Doctrines of Jainism

SR No.: 014008
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Vallabhsuri Smarak Nidhi
Publisher: Vallabhsuri Smarak Nidhi Godiji Jain Derasar Mumbai
Publication Year: 1983
Total Pages: 104
Language: English
Classification: Seminar & Articles
File Size: 5 MB

Page 21

The Doctrines of the Jainas
soul but the unalterable character of soul.1 The Jaina belief is a belief in the transmigration of souls, a point in which it differs from the Buddhist conception of rebirth without any transmigration of soul from embodiment to embodiment.
Puggala, atta, satta and jiva are the four terms which occur in Buddhism in connection with all discussions relating to individual, individuality, personality, self and soul.2 As a biological term puggala is nowhere used to deny the existence of an individual being or a living person. The particular individual or individuals are beings that exist in fact, grow in time and ultimately die. The individuals are signified by some names arbitrarily fixed. The personal name is only a conventional device to denote an individual and to distinguish him from other individuals. It has no connotation beyond this symbolism. In the Abhidhamma literature of the Buddhist puggala is equal to character or soul. According to the Buddhists an individual has no real existence. The term puggala does not mean anything real. It is only apparent truth (sammutisacca) as opposed to real truth (paramattha sacca). A puggalavadin's view is that the person is known in the sense of real and ultimate fact. But he is not known in the same way as other real and ultimate facts are known. He or she is known in the sense of a real or ultimate fact and his or her material quality is also known in the sense of a real or ultimate fact. But it cannot truly be said that the material quality is one thing and that the person another, nor can it be truly predicted that
1.
C. Sutrakrianga, I, 12,21; Majjhima, I, Sutta No. XIV; cf. Sutta No. LXXI'I; Sutrakrtanga, I, 6.27; 1, 10.17. Kathavatthu, I, p. 26.
2.