Jain philosophy
उमास्वाति
Umasvati
Scholars place him anywhere between the 2nd and 5th centuries CE; dates are debated.
Editorial overview
Historical context
Umasvati, whom Digambaras often call Umasvami, is the author of the Tattvartha Sutra, the first systematic Jain philosophical work in Sanskrit. It is the one text accepted as authoritative by both the Shvetambara and Digambara traditions. Shvetambaras attribute an auto-commentary (the Svopajna Bhashya) to him, which Digambaras do not accept, and each tradition claims him as its own. Little is known of his life.
On attribution: The Tattvartha Sutra is accepted as his by both main Jain traditions; the auto-commentary and his sectarian affiliation are disputed between them.
Core ideas
- Right faith, right knowledge and right conduct together constitute the path to liberation
- Seven principles (tattvas): soul, non-soul, the inflow of karma, bondage, stopping the inflow, shedding karma and liberation
- Five kinds of knowledge, culminating in omniscience (kevala jnana)
- A systematic account of karma, the kinds of living beings and the cosmos
- Ethics of vows centred on non-harm
Major works
Also: Svopajna Bhashya on the Tattvartha Sutra (attributed to him by Shvetambaras)
Concepts
ConceptजीवJiva — the individual soulThe living, embodied individual who acts, experiences and transmigrates.Conceptकर्मKarmaAction — and the way actions shape future experience.ConceptअहिंसाAhimsa — non-harmNot harming living beings, in deed, word or thought.Conceptमोक्षMoksha — liberationFinal freedom from bondage and the cycle of rebirth.Conceptतत्त्वTattva — principle of reality'Thatness' — a basic category or principle of reality, counted differently by different schools.Conceptअनेकान्तवादAnekantavadaThe Jain doctrine that reality is many-sided and no single viewpoint captures it fully.
Lineage of ideas
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Related thinkers
Traditions