Quest2ReasonClimb the mountain, sharpen your mind.

Lesson · 4 min Gentle

Mark the Standpoint

In one line Say which side you spoke from before you call it the whole.

Jain teaching asks you to mark the side you are speaking from. A thing can be truly described from one standpoint and still not be the whole. Say that it is a pot, from the side in your hand, and you have said something. Say that one sentence is the entire pot, from every side, for every purpose, and you have claimed more than you saw.

Two people can describe the same thing differently and both be right, because each met a different side. So before you announce what the whole thing is, say which side your sentence came from.

A sentence that differs from yours is not yet a lie. A single true sentence is not yet the whole thing. Marking the side keeps the first from being thrown out and the second from being stretched too far.

The handle

Illustration: The handle

In the dark, a hand finds the handle of a pot. Its owner says, “It is a handle, and that is all this thing is.”

Mahavira’s school would keep the handle. It was truly met. It would also mark the side: this is the pot from the handle. The mouth, the base, and the use you have not tried are not cancelled, and they are not yet in the sentence.

Try this today Next time you give an opinion, add “from where I stood, …”.

Question 1 of 2

In the dark, someone finds the handle of a pot and says the handle is all there is.

What does the lesson say about that sentence?

Question 2 of 2

One visitor calls the new park noisy. Another calls it peaceful. A third says one of them must be lying, because the sentences differ.

What do you ask before you pick a liar?

Cite or share this lesson

A plain reference you can paste into notes or an essay:

Quest2Reason. “Mark the Standpoint.” https://quest2reason.com/learn/lesson/mark-the-standpoint. Accessed 13 November 2026.

Sources
  • Wikipedia, “Anekantavada” — The Jain doctrine of many-sidedness.
  • Jain doctrine of many-sidedness (anekantavada), in the tradition of Mahavira — A true description from one standpoint is not the whole object. Mark the side. Paraphrase of many-sidedness. This lesson does not quote a modern English rendering.
  • The Jain tradition of Mahavira and the teachers before him — Mahavira stands in an older lineage. The habit is to say where you stood before you name the whole.
  • Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Jaina Philosophy” — Many-sidedness and the Jain theory of standpoints.