The Nature Of Reality: [06] Categories Of Being

The Jainas divide all existents into three main categories:

1. those which are sentient;
2. those which are material;
3. those which are neither sentient nor material.

"Sentient" here refers to the jiva or soul, which is characterized by consciousness.
"Material" designates atoms (pudgala) possessing

• form/color,
• taste,
• smell, and
• palpability.

The third category, called arupi-ajiva. is understood to include four insentient, formless, yet existent substances (dravyas):

• space (akasa),
• the principle of motion (dharma-dravya),
• the principle of rest (adharma-dravya), and
• time (kala).

Although "soul" is unquestionably the most important of these categories for the Jaina, our discussion of the existents cannot begin there; we must first understand the context of temporal, spatial, and material factors in which the soul finds itself the very fabric of bondage from which it strives to escape.