Early Asceticism in India:Ajivikism and Jainism (Routledge Advances in Jaina Studies) by Balcerowicz Piotr

Author:Balcerowicz, Piotr [Balcerowicz, Piotr]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781317538523
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2015-09-15T18:15:00+00:00

In addition, of note is the following; in question–reply 2,363 we clearly have a pattern of the four canonical standpoints (nikṣepa, nyāsa): davvato (Skt. dravyataḥ), khettao (Skt. kṣetrataḥ), kālao (Skt. kālataḥ) and bhāvao (Skt. bhāvataḥ), well attested in the Jaina canon.364 Whether this precise enumeration of the four standpoints was the original formulation or not and whether it was there from the very outset is difficult to judge; it is not impossible that exactly such a fourfold classification could have been a slightly later interpolation influenced by the classical canonical expositions of the standpoints (nikṣepa). Nevertheless, the passage demonstrates that this kind of exposition of analysing a subject matter from various angles or standpoints, whether four or less or more, could constitute quite an early tradition within Jainism, which could probably predate Vardhamāna and may go back even to Pārśva himself, if we trust the ascription of the passage: Pāseṇa arahatā isiṇā buitaṁ, or ‘Thus spoke holy seer Pārśva’.

The passage is also an indication that some kind of perspectivism was applied within Jainism at a very early stage. In addition, this perspectivistic approach, or the method of standpoints (nikṣepa), is an entirely different analytical procedure from that which is represented in the method of the sevenfold modal description (sapta-bhaṅgī, syād-vāda). As in the canonical literature, these perspectives are expressed in the Pārśva sayings through ablative cases:

in view of substance (Pkt. davvato, Skt. dravyataḥ),

in view of place (Pkt. khettao, Skt. kṣetrataḥ),

in view of time (Pkt. kālao, Skt. kālataḥ),

in view of its condition (Pkt. bhāvao, Skt. bhāvataḥ).

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