The Sanskrit philosophical faculty known as Vaiśeṣika is the one most immediately coping with ontology. Its basic textual content is the Vaiśeṣikasūtra, which is commented upon by Prāśastapada within the Pādarthadharmasaṅgraha (from now one PDhS) (the next is a abstract of Padārthadharmasaṅgraha advert 8.7).
The college distinguishes substances and qualities. The primary group contains 4 kinds of atoms (earth, water, fireplace, air) after which aether, time, area, ātmans and inside organs (manas). The latter are wanted as a separate class, as a result of they’re point-sized and subsequently not fabricated from atoms, not like the exterior sense schools.
Among the many 17 qualities, it recognises parimāṇa or dimension'. This encompasses at first two prospects, specifically atomic (aṇu), or prolonged (mahat). The previous covers partless entities which have allegedly no spatial dimension, like factors in Euclidean geometry and atoms themselves. These are thought-about to be with out extension and everlasting by time (nitya). The latter is subdivided into mahat and paramahat. The primary covers all objects one encounters in regular life, from triads of atoms (imagined to be of the scale of a particle of mud, the primary stage of atomic construction to be prolonged) to the most important mountain. These entities have components and extension and have an origin and an finish in time. The second subdivision covers particular substances, listed as ākāśaaether’, area, time and ātmans, which must be imagined to be current at every location. Such entities are additionally imagined to be nitya, that’s everlasting by time. In different phrases, they’re current at every location of time and area.
The above additionally implies that entities thought-about to be everlasting by time can solely be both atomic or all-pervasive.
Nevertheless, area, time, aether and selves (ātman) are current in any respect areas in several methods.
About aether, to start with, texts like Jayanta’s Nyāyamañjarī say that it must be accepted as a fifth substance to be able to justify the diffusion of sound throughout a number of media. Texts of the Vaiśeṣika faculty, and of the allied faculty of Nyāya specify that aether doesn’t occupy all areas, however quite is in touch with every particular person atom):
[The aether’s] all-pervasiveness consists in the truth that it’s in touch with every corporal (mūrta) substance.
(sarvamūrtadravyasaṃyogitvam vibhutvam (Tarkasaṃgrahadīpikā advert 14).)
Which means aether doesn’t pervade atoms, however is in touch (saṃyoga) with every one in all them.
This level is already express within the allied faculty of Nyāya, the Nyāyabhāṣya, and is required due to the point-sized nature of atoms. If these had been pervaded by aether, then they might have components, and thus not be everlasting. These undesired penalties are examined within the following:
That is unattainable, due to the penetration by aether || NS 4.2.18 ||
It’s unattainable for an atom [to be] partless and everlasting. Why? Due to the penetration by ether, that’s, as a result of an atom, if it had been permeated, that’s `penetrated’ by aether, inside and out of doors, then, due to this penetration it will have components, and resulting from having components it will be impermanent.
Or, the aether isn’t all-located} || 4.2.19 ||
Alternatively, we don’t settle for that. There isn’t a aether throughout the atoms and subsequently aether finally ends up not being all-located
(ākāśavyatibhedāt tadanupapattiḥ || 4.2.18 ||
tasyāṇor niravayasya nityasyānupapattiḥ. kasmāt. ākāśavyatibhedāt. antarbahiścāṇur ākāśena samāviṣṭo vyatibhinno vyatibhedāt sāvayavaḥ sāvayavatvād anitya iti.
ākāśāsarvagatatvaṃ vā || 4.2.19 ||
athaitan neṣyate paramāṇor antar nāsty ākāśam ity asarvagatatvaṃ prasajyeta iti.)
Aether is postulated as a substrate of sound (which may transfer by solids, liquids and air, thus proving that it has neither earth, nor water, nor air as substrate). Thus, it must be unitary (a number of aethers wouldn’t clarify the propagation of sound, sound would cease on the finish of the respective aether) and it must be current in any respect areas (for a similar cause). Extra intimately: Solely due to the unitary nature of aether is it doable for sound to journey between totally different loci. In any other case, one must posit some mechanism to elucidate how the sound encountered in a single aether travels to a different one. As a substitute, the less complicated answer is to posit that aether is essentially each single (eka) and current in any respect areas (vibhu).
As for ātman, the self is by definition everlasting (in any other case, no afterlife nor cycle of rebirths could be doable). It can’t be atomic, although, as a result of the ātman is the precept of consciousness and folks turn into conscious of issues doubtlessly in every single place. The truth that they don’t turn into perceptually conscious of issues being, e.g., behind a wall, against this, is simply resulting from the truth that the ātman must be in contact (through the interior sense organ, manas, which is believed to be atomic and to maneuver shortly from one to the opposite sense-faculty) to the sense schools (indriya) to ensure that perceptual consciousness to happen. Yogins are capable of understand issues their our bodies aren’t in touch with as a result of their ātmans are omnipresent, like our ātman, and are ready, not like our ātman, to attach with different our bodies’ sense schools.
Inside Sanskrit philosophy, Jaina philosophers prompt that the ātman is co-extensive with the physique, since it might probably expertise regardless of the physique can expertise. Vaiśeṣika and different non-Jaina authors disagree, as a result of this might result in the absurd consequence of an ātman altering in measurement by one’s life.
An extra component to be taken under consideration with regard to theories of location, and specifically whereas adjudicating whether or not they’re about occupation or non-occupation is materiality.
Occupation of area appears to happen solely from the extent of atomic triads as much as large, however not all-located, objects. Atoms are stated to be mūrta and mūrta is often translated as `materials’, however taken in isolations, atom wouldn’t have components and are solely point-sized. On this sense, their being mūrta refers extra about their being basic for materials entities, quite than being materials if taken in isolation. The excellence is theoretically related, however much less evident on the pragmatic stage, provided that atoms are by no means present in isolation. Being mūrta is attributed to atoms of the 4 components (to not aether) in addition to to the inside sense organ (Nyāyakośa, s.v.), however to not ātman neither to aether.
