This article examines the relationship between the self and matter as presented in Pūjyapāda’s and Akalaṅka’s commentaries on the Tattvârtha-sūtra. It challenges the common understanding that Jaina philosophers support a form of radical dualism between the self and matter by analyzing a complex discussion in these texts about the ability of karmic matter to not only influence the self but also characterize it as material. Pūjyapāda and Akalaṅka assert that the nature of the self is both immateri…
Read moreThis article examines the relationship between the self and matter as presented in Pūjyapāda’s and Akalaṅka’s commentaries on the Tattvârtha-sūtra. It challenges the common understanding that Jaina philosophers support a form of radical dualism between the self and matter by analyzing a complex discussion in these texts about the ability of karmic matter to not only influence the self but also characterize it as material. Pūjyapāda and Akalaṅka assert that the nature of the self is both immaterial and material when impacted by karmic matter, and this article argues that the dualism between the self and matter that they propose is non-one-sided rather than radical.
