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five types of knowledge and dwells at some length on the subject of Jaina canonical literature, which is an ocean of traditional spiritual wisdom.
Jaina View On Knowledge -
We have already seen that amongst the knowledge and conduct the emphasis is on knowledge. Although it would not be correct to view any of the three ingredients of the practices to attain liberation as more or less than the others but practically speaking we can feel that knowledge takes precedence over the conduct as without the right-knowledge the conduct can never be right. What Is Knowledge?
All living beings have one thing in common and that is consciousness. Through the awareness wrought by consciousness comes about the knowledge about the other living beings and the non-living things. Thus, knowledge is not something that comes from outside but it is that, which comes about from the inherent consciousness of the living-beings. Knowledge can, thus, be called an innate quality of the living-beings. Because through such knowledge one comes to know about the self as well as the others, it is said to be both – the self-illuminating as well as the other-illuminating. Here, it is worthy of note that all living beings, even the finest and inconsequential creatures like the Nigoda are endowed with knowledge, only its manifestation is very subdued. What Is Right-knowledge?
Now, we can deal with the question, “What is rightknowledge?' It's simplest definition is that the knowledge that makes us distinguish between the beneficial and the harmful is the ‘right-knowledge'. On the contrary, the knowledge that does not so enable us is ‘ignorance' and the knowledge that makes
SAMYAGJÑĀNA (THE RIGHT-KNOWLEDGE) : 139
