15 March 2010

Jivas as described in Jainism.


Jainism have categorized all the living beings (jivas) that can be found in the earthly realm. This is important because the fundamental Jain principle of ahimsa (nonviolence) extends to all jivas.

In Jain thinking, a jiva is a soul attached to a body. Since a soul is of flexible size, the same soul can fit inside an ant's body as a human's. According to the Jain scriptures, there are 8.4 million species of jivas. They fall into two main categories: immobile single-sensed (Ek-Indriya) and mobile and multi-sensed. And within these categories are subcategories, as follows:

A. Immobile and single-sensed (Ek-Indriya)
1. Earth-bodied (clay, sand, metal) 


2. Water-bodied (dew, fog, ice, rain, ocean)

3. Fire-bodied (flames, hot ash, lightening) 


4. Air-bodied (wind and cyclones) 

5. Plant-bodied (trees, seeds, roots) 
    a. One-souled (trees, branches, seeds) 
    b. Multi-souled (root vegetables)
B. Mobile and multi-sensed
1. Two-sensed: touch and taste (shells, worms, microbes) (Bay-Indriya)


2. Three-sensed: touch, taste and smell (lice, ants, moths) (Tay-Indriya)

3. Four-sensed: touch, taste, smell, sight (scorpions, crickets, spiders, flies) (Chou-Indriya)


4. Five-sensed: touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing (humans and animals) (Panch-Indriya)

    a. Infernal (in one of the hells) 
    b. Non-human 
    c. Celestial (in one of the heavens) 
    d. Human

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Source: Internet 

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