New Dimensions in Jaina Logic

Author(s): Mahaprajna Acharya, Nathmal Tatia
Publisher: Today and Tommorrow Printers and Publishers

Page 55

Asions of Non-absolutism
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many etc. was gradually firmly established, and Jaina metaphysics developed with the growth of the logical thought.
There is, however, no reason to believe that these axioms of non-absolutism were not effective in the Agamic period. Nor is it a valid assumption that these axioms were discovered in the period of philosophical speculations. The difference, if any, lay in the spheres of the application of these axioms in those two periods. In the Agamic period, the principles were applied mainly in the field of ontology, while in the speculative age it was in demand for the synthesis of philosophical issues of all types.
5. The Concomitance of Being and Non-being
The following dialogue between Lord Mahavira and his disciple Gautama throws welcome light on the problem.
Gautama: O Lord! Does being change into being? Does nonbeing change into non-being?
Lord: Yes, Gautama! This is exactly so. Gautama: O Lord! Does this change of being into being and nonbeing into non-being take place owing to some effort or occur spontaneously? Lord: Gautama! It is effected by effort and also occurs spontaneously. Gautama: 0 Lord! Does your non-being change into non-being exactly in the same way as your being changes into being? Similarly does your being change into being exactly as your non-being changes into non-being? Lord: Yes, Gautama! That is exactly so."
The above dialogue clearly defines Lord Mahavira's assertion of the concomitance of being and non-being in the same entity as also their distinct causal identities.
Lord Mahävira rejected both the propositions viz. everything exists (sarvam asti) and nothing exists (sarvam nästi). He proposed a synthesis of the two. Both being and non-being are true. They are distinct, though predicable of the same entity. The distinctness of the two is unambiguously demonstrated in the following words of Gautama addressed to the upholders of heterodox doctrines. "We never, o beloved of gods! speak of being as non-being and nonbeing as being. We affirm being of the concept 'everything exists'