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Jaina view of Life
The importance of this predication lies in the irrefutable statement of the non-existence of a thing in the other context. *Non-existence or non-bing is a determinate fact with a content and not a void'.
It would not be correct to say that one first and the second predications involve contradiction, because i) they are mutually complementary and ii) the two predications are not absolute assertions. The definition itself includes the clause 'avirodhena'. 17
It is very often contended that the contradictions, absolute existence and non-existence, are not objective facts, as no existence is known to have absolute existence and absolute nonexistence as its characteristics. The opposition is unreal and the predication of the unreal opposition is not necessary. But, as Prof. Mukerji points out, it cannot be denied that it is possible to conceive the existence and non-existence of a thing though not ontologically real. The predications are therefore logically necessary to rebut such a conception of absolute existence and absolute non-existence.28 The Vedāntist believes in the absolute existence of the one reality. The sūnyavadin does not believe in the existence of the absolute. The Jainas contend that the two may be predicated in different contexts. The first two predications are logically valid and psychologically necessary, as they serve to exclude absolute existence and absolute non-existence. The mention of the word syād functions as a necessary condition and works as a corrective against the absolute way of thought. We may here refer to the logical opposition of Hegel, who said that affirmation and negation are ultimately reconciled by a higher unity, for they are the aspects of the same reality. However, the reference would be limited to the dialectical process, because the Jaina is a realist and believes in the validity of empirical experience.
27. Padmarajiah (Y. J.): Jaina Theories of Reality and Knowledge,
p. 338. 28. Satkari Mukerji : Jaina Philosophy of Non-absolutism, Ch. VI.
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