Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s7.t12.28

v1.c7.s7.t12.28

The school also held that atoms are essentially of four kinds: Earth, Water, Fire and Air, the combination of which can form all kinds of objects in the world. Atoms are not created, but ever-present and eternal. There is nothing smaller than the atom. Indivisible and indestructible, it constitutes the “ultimate cause” for the creation of objects. It is spherical in shape and reflects the ultimate difference between objects. By contrast, objects formed through a combination of atoms can be created; they are non-eternal, degradable, destructible, and not spherical in shape, with no ultimate differences exhibited.