Book Title: Jainism by Vividus
Author(s): Ramnik V Shah
Publisher: Ramnik V Shah Canada

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Page 109
________________ In arriving at this conclusion he presents the case of "Jainism" as: "An important point in the external history of Indian philo. sophy, which still remains unexplained to a great extent, is the relationship between the various systems and schools. This may be due in part to the tradition of the texts, the insufficiency of which does not allow us to see more clearly. Nevertheless, it is striking how often important ideas and even whole systems are not being noticed beyond the limits of their own schools. "The discussion moves farther in the opponent's field if the topic is one of the fundamental theories of the other system. Of such kind are in the discussion with the Buddhists, for instance, the argument about the existence of a soul, or with the Nyaya the problem of the existence of a supreme god. Very seldom the heterogeneous system is considered in its totality and if it happens, the rendering of this system of thought is almost not to be found and it is the most important and profound philosophical ideas particularly which remain unregarded in these polemics. "The same can be said with regard to doxographic works. A glance into the well-known 'Sarvadarshanasamgraha' of Shayana Madhava sufficiently proves this. It is natural that he deals scantily with the old Buddhist systems which at his time had lost their importance long ago. But from his book one does not get an idea of the philosophical importance of an Utpaladeva or even Ramanuja either. Generally we can state that many of the most important philosophers of ancient India would be completely unknown or only very inadequately known if we merely knew them through the records of other schools and systems. "This holds good in a high degree in the case of Jainism.' During the whole period of Indian philosophy, 'Jainism' has not been attended to very much by the other systems. Whatever the causes for this neglect might have been-the history of "Jainism" during this time is still a potential object of thorough research-the facts are that schools like the Nyaya or the 109

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