Karma is a substance.
Not a moral ledger and not a law of consequence — fine physical matter, drawn to the soul by passion and stuck there by it, with a measurable weight, duration and intensity. This is the distinctive Jain claim, and the technical literature on it runs to thousands of pages.
This is the claim that most distinguishes Jainism from every other Indian system, and it is meant literally. Karma is karmana varganas, an extremely fine species of matter pervading the universe, which is drawn to a soul by the vibration that passion produces and adheres to it, forming a karmana sharira, a karmic body that travels with the soul between lives. It has four measurable properties: prakriti, the type of effect; sthiti, the duration before it comes to fruition; anubhaga, the intensity; and pradesha, the sheer quantity of particles. The technical literature — the Karmagrantha, the Shatkhandagama — enumerates eight main types and 148 sub-types, with durations specified in units up to a figure of astronomical size. Kashaya, the passions, are the glue: the same act performed with and without anger binds different amounts. This is why Jain ethics attends so obsessively to the interior state, and it is also why the tradition has no place for divine forgiveness. Matter does not forgive; it either sticks or it does not.
The same ground, other faiths
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