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Jain Philosophy
Jain philosophy refers to the ancient Indian philosophical system found in Jainism. One of the main features of Jain philosophy is its dualistic metaphysics, which holds that there are two distinct categories of existence, the living, conscious or sentient being (''jiva'') and the non-living or material (''ajiva''). Jain texts discuss numerous philosophical topics such as epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, cosmology and soteriology. Jain thought is primarily concerned with understanding the nature of living beings, how these beings are bound by karma (which are seen as fine material particles) and how living beings may be liberated (''moksha'') from the cycle of reincarnation. Also notable is the Jain belief in a beginning-less and cyclical universe and a rejection of a Creator deity. From the Jain point of view, Jain philosophy is eternal and has been taught numerous times in the remote past by the great enlightened tirthankaras ("ford-makers"). Historians trace the develo ...
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Indian Philosophy
Indian philosophy refers to philosophical traditions of the Indian subcontinent. A traditional Hindu classification divides āstika and nāstika schools of philosophy, depending on one of three alternate criteria: whether it believes the Vedas as a valid source of knowledge; whether the school believes in the premises of Brahman and Atman; and whether the school believes in afterlife and Devas. There are six major schools of Vedic philosophy— Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mīmāṃsā and Vedanta, and five major heterodox (sramanic) schools— Jain, Buddhist, Ajivika, Ajñana, and Charvaka. However, there are other methods of classification; Vidyaranya for instance identifies sixteen schools of Indian philosophy by including those that belong to the Śaiva and Raseśvara traditions.Cowell and Gough, p. xii.Nicholson, pp. 158-162. The main schools of Indian philosophy were formalised and recognised chiefly between 500 BCE and the late centuries of the Common Era ...
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Ancient India
According to consensus in modern genetics, anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. Quote: "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by modern humans originating in Africa. ... Coalescence dates for most non-European populations average to between 73–55 ka." However, the earliest known human remains in South Asia date to 30,000 years ago. Settled life, which involves the transition from foraging to farming and pastoralism, began in South Asia around 7000 BCE. At the site of Mehrgarh presence can be documented of the domestication of wheat and barley, rapidly followed by that of goats, sheep, and cattle. By 4500 BCE, settled life had spread more widely, and began to gradually evolve into the Indus Valley civilisation, an early civilisation of the Old World, which was contemporaneous with Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. This civilisation flourished between 2500 BCE and 1 ...
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Dualism (Indian Philosophy)
Dualism in Indian philosophy refers to the belief held by certain schools of Indian philosophy that reality is fundamentally composed of two parts. This mainly takes the form of either mind-matter dualism in Buddhist philosophy or awareness-'nature' dualism in the Samkhya and Yoga schools of Hindu philosophy. These can be contrasted with mind-body dualism in Western philosophy of mind, but also have similarities with it. Another form of dualism in Hindu philosophy is found in the Dvaita ("dualism") Vedanta school, which regards God and the world as two realities with distinct essences; this is a form of theistic dualism. By contrast, schools such as Advaita ("nondualism") Vedanta embrace absolute monism and regard dualism as an illusion ('' maya''). Buddhist philosophy During the classical era of Buddhist philosophy in India, philosophers such as Dharmakirti argued for a dualism between states of consciousness and Buddhist atoms (the basic building blocks that make up realit ...
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Realism (philosophy)
Philosophical realism is usually not treated as a position of its own but as a stance towards other subject matters. Realism about a certain kind of thing (like numbers or morality) is the thesis that this kind of thing has ''mind-independent existence'', i.e. that it is not just a mere appearance in the eye of the beholder. This includes a number of positions within epistemology and metaphysics which express that a given thing instead exists independently of knowledge, thought, or understanding. This can apply to items such as the physical world, the past and future, other minds, and the self, though may also apply less directly to things such as universals, mathematical truths, moral truths, and thought itself. However, realism may also include various positions which instead reject metaphysical treatments of reality entirely. Realism can also be a view about the properties of reality in general, holding that reality exists independent of the mind, as opposed to non-realist ...
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Darśana
Hindu philosophy encompasses the philosophies, world views and teachings of Hinduism that emerged in Ancient India which include six systems ('' shad-darśana'') – Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa and Vedanta.Andrew Nicholson (2013), Unifying Hinduism: Philosophy and Identity in Indian Intellectual History, Columbia University Press, , pages 2–5 In Indian tradition, the word used for philosophy is Darshana (Viewpoint or perspective), from the Sanskrit root ('to see, to experience'). These are also called the Astika (theistic) philosophical traditions and are those that accept the Vedas as an authoritative, important source of knowledge. Ancient and medieval India was also the source of philosophies that share philosophical concepts but rejected the Vedas, and these have been called (heterodox or non-orthodox) Indian philosophies. Nāstika Indian philosophies include Buddhism, Jainism, Chārvāka, Ājīvika, and others.P Bilimoria (2000), Indian Philosophy ...
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Omniscience
Omniscience () is the capacity to know everything. In Hinduism, Sikhism and the Abrahamic religions, this is an attribute of God. In Jainism, omniscience is an attribute that any individual can eventually attain. In Buddhism, there are differing beliefs about omniscience among different schools. Etymology The word ''omniscience'' derives from the Latin word ''sciens'' ("to know" or "conscious") and the prefix '' omni'' ("all" or "every"), but also means " all-seeing". In religion Buddhism The topic of omniscience has been much debated in various Indian traditions, but no more so than by the Buddhists. After Dharmakirti's excursions into the subject of what constitutes a valid cognition, Śāntarakṣita and his student Kamalaśīla thoroughly investigated the subject in the Tattvasamgraha and its commentary the Panjika. The arguments in the text can be broadly grouped into four sections: * The refutation that cognitions, either perceived, inferred, or otherwise, ca ...
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Saṃsāra (Jainism)
''Saṃsāra'' (transmigration) in Jain philosophy, refers to the worldly life characterized by continuous rebirths and reincarnations in various realms of existence. is described as mundane existence, a life full of suffering and misery, and hence it is considered undesirable and worth renunciation. The ''Saṃsāra'' is without any beginning, and the soul finds itself in bondage with its karma since the beginning-less time. ''Moksha'' is the only way to be liberated from ''saṃsāra''. Influx of karmas (''asrava'') According to the Jain text ''Tattvartha Sutra'': Activities that lead to the influx of karmas (''asrava'') which extends transmigration are: *Five senses *Four passions ('' kasāya'') **Anger **Ego **Deceit **Greed *The non-observance of the five vows *Non-observance of the twenty-five activities like Righteousness ;''Saṃsāra bhavanā'' Jain texts prescribe meditation on twelve forms of reflection (''bhāvanā'') for those who wish to stop the above descr ...
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Jīva (Jainism)
''Jīva'' ( sa, जीव) or ''Atman'' (; sa, आत्मन्) is a philosophical term used within Jainism to identify the soul. As per Jain cosmology, ''jīva'' or soul is the principle of sentience and is one of the '' tattvas'' or one of the fundamental substances forming part of the universe. The Jain metaphysics, states Jagmanderlal Jaini, divides the universe into two independent, everlasting, co-existing and uncreated categories called the ''jiva'' (soul) and the ''ajiva'' ( sa, अजीव non-soul). This basic premise of Jainism makes it a dualistic philosophy. The ''jiva'', according to Jainism, is an essential part of how the process of karma, rebirth and the process of liberation from rebirth works. Soul substance Jains regard soul as one of the six fundamental and eternal substances ('' dravyas'') which forms the universe. The two states of soul substance are mentioned in the Jain texts. These are — Svābhva (pure or natural) and Vibhāva (impure or unna ...
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Sarvārthasiddhi
''Sarvārthasiddhi'' is a famous Jain text authored by '' Ācārya Pujyapada''. It is the oldest extan commentary on ''Ācārya Umaswami's Tattvārthasūtra'' (another famous Jain text). Traditionally though, the oldest commentary on the Tattvārthasūtra is the Gandhahastimahābhāṣya. A commentary is a word-by-word or line-by-line explication of a text. Author '' Ācārya Pujyapada'', the author of ''Sarvārthasiddhi'' was a famous Digambara monk. ''Pujyapada'' was a poet, grammarian, philosopher and a profound scholar of ''Ayurveda''. Content The author begins with an explanation of the invocation of the ''Tattvārthasūtra''. The ten chapters of ''Sarvārthasiddhi'' are: #Faith and Knowledge #The Category of the Living #The Lower World and the Middle World #The Celestial Beings #The Category of the Non-Living #Influx of Karma #The Five Vows #Bondage of Karma #Stoppage and Shedding of Karma #Liberation In the text, ''Dāna Dāna (Devanagari: दान, IAST: ...
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Pujyapada
Acharya Pujyapada or Pūjyapāda (464–524 CE) was a renowned grammarian and ''acharya'' (philosopher monk) belonging to the Digambara tradition of Jains. It was believed that he was worshiped by demigods on the account of his vast scholarship and deep piety, and thus, he was named Pujyapada. He was said to be the guru of King Durvinita of the Western Ganga dynasty. Life Pujyapada is said to have lived from 510 CE to 600 CE. His real name was ''Devanandi'' and he was a sadhu Digambara monk. As the Devs from heaven used to come to do Puja of his feet Paad, the title of Pujyapaad was given to him. He was heavily influenced by the writings of his predecessors like ''Acharya'' Kundakunda and ''Acharya'' Samantabhadra. He is rated as being the greatest of the early masters of Jain literature. He was prominent preceptor, with impeccable pontifical pedigree and spiritual lineage. He was a yogi, mystic, poet, scholar, author and master of several branches of learning. He wrote in ...
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Tattvartha Sutra
''Tattvārthasūtra'', meaning "On the Nature '' ''artha">nowiki/>''artha''.html" ;"title="artha.html" ;"title="nowiki/>''artha">nowiki/>''artha''">artha.html" ;"title="nowiki/>''artha">nowiki/>''artha''of Reality [''tattva'']" (also known as ''Tattvarth-adhigama-sutra'' or ''Moksha-shastra'') is an ancient Jain text written by ''Acharya (Jainism), Acharya'' Umaswami in Sanskrit, sometime between the 2nd- and 5th-century CE. The ''Tattvārthasūtra'' is regarded as one of the earliest, most authoritative texts in Jainism. It is accepted as authoritative in both its major sub-traditions – ''Digambara'' and '' Śvētāmbara'' – as well as the minor sub-traditions. It is a philosophical text, and its importance in Jainism is comparable with that of the ''Brahma Sutras'' and ''Yoga Sutras of Patanjali'' in Hinduism. In an aphoristic sutra style of ancient Indian texts, it presents the complete Jainism philosophy in 350 sutras over 10 chapters. The text has attracted numerous ...
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Paul Dundas
Paul Dundas (born 1952) is a scholar and a senior lecturer in Sanskrit language and head of Asian Studies in the University of Edinburgh. His main areas of academic and research interest include Jainism, Buddhism, classical Sanskrit literature and Middle Indo-Aryan philology. He is regarded as one of the leading western scholars in Jain studies. He is currently a member of the Council of the Pali Text Society The Pali Text Society is a text publication society founded in 1881 by Thomas William Rhys Davids "to foster and promote the study of Pāli texts". Pāli is the language in which the texts of the Theravada school of Buddhism are preserved. The .... Bibliography and research papers Bibliography Following is the partial list of his books: *Dundas, P. (1992). ''The Jains. '' The Library of religious beliefs and practices. London: Routledge. *Dundas, P. (1998). ''The meat at the wedding feasts: Kr̥ṣṇa, vegetarianism and a Jain dispute. '' oronto Centre for So ...
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