________________
The Logical Background of Jaina Philosophy
speculation and its problems more intangible and elusive than those of science, its progress must be less spectacular. But the path of progress seems to me to lie in understanding to evaluate the different lines of approach that have been made by our predecessors. Inspired by this faith and personal conviction that the Jaina's contribution in this regard should be studied afresh and made known to the modern world, I propose to give a survey of the fundamental ground of Jaina philosophy. I do not attempt anything like a complete study of Jaina metaphysics in this volume. The present venture will serve to prepare the ground for detailed study of Jaina thought with all its problems and doctrines. That must be postponed for the present. Meanwhile I wish that the evaluation of the foundational problems of Jaina philosophy, that is attempted in this work, should reach the thinkers of the present day. The discussion of categories, however, in Jaina philosophy has not so much originality or freshness of approach, as the enunciation of the Law of Sevenfold Predication called the saptabhanginaya possesses. The Jaina's stand against scepticism and abstract speculation and his demand for incorporating all the possible angles of vision into a synthetic approach to reality have not outlived the necessity that called Jaina philosophy into existence. The problems of thought are evergreen, though fashionable terminology that crops up from time to time may serve to camouflage the old problems and give them the appearance of novelty. The Jaina is a realist out and out. The world has got much to think that Indians produced idealistic systems, which for their majesty and perfect technique and bold conclusions cannot but attract attention and admiration. Vedanta seems to be the perfect philosophy from the idealistic standpoint, and Jaina philosophy, being the complete antithesis of Vedānta, should be entitled to equally extensive study. What is presented here is only a fragment. In it we may succeed to lay the foundation, but the superstructure with all its glories and drawbacks is to be raised upon it in future. This much may be claimed for Jaina speculations that however much there may be room for difference of opinion in regard to the evaluation of particular problems, the value of the sevenfold dialectic as an instrument cannot be overestimated. The idealist undoubtedly will refuse to
Jain Education International
21
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
