New Dimensions in Jaina Logic

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

Page 71

Doctrine of Navas 63
viewpoint is attempted, it falls in the category of pseudo-naya (durnaya) on account of its being absolutistic in character.
An absolutistic viewpoint that asserts its own validity independently of any other viewpoint gives rise to controversy whereas the relativistic viewpoint or a coordinated viewpoint gives rise to reconciliation or absence of controversy.
Even as gems strung together merge their individuality into a necklace, exactly so the different viewpoints embodying different experiences merge into the philosophy of non-absolutism, being held together on the string of relativism.!
The propounder of non-absolutism does not claim the validity or invalidity of a viewpoint but proclaims that a viewpoint independent of other viewpoints is false whereas a viewpoint dependent upon other viewpoints is true and genuine.
Niksepa or Classification of import of words
Niksepa stands for a special method of exposition of the import of words. A word expresses numerous modes and shades of its import. For the expression of such modes and shades the selfsame word is qualified by a number of adjuncts. For instance, the word 'indra' can be used as a name of a particular person (nāma-indra) or an image of the king of heaven (sthāpanā-indra) or person who once enjoyed the status of the king of heaven (dravyaindra) or a person actually enjoying the glory and magnificence of the king of heaven (bhāva-indra).
The method of niksepa was developed in the Agamic period itself. In the speculative period and also in the period of logical developments, the method continued to flourish. While rhetorics gives the method of determining the particular meaning of a multisensed word, it is only the commentaries on the Jaina āgamas, which give the method of determining the intended meaning of a unisensed word. This method is useful not only for the treatises on logic but the analytic approach of this method has a universal utility in that it is a valuable instrument for defining the intended meaning and purpose of any systematic treatise on any subject.
The gradual development of knowledge and practical behaviour including verbal expression takes place in the following