The Jain doctrine that a thing has many aspects and can be described only relatively; the hitahita chapter uses it to argue that no substance is wholesome or unwholesome in every respect.
Names and synonyms
- Sanskrit
- स्याद्वादअनेकान्त
- Hindi
- स्याद्वादअनेकांतवाद
- English
- Syadvada (Jain doctrine of conditional, many-sided truth)
What the text says
Each statement reports the source, with its chapter, page and verse. Traditional descriptions are not presented as proven medical facts.
Historical3
The chapter opens by declaring that the first medical science is that of the Arhat (the Jina), and quotes a verse to the same effect, adding that in matters of the wholesome and the unwholesome it is to be known as the means of establishing syadvada.
The translation opens by settling that the first place in Ayurveda belongs to the Arhat's Ayurveda, because it is the means of establishing syadvada and is suited to engaging in the wholesome and turning away from the unwholesome.
Accepting the principles taught in the Jina's teaching and giving up the one-sided principles of others, this faultless science, like Lakshmi risen from the ocean of the great Pranavaya canon, is said to have come from the faultless physician who is the friend of the world, and physicians are said to accept it gladly and with great respect even today.
Other4
After its arguments, the text concludes that because things are many-sided (anekanta) by nature, the Arhat's medicine is established; it holds that all things are incompatible or compatible depending on substance, place, time and state.
Having described substance, taste, potency and vipaka as relative natures, existing and not existing, permanent and impermanent, one and many, expressible and inexpressible, according to substance, place, time and state, the text says that Sushruta too relies on syadvada, and that by these and many other verses his description of things as substance and quality rests on it.
Because by substance, place, time and state all things, though incompatible, become compatible, things are said to have many-sided natures, and so the Ayurveda taught in the Jain teaching is called the best for all beings.
Things are said to hold infinite relative attributes, such as existence and non-existence, permanence and impermanence, oneness and manyness, and expressibility and inexpressibility, by substance, place, time and state and without conflict with perception and inference, and substance, taste, potency and vipaka likewise coexist without contradiction; Sushruta is said to have written relying on this syadvada, so that it is accepted by him too.
Where else is this mentioned?
Named 7 times on 5 pages. These are automatic name matches, so a few may refer to something else with the same name.
- PDF page 38Front matter… होता है कि अमोघवर्ष श्री भगवज्जिानसेनाचार्य के शिष्य थे। अमोघवर्ष के स्याद्वाद मत के अनुयायित्व को गणितसार संग्रह के कर्ता महावीराचार्य ने भी समर्थन …
- Book page 87Chapter 6… ै। यह तालाब गहरी नदी और पर्वत प्रदेशाें में उत्पन्न होता है। जिनमत के स्याद्वाद के समान, इस का वीर्य नाम, स्वरूप आदि एकानेक स्वभावयुक्त है। तात्पर्य …
- Book page 91Chapter 7×2… िक मानने पर कौन किसकी चिकित्सा करें। इसलिए हेतु, आगम, युक्ति से युक्त स्याद्वाद (अनेकान्त) का आश्रय करना आवश्यक है अर्थात् कथंचित् नित्य कथंचित् अनित …
- Book page 623Appendix: Hitahita… मिल सकता है। कहा भी है - आर्हत् वैद्य (आयुर्वेद)ही प्रथम है। क्योंकि स्याद्वाद की स्थिति के लिए वह साधन है और पूर्वपक्ष से हिताहित की प्रवृत्ति निवृ …
- Book page 625Appendix: Hitahita×2… ्लोकों के कथन से संपूर्ण पदार्थ द्रव्यगुणात्मक सिद्ध होते हैं, यह कथन स्याद्वाद का आश्रय करके ही श्री सुश्रुताचार्य ने अपने ग्रंथ में किया है। इसलिए …
Questions and answers
How does the hitahita chapter argue that no substance is wholesome or unwholesome in every respect?
It rejects the one-sided view that water, ghee, milk and rice are absolutely wholesome and fire, alkali and poison absolutely unwholesome: if the former were wholesome everywhere and always, people with new fever, diarrhoea, kushtha, fistula-in-ano, eye disease or wounds would have to take them constantly, while alkali, fire, instruments and poison used by skilled physicians relieve diseases at once.
Detailed answer and sourcesWhat does the hitahita chapter, quoting Sushruta, say about substance, taste, potency and vipaka?
There is no vipaka without potency, no potency without taste and no taste without substance; substance is the most important, because taste, potency and vipaka depend on it, and the eight qualities called potency rest in substance, not in the tastes.
Detailed answer and sourcesWhy does the Hindi rendering of the hitahita chapter hold that no substance is wholesome or unwholesome in every respect?
Because by substance, place, time and state things have many-sided natures; if water, ghee, milk and food were wholesome in every way, they would have to be used even in new fever, diarrhoea, kushtha, fistula-in-ano, eye diseases and wounds.
Detailed answer and sourcesAll references
Every page and verse of the source that this entry draws on.
Extraction notes
- आद्र्रतमेव is read as आर्हतमेव, matching the chapter's opening sentence.
Quick facts
- Content type
- Principle
- Source pages with records
- 6
- Pages naming it
- 5
- Chapters
- Appendix: Hitahita
- Extraction tasks
- T29, T30
- Record id
- concept_syadvada