Traverses on Less Trodden Path of Indian Philosophy and Religion

Author(s): Yajneshwar S Shastri
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

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Traverses on less trodden path...
character."5 Siddhasena Divakara upholds the same view in different terms and states that "reality is to be viewed, from the two standpoints i.e. substance exists' (dravyarthika) and 'modification exists' (paryayarthika) points of view. In other words, existence is to be looked from the stand-point of being and becoming. Being aspect reveals that every-thing exists eternally and becoming aspect reveals that everything originates, perishes and stays. There cannot be being without becoming or becoming without being, therefore substance is defined as the combination of being with becoming i.e. origin, destruction and permanence". The substance is also defined as that which is possessed of qualities (guna) and modes (paryayas)." Jains identified existence with substance and treat substance as the core of change and as the substratum of attributes (i.e. qualities and modes). Thus, the definitions of existence and substance make it very clear that everything is endowed with the triple character of origination, destruction and permanence. When a real or substance, conscious or un-conscious originates without leaving its own nature, it is called origination (utpāda). Destruction (vyaya) is the disappearance of a form in a thing that it had before. Permanence (dhrauvya) is the fundamental characteristic of the real which remains unchanged throughout various modifications, For example, take gold; when we make an ornament out of gold, the original mass of gold suffers a modification, the fundamental form is destroyed, a form is produced, but the substance gold persists throughout the change. In other words not to give up one's own specific nature is the permanence; to originate and perish in the form of a different transformation in every moment is the utpada and vyaya. Thus, origination does not mean 'coming into being out of nothing, it means the production or development of a new form. Destruction does not mean the complete annihilation of the substance but simply the destruction of the previous form. These three viz, origination, destruction and permanence, differ in their nature, but are not mutually independent. Change and permanence, modes and substance exist together, neither is possible without the other. The three aspects are necessarily there at all the time and it is just this that is meant by the persistance or indestructibility of the real. The cycle of permanence, origination and destruction always operate in a substance
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5. Pravacanasära-II-7,
6. Sanmatitarka-I-7, and 9. ed Sukhlal Sanghavi and B. Doshi, Ahmedabad, 1939. 7. Guṇaparyayavad dravyam-Tattvärthasutra-V-37.
8. (a) Sarvarthasiddhi-V-30.
(b) Tattvärtharājavārtika-V-29.