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Philosopher

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Umāsvāti

c. 2nd–5th century CE (dates uncertain) · Jainism · Ancient

Umāsvāti (or Umāsvāmin) wrote the Tattvārtha Sūtra, the first Jain work in Sanskrit and the one text accepted by both main Jain traditions, Śvetāmbara and Digambara. It lays out the Jain picture of reality: living souls (jīva) bound by karmic matter, freed through right faith, right knowledge and right conduct, with non-violence (ahiṃsā) at the core.

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Jainism is best known in philosophy for anekāntavāda, 'many-sidedness': reality has many aspects, and any one statement captures only some. Umāsvāti uses standpoints (naya); the fuller logic of 'maybe' (syādvāda) was developed later by thinkers such as Siddhasena and Samantabhadra.

Two cards from the sūtra.

Start here

That Which Is, tr. Tatia, chapter 1.

The method and the path in one chapter.

Quotations

“Right faith, right knowledge and right conduct together constitute the path to liberation.”

Umāsvāti · Jainism

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Paraphrase or translation
Meaning & application

Key ideas

  • Three jewels

    Right faith, right knowledge, right conduct together are the path.

  • Many-sidedness

    Each view grasps one aspect. Truth is fuller than any one standpoint.

  • Mutual support

    Living beings depend on and serve one another.

Major works

  • Tattvārtha Sūtra (c. 2nd–5th century)

    Tr. Nathmal Tatia, That Which Is.

Influences

None listed in this library.

Influenced

  • Siddhasena Divākara

Common misreadings

  • Many-sidedness is not relativism; Jains held their own views true.
  • The blind men and the elephant parable is a popular illustration, not Umāsvāti's text.

Famous lines Umāsvāti never said

None of the lines this library files for Umāsvāti is marked Questionable or Misattributed. That is only a fact about these cards. It is not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.

FAQ

What is the best book to start with?

That Which Is, tr. Tatia, chapter 1. The method and the path in one chapter.

What is the most famous quote?

This library does not measure fame, and it does not rank lines by how often they are shared. The first line it files for Umāsvāti that is not marked Questionable or Misattributed is “Right faith, right knowledge and right conduct together constitute the path to liberation.” (Tattvārtha Sūtra 1.1, Paraphrase or translation).

What is the most misquoted line?

None of the lines this library files for Umāsvāti is marked Misattributed or Questionable. That is a fact about these cards, not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.

What is one key idea, in a sentence?

Three jewels: Right faith, right knowledge, right conduct together are the path.