6. The Legitimation of an Authoritative Discourse in Jainism

Abstract

Jain theories of authority ( ā ptatva ) can be productively read as reactions to a fundamental philosophical issue – namely, in the situation of the coexistence of two contradictory discourses, both recognized as authoritative by different traditions, what are the means available to distinguish between them? Some of the solutions posed to address this problem of contradiction include consistency with practice, the consensus of a community, the conformity of the discourse at stake with universal laws such as coherence, or appeal to faith or extramundane knowledge. This paper analyzes the development of critical strategies employed by Jain thinkers to establish the authority of the Jain corpus by refuting theses pro-moted by competitors from outside of the community. To trace this development, I focus on the Ā ptam ī m ā ṃ s ā ( Investigation on Authority ; Ā M ī ), composed by Samantabhadra (530 – 590). This text provides an illustrative case study for my analysis because it marks a transition from a conception in which the reliability criterion of an authoritative discourse is the authoritative character of the speaker, to a conception in which the validity and soundness of the discourse itself are foremost. The text ’ s authorship is also significant, since Samantabhadra is one of the first Jain authors to attempt to logically prove the omniscience of the Jain teachers, and the first one to link this doctrine to the celebrated Jain theory of “ non-one-sidedness ” ( anek ā ntav ā da ). for the sake of easy understanding, discerning, reasoning, and the operation of consciousness. subject matter they deal with); they are persons who seek to establish something that is contradicted by what is seen to be the case.