Mithyatva

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Mithyatva means "false belief", and an important concept in Jainism and Hinduism. [1] Disappearance (nivrtti) is the necessary presupposition of mithyatva because what is falsely perceived ceases to exist with the dawn of right knowledge. Mithyatva, states Jayatirtha, cannot be easily defined as 'indefinable', 'non-existent', 'something other than real', 'which cannot be proved, produced by avidya or as its effect', or as 'the nature of being perceived in the same locus along with its own absolute non-existence'. [2]

Jainism ancient religion that originated in India

Jainism, traditionally known as Jain Dharma, is an ancient, non-theistic, Indian religion. Followers of Jainism are called "Jains", a word derived from the Sanskrit word jina (victor) and connoting the path of victory in crossing over life's stream of rebirths through an ethical and spiritual life. Jains consider their religion to be eternal (sanatan), and trace their history through a succession of 24 victorious saviours and teachers known as tirthankaras, with the first in current time cycle being Rishabhanatha, who according to Jain tradition lived millions of years ago, twenty-third being Parshvanatha in 8th century BC and twenty-fourth being the Mahāvīra around 500 BCE. Jains believe that Jainism is an eternal dharma with the tirthankaras guiding every cycle of the Jain cosmology.

Hinduism is an Indian religion and dharma, or way of life, widely practised in the Indian subcontinent and parts of Southeast Asia. Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, and some practitioners and scholars refer to it as Sanātana Dharma, "the eternal tradition", or the "eternal way", beyond human history. Scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots and no founder. This "Hindu synthesis" started to develop between 500 BCE and 300 CE, after the end of the Vedic period, and flourished in the medieval period, with the decline of Buddhism in India.

Avidyā is a Sanskrit word whose literal meaning is ignorance, misconceptions, misunderstandings, incorrect knowledge, and it is the opposite of Vidya. It is used extensively in Hindu texts, including the Upanishads, and in other Indian religions such as Buddhism and Jainism, particularly in the context of metaphysical reality.

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Mithyatva is a concept in Jainism distinguishing right knowledge from false knowledge, and parallels the concepts of Avidya in the Vedanta school of Hinduism, Aviveka in its Samkhya school, and Maya in Buddhism. [3]

Vedanta or Uttara Mīmāṃsā is one of the six (āstika) schools of Hindu philosophy. Vedanta literally means "end of the Vedas", reflecting ideas that emerged from the speculations and philosophies contained in the Upanishads. It does not stand for one comprehensive or unifying doctrine. Rather it is an umbrella term for many sub-traditions, ranging from dualism to non-dualism, all of which developed on the basis of a common textual connection called the Prasthanatrayi. The Prasthanatrayi is a collective term for the Principal Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita.

Samkhya or Sankhya is one of the six āstika schools of Hindu philosophy. It is most related to the Yoga school of Hinduism, and it was influential on other schools of Indian philosophy. Sāmkhya is an enumerationist philosophy whose epistemology accepts three of six pramanas (proofs) as the only reliable means of gaining knowledge. These include pratyakṣa (perception), anumāṇa (inference) and śabda. Sometimes described as one of the rationalist schools of Indian philosophy, this ancient school's reliance on reason was exclusive but strong.

Buddhism World religion, founded by the Buddha

Buddhism is the world's fourth-largest religion with over 520 million followers, or over 7% of the global population, known as Buddhists. Buddhism encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on original teachings attributed to the Buddha and resulting interpreted philosophies. Buddhism originated in ancient India as a Sramana tradition sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, spreading through much of Asia. Two major extant branches of Buddhism are generally recognized by scholars: Theravada and Mahayana.

The opposite of Mithyatva (false belief) is Samyaktva (right belief). [4]

Jainism

Mithyatva is an important concept on false knowledge in Jainism. [5] The Jaina scholar Hemachandra defined Mithyatva as "belief in false divinities, false gurus and false scriptures". [4]

Hemachandra 12th-century Jain scholar, poet, and polymath

Acharya Hemachandra was a Jain scholar, poet, and polymath who wrote on grammar, philosophy, prosody, and contemporary history. Noted as a prodigy by his contemporaries, he gained the title kalikālasarvajña, "the all-knowing of the Kali Yuga".

Jainism describes seven types of beliefs - mithyatva, sasvadana-samyaktva, mishra-mithyatva, kashopashmika-samyaktva, aupshamika-samyaktva, vedak-samyaktva and kshayik-samyaktva. Mithyatva, meaning false or wrong belief, is the soul’s original and beginning less state of deluded world-view, at which stage the soul is in a spiritual slumber, unaware of its own bondage. [6]

Mithyatva or "false belief, delusion" are of five kinds in Jainism, according to one classification: [1] [7] [8]

  1. Ekanta (one sided belief, not considering other sides or aspects for truth),
  2. Viparita (belief in the opposite of what is right),
  3. Vinaya (universally accepting all right or wrong belief/religion without examining them, attending only to conduct),
  4. Samsaya (when there is doubt whether a course is right or wrong, unsettled belief, skepticism), and
  5. Ajnana (indifference to right or wrong belief).

Svetambara Jains classify categories of false belief under Mithyatva differently: Abhigrahika (belief limited to their own scriptures that they can defend, but refusing to study and analyse other scriptures); Anabhigrahika (belief that equal respect must be shown to all gods, teachers, scriptures); Abhiniviseka (belief of those who can discern but refuse to do so from preconceptions); Samsayika (state of hesitation or uncertainty between various conflicting, inconsistent beliefs); and Anabhogika (innate, default beliefs that a person has not thought through on one's own). [9]

Digambara Jains classify categories of false belief under Mithyatva into seven: Ekantika (absolute, one sided belief), Samsayika (uncertainty, doubt whether a course is right or wrong, unsettled belief, skepticism), Vainayika (belief that all gods, gurus and scriptures are alike), Grhita (belief derived purely from habits or default, no self analysis), Viparita (belief that true is false, false is true, everything is relative or acceptable), Naisargika (belief that living beings are devoid of consciousness and cannot discern right from wrong), Mudha-drsti (belief that violence and anger can tarnish or damage thoughts, divine, guru or dharma). [9]

Mithyatva is one of three things, in Jainism, that are harmful stimuli and that distract a person from attaining right belief and correct knowledge. The other two things that distract, are Maya (deceit), and Nidana (hankering after fame and worldly pleasures). [10]

One Jaina text lists 28 kinds of mohaniya (deluding) karmas that prevent the true perception of reality and the purity of the soul, the darsana mohaniya karman which function to prevent a soul’s insight into its own nature and therefore, deemed destructive, are mithyatva karman. The term, mithyatva, meaning 'perversity', is generally used to denote the idea of avidya along with mithyadarsana or mithyadrsti (wrong view), darsanamoha (delusion of vision), moha (delusion) etc.;. The state of mithyatva is manifested as a fundamental tendency to see things other than as they really are (Tattva Sutra 8:9). [11] Passions such as Aversion (dvesa) and Attachment (raga), which are also called pursuers from the limitless past (anantanubandhi), operate in conjunction with mithyatva. [12] Mithyatva is the one-sided or perverted world-view which generates new layers of karma and considered in Jainism as the root of human arrogance. [13]

Hinduism

Mithyatva is a concept found in some schools of Hinduism. Other concepts in Hinduism, similar in meaning to Mithyatva, include the concepts of Avidya in the Vedanta school of Hinduism, Aviveka in its Samkhya school. [3]

Ignorance begets aviveka (lack of correct, discriminative knowledge) states Samkhya school of Hinduism. One engages in deeds, good and bad, due to aviveka, earns punya or becomes a victim of sin and is reborn. [14] Aviveka also means lack of reason or imprudence or indiscretion. Avidya is related concept in Vedanta school of Hinduism. Avidya and aviveka give dukkha i.e. suffering.

Madhusudanah in his Advaita-siddhi gives five definitions of mithyatva which term is derived from mithya meaning false or indeterminable. False is something that appears and is later negated or contradicted; the unreal is never an object of experience, the concept of unreal is self-contradictory. Falsity is defined as – not being the locus of either reality or unreality, it is distinct from both reality and unreality. In practice, mithyatva has three means, – a) that which does not exist in three divisions of time, past, present and future; b) that which is removable by knowledge; and c) that which is identical with the object of sublation. Whereas mithya is other than real but not real, mithyatva is identical with sublatability. [15] Mithyatva may also be understood as that which is negated even where it is found to exist. The followers of the Advaita School contend that the world-appearance is negated by Brahman-knowledge and hence it is illusory. To the followers of Vishishtadvaitavada, mithya is the apprehension of an object as different from its own nature. [16]

The Advaita School considers Mithyatva to mean falsity of the world. Disappearance (nivrtti) is the necessary presupposition of mithyatva because what is falsely perceived ceases to exist with the dawn of right knowledge. But, mithya or falsity, or mithyatva or falsity of the world, cannot be easily defined as indefinable or non-existent or something other than real or which cannot be proved or produced by avidya (or as its effect) or as the nature of being perceived in the same locus along with its own absolute non-existence. The opponents of the Advaita do not accept the contention that Atman is simply consciousness and cannot be the substratum of knowledge, and they insist that existence as the logical concomitant of the absence of non-existence and vice versa, with these two being mutually exclusive predicates, must be admitted. The opposite of unreality must be reality. [17]

According to Advaita anything which is both cognized and sublated is mithya. Mithyatva is negated even where it is found. The illusoriness of the world is itself illusory. Once Brahman-knowledge arises both the cognizer and the cognized disappear. [18]

The proof of unreality is impermanence, the permanent one is the Sole Reality. Mithyatva is apparent reality; at the level of ultimate truth, when, through the understanding of the mithyatva of all limiting adjuncts (upadhis) of name and form i.e., those that pertain to the individual body-mind (tvam) and as well to the lordship of Brahman (tat), everything is seen to be not an other to pure Awareness, the distinctions of Jiva and Ishvara no longer apply, and it is the param Brahman, the very essential of the Lord Itself, that is the final reality. In Advaita the method to reveal the unreality (mithyatva) of things involves the idea of change and permanence i.e. what deviates and what persists. [19]

Mithyatva means 'illusoriness'. Advaita maintains that Brahman alone is real, the plurality of the universe is because the universe is illusory, the universe can be cognized; whatever that is cognized is illusory. The universe is different from the real as well as the real, the universe is indeterminable. Vedanta Desika refutes this contention because there is no such entity which is neither real nor unreal. The universe which is different from Brahman is inseparably related to Brahman. [20] Badarayana (Brahma Sutra III.ii.28) declares that between the Jiva and Brahman there is difference as well as non-difference like the relation of light to its substratum or source on account of both being luminous, one being limited and the other all-pervading, the all-pervading is real and immortal. Rishi Damano Yamayana (Rig Veda X.xvi.4) insists that all should know about that part of the body which is immortal; the immortal part of the body is the Atman or Brahman, it is called a part because without it there cannot be life in one’s body. [21] Vacaspati of the Bhamati school states that whereas illusion conceals, mithyatva signifies 'concealment', the real nature of the cognized object is concealed resulting in non-apprehension of difference between the real and the unreal objects. Padmapada of the Vivarna school adds to the sense of concealment the sense of inexpressibility, thus hinting at the sublatability of illusion. [22] If the term anirvacaniya is defined by the Advaita as the nature of being different from sat and asat in essence, which is the nature of mithyatva, then the element of difference must be real. Even though Jayatirtha states that there is no bar on the validity of the experience of difference, but the fact remains that difference cannot be an attribute of objects. Madhavacharya concludes that difference is not something that falls outside the content of an object or what is generally considered to constitute its essence which in perception is the sum total of its distinction from others. The perception of an object is the same as the perception of its difference from all others. [23]

Buddhism

Mithyatva is not a common term in Buddhism, but where mentioned implies deceit. The more common term used is Maya. Mithyatva, according to Abhidharmakosa, means rebirth in the hells or as an animal or as a preta. [24] Ratnagotravibhagha terms mithyatva as the state of evil. [25]

Related Research Articles

Maya (religion) A concept in Indian religions, illusion, that which changes, unreal, temporary

Maya, literally "illusion" or "magic", has multiple meanings in Indian philosophies depending on the context. In ancient Vedic literature, Māyā literally implies extraordinary power and wisdom. In later Vedic texts and modern literature dedicated to Indian traditions, Māyā connotes a "magic show, an illusion where things appear to be present but are not what they seem". Māyā is also a spiritual concept connoting "that which exists, but is constantly changing and thus is spiritually unreal", and the "power or the principle that conceals the true character of spiritual reality".

Moksha, also called vimoksha, vimukti and mukti, is a term in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism which refers to various forms of emancipation, enlightenment, liberation, and release. In its soteriological and eschatological senses, it refers to freedom from saṃsāra, the cycle of death and rebirth. In its epistemological and psychological senses, moksha refers to freedom from ignorance: self-realization, self-actualization and self-knowledge.

Advaita Vedanta Nondualism, Monism, a school of Vedanta Hindu Philosophy

Advaita Vedanta, originally known as Puruṣavādha, is a school of Hindu philosophy, and one of the classic Indian paths to spiritual realization. The term Advaita refers to its idea that the true self, Atman, is the same as the highest metaphysical Reality (Brahman). The followers of this school are known as Advaita Vedantins, or just Advaitins, and they seek spiritual liberation through acquiring vidyā, meaning knowledge, of one's true identity as Atman, and the identity of Atman and Brahman.

Hindu philosophy refers to a group of darśanas that emerged in ancient India. These include six systems (ṣaḍdarśana) – Sankhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa and Vedanta. These are also called the Astika (orthodox) 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 nāstika Indian philosophies. Nāstika Indian philosophies include Buddhism, Jainism, Cārvāka, Ājīvika, and others.

Acosmism, in contrast to pantheism, denies the reality of the universe, seeing it as ultimately illusory,, and only the infinite unmanifest Absolute as real. Conceptual versions of Acosmism are found in eastern and western philosophies.

Dhyana in Hinduism The art of Hindu meditation

Dhyana in Hinduism means contemplation and meditation. Dhyana is taken up in Yoga exercises, and is a means to samadhi and self-knowledge.

Brahman metaphysical concept, unchanging Ultimate Reality in Hinduism

Brahman connotes the highest Universal Principle, the Ultimate Reality in the universe. In major schools of Hindu philosophy, it is the material, efficient, formal and final cause of all that exists. It is the pervasive, genderless, infinite, eternal truth and bliss which does not change, yet is the cause of all changes. Brahman as a metaphysical concept is the single binding unity behind diversity in all that exists in the universe.

Vivartavada is the Vedantic theory of causation; it is the method of asserting this doctrine.

Asatkalpa

Asatkalpa, this Sanskrit term is derived from the word, asat, meaning 'unreal' combined with the word, kalpa, here in the context of Advaita Vedanta philosophy meaning 'a little less than complete', and is another word for mithya meaning 'the almost unreal world' or 'unreal conceptuality'. In the context of Yogacara school of Buddhism it is one of the three transformed modes of the mind which three are – parikalpa, 'the act of imagination', abh utaparikalpa, 'the act of imagining the unreal forms', and asatkalpa, 'the act of imagining the non-existent'.

Jivatva means – the state of life or the state of the individual soul. Jivatva is the state of life of the Jiva, the living entity, which is a particular manifestation of Atman, the embodied being limited to psycho-physical states, and the source of avidya that suffers (repeated) transmigration as result of its actions. Until ignorance ceases the Jiva remains caught in experience of the results of actions bringing merit and demerit, and in the state of individuality (jivatva), and so long as the connection with the intellect as conditioning adjunct lasts, so long the individuality and transmigration of soul lasts.

Abhasavada is the term derived from the word Abhasa meaning mere or fallacious appearance, reflection, looking like, light, semblance of reason, intention. In Hindu philosophy this term refers to the Theory of Appearance, both of the Shaivite school and the Advaita Vedanta, though with differing connotations.

Pratibimbavada or the theory of reflection, whose origin can be traced to the Brahma Sutra II.iii.50, is credited to Padmapada, the founder of the Vivarna School of Advaita Vedanta and the author of Pancapadika which is a commentary on Sankara’s Brahma Sutra Bhasya. According to the Vivarna School, Brahman is the locus of Avidya, and which, with regard to the relation existing between the Jiva and Brahman, concludes that the Jiva is a mere reflection (pratibimba) of its prototype (bimba) i.e. of Brahman, and therefore, identical with its essence, Brahman. This school holds the view that the mahavakya, tat tvam asi, is sufficient for the attainment of enlightenment, of the realization of the identity between the self and Reality.

The Samkhya system, which follows Prakrti – parinama-vada, describes origination and evolution through its theory of Satkaryavada which is the theory of causation. According to this theory the effect is existent in the cause; the original cause of everything that is perceived is Prakrti.

Cause and effect in Advaita Vedanta

Cause and effect are an important topic in all schools of Vedanta. These concepts are discussed in ancient and medieval texts of Hinduism, and other Indian religions, using synonymous terms. Cause is referred to as kāraṇa (कारण), nidana (निदान), hetu (हेतु) or mulam (मूलम्), while effect is referred to as kārya (कार्य), phala (फल), parinam (परिणाम) or Shungam (शुङ्ग). Vedanta sub-schools have proposed and debated different causality theories.

The Sanskrit word, Vidya, figures prominently in all texts pertaining to Indian philosophy - to mean science, learning, knowledge and scholarship; most importantly, it refers to valid knowledge which cannot be contradicted and true knowledge which is the knowledge of the Self intuitively gained. Vidya is not mere intellectual knowledge, for the Vedas demand understanding.

Pratiyogitvam, a Sanskrit term, means recognizing 'difference' by noting the 'otherness' in another thing; 'difference' means 'the want of the total characteristic of one thing in another'. Differences are of three kinds: (a) 'difference existing in oneself' (svajātiya-bheda), (b) 'difference in species' (svagata-bheda), and (c) 'difference of genus' (vijātiya-bheda). These differences do not exist in Brahman who is one without a second. The Upanishads negate these differences in Brahman who is self-revealing and can be experienced when all mentations cease, what is then experienced is not nothing, for there can be no knowledge of a thing that does not exist.

Khyātivāda is the term used to refer to the Indian Theories of Perceptual Error – khyāti (ख्यातिः) besides referring to 'fame', 'renown' etc., in Samkhya philosophy refers to the 'erroneous conception' or 'false apprehension', and vāda means - 'proposition', 'discourse', 'argument'. These are all theories that deal with the nature of the object of illusory perception and not with the nature of the subject, whether the error consists in the object or in the subject’s cognition. There are five principal theories dealing with perceptual errors, which are:-

<i>Atma bodha</i>

Ātma-bodha is a short Sanskrit text attributed to Adi Shankara of Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy. The text in sixty-eight verses describes the path to Self-knowledge or the awareness of Atman.

Vivarana is a subschool of classical Advaita Vedanta, established by Prakasatman. The name of the Vivarana-school is derived from Prakasatman's Pancapadika-Vivarana, a commentary on the Pancapadika by Padmapadacharya.

References

  1. 1 2 JL Jaini (Editor: FW Thomas), Outlines of Jainism, Jain Literature Society, Cambridge University Press Archive, page 94
  2. ↑ B.N.Krishnamurti Sharma. History of Dvaita School of Vedanta and its Literature. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 167.
  3. 1 2 JL Jaini (Editor: FW Thomas), Outlines of Jainism, Jain Literature Society, Cambridge University Press Archive, page 48-58
  4. 1 2 Robert Williams (1998), Jaina Yoga: A Survey of the Mediaeval Śrāvakācāras, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN   978-8120807754, page 47
  5. ↑ JL Jaini (Editor: FW Thomas), Outlines of Jainism, Jain Literature Society, Cambridge University Press Archive, pages 48-64, 94-95
  6. ↑ Encyclopaedia of Oriental Philosophy. Global Vision Publishing House. p. 329.
  7. ↑ P. M. Joseph (1997), Jainism in South India, International School of Dravidian Linguistics, ISBN   978-8185692234, page 415
  8. ↑ Nemicandrasiddhantacakravartin. Dravya Samgraha of Nemichandra Siddhanta Chakravartti. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 74–75.
  9. 1 2 Robert Williams (1998), Jaina Yoga: A Survey of the Mediaeval Śrāvakācāras, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN   978-8120807754, pages 47-48
  10. ↑ Robert Williams (1998), Jaina Yoga: A Survey of the Mediaeval Śrāvakācāras, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN   978-8120807754, page 50
  11. ↑ W.J. Johnson. Harmless Souls. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 150–151.
  12. ↑ Padmanabh S. Jiaini. The Jain Path of Purification. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 118–119.
  13. ↑ Many-Sided wisdom. John Hunt Publishing Co. p. 90.
  14. ↑ B.B.Paliwal. Message of the Puranas. Diamond Pocket Books. p. 212.
  15. ↑ Bina Gupta. Perceiving in Advaita Vedanta. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 131–132.
  16. ↑ S.M.Srinivasa Chari. Tattvamuktakalpa. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 261–263.
  17. ↑ B.N.Krishnamurti Sharma. History of Dvaita School of Vedanta and its Literature. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 167.
  18. ↑ John A. Grimes. The Seven Great Untenables:Sapta-viddha Anupapatti. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 60–62.
  19. ↑ Michael Commins. The Method of Early Vedanta. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 260.
  20. ↑ S.M.Srinivasa Chari. Advaita and Visistadvaita:A Study based on Vedanta Desika’s Satadusani. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 100.
  21. ↑ Ravinder Kumar Soni. The Illumination of Knowledge. GBD Books. pp. 76, 90.
  22. ↑ Pulasth Soobah Roodumam. Bhamati and Vivarna Schools of Advaita Vedanta:A Critical Approach. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 116.
  23. ↑ Chen-chi Chang. A Treasury of Mahyana Sutras. Motilal Banarsidass.
  24. ↑ Edward Conze. The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom. University of California Press. p. 514.
  25. ↑ Jamie Hubbard. Pruning the Bodhi tree:The Storm Over Critical Buddhism. University of Hawaii Press. p. 199.
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