Book Title: Facets of Jain Philosophy Religion and Culture
Author(s): Shreechand Rampuriya, Ashwini Kumar, T M Dak, Anil Dutt Mishra
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati
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Metaphysical View of Anekānta 75
notion of mere change apart from a background of permanent identity.
he positive disproof of the notion must, however, be found in its own inherent absurdity. Change by itself, apart from a background of identity, is impossible for the reason that where there is no underlying identity, there is nothing of change. All change must be change of and
something. And where you have not merely a change of perception but an actual perception of change, the case is even clearer. What we perceive in such a case is the two successive states being held together by the fact that they are successive states of some more permanent unity. Mostly you have not merely a change of perception, but an actual perception of change. What we perceive is the two successive states being held together by the fact that they are successive states of some more permanent unity.
Change, therefore, is a succession within an identity, the identity being as essential to the character of the object as the succession. In what way, then, must we think of this identity which is present throughout the whole succession of changes ? This question-how that which changes can be permanent ?—is similar to the old problem of quality and substance, how the many states can belong to one thing, considered with special reference to the case of states which form a succession in time. Thus, whatever is the true nature of the unity to which the many states of one thing belong, will also be the true nature of the identity which connects the successive stages of a process of change.
A group of states is the embodiment of coherent structure. The earlier and later stages of the process are differences in an identity precisely because they constitute one process. The succession of stages is thus welded into a unity which we express by saying that whatever changes possesses an underlying permanent identity of character.
Triple Characteristics of Real In order to fully grasp the significance of Jain view regarding physical existence in the context of new physics, we think it is necessary to allow a little more space to discuss the character of Reality as asserted by the Jain philosophy of Non-absolutism. We, therefore, apologize to the readers for being repetitive to some extent.
We have seen in the previous sub-section that the Jain conception of Reality avoids the Scylla of fluxism and the Charybdis of illusionism. One cannot conceive of any other philosophy which can maintain realism against the onslaughts of idealists without endorsing the Jain conception. Existence, cessation and persistence are the
