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126 Studies in Umāsvāti
the permanent and the transitory are real but whatever is permanent is totally different from whatever is transitory. Thus according to the Vaiseṣikās one and the same thing is not both permanent and transitory or being and becoming. The Jainas, on the other hand, accept identity-cum-difference between both of them. According to the Jain philosophy a substance is the co-existence of both Being and Becoming, the unwavering and wavering, the stable and unstable. It is immutable and mutable both. The soul is immutable and as such it never changes into non-soul. It is also mutable and as such it passes through various modes. This is true not only of the soul but of all other substances which are neither absolutely permanent nor absolutely impermanent, but both permanent and impermanent simultaneously.
All that originates, vanishes and persists is real. This triple criterion of truth is as validly applicable to the material atom as to the spiritual self. Each and every existent comes under this criterion. According to Jain philosophy existence is a combination of both, absolute and relative, stable and unstable. We find this truth in Bhagavati sūtra in these words:
'It is true, O lord!' asked Gautama, 'that the unstable changes while the stable does not change, the unstable breaks whereas the stable does not break?' yes, Gautama! "This is exactly so'.1
This statement of Bhagavati indicates the nature of existence. The stable is permanent and unstable is origination and cessation. It means that existence has dual nature, which, though opposite to each other, coexist as complimentary to each.
Resolving the Contradiction
The question before the Jains was as to how they can attribute two contradictory characteristics to existence simultaneously. The Jains resolve the problem by pointing out that we attribute certain characteristics to any object because we give prominence to those characteristics; it does not mean that the
