I.
This is the attitude of
the Jainas also. The Jaina emphasis on the material and
spiritual as a synthesis of opposites leads to a concrete universal
involving unity in diversity. It is comparable to Jasper�s unfanatical
absoluteness� Jainas in their theory of Anekanta illustrate a
�non-attachment of partial truths; and they have made creative use of the
contradictions by removing the sting out of them, Headgear presents a
similar point of view.
In our
political life, Pancasila, as our late Prime Minister has pointed out, is
the paced for the ills of our present-day life. And Pancasila expresses
the spirit of Anekanta.
Right
Understanding � Some Hurdles
I. Right understanding (Samyagcarira)
constitute the triple path towards self- realisation. There is need to
a harmonious blending of the three paths. Right understanding is the
basis; it leads to right knowledge. This is faith rooted in intuitive rasp
of the truth and not related to superstitious uncritical acceptance of
truth. It is looking inward and it may be referred to as the �menta set�
in the psychological sense.
46
Acarya Samantabhadra has mentioned 8 characteristics of Samyagdarsana:
1.
Nihsankita is the deep-rooted faith in
the persons who are authorities and in the validity of the sacred texts.
2.
Nihkaniksita spirit of non-attachment
towards the fruits of Nihkanksa. It should be purely spiritual craving.
3.
Nirvicikitsa: it to be free from
illusions and stupor.
4.
Amudhadrsti is to be grew from
the perversity of beliefs, which may be called amudhatva.
5.
Upaguhana refers to the emphasis
on the right aspect of the Samyagdrsti in the sense that we should
discourage to aim at patria and half-hearted right- mindedness,
6.
Sthitikarana is to secure
steadfastness and to lead towards rightness of understanding. The fallen
angel�s in the path have to be restored to the path of right direction.
7.
Vatsalya
emphasis�s that we should have love and
kindness towards those leading the path of righteousness without of course
showing ill- will towards the fallen. Those �who hunger and thirst after
righteousness shall be filled.� 47
8.
Pravavaba
is to kindle the light of right
understanding by removing many misconceptions, inadequacies and
deficiencies. The hurdles in the path of right understanding are many and
varied. Some of the difficulties are psychological. Acarya Samantabhadra
has give an enlightened ad able descriptions of the psychological and
sociological impediments in the acquisition of rightness of outlook and
right understanding.
II. Acafya Samantabhadra
says that right understanding and right faith would be vitiated by the two
psychological and sociological processes: 48
1. Eight types of city
(Arrogance) and 2 three types of folly. We may also class them as forms
rooted in ignorance. The first distinction refers to the 8 forms of
Mada (vanity) and the second has reference to the 3 types of
mudhata.
The 8 types of
vanity are primarily psychological. They vitiate the working of the mind
and create perversity of out look, which becomes an obstacle in the
development of right understanding. We lose the balance of understanding
and are strayed away from the right path of grasping the truth. We live in
the world of self- verged illusions about ability and achievements. We are
lost in the jungle of subjective fantasies The 8 types of verity are:
(i)
jnana mada:
In this we live in the world of
our own creation that we are the wisest me on the earth. It is the Vanity
of knowledge. Vanity (arrogance) of knowledge is born out of the
immaturity of mind. We gloat over out own intellectual achievements and
suffer from the illusion of vanity of knowledge.
(ii)
Pujaniyata mada:
In this we become blind to our short comings and failures because some
people respect us Respect and admiration for whatever little we have
achieved, sometimes takes us off the rails of the right perspective of our
personality. We gloat in our glory and we move with half open eyes in the
illusion of superiority. This is the vanity of superiority.
(iii)
Kula mada
refers to the arrogance of the
status of the family and birth. A person born in a high family and endowed
richly with the emanates of life is likely to lose the balance of his mind
in the matter of estimating his personality in the right perspective. He
thinks no end of himself and he develops an attitude of conceit for his
way of life and diced for the lower round of society, He looks at the
lowliest and the lose with sneering disdain. He is far away from the path
of rightness of understanding and righteousness.
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