Outlines of Jainism

Author(s): S Gopalan
Publisher: Wiley Eastern Private Limited New Delhi

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JAINISM
exclude the false from the true results in the absence of determination. Speculation, on the other hand, represents the mind's successful attempt, through cogent reasoning and methodical analysis, to distinguish clearly between the true and the false."
Apaya: This is the stage when the 'alternatives' have been examined and one of them is affirmed, by denying the others. It is hence referred to as the stage of determinate cognition. The existent qualities are affirmed and the non-existent ones are excluded. In the example cited previously, the stage of iha characterizes the mind's trying to identify the source of the sound. This involved an analysis of the various possibilities. The sound might have emanated from a conch or a bell, etc. Whereas sweetness characterizes the sound emanating from a conch, harshness is the distinctive quality of the sound produced when a bell is rung. From the presence of one of these qualities in the sound speculated about, the source is precisely determined.
Logically the stage of apaya is described as incorporating a perceptual judgment. The perceptual judgment in the example takes the form: "This must be the sound of a conch." The Sarvärthasiddhi defines apaya as "cognition of the true nature on account of the cognition of the particular characteristics.""
A slightly different opinion is held by some Jaina philosophers who maintain that the stage of apaya signifies only an elimination of the non-existent characteristics and that positive affirmation of the existent qualities takes place only in the next stage, the dharana stage. This view is criticised by the rival school as absurd. The basis of the criticism is that in the very process of denying certain qualities, certain other qualities are affirmed. The view insisting that affirmation of positive qualities belongs to the stage of apaya seems to be more logically consistent with the general theory of knowledge of the Jainas, that when the obstructive elements are removed, knowledge automatically dawns.
Dharana: The evolution of perceptual knowledge is completed in this stage. The perceptual judgment arrived at in the third stage is to be retained if it is at all to become perception proper. The fact of retention of the judgment is the distinctive feature of dhāraṇa.
6 See Viseṣāvasyaka-bhāṣya, 183-184
7 Sarvärthasiddhi, I. 15