Articles & Blog
40 articles
Skandhas: How Atoms Combine into Matter
Jain physics explains that lone atoms are imperceptible; only when they bind into aggregates called skandhas does tangible matter appear. It...
Sound as Substance: A Physical Theory of Noise
Uniquely, Jain philosophy classifies sound as a form of matter rather than a quality. This surprising stance resonates with the physics of s...
Light, Shadow and Darkness as Forms of Matter
Jain physics treats light, darkness and even shadow as material phenomena, modes of Pudgala. The materiality of light finds a striking echo...
Karma as Subtle Matter: A Particulate Theory of Action
Uniquely among Indian traditions, Jainism treats karma as actual subtle matter that binds to the soul. This physical model invites thoughtfu...
Leshya: The Colours of the Mind
The Jain doctrine of leshya assigns colours to states of mind, from black cruelty to white serenity. It is an early psychology linking emoti...
Ananta: The Jain Mathematics of Infinity
Jain mathematicians distinguished many kinds of infinity and even different sizes of the infinite, centuries before Cantor formalised transf...
Measuring the Immeasurable: Palya, Sagaropama, Rajju
To describe cosmic durations and distances, Jain texts devised enormous units like the palya, sagaropama and rajju, defined by ingenious tho...
Mahavira the Mathematician of Ninth-Century India
The Jain mathematician Mahaviracharya wrote a landmark treatise around 850 CE, the first Indian text devoted wholly to mathematics, rich in...
Counting Combinations: Permutations in Jain Texts
Jain thinkers explored permutations and combinations early and seriously, motivated by philosophy and music alike. Combinatorics has deep ro...
The Anuyogadvara and Ideas Resembling Set Theory
The Jain canonical text Anuyogadvara handles numbers, classes and the innumerable in ways that historians compare, cautiously, to the spirit...
Anekantavada and the Observer in Quantum Physics
Anekantavada, the Jain doctrine of many-sidedness, holds that reality has multiple aspects revealed from different standpoints. It resonates...
Syadvada: Many-Valued Logic and the Sevenfold Predication
Syadvada expresses Jain non-absolutism through seven conditional predications, admitting truth, falsity and inexpressibility together. It re...