YJA Convention 1996 07 San Francisco CA Second

Author(s): Young Jains of America (YJA)
Publisher: Young Jains of America YJA USA

Page 25

Let's start with nayavada. A naya is a viewpoint. Some writers have said that fundamentally there are 2 nayas, substance exists and modification exists. Substance exists is the viewpoint concerned with permanence, of being. Modification exists is the viewpoint concerned with change, origin, decay and stability. Some of the Hindu systems of philosophy are said to emphasize the being, or substance exists standpoint, while the Buddhist emphasis in on becoming, the modification exists standpoint. In the Jain views of syadvada and nayavada, the importance is on clarifying what standpoint is taken, with full knowledge and expression of the context in which the statement is true.
There are seven viewpoints that compose nayavada, and are broadly classified under the two main headings of substance exists or modification exists. Substance exists subsumes the viewpoints of naigama, samgrahanaya and by some accounts, vyavara. Modification exists subsumes the viewpoints of rjusubranaya, evambhutanaya, samabhirudha, and sabdanaya. There are a variety of definitions of these seven nayas in Jain literature. What follows is based on my sources.
The "substance exists” viewpoints:
Naigama is a figurative standpoint taking into account the purpose or intention of something which has yet to be accomplished or completed. It is a commonsense, concrete way of looking at an object and does not distinguish general and particular properties of the object. E.g. If someone on the phone asks you what you are doing, and you reply anything other than "talking to you". A college student might refer to a project she is working on. An apprentice in practice may talk about his current rotation. It is not exactly what the person is doing at the time, but an overall goal of the person's efforts.
Samgrahanaya is the viewpoint that takes primary account of the generic properties of the object. It refers to the common attributes of a class of objects. For example, dravya as a definition includes 6 classes of substances. It does not distinguish each object in the group. An example is the philosophy of eternalism.
Vyavara is a viewpoint that in one source is part of the modification exists group of viewpoints. In a few other sources it is defined with the substance exists group. It regards an object in terms of one's practical experience, in terms of "false particulars". What comes to mind in my particular field of work is a physician describing one case in which something went wrong, or worked well, and generalizing that experience to advise on what should be done for all patients, "anecdotal experience that is given the validity of statistically significant studies. This term vyavara is also used with another viewpoint called niscaya which is not part of this seven-fold nayavada. I will discuss it
later.
Now the "modification exists" viewpoints:
Sabdanaya is a verbal viewpoint, translated as the standpoint of synonyms and their significance. It is concerned with the relationship of word to object in general. If there
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