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right conduct, liberation remains unattainable. Thus all the three are needed for the attainment of emancipation.
RIGHT VIEW-POINT
In Jaina scriptures the word “Darśana' has been used in different senses and scholars of Jainism differ widely on its actual meaning. For some thinkers 'Darśana' is Prajna or intuition, as distinct from knowledge which is rational inference. Darśana is also construed as self realisation. In ancient Jaina scriptures the word Darśana has been used in the sense of philosophy, an outlook about the ultimate reality, the world and the self. This is called Ditthi or Drsti. In the Uttarādhyayana-Sūtra and Tattvārtha-Sūtra, Darśana has been used in the sense of faith or belief in Tattvas, i.e., metaphysical principles. In the later Jaina literature the word Darśana stands for devotion to the Tīrthankara (Deva), preceptors (Guru) and religion (Dharma). Thus in the Jaina tradition right view-point (Samyak-Darśana) has a wide connotation ranging from self realisation, intuition, vision, view-point, faith for metaphysical principles to devotion. Whether Samyak-Darsana is called right (unbiased) view-point or faith in metaphysical principles or devotion, theoretically it makes no difference.
The difference lies in the methods of its realisation. A scientist brings out a truth on the basis of his experiments but the common man gets the same truth by taking for granted the statements of that scientist in whose authority he has an unshaken faith. Indeed both of them know the truth; one has attained it through his own realisation, the other through his faith in the authority of the former. Even if devotion to the Tirthankaras is regarded as Samyak-Darśana, it is not the real Samyak-Darśana, for Samyak-Darśana is the devotion to our own pure self. Right view-point or right faith is a calm and undisturbed state of mind in which the pure self (Suddhātma) is realised. It is a
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Jainism and its History
