An Introduction To Jainism: [11] Nine Categories of Truth (Tattvas)

Nine Categories of Truth (Tattvas)

All the philosophies of the world have different traditions and beliefs. They have their own metaphysics. Jain philosophy has its own metaphysics.

A category of Truth means real entity.

Principally they can be classified into:

1. Living being (Jīva)
   
2. Non-living being (Ajīva)

All the visible and non-visible substances of the world are included in these two.

These two can be further classified into nine tattvas:

1	Jīva	soul or sentient-being
2	Ajīva	non-soul or non-sentient
3	Punya	merit
4	Papa	demerit
5	Āśrava	cause of influx of karma
6	Samvara	cause of stoppage of influx of karma
7	Nirjarā	shedding off of karmas
8	Bandha	bondage of karma
9	Mokṣa	emancipation