Anekāntavāda And Syādvāda: Anekānta (Non-Absolutism)

The real, according to the Jaina philosopher, is a variable constant. It is being and non-being (becoming included), unity and plurality (one and many), the universal and the particular rolled into one. If causal efficiency is the test of reality, the real cannot be an absolute constant, nor can it be an absolute variable. It must be a variable constant.^[1] Similarly, absolute being and non-being, incompatible as they are with causal efficiency, cannot characterize reality. If being is the eternal cause-aspect of the real, non-being is its evanescent effect-aspect. The real is a synthesis of infinite potencies (aneka-Śakti-pracita) and also continues through change. It is thus unity and plurality or one and many rolled into one. The persisting and pervading nature of an entity is the universal and the ever changing mode the particular. The postulation of such pairs of characteristics by the Jaina philosopher has been responsible for the designation of his philosophy as anekāntavāda (theory of manifoldness of truth or non-absolutism). Let us study these pairs in some detail.