________________ Pancastikaya-samgraha from other substances. Every statement is made from a particular pointof-view (naya) that must be ascertained to understand the true meaning of the assertion. Some important tenets of Jaina epistemology are described here as aid to understanding the profound teachings contained in the Holy Scripture 'Pancastikaya-samgraha' by Acarya Kundakunda. Without understanding and appreciating these tenets, the reader is likely to get confounded and even misguided. 3771 chlaig 3iTT RIIGIC - anekantavada and syadvada A thing or object of knowledge has infinite characters (i.e., it is anekantatmaka); each character can be analyzed and grasped individually. Anekantavada, the doctrine of non-absolutism, is the basic understanding of the complexity of the reality and the necessity of looking at it from different points-of-view. Acarya Amrtacandra, in Purusarthasiddhyupaya, has termed the doctrine of non-absolutism - anekantavada - as the root of the Jaina Scripture. Without a clear understanding of this gem of Jainism, men of this world are like the blind men of the parable (of six blind men and the elephant); they insist on their partial knowledge being accepted as the whole truth: परमागमस्य बीजं निषिद्धजात्यन्धसिन्धुरविधानम्। Hahomarufamfuani farteneri 74HCR 11 (2) I bow to anekanta [(the doctrine of) manifold points-of-view - nonabsolutism), the root of unmatched Jaina Scripture, that reconciles the partial viewpoints of men, born blind, about the elephant, and which removes all contradictions about the nature of substances by apprehending the reality through multiplicity of viewpoints. Syaduada is the expression of anekantavada in logical and predicational form. Each individual character of the object-of-knowledge is called a naya. A naya thus reveals only a part of the totality, and should not be mistaken for the whole. A synthesis of different viewpoints is achieved by the doctrine of conditional predication - syadvada - wherein every viewpoint is able to retain its relative importance. Syadvada, which . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. XX
