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SUTRAS
THE KEY TO THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE
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whole, nor where this rapidly growing pile of data might lead us in the first place.
In refreshing contrast to this Western concept the Tattvarthasutra introduces not only a candid outline of the structure, import, range and validity of knowledge, but also provides clear orientation where insight and cognition will lead us.
The difference between the two concepts originates in the fact that the West concentrates almost exclusively on only one of the two types of perception available to us. Unfortunately this is the one type that only produces a limited insight into reality (naya - see below). Over and above this the West further limits itself by focussing almost exclusively on only one single aspect - the mechanisms of matter20 - of the broad spectrum of reality and attempts to explain the functioning of our entire reality with only the mechanics of this single element.
The Tattvarthasutra uses both methods of perception to uncover an ever broader, ever more integrated, holistic picture of reality instead of splitting it further into isolated parts. The work reminds us - that all knowledge recorded in books and other storage media has no meaning for us as long as we do not actively integrate it
into our life - that all insight can only be experienced individually and - that everything learned only formally remains ineffective as long
as we do not transform it into individual experience. The sutra introduces both methods of perception: - Total Perception (pramana) - We experience Total Perception as the immediate and complete comprehension of complex situations as they occur in the present. As supernatural as this ability may appear to us, as naturally and effortlessly do we handle it in
20 more precisely: the belief that reality is governed only by mechanisms
of matter
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