Articles & Blog
40 articles
The Architecture of the Cosmos: Jain Loka
Jain texts describe the universe as a vast, uncreated structure of finite shape floating in infinite space. How does this ancient cosmology...
Infinite Space: Akasha and the Unbounded Universe
Among the six eternal substances of Jainism, Akasha is space itself, and it is genuinely infinite. This anticipates deep questions modern ph...
Cyclical Time: Kalachakra and Cosmological Cycles
Jainism sees time as an endless wheel of ascending and descending ages rather than a single line from creation to end. Modern cosmology has...
Six Eternal Substances and the Idea of Conservation
Jainism reduces all of reality to six eternal substances that are never created or destroyed. This deep commitment to conservation echoes th...
Paramanu: The Jain Atom Before the Atom
Centuries before modern chemistry, Jain philosophers described matter as built from indivisible ultimate particles called paramanu, with pro...
Nothing Is Destroyed: Matter, Energy and Permanence
Jain philosophy insists that matter can be transformed endlessly but never created or destroyed. This principle sits close to one of the dee...
Nigoda: Microbial Life in Jain Thought
Jain scriptures describe nigoda, countless minute organisms clustered together in every corner of the cosmos. Long before microscopes, this...
From One Sense to Five: A Ladder of Sentience
Jainism classifies living beings by how many senses they possess, from single-sensed microbes to five-sensed humans. It is an early, systema...
Do Plants Feel? Vanaspatikaya and Modern Botany
Jainism has long regarded plants as living, sensitive beings deserving of care. Modern plant science is uncovering surprising sensitivity an...
Classifying the Living World: A Jain Taxonomy
Long before Linnaeus, Jain thinkers built a detailed system for sorting all living beings by embodiment, senses and mobility. It is one of h...
Life in Earth, Water, Fire and Air
Jainism holds that the elements themselves host living beings, with bodies of earth, water, fire and air. It is a radical extension of life...
Sammurchana: Spontaneous Generation Reconsidered
Jain texts describe sammurchana, the arising of certain beings without parents. Modern science rejects spontaneous generation, yet the origi...