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EXISTENCE OF THE SOUL
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“The soul is (1) living (2) realizer (3) has conscious attentiveness (4) lord of its destiny, responsible for its good or bad conditions (5) doer (6) enjoyer (7) having size according to the body it occupies (8) non-material (9) and is associated with karmas."
If we compare the actions of the five Skandhas of the Buddhists with the mundane condition of the soul in karmic bondage, its sensual and impure knowledge, feeling of pleasure and pain etc., we will come to the conclusion that Jainism and Buddhism are the same in this respect. The pure soul of Jainism agrees with the Nirvana of the Buddhists. Although in the Buddhist literature, it is not clearly stated that any soul is coming on along with the five compound things, body, feeling, sensation, mentation, and (impure) consciousness, yet on deep consideration it will be noted that the positive thing which remains after the destruction of the five skandhas is Nirvana i.e., the pure soul. It means that what was hidden under the effects of the five skandhas has now appeared in its pure nature. The soul retains its pure nature of greatest peace and bliss for ever.
If Nirvana is not annihilation, but a positive condition of existence, it must be taken to be nothing else but the pure soul as described in Jainism.
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