In Jain दर्शन, the jīva is not treated as a mere reification of experience. It is the real, enduring conscious substance whose presence is necessary to explain:

• continuity of awareness
• memory and recognition
• moral responsibility
• bondage and karmic fruition
• liberation

Jainism holds that experience cannot be fully explained by a chain of momentary states alone, because:

1. Memory implies a stable subject

- There must be a real conscious entity that remembers, not just a new event loosely connected to a past one.

1. Karma requires a continuing owner of bondage

- In Jainism, karma binds to the jīva. - If there were only transient states, there would be no true bearer of bondage or release.

1. Moral responsibility presupposes persistence

- One who acts, binds karma, experiences its fruits, and later attains liberation must be the same fundamental conscious self.

1. Liberation is release of the jīva from karmic matter

- Mokṣa is not the end of a process only; it is the purification and unveiling of an actually existing soul.

So from a Jain point of view, dependent continuity alone is not enough. Continuity explains sequence, but does not explain ownership of experience. Jainism insists that there must be a real, enduring jīva as the आधार of consciousness, karma, and liberation.

In short:

• Buddhism: continuity without a permanent self
• Jainism: continuity with a real, permanent jīva

This is one of the fundamental differences between the two systems.