinct from the individual. This explanation of unity as the absence of separation does not seem to be materially different from the concept of inherence as propounded by the Nyaya-Vaiseṣika school. If the sameness of substratum does not connote the sameness of being in some respect, the unity will be only a question of juxtaposition. The Naiyayika asserts that though numerically different, the universal and the particularity can co-exist without losing their specific character. The coincidence does not argue that they are identified with one another in some indefinable manner. The Jaina position also, so far as it is represented by Yaśovijaya, does not appear to be different from the Vaiseṣika standpoint. Yasovijaya explicitly states that though difference is to be understood as numerical difference, absence of difference is nothing but the absence of separate substratum.1 Inherence, as conceived by the Vaiseṣika, has been sought to be replaced by identity in difference. But the substitution would mean only a verbal change and a difference of nomenclature, if identity were to be understood as the sameness of substratum. The difference of the Jaina position, so far as the relation of inherence is concerned, would thus turn out to be only a show and a pretence. If however the sameness of substratum and the necessity of coincidence were regarded as symptomatic of real identity, the Jaina conception of identity in difference as the necessary character of relation would make a material difference. But unfortunately this point has been slurred over by the later Jaina writers without realizing the consequences which are fatal to the fundamental position of non-absolutism.
276
1. so 'py abhedaḥ, pravibhaktapradeśatvarūpa-bhedabhävarūpatvättatha ca jātau vyakter anyatvarūpo bhedo 'nanyadeśatvarūpo 'bhedaś ce 'ty ubhayam apy aviruddham - NKK. p. 272.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
