Paramāṇu
The smallest possible piece of matter. One is what defines the samaya by moving.
It has one taste, one smell, one colour and two of the four touches. It occupies exactly one space-point and cannot be cut, burned, pierced or divided by anything. Everything material in the universe, from a mountain to a karmic particle, is an aggregate of these.
Its speed is the reason it matters here. At its fastest a paramāṇu crosses the entire Loka in a single Samaya, from one end of fourteen rajju to the other. At its slowest it moves one space-point in one samaya, and that slowest step is the definition of the instant.
So the smallest unit of time is fixed by the smallest unit of matter crossing the smallest unit of space. The three floors of Jain physics are defined against each other, and none of them is defined by itself.
Measurements and counts
| Divisible? | no |
|---|---|
| Occupies | one space-point |
| Qualities | 1 taste, 1 smell, 1 colour, 2 touches |
| Slowest speed | one space-point per samaya |
| Fastest speed | the whole loka in one samaya |
| Aggregates into | skandha — everything material |