Why this word is great
PUDGALA — [Noun] In Jain and Buddhist philosophy, the material substance that constitutes both the physical world and the individual, persisting through cycles of rebirth. From Sanskrit पुद्गल (pudgala, "body, soul"), it is the stubborn residue of selfhood that clings across lifetimes. Unlike ātman (which suggests an eternal, unchanging essence) or skandha (which dissolves the self into fleeting aggregates), pudgala is the gritty, particulate matter of identity—neither wholly permanent nor entirely transient. It is the ash that remains after a fire, the silt deposited by a receding river, or the faint scent lingering in a room long after its occupant has gone—proof that even impermanence leaves traces.