जै · The Jain Encyclopedia
The numerable

Saṃkhyāta

संख्यात

Numbers you could in principle count to. There are three of them, and the smallest is two.

One is not treated as a number in this scheme. It is the unit against which number is measured, so counting begins at two, and jaghanya saṃkhyāta, the least numerable, is exactly 2.

Madhyama saṃkhyāta is everything in between, from three upward. Utkṛṣṭa saṃkhyāta, the greatest numerable, is fixed by the four śalākā pits and is a definite quantity even though nobody will ever write it out.

Add one to it and you are no longer counting. That is the whole point of the boundary.

what one samaya isparamāṇupradeśaone atom crosses one point of space, at its slowest= one samayawhy it cannot be dividedA cloth tears in an instant. But each thread parts after the one before it,and each thread is countless fibres. Parting one fibre takes innumerable samaya.counted in samaya1Liberationthe soul's rise to Siddhaśilā, never turning1–4Vigrahagatithe passage from one body to the next8Kevalī samudghātaa soul fills the whole loka and returnsasaṃ.One āvalikāinnumerable samaya · ≈ 1/5,800 second2 →Antarmuhūrtamore than an instant, less than 48 minutesthe ladder of number21 kinds · 3 numerable, 9 innumerable, 9 infiniteANANTAthe infiniteUtkṛṣṭa Anantānantakevalajñāna knows all of it at onceMadhyama Anantānantathe space-points of alokaJaghanya AnantānantaUtkṛṣṭa YuktānantaMadhyama Yuktānantathe siddhas · the souls in nigodaJaghanya Yuktānanta= the number of abhavya soulsUtkṛṣṭa ParītānantaMadhyama ParītānantaJaghanya Parītānantautkṛṣṭa asaṃkhyātāsaṃkhyāta + 1ASAṂKHYĀTAthe innumerableUtkṛṣṭa AsaṃkhyātāsaṃkhyātaMadhyama Asaṃkhyātāsaṃkhyātathe space-points of the loka fall hereJaghanya AsaṃkhyātāsaṃkhyātaUtkṛṣṭa YuktāsaṃkhyātaMadhyama YuktāsaṃkhyātaJaghanya Yuktāsaṃkhyāta= the samaya in one āvalikāUtkṛṣṭa ParītāsaṃkhyātaMadhyama ParītāsaṃkhyātaJaghanya Parītāsaṃkhyātautkṛṣṭa saṃkhyāta + 1SAṂKHYĀTAthe numerableUtkṛṣṭa Saṃkhyātathe four śalākā pits, less oneMadhyama SaṃkhyātaJaghanya Saṃkhyāta= 2 · counting begins here→ the four śalākā pits: how the greatest numerable number is fixed
The samaya, and the ladder of number — Saṃkhyāta highlighted

Measurements and counts

Kinds3
Least2
Is one a number?no — it is the unit
Greatestfixed by the śalākā pits
Greatest + 1the least innumerable

Connected

The four śalākā pitsAsaṃkhyātaAnantaSamaya

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समयं गोयम! मा पमायए

Do not be heedless, Gautama, for even a single samaya.

Uttarādhyayana Sūtra 10