Concept of Paryaya in Jain Philosophy

Author(s): S R Bhatt, Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 16

Concept of Paryaya in Jain Philosophy sense-organs, while there are others which are not perceptible through sense-organs. Thus the cycle of transformation ever goes on continuously; no existence or dravya can remain free from it. The svabhavika transformation is called artha-paryaya (non-manifest mode), which is very subtle. It is through this transformation that a substance maintains its own existence while passing from one instant to another one. It is not perceptible through senses. Another kind of paryaya, which is called vyanjana paryaya (explicit or manifest mode), is a gross one. Some forms of them are perceptible through sense organs. Human form (of a jiva) is only a paryaya and not the fundamental substance (dravya). It is an explicit paryaya which we can know (through sense-organ). But the soul itself is a subtle substance; we cannot know it (through sense-organ). We may conclude by saying that all our knowledge (which is sensory) is limited to know only the paryayas; we cannot know directly the dravya itself; we can know it only through the paryayas. Foot-Notes : 1. Tattvartha Sutra, 5/29 - utpada-vyaya-dhrauvyatmakam sa. 2. Bhagavai, 1/440 3. Ibid., 1/440 4. Ibid., 14/49-50 5. Ibid., 3/143-148