Concept of Matter in Jaina Philosophy

SR No.: 001663
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: J C Sikdar
Publisher: P V Research Institute Varanasi
Publication Year: 1987
Total Pages: 412
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Philosophy, & Physics
File Size: 23 MB

Page 342

Transformation of Matter
307
light through the hard transparent bodies like glass and crystal to things situated beyond is the positive proof that the things which appear to be compact are not really so and they cannot resist the penetration of such fine things like the atoms of light. The fact of the passage of one material substance through another demonstrates that take wholesale disiptegration of the body is not a necessary precondition for the operation of heat and for the emergence of the new physical qualities.
In answer to the Vaiśesika point that the hard and red baked pot is a distinct entity from the soft and black unbaked one on account of their functional characteristics and the impossibility of the occurrence of the contradictory attributes in a self-identical substance, the Naiyāyikas maiotain that the identity of a thing can be made only by recognition without contradiction. In this case the recognition of identity is obvious and conclusive. The successive emergence of contradictory qualities does not annual the identity of a thing, e.g. a piece of cloth, when drenched in water, becomes wet and dries, remains the same cloth. In refutation to the Vaišeșika view that recognition is not necessarily a proof of identity as it is observed to make a mistake in such cases like the flame of light and the stream of water, the Naiyāyikas explain that the recognition of identity of the flame of light is vitiated by forceful arguments. It is directly perceived that there is the difference of size of the flame at different moments and the wick's oil and the action of fire also change every moment. Therefore it is shown by the difference of causal conditions as well as of the qualities of the flame that the flame in question is not one but a series of phenomena which are misconceived to be identical on account of their quick succession and close similarity. The apparent identity of a stream of water can be explained. So the Vaiseșika argument that all recognitions are equally 1. Na viruddhasarisparśavattvenā'avayavino bhedo'abhimataḥ,
avayavina'ekatvena pratyabhijñānāt, NP., p. 313.