Srichand Rampuria
The rjusūtra standpoint relates to the momentary nature of a thing.[1] It is narrower than the vyavahāra standpoint in that it looks at a paritcular thing as the thing appears at a particular moment.[2] This standpoint is in operation when, for instance, we treat an actor, who is enacting the role of a king on the stage, as the king for the moment.
While recognising the importance and relative validity of this 'occurrent' aspect in the life of reality we are not expected to loose sight of the 'continuant' character of reality.
An over-emphasis[3] on the fleeting aspect of concrete reality has, according to nayavādin, led the Buddhist to treat this partial truth as the sole foundation of his conception of reality.
Footnotes
Cf. ṛjusūtraḥ sa vijñeyo yena paryāyamātrakam/vartamānaikasamayaviṣayaṁ parigṛhyate // Tattvārthasāraḥ (by Amṛtacandrasūri, printed in the Prathamagucchaka, Śrī Digambara Grantha Bhāṇḍāra, Kāśī, Vira Saṁ 2451), kā. 47. See also JTBY, p. 22.
Siddharśi explains ṛjusūsūtranaya as follows: tatrarjupraguṇamakuṭilam atītānāgatavakraparityāgāt vartamānakṣaṇavivarti vastuno rūpaṁ sūtrayati niṣṭaṅkitam darśayatīti ṛjusūtraḥ /Nyāyāvatāra (P.L. Vaidya's edn.), p. 77. See also NKV] kārikās 11 and 12.
For an elaborate criticism of the various schools of Buddhism, as illustrating this nayābhāsa, see TBV, (on STP, I, gā. 5), p. 317 ff.
