________________
of the others. There will be no one distinguished amongst the dhammas if they condemn other's views"? Here I have mentioned only a few passages of Lord Buddha in support of religious tolerance. Those who want further details in this regard, I would suggest them to read the Culla-viyūha and Mahā-viyühasuttaş (i.e., chapter 50 and 51) of Suttanipāta, where these points are further elaborated.
Jainism believes in the theory of anekāntavāda which means that the views, the ideologies and the faiths of others should be respected. Mabāvira like Buddha mentions in Sūtrakstānga “Those who praise their own faiths and ideologies and blame that of their opponents and thus distort the truth, will remain confined to the cycle of births and death." It is further maintained that "all the nayas (view-points) are true in respect of what they have themselves to say, but they are false in so far as they refute totally other nayas (i.e., the view-points of the opponents). Those, who take different view-points (nayas) together and thus grasp all the aspects of a thing (fact or phenomena) have a right understanding, just as those who with eyes, are able to grasp an elephant as a whole and not like the blindmen, who take one particular part of an elephant as a whole elephant." It is this broader outlook which can establish harmony among the apparantly conflicting views of various religions.
This broader outlook for religious tolerence is maintained in Buddhism till the period of Asoka, because we find so many evidences about religious tolerence and religious co-existence from the inscriptions of Asoka, But I do not know, whether this outlook of religious tolerence and harmony was further maintained or not by Buddhism in India. I request the scholars of Buddhism to enlighten us in this regard. Though it is true that Buddhism have shown this broader outlook every where outside India and remained there co-existing with the earlier religions of those countries,
7 sakam hi dhammam paripunna mahu annassa dhammassa panahinamahu
evam pi viggataha vivadi yanti sakam sakam sammuti mahu saccam parassa ce vambhayitena hino na koci dhamme su visesi assa puthu hi annassa vadanti dhammam nihinato samhi da vraham badana
-Suttanipat a, 51/10-11(904-905) 8 sayam sayam pasamsamta garahamta param vayam je u tattha viusamti samsare te viussiya
- Sutrakrtanga, 1/1/2/23 9 See Samanasuttam, 728, 730 and 731.
132/ JAINTHOLOGY
