Adharmāstikāya
The medium of rest, the twin of the medium of motion: one formless substance filling exactly the loka, without which nothing could stop. It holds nothing. It is what makes staying possible, as shade is for a traveller.
The bhāṣya's likeness is the shade of a tree: it does not seize the traveller, but it is where he stops. Adharma is the ground of every rest - a stone lying, a body sitting, a siddha at the crown of the universe staying where it is for ever. Like dharma it is one, innumerable in space-points, formless and still, and like dharma it fills the loka exactly and ends where the loka ends.
The two together are the argument for the loka's shape. Space is infinite and the same everywhere, so nothing in space itself makes one region the world and the rest not; what makes the loka the loka is that the two media are in it and not beyond. A thing in aloka could neither move nor stop, which is why there is nothing there.
Measurements and counts
| How many | 1 |
|---|---|
| Space-points | asaṃkhyāta |
| Form | none |
| Extension | yes |
| Active | no - niṣkriya |
| Fills | the whole loka, exactly |
| Does | rest - 5.17 |
| Likeness | the shade and the traveller |