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TULSI-PRAJNA, Jan.-March, 1992 beat them mercilessly. He can tie an animal, but not too tightly. A saint should observe the five great vows fully and wi transgression.
In Jaina thinking, asatya (falsehood) consists in speaking an untruth, which gives pain to living beings through bodily and mental action provoked by passion.34 Asteya in Jainism means ap utterance (concerning the nature of reality), which leads to violence. To balance this we may say that satya (truth) in Jainism means an utterance (concerning reality), which results in ahimsā. This definition creates many problems. Is a non-violent utterance considered to be truthful, even if it is not consistent with facts or bare facts, to be interpreted according to the violent apd non-violent effects they seem to have? Is a beneficial effect a criterion of truth to the Jainas ?
The Acārāngā sūtra explains that if a mendicant in the right leaves the door open and a thief enters, the mendicant should not tell the truth to the householder. He should not say that the thief enters or does not enter, that he hides himself or does not hide himself.81 According to this authoritative sutra, we ought not to utter anything which can lead to the destruction of life.
Consequently, the Jainas discarded the theory of absolutism. According to the Jaina epistemology, all objects of knowledge are manifold or multiform (anekānta). All things possess infinite qualities and infinite relations. From this it follows that valid knowledge (Pramāna) is a knowledge of multiform objects, each part, aspect and quality can be known, and this partial knowledge is called naya. Nayas are relative truth.32 Hence absolute judgements are not possible in the anekanta philosophy of the Jainas. All judgements are relative, all objects being multiform.35 The Jaina logic has, therefore, developed a sevenfold formula called syādvāda or the Doctrine of Relativity of Judgement. The word 'syāt' (perhaps or may be) is added before every judgement.34
This philosophy shows how the Jainas accepting non-violence as a test of truth are forced to draw further epistemological conclu. sions. The doctrine of anekānta, naya, and syādvāda are based on the belief that non-violence has higher volue than truth. The Jain conception of truth has an instrumental value, and is component of ahinisā.
We often come across assertions that non-violence means not doing something (violence) and other which effirms that non-vio
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