Naiyayik
Comparison Chart
| Concept | Naiyayik | Jainism |
|---|---|---|
| Tattvas (principles) | There are 16 Tattvas—such as Pramāṇa, Prameya, Saṁśaya, Prayojana, etc.—which are used for the discernment of knowledge or to demonstrate one's scholarship through debate, reasoning, or philosophical discourse. These are thought-based or logic-based principles, and do not represent the nature of substances. | Jainism defines 7 Tattvas: Jīva (soul), Ajīva (non-living substances—Pudgala, Dharma, Adharma, Ākāśa, Kāla), Āsrava (influx of karmas), Bandha (bondage of karmas), Saṁvara (stoppage of karmas), Nirjarā (shedding of karmas), and Mokṣa (liberation from karmas). In this view, the soul’s attachments and aversions are called Bhāva Karmas, and the physical karmic matter particles are known as Dravya Karmas. Jainism’s Tattvas represent both the nature of substances and the principles of liberation. |
| Creation | Naiyāyikas describe two types of soul (Ātman): 1. Jīvatmā and 2. Paramātmā. Paramātmā is described as the creator of everything in the universe. | According to Jainism, there are three progressive states of the soul: 1. Bahirātmā (the soul immersed in worldly attachments and aversions), 2. Antarātmā (the soul turning inward and realizing its distinct nature from body and matter), and 3. Paramātmā (the soul in its purest, liberated state, free from all karmic bondage). Jainism does not accept any creator or destroyer of the universe. |
Counter arguments for Naiyāyika
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The Tattvas described in the Naiyāyika system do not include any principle that reflects the true nature of substances. According to their view, without understanding logic- and reasoning-based Tattvas, one cannot realize the true self. But by this reasoning, grammarians might argue that without studying grammar one cannot attain self-realization; or a cook may claim that without eating healthy food, one cannot realize the self in an unhealthy condition. In truth, these are external factors, while the only real path to self-realization—and thereby salvation—is through understanding the true nature of the self and reality.
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Though they claim that realizing the true self (Ātman) is the ultimate goal, none of the 16 defined Tattvas directly relates to the self itself.