Dialectical terms (10): Tenet (siddhānta)

Tenet is the affirmation of an idea as a truth after examination and demonstration by various methods of proper reasoning.^[1] There are four kinds of tenets. They are:

(1) Tenet accepted unanimously by all the schools (sarvatantrasiddhānta).

Example: There are causes of diseases, there are diseases, and curable diseases can cured.^[2]

(2) Different tenets accepted by different systems of thought regarding one and the same thing (pratitantrasiddhānta).

Example: Some people say that there are eight rasas; while in Carakasaṃhitā it is said there are six rasas. Similarly Carakasaṃhitā accepts five sense capacities of cognition while some others say that there are six cognitive sense capacities.^[3]

(3)Tenets implied by accepting another tenet (adhikāraṇasiddhānta)^[4]

Example: If it is established that liberated self does not enjoy the fruit of karma since they are devoid of desires, then the doctrine of the suffering of the fruit of karma, liberation, and rebirth are to be accepted.^[5]

(4) The tenet accepted for the sake of argument with out proper examination or proper reason (abhyupagama-siddhānta).^[6]

Example: Sometimes substance is accepted as the most important; on some other occasions quality is accepted as the chief one; and at times potency is accepted as the most important one.^[7]

Akṣapāda, who shares almost the very same view of Caraka, defines tenet as a postulation resting on either the authority of a certain school, hypothesis, or implication.^[8] Then he classifies it into four as the above.^[9] Udyotakara defines tenet as a conviction with regard to the exact nature of a thing.^[10] Keśavamiśra defines it as something which is authoritatively settled true.^[11] The conception of both Caraka and Akṣapāda regarding tenet is one and the same.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

siddhānto nāma sa yaḥ parīkṣakairbahuvidhaṃ parīkṣya hetubhiśca sādhayitva sthāpyate nirṇayaḥ. CS, Vimāna - sthāna, VIII. 37.

[2]:

sarvatantrasiddhānto nāma tasmiṃstasmin sarvasminstantre tattat prasiddhaṃ, Ibid.

[3]:

pratitantrasiddhānto nāma tasmiṃstasminnekasmiṃstantre tattat prasiddhaṃ, Ibid.

[4]:

adhikāraṇasiddhānto nāma sa yasminnadhikaraṇe prastūyamāne siddhānyanyānyapyadhikaraṇāni bhavanti, Ibid.

[5]:

Ibid.

[6]:

abhyupagamasiddhānto nāma sa yamarthamasiddhamaparīkṣitamanupadiṣṭamahetukaṃ vā vādakāle'bhyupagacchanti bhiṣajaḥ, Ibid.

[7]:

Ibid.

[8]:

tantrādhikaraṇābhyupagamasaṃsthitiḥ siddhāntaḥ, Nyāyasūtra., I. i. 26.

[9]:

sarvatantrapratitantrādhikāraṇābhyupagamasaṃsthityarthāntarabhāvāt, Nyāyasūtra., I. i. 27.

[10]:

abhyupagamavyavasthā siddhantaḥ, Nyāya-Vārttika of Udyotakāra., p.107.

[11]:

prāmāṇikatvena abhyupagato'rthaḥ sidhdhāntaḥ, Tarkabhāṣa of Keśavamiśra., p. 238.