Tattvartha Chapter 1 in 11 days
3 sutras a day · 11 days · 33 sutras total
The first chapter of Umaswami's Tattvartha Sutra establishes the path of liberation and the means of right knowledge. Three terse sutras a day for eleven days — slow enough to chew on each.
Primary text: Tattvartha Sutra · Chapter 1 by Acharya Umaswami
- Day 4
The five kinds of knowledge
Sutras 10–12 — matijnana (sensory), shrutajnana (testimonial), avadhijnana (clairvoyant), manahparyaya (telepathic), kevalajnana (omniscient). The classical Jain epistemology.
- Day 5
Sensory knowledge unpacked
Sutras 13–15 zoom into matijnana — the four stages of sensory cognition and their many subdivisions.
- Day 6
Subdivisions of matijnana
Sutras 16–18 continue the detailed taxonomy of sensory knowledge.
- Day 7
Shrutajnana and its limits
Sutras 19–21: testimonial knowledge, its range, its dependencies. The kind of knowledge transmitted across generations of teachers.
- Day 8
Avadhi — the clairvoyant
Sutras 22–24: a kind of knowledge that perceives material objects beyond the senses. Sub-categorized into desha-avadhi (limited) and parama-avadhi (greater).
- Day 9
Manahparyaya and kevala
Sutras 25–27 introduce the rarer two: knowledge of others' minds, and the omniscience of a Kevalin.
- Day 10
Right and wrong knowledge
Sutras 28–30: how knowledge becomes mithya (wrong-faith-tainted) and when it remains samyak. Knowledge alone doesn't save — the orientation matters.
- Day 11
Closing — naya
Sutras 31–33: the seven nayas. Standpoints by which any object can be known. The chapter ends in the doctrinal core of anekantavada.