dravya

▪ Jainism

Sanskrit“substance”

      a fundamental concept of Jainism, a religion of India that is the oldest Indian school of philosophy to separate matter and soul completely. The Jains recognize the existence of five astikayas (eternal categories of being) which together make up the dravya (substance) of existence. These five are dharma, adharma, akasha, pudgala, and jiva. Dharma is both a moral virtue and, in a meaning unique to Jainism, the medium that allows beings to move. Adharma, the medium of rest, enables beings to stop moving. Akasha, the space in which everything exists, is separated in two categories, world space (lokakasha) and non-world space (alokiakasha), which is infinitely larger than world space but empty. These three categories are unique and inactive. Pudgala (“matter”) and jiva (“soul”) are active and infinite. Only pudgala is perceptible, and only jiva has consciousness. Added later by the Digambara sect, a sixth category of dravya, kala (time), is eternal but not universal, because it does not occur in the outermost layers of the world.

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