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Jain teachings
Jainism teaches that the universe consists of living and non-living things. It is the attachment of non-living substances to living things, the soul, which causes suffering, an unending process of birth, death and rebirth. The Jain way of life consists of the coordinated path of the "Three Jewels': Right Faith, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct. Right Faith is belief in the teachings of the Jinas, Right Knowledge is a proper grasp of the nine real entities making the universe, as found in the teachings of omniscient Jinas, and Right Conduct is the ethical code, behaviour and actions laid down by the teachings of the Jinas.
The universe consists of six substances: the soul, matter, the medium of motion, the medium of rest, space and time. The soul is the living being (jiva) and the others are non-living substances (ajiva). Both jiva and ajiva are interdependent and everlasting. Living beings can be categorised into two types: those who are liberated, that is who have successfully freed themselves from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth, and those who are still enmeshed in that cycle (worldly). Whenever the worldly (sansaari) soul appears on earth it is born as either a mobile or an immobile being. The immobile being has only one sense, that of touch. The simplest example is a plant. Mobile beings have the sense of touch and, in addition, one or more of the remaining four senses, taste, sight, smell and hearing. The five-sense living beings are further subdivided into those that have a mind, such as human beings, and those that do not have a mind, such as most animals. This produces a classification like that in Table 1.1 (It should be remembered that the traditional divisions may not accord exactly with those accepted by modern biology).
Table 11 Types of Jiva
Liberated (siddha)
Immobile
with one sense, e.g. plants
2 senses e.g. worms
3 senses e.g. lice
Jiva
4 senses e.g. bees
Worldly (samsaari)
15
Mobile
5 senses (with or without mind) e.g. animals, birds, fish, humans, celestials, infernals
Causes of The Mysteries of Worldly Life: In the worldly life, living beings have been attached to non-living karma since eternity and this bondage is responsible for birth, death, sufferings, pain and illusory pleasures of a temporary nature. Karmic bondage is the result of our own actions, physical, verbal or mental. The moment the karma is totally shed, the soul becomes liberated and is able to live with its full potentials of infinite bliss, knowledge, faith and spiritual energy, and perfect conduct eternally along with other
