________________
( 174 )
The Buddha, who adopted these techniques in answering numerous metaphysical and ethical questions put to him by various disciples and disputants, himself claims to be a Vibhajjvadin.11 The Sutrakṛtanga of the Jainas requires the Jaina monk to explain a problem with the help of Vibhajjavada,1a It shows that the Jainas as well as the Buddhists followed the analytical method of explanation. It is possible that the earliest division of the above questions was divides into ekaṁsavyakaraniya-panha, and (2) anekaṁsavyākaraṇiya-pañha corresponding to the Jaina classification of two kinds of statements (ekamsika dhamma and anekamsika dhamma ). Leter, the latter class would have been sub-divided into the (i) vibhajja-vyakaraniya and the (ii) thapaiya. Patipucchā-vyākaraṇiya is a subclass of ribhanja-vyakaraniya,19
A point to be noted here is that the Buddha used the word anekamsa in his preachings, For instance, in reply to a question asked by Potthapada, the Buddha says "I have taught and laid down doctrines of which it is possible to make categorical assertions and I have taught and laid down doctrines of which it is not possible to make categorical assertions" ekaṁsikā pr......maya dhamma desila paññattal, anekamsikū p.....maya dhamma desita paññatta). Here arekani sika, like Vibhajjavada, is similar to Anekantavada of Jainas. The etymology and meaning are also similar. But the difference between these two theories is that the Jainism accepts all statements to possess some relative ( anekāntika) truth, while the Buddhism does not accept that all non-categorical statements (anekam sika) can be true or false from one standpoint or another. Anekantavada, unlike anekamsikavada, conceives of the possibility of knowing reality from one or more standpoints. Pandita Durvekamiśra, in the Hetubindutikaloka, summarized this concept as follows: Syacchabdo 'nekantavacano nityatosti tena syadvādo anekāntvado yadva syādakṣaṇikah syadkṣanika ilyadi......) 15 A developed form of this doctrine is referred to in a later Sanskrit Buddhist philosophical literature. As we have already seen, this theory continued develop still further up to the time of Kundakunda.
