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CHAPTER FIVE
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admist-transformations, nor is it possible that one part of it is exclusively permanent while another one is exclusively transitory. Rather on this view all things deserving to be designated “realbe they conscious or physical, tangible or intangible, gross or subtle-are possessed of a triple form—that is, are possessed of three features origination, destruction and permanence.
Each and every real entity is possessed of two aspects one such as proves lasting throughout the three phases of time, the other such as proves ever transitory. It is on account of its lasting aspect that an entity is called permanent while it is on account of its transitory aspect that it is called something characterized by origination and destruction. When of these aspects one alone is kept in view while the other is kept out of view while the other is kept out of view the entity appears to be exclusively permanent or exclusively transitory. But when both these aspects are kept in view then alone can the complete and real nature of the entity be known. Hence according to both the standpoints in question is the nature of the real propounded in the present aphorism. 29.
The Rebuttal of the Charge of Contradiction and the Nature of Permanence-Amidst-Transformations :
That certainly is permanent which does not deviate from its essence—that is, from its specific nature. 30.
In the last aphorism it has been said that one and the same entity is characterized by origination, destruction and permanence—that is, that it is characterized by the two features permanance and transience. But then it might be asked how is that possible. That which is permanent how can the same be transient ? And that which is transient how can the same be permanent ? It is not tenable that the two features permanence and transience-mutually contradictory like hot and cold-should simultaneously belong to one and the same thing. Is it not therefore self-contradictory to interpret the real as that which is characterized by origination, destruction and permanence ? To delineate the nature of permanence as acceptable to the Jaina system and thus to rebut the charge of contradiction here levelled
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