Dravya (Jainism) in the context of "Jain philosophy"

Jain texts assign a wide range of meaning to the Sanskrit dharma or Prakrit dhamma. It is often translated as “religion” and as such, Jainism is called Jain Dharma by its adherents.

In Jainism, the word "Dharma" is used to refer the following: religion; dharmastikaay (the principle of motion) as a dravya (substance or a reality); the true nature of a thing; and ten virtues like forgiveness, etc., also called ten forms of dharma.

Pañcāstikāyasāra ("The Essence of Reality") is an ancient Jain text authored by Acharya Kundakunda. Kundakunda explains the Jain concepts of dravya (substance) and Ethics. The work serves as a brief version of the Jaina philosophy. There are total 180 verses written in Prakrit language. The text is about five (panch) āstikāya, substances that have real existence and have substance, namely Jīva (soul), Pudgala (matter), Dharma (medium of motion), Adharma (medium of rest), and Akasa (space).

A modern English translation was published by Vijay K. Jain in 2018.

Dravyasaṃgraha (Devnagari: द्रव्यसंग्रह) (Compendium of substances) is a 10th-century Jain text in Jain Sauraseni Prakrit by Acharya Nemicandra belonging to the Digambara Jain tradition. It is a composition of 58 gathas (verses) giving an exposition of the six dravyas (substances) that characterize the Jain view of the world: sentient (jīva), non-sentient (pudgala), principle of motion (dharma), principle of rest (adharma), space (ākāśa) and time (kāla). It is one of the most important Jain works and has gained widespread popularity. Dravyasaṃgraha has played an important role in Jain education and is often memorized because of its comprehensiveness as well as brevity.