________________
xxvi
INTRODUCTION
and Mahāvīra. I have indicated that the later growth of Jaina philosophical thought in the fields of logic, epistemology, ethics and religion has been dominated and influenced by the peculiar philosophical outlook and attitude of Mahāvīra. Later writers, in their elaboration of the fundamental problems, have given evidence of their original thinking no doubt. But they have not made a departure from the fundamental tenets which gave Jaina thought their stamp of individuality.
I have shown how Mahāvīra's attitude towards experience, sensuous and supersensuous, which provides a sharp contrast with that of the Buddha, has been the prime source of Jaina epistemology which has been dealt with in the second chapter of this work. I have tried to be scrupulously faithful to the celebrated exponents of Jaina thought, and though my treatment is mainly historical in character I have not hesitated to give a critical evaluation on points whereupon the tional doctors delivered conflicting and divergent views. A study of this chapter will, I hope, throw welcome light on the peculiar epistemology of perception of the Jaina school and will provide a student of the standard works of Jaina logic and epistemology with the necessary background to understand the tangled problem in a clear perspective.
In the third chapter I have dealt with the supreme problem of avidyā in the different schools of Indian thought and have shown how the Jaina conception of avidyā radically differs from that of other schools. I do not know of any systematic and comparative study of this fundamental problem by a predecessor. I have endeavoured my best to be thorough in my treatment and have shown with reference to the original data how the approach to the problem has deeply influenced the philosophical outlook and conclusions of the different schools. I may not be accused of vanity if I modestly claim originality for my treatment of avidyā in Yoga, Sānkhya, Nyāya, Vaišeșika and Saiva schools. As regards the Buddhistic and the Vedāntic conceptions of avidyā I have given a dispassionate and faithful exposition of the treatment accorded to it by the original exponents without the slightest leaning to weaken their position. I have given as faithful and powerful an exposition of the views of the philosophers as could be expected from an orthodox adherent of these systems, I have shown how the Jaina philosophers have squarely and boldly faced the sledge-hammer blows of the idealistic philosophers and have given their own realistic interpretation of the data from which the idealistic conclusion was deduced. The Vedāntic conception of avidyā has been expounded by modern exponents more or less elaborately. But the Jaina criticism
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
