This page looks at the concept of reincarnation in Jainism.
Reincarnation and deliverance
Last updated 2009-09-10
Jainism, death and reincarnation
Like many Eastern religions, Jainism uses the concepts of reincarnation and deliverance.
Reincarnation
When a being dies the soul (jiva) goes to its next body instantly. This body may not be human or even animal.
The quality of its next life is determined by its karma at that time.
The mental state of the being at the moment of death is also important: a calm and contented death, with the mind focussed on spiritual matters, is the best.
Deliverance
A being achieves deliverance when it is free from all karma.
This is not the same thing as enlightenment. An enlightened being is free of all harmful karma, but still subject to the non-harmful karma. However, a delivered being cannot attract any harmful karma, and they cannot do anything bad. Such a being is called an arihant.
Despite being still human, an arihant has perfect knowledge, and happiness. All the tirthankaras were arihants (but not vice versa). A tirthankara is an arihant who founds a religious community of monks and nuns (there was no organised laity in early Jainism).
An enlightened being does not achieve deliverance until all the non-harmful karma has expired. During this time it continues to be embodied and can live in the world.
Presently, you will not find a fully enlightened being even among the most holy of Jain monks, as Jain teaching states that no-one has or will achieve enlightenment in the present time (in Jain terms, during the 5th and 6th spokes of the current time cycle).
When the being becomes free of all karma it travels instantly to the supreme abode - the highest level of the universe - where it lives for ever in a disembodied state of bliss with the other liberated souls.
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