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CHAPTER XI
349
advance upon the naïvete of the latter in so far as it is distinctly aware of the inexpressibility of the ultimate. In order to distinguish this logically sophisticated phase from the simple negative tendency of the Rgveda we may call this the stage of avaktavya, or anirvacanīyatā, after the Vedāntic usage. Not merely the modes (koțis) of sat and asat but also the mode of sadasat are associated with anirvacanīyatā. Although anirvacanīyatā signifies unutterableness like the Jaina notion of avaktavyatva it differs from the latter by insisting upon absolute (sarvathā) unutterableness. The :specific term by which the Jaina refers to this absolute type of avaktavyatva is avyapadeśya which is in contrast with his own relativistic notion according to which sat and asat are jointly or consecutively (kramārpanayā) expressible (kathañcidvyapadesya). Incidentally, one is reminded, here, of the fact that the Buddha's 'avyākṣtas' and Nāgārjuna's conception of the ultimate as being, 'catuṣkoțivinirmukta'! are, after making allowance for the respective differences in the metaphysical tenets and, consequently, in the modes
1
The paradoxical situation involved in the absolute unuttera. bleness (anabhilapyatva) of the position of catuṣkotivinirmuktatvam comes in for a sharp polemic by Samantabhadra and his two commentators, Vasunandi and Akalanka. Sāmantabhadra contends that a strict insistence on the principle of "anabhilapyatvam'should prevent its advocates from indulging in the description of what cannot, ex hypothesi, be described (avaktavyacatuṣkoțivikalpopi na kathyatām/ AMS, kā. 46). Consequently, referring to the distinctions (kotis) like sat, asat, in relation to the indescribable' (or possibly the Void or Śūnya) is like introducing an adjective or a qualification where there is no substantive or the qualified (asarväntamavastu syāt aviseşyavišeşaņam/ Ibid). For the entire argument, see ibid., kārikās 45-50 and the comms, VVas and ASA thereon.
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