Acharya Samantabhadra

Acharya Shri 108 Samantabhadra Ji Maharaj
Digambar acharya
Religion	Jainism
Sect	Digambara
Personal
Born	2nd century CE
Religious career
Works	Ratnakaranda śrāvakācāra, Āpta-mīmāṁsā, Jinaśatakam

Samantabhadra was a Digambara acharya (head of the monastic order) who lived about the later part of the second century A.D. He was a great proponent of the Jaina doctrine of Anekantavada. The Ratnakaranda śrāvakācāra is the most popular work of Acharya Samantabhadra. Acharya Samantabhadra lived after Acharya Umaswami but before Acharya Pujyapada.

Samantabhadra is said to have lived from 450 CE to 550 CE. He was from southern India during the time of Chola dynasty. He was a poet, logician, eulogist and an accomplished linguist. He is credited with spreading Jainism in southern India.

Samantabhadra affirmed Kundakunda's theory of the two nayas - vyavahāranaya (‘mundane') and niścayanaya (ultimate, omniscient). He argued however that the mundane view is not false, but is only a relative form of knowledge mediated by language and concepts, while the ultimate view is an immediate form of direct knowledge. Samantabhadra also developed further the Jain theory of syādvāda.

Acharya Samantabhadra, in his early stage of asceticism, was attacked with a disease known as bhasmaka (the condition of insatiable hunger). As, digambara monks don't eat more than once in a day, he endured great pain. Ultimately, he sought the permission of his preceptor to undertake the vow of Sallekhana. The preceptor denied the permission and asked him to leave Jain monasticism and get the disease cured. After getting cured he again joined the monastic order and became a great Jain Acharya.

Jain texts authored by Acharya Samantabhadra are:

Acharya Jinasena, in his celebrated work, Ādi purāṇa praises the Acharya Samantabhadra as

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