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Jaina Philosophy and Religion
are said to cause phlegm (kaphahetuḥ) and bile (pittakāraṇam) respectively but when compounded (dvayātmani), they lose their respective defects (dosa)'(Similarly, doctrine of absolute permanence and that of absolute impermanence are vitiated by logical defects while that of permanence-cumchange is free from them.)
Regarding the nature of reality, different systems of Indian philosophy have different views. The Vedanta maintains that Brahman, the only reality, is absolutely permanent. It considers reality to be absolutely static and dismisses all change as illusory or mere appearance. On the other hand, Buddhism contends that reality is momentary and discrete (i.e.. characterised by origination and destruction alone). It conceives reality as pure change and declares all that is indicative of permanence or staticity to be illusory and unreal. The Sāṁkhya regards Prakrti (Nature) as permanent-cum-impermanent (variable constant), while Purusa (the soul) as absolutely permanent. The Naiyāyika and the Vaiseșika philosophers maintain that of the real things, some like an atom, Time, soul, etc., are absolutely permanent while some like a jar, a piece of cloth, etc., are absolutely impermanent (i.e., characterised by origination and destruction alone). Thus, according to them, both the permanent and the changing are real but whatever is permanent is totally different from whatever is changing. For them one and the same thing is not both, permanent and changing. But the Jaina philosophy maintains that all things-sentient and insentient, tangible and intangible, subtle and gross—are of the triple nature of origination, destruction and persistence. Reality is both permanent and changing. Reality in the Jaina's view is a permanent subject of changing states.
As already stated, everything has always two aspects—one permanent and the other impermanent. On account of its permanent aspect, the thing is called permanent (unchanging, static). And on account of its impermanent aspect, it is regarded as undergoing origination and destruction (i.e., as constantly changing). When we pay attention to one aspect alone, we find the thing either absolutely permanent or absolutely impermanent. But when we pay attention to both the aspects, we know the thing in its entirety, as it is. It is only on the basis of these two standpoints that the Jaina philosophy describes reality as having a triple
1. gudo hi kaphahetuḥ syān nāgaram pittakaranam /
dvayātmani na doso 'sti gudanagarabhesaje //6//
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