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Jaina Logic
from the standpoint of modes or changes. The standpoint which grasps the generic aspect is dravyarthika-naya. And the standpoint which grasps the specific aspect is paryayarthika-naya.
Human intellect inclines sometimes towards the generic aspect of things, and sometimes towards their specific aspect. When it grasps the generic aspect, its view is called dravyarthika-naya. But when it grasps the specific aspect, its view is called paryayarthika-naya. It is not that dravyarthika-naya does not grasp the modes at all, or that paryayarthika-naya does not grasp the substance at all. In other words, it is not that the former grasps the substance exclusively and the latter the modes exclusively. As a matter of fact, both the nayas grasp substance as well as modes, but one grasps substance primarily and modes secondarily, while the other modes grasps primarily and substance secondarily. In dravyarthika-naya, substance is predominant and mode subordinate. On the other hand, in paryāyārthikanaya mode is predominant and substance subordinate.
Let us explain these two standpoints with the help of the following illustration:
When at any time or place or under any condition, the eye is fixed on the ocean and what is attended to are not the specific features of water like its colour, taste, depth or shallowness, extent and limits, but only water as such, then we have before us a generic consideration having only water for its subject-matter; and this precisely is the dravyārthika-naya pertaining to water.
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On the contrary, when what is attended to are the specific features of water like its colour, taste, etc., then the consideration in question, inasmuch as it has the specific features of water for its subject-matter, is called the paryayarthika-naya.
What has been said concerning water can be understood also in the case of all other physical things. Thus, just as in relation to the different things of an identical nature that are located in different places-e.g., in relation to all water-it is possible to have both a generic and a specific consideration, similarly in relation to a single thing that is spread out on the limitless time-plank with its three divisions past, present and future -e.g., in relation to a soul-it is possible to have both a generic and a specific consideration. When the different formations resulting from a difference of time and condition are not attended to and attention is fixed on pure consciousness, then we have before us the dravyarthika-naya pertaining to consciousness; when attention is fixed on the different states
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