Jainism

Author(s): Herbert Warren
Publisher: Divine Knowledge Society

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can always be taken towards anything real; that any reality past, present, or future, can be looked upon in these two ways. This has already been mentioned under Aspects of Substance.
JAINISM
Everything that there is, was, or ever will be, has been classified as either a living being or an inanimate thing; and has been defined as that in which there is origination, destruction, and permanence. So in regarding space, time, ether, matter, and every individual soul as permanent, the Jain philosophy takes the attitude that reality had no origin: permanent means having had no origin. But the Jain philosophy takes this attitude towards all, and not merely towards one living being, or one primal substance.
With regard to the other attitude towards reality, namely, that it had an origin, the question very naturally arises as to how in a world that is everlasting there can be any cause or origin. And the answer is that each change of the way in which a being or thing manifests itself has its origin in time, as well as its cause. And this applies not only to each thing in the present world, but also to everything or being in the past and in the future. The qualities (guna) of the ultimate atoms of matter and the qualities of each individual being are perpetually changing the mode of their manifestation (paryaya), and the relation between things and between beings are perpetually changing; thus new things and beings are continually coming into existence and old things and beings. continually going out of existence. Thus in a permanent universe is there origination of its modes of manifestation. The snow on the mountain becomes melted into water; For Private & Personal Use Only