Dravyasamgraha

Author(s): Nemichandra Acharya, Vijay K Jain
Publisher: Vikalp

Page 79

Dravyasamgraha
According to Jainism, matter, like other substances, is only a bundle of qualities. Qualities, or guņas, are those which inhere in substances, as materiality exists in all atoms and bodies of matter. It is not correct to say that qualities can exist by themselves. There are many qualities but six are the more important: (1) existence, (2) enjoyability or utility, (3) substantiveness, (4) knowability, (5) specific or identity rhythm, i.e., the force which prevents a substance from becoming transformed into another, and (6) the quality of possessing some kind of form.
A little reflection will show that the six general qualities enumerated above exist not only in matter, but in all the six substances. In addition to the above, each of the six substances also possess its special quality, e.g., space has the quality of finding room for and containing all things. The general qualities, therefore, are to be conceived as if constituting the substratum of matter and other substances which exist in nature. Hence, matter ought to be defined as that which has a certain number of general qualities in common with other substances, and also as that which is composed of an infinity of particles, each of which is pervaded by the general q tioned above.
Further light is thrown on the nature of matter with reference to the quality of enjoyability, or utility. Jīva is the perceiver and enjoyer, and matter, the object of perception and enjoyment. Hence the relation between them is that of subject and object.
Jain, Champat Rai, The Key of Knowledge, p. 530-532
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