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From the Jain perspective, a liberated soul is a pure soul, while a soul bound to a body is impure. The combination of soul and karma particles in a body-bound soul is the reason for the soul's impure states. Due to these impure states, Jain doctrine considers the soul to be ever-changing. It is neither eternally permanent nor eternally impermanent, but rather eternally permanent in its essence while impermanent in its states. The Buddhist philosophy, which considers the soul to be eternally impermanent, is a one-sided and incomplete view. If the soul is considered to be eternally fleeting, then bondage, liberation, and other such events cannot occur. In such a situation, their accepted theories of karma and rebirth would also not occur. Buddhist philosophy is actually unclear about the soul. On the one hand, it is nihilistic, while on the other hand, it accepts rebirth and karma. Jain philosophy is very clear about the soul. It considers the soul to be eternally permanent and impermanent from the perspective of the doctrine of non-absolutism. It accepts that the soul experiences bondage and liberation. Even though it considers the soul to be formless, it also considers the worldly soul to be somewhat form-bound. The worldly soul possesses a body, perceives objects through the senses, and is characterized by food, breathing, speech, and mind. Due to these transformations, the soul is considered to be somewhat form-bound. All the activities of worldly beings are due to the combination of soul and body, and therefore they are composite. These actions cannot occur in the soul alone, nor are they possible in the body alone.
The nine-fold view describes the distinctions of the world-ending beings through nine types of beliefs. According to the first belief, there are two types of worldly beings: non-stationary and stationary. According to the second belief, there are three types: female, male, and neuter. According to the third belief, there are four types of worldly beings: hell-being, animal, human, and god. According to the fourth belief, there are five types: one-sensed, two-sensed, three-sensed, four-sensed, and five-sensed. According to the fifth belief, there are six types of worldly beings: earth-bodied, water-bodied, fire-bodied, air-bodied, plant-bodied, and sky-bodied. According to the sixth belief, there are seven types of worldly beings: hell-being, animal, female animal, human, luminous being, god, and goddess. According to the seventh belief, there are eight types of worldly beings: first-time hell-being, non-first-time hell-being, first-time animal, non-first-time animal, first-time human, non-first-time human, first-time god, and non-first-time god. According to the eighth belief, there are nine types of worldly beings: earth-bodied, water-bodied, fire-bodied, air-bodied, plant-bodied, two-sensed, three-sensed, four-sensed, and five-sensed. According to the ninth belief, there are ten types of worldly beings: five types from first-time one-sensed to first-time five-sensed, and five types from non-first-time one-sensed to non-first-time five-sensed, making a total of ten types of worldly beings.
All the aforementioned beliefs appear to be distinct, but there is no contradiction in them from a philosophical perspective. The same object appears different from different perspectives, but there is no contradiction. There are different classifications and representations, but all the aforementioned beliefs are non-contradictory. This is the characteristic of the doctrine of non-absolutism. [23]