Buddhism describing the cycle of
saṃsāra; the wheel of life caused by craving to a self, thus giving raise to rebirths in one of the
six realms of existence. The concepts of (not-self) is fundamental to
Buddhism. Early Buddhists were suspicious about the spiritual value of a soul. They wanted to clearly reject the notion of a mortal body and eternal soul dualism that
Jainism posited and that lead to ascetics starving themselves to death to free the soul from the mortal prison. From a historical perspective, the doctrine of evolved out of two main philosophico-religious beliefs: eternalism (sassata-
vada) and annihilationism (
anuyoga). The eternalists assert the eternity of the soul; ritual purity,
celestial beings,
heaven and
hell, mortification of the body, etc. In contrast, the annihilationists deny the immortality of the soul and believe that the soul only exists as long as the body does. The idea of an unchanging soul conflicts with the principles of dependent origination and cessation of all of the five aggregates. Due to their impermanence, they are considered "empty" or "without essence". Through the lens of impermanence, Buddhists recognize that all phenomena—whether physical or mental—are in a continuous cycle of arising and dissolving, with nothing being permanent, including the perception of a self or soul. In Buddhism, the only absolute is
Śūnyatā. The self is a retrospective evaluation of sensual experience. This sensory experience then leads to craving and the formation of the thought "this is mine", whereby creating the notion of a self. It is this continuity of craving to a self, which gives raise to a new birth. Buddhists regard the identification of an independent soul with perception as mistaken, since our perception of the world depends on the sense organs. In the Cetana-sutta, the flow of consciousness maintains the connection between one birth to another, The mentions three modes of self-continuity: sensual self-continuity (), fine-material mode (), and immaterial self-continuity (), the latter two take place among those who practise absorption meditations () and become brahmas. However, even this transmission of consciousness cannot be identified with a soul, for the very possibility of losing consciousness would be inexplicable. Were there a soul, Buddhists would associate it with something entirely devoid of sensibility—yet such an entity would lack any basis for being identified as "me". The final argument is that, within Buddhist thought, nothing has been identified as unchanging or permanent. Thus, every individual is a complex interplay of physical and mental phenomena, all dependent on countless conditions; once these phenomena and conditions are removed, no enduring self can be found.
Unanswerable question The Buddha left
ten questions unanswered, one of which concerned the existence of a soul ("Is the soul one thing and the body another?" and "Who is it that is reborn?"). This led some people to believe that the Buddha only rejected a soul defined through one (or more) of the
five aggregates (
Skandha). Another interpretation holds that he remained silent, because the Buddha considered the question irrelevant to the pursuit of enlightenment. Whether he knew the answer remains a matter of debate. Yet another view argues that the Buddha remained silent, because the question itself is invalid. Some Buddhists of the
Mahayana tradition believe that the soul is not absolute, but immortal; the soul cannot die, although influenced by karma, since the soul is unborn and unconditioned. In support for that view, Christopher Gowan points at Buddhist texts possibly implying some sort of self, such as references to personal pronouns, and the need for a self who suffers in order to aim for release in nirvana. The Buddha would have rejected the former, but implicitly affirmed the latter.
Two Truths In the early Buddhist text ''
Milinda's Questions'', the nature of the enduring self is examined through a dialogue between the Greek king Milinda and the monk Nāgasena. When asked about his identity, Nāgasena explains that in truth, there is no Nāgasena, because his name is merely a label. To illustrate his point, he refers to Milinda's chariot and asks whether its essence lies in the axle, the wheels, or the framework. Milinda concedes that the chariot's essence is not found in any single part, but maintains that the term 'chariot' is still meaningful, as it refers to the combination of all its parts. Nāgasena agrees—and adds that this is precisely his point: there is no Nāgasena beyond the five aggregates that constitute him. Like the chariot, the person is a conventional designation applied to a collection of interdependent components.
Christianity The
Bible teaches that upon death, souls are immediately welcomed into
heaven, having received forgiveness of sins through accepting Christ as Savior.
Paul the Apostle used
psychē () and
pneuma () specifically to distinguish between the Jewish notions of
nephesh (נפש), meaning soul, and
ruah (רוח), meaning spirit (also in the Septuagint, e.g. Genesis 1:2 רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים = =
spiritus Dei = 'the Spirit of God'). This has led some Christians to espouse a
trichotomic view of humans, which characterizes humans as consisting of a body (
soma), soul (
psyche), and spirit (
pneuma). However, others believe that "spirit" and "soul" are used interchangeably in many biblical passages and so hold to dichotomy: the view that each human comprises a body and a soul. The
author of Hebrews said, "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit." The "origin of the soul" has proved a vexing question in Christianity. The major theories put forward include
soul creationism,
traducianism, and
pre-existence. According to soul creationism, God creates each individual soul directly, either at the moment of conception or at some later time. According to traducianism, the soul comes from the parents by natural generation. According to the pre-existence theory, the soul exists before the moment of conception. There have been differing thoughts regarding whether human
embryos have souls from conception, or whether there is a point between conception and birth where the
fetus acquires a soul,
consciousness, and
personhood. Corruptionism is the view that following physical death, the human being ceases to exist (until resurrection) but their soul persists in the afterlife. holds that both the human being and their soul persist in the afterlife, as distinct entities, with the soul constituting the human. Most
Thomists hold to the corruptionist view, arguing that a human person is a composite of matter and soul. Survivalists argue that while a person is not identical to their soul, it is sufficient to constitute a person. It argues that the soul meets most of the criteria of a person but that the survivalist view fails to capture the unnaturalness of a person surviving death. In
Hindu philosophy, especially in the
Vedanta school of
Hinduism,
Ātman is the
first principle, the true self of an individual beyond identification with phenomena, the essence of an individual. In order to attain
liberation (moksha), a human being must acquire self-knowledge (
ātma jñāna), which is to realize that one's true self (
Ātman) is identical with the transcendent self
Brahman according to
Advaita Vedanta. The
six orthodox schools of Hinduism believe that there is
Ātman ('self', 'essence') in every being. In
Hinduism and
Jainism, a (, '
; , ') is a living being, or any entity imbued with a life force. The concept of
jīva in Jainism is similar to
Ātman in Hinduism; however, some Hindu traditions differentiate between the two concepts, with
jīva considered as an individual self, but with
Ātman as that which is the universal unchanging self that is present in all living beings and everything else as the metaphysical
Brahman. The latter is sometimes referred to as
jīva-ātman (a soul in a living body). The two terms are frequently used interchangeably, although
rūḥ is more often used to denote the divine spirit or "the breath of life", while
nafs designates one's disposition or characteristics. The
Taj al-'Arus min Jawahir al-Qamus lists several meanings of
nafs, including two from the
Lisān al-ʿArab, including spirit, self, desire, evil eye, disdain, body.
Lane's Lexicon notes that humans consist of
nafs and
rūḥ. The former applies to the mind and the latter to life. The non-rational dimension was subdivided into the vegetative and animal souls, while the rational aspect was split into the practical and theoretical intellects. While all agreed that the non-rational soul is tied to the body, opinions diverged on the rational part: some deemed it immaterial and naturally independent of the body, whereas others asserted the entirely material nature of all soul components. Human experience is whereby always between the body () and spirit (), and thus the individual experience is limited to imagination (). This allows the soul to determine its own tragectory in a
karmic chain of causalities, towards paradisical or infernal levels, depending on the person's understanding, traits, and actions.
Theology (kalam) Al-Ghazali () reconciles the
Sunni views on the soul with Avicennan philosophy (). Al-Ghazali defines human as a spiritual substance (), neither confined, nor joined, nor separated from the body. He, however, refuses to elaborate on the deepest nature of the soul, as he claims it is forbidden by
sharīʿah, on grounds that it is beyond comprehension. The term for the self or soul is
heart ().
Al-Baydawi's psychology shows influence from the writings of al-Ghazali, whom he also mentions explicitly. Two influential Ismaili teachers are
Abu Ya'qub al-Sijistani during the 10th century and
Nasir Khusraw during the 11th. In his
soteriological teachings, the soul needs to discard sensual pleasures for the sake of intellectual gratification through spiritual ascension. One of Sijistani's arguments is, that sensual pleasure is finite, and thus cannot be part of the eternal soul. The are identified with the nineteen evil forces that distract human being from heavenly truths and diverge them to material and sensual concerns, including distorted imagination (). The soul is a potential angel or potential demon, depending on their obedience to God's law.
Jainism In Jainism, every living being, from plant or bacterium to human, has a soul and the concept forms the very basis of Jainism. According to Jainism, there is no beginning or end to the existence of soul. It is eternal in nature and changes its form until it attains liberation. In Jainism, is the immortal essence or soul of a living organism, such as human, animal, fish, or plant, which survives physical death. In Jainism, a is either (mundane, caught in cycle of rebirths) or ('liberated'). According to this belief until the time the soul is liberated from the (cycle of repeated birth and death), it gets attached to one of these bodies based on the
karma ('actions') of the individual soul. Irrespective of which state the soul is in, it has got the same attributes and qualities. The difference between the liberated and non-liberated souls is that the qualities and attributes are manifested completely in case of ('liberated soul') as they have overcome all karmic bondage, whereas in case of non-liberated souls they are partially exhibited. Souls who rise victorious over wicked emotions while still remaining within physical bodies are referred to as .
Judaism The
Hebrew terms ('living being'), ('wind'), ('breath'), ('life') and ('singularity') are used to describe the soul or spirit though biblical translator and Hebrew scholar
Robert Alter rejects "soul" as a valid English translation of biblical text as it evokes Christian theological
mind–body dualism which does not appear in the
Hebrew Bible. Jewish beliefs concerning the concept and nature of the soul are complicated by a lack of singularly authoritative traditions and differing beliefs in an afterlife. The conception of an immortal soul separate from and capable of surviving a human being after death was not present in early Jewish belief, but became prevalent by the onset of the Common Era. This conception of the soul differed from that of the Greek, and later Christian, belief in that the soul was viewed an ontological substance which was intrinsically inseparable from the human body. At the same time, a burgeoning belief in an afterlife required some form of continued existence following the end of mortal life in order to partake in the world to come. This need for apparent dichotomy is reflected in the
Talmud, where the biblical psychophysical unity of the soul remains, but the possibility of the soul's simultaneous existence on both a physical and a spiritual level is embraced. This essential paradox is only reinforced by subsequent Rabbinical works. Ultimately, the specific nature of the soul was of secondary concern to rabbinical authorities, and indeed remains as such in most modern traditions. • , related to natural instinct. • , related to emotion. • , related to intellect. • , which gazes at the transcendence of God. • , essence of the soul, which is bound to God. Kabbalah proposed a concept of reincarnation, the (, the 'animal soul'). Some Jewish traditions assert that the soul is housed in the bone, although traditions disagree as to whether it is the
atlas at the top of the spine, or the
sacrum at bottom of the spine.
Shamanism Manunggul burial jar from the
Tabon Caves,
Palawan, Philippines, depicts a soul and a
psychopomp journeying to the spirit world in a boat ( 890–710
BCE). Soul dualism, also called "multiple souls" or "dualistic pluralism", is a common belief in
Shamanism, In some cases, there are a plethora of soul types with different functions. Soul dualism and multiple souls appear prominently in the traditional animistic beliefs of the
Austronesian peoples, the
Chinese people (
hun and po), the
Tibetan people, ancient
South Asian peoples, and among
Ancient Egyptians (the
ka and ba). A virtuous person is said to be one whose souls are in harmony with each other, while an evil person is one whose souls are in conflict. The "free soul" is said to leave the body and journey to the
spirit world during sleep,
trance-like states,
delirium,
insanity, and at death. The duality is also seen in the healing traditions of Austronesian shamans, where illnesses are regarded as a "
soul loss"—and thus to heal the sick, one must "return" the "free soul" (which may have been stolen by an evil spirit or got lost in the spirit world) into the body. If the "free soul" cannot be returned, the afflicted person dies or goes permanently insane. The
shaman heals within the spiritual dimension by returning 'lost' parts of the human soul from wherever they have gone. The shaman also cleanses excess negative energies, which confuse or pollute the soul. In some ethnic groups, there can be more than two souls. Among the
Tagbanwa people of the Philippines a person is said to have six souls—the "free soul" (which is regarded as the "true" soul) and five secondary souls with various functions. In some cases, it is connected to
shamanistic beliefs among the various Inuit groups.
Sikhism In
Sikhism, the soul, referred to as the
Ātman, is understood as a pure consciousness without any content. The soul is considered to be eternal and inherently connected to the divine (
Paramatman), although its journey is shaped by
karma—the cumulative effect of one's actions, thoughts, and deeds. According to Sikh teachings, the soul undergoes cycles of rebirth (transmigration) until it achieves liberation (
mukti) from this cycle, a process governed by the principles of divine order (
hukam) and grace (
nadar). The cycle of rebirth is influenced by the individual's attachment to worldly desires and ego (
haumai), which obscures the soul's innate connection to the divine. Sikh scripture warns that preoccupation with material wealth, familial ties, or sensory pleasures at the moment of death can lead to rebirth in lower life forms, such as animals or spirits. Conversely, meditation on God's name (
Nam Simran) and remembrance of the divine (
Waheguru) during life—and especially at death—enable the soul to merge with the eternal truth (
Sach Khand), ending the cycle of reincarnation. Central to Sikh doctrine is the belief that while karma determines the soul's trajectory, divine grace can transcend karmic limitations. The
Guru Granth Sahib claims that liberation ultimately depends on God's will. Ethical living, including honest labor (
Kirat Karo), sharing resources (
Vand Chhako), and community service (
seva).
Taoism In
Taoism, the idea of the "soul" is not a single, unchanging entity like in many Western traditions. Instead, it is seen as a dynamic balance of energies. Two key parts are the
hun and po. The
hun is the "ethereal soul", linked to light, spiritual awareness, and the mind. It is considered yang ('active, upward energy') and is said to depart the body after death. The
po is the "corporeal soul", tied to the body, instincts, and physical senses. It is yin ('passive, earthly energy') and stays with the body after death, dissolving back into the earth over time. There is significant scholarly debate about the
Taoist understanding of
death. The process of death itself is described as
shijie or "release from the corpse", but what happens after is described variously as
transformation,
immortality or ascension of the soul to
heaven. For example, the
Yellow Emperor was said to have ascended directly to heaven in plain sight, while the
thaumaturge Ye Fashan was said to have transformed into a sword and then into a column of smoke which rose to heaven. Taoist texts such as the
Zhuangzi suggest the soul is not separate from the natural world but part of the flow of the Tao (the universal principle). One passage states, "Heaven and earth were born at the same time I was, and the ten thousand things are one with me." Similarly, the
Daodejing teaches that harmony with the Tao dissolves rigid boundaries between self and cosmos: "Returning to one's roots is known as stillness. This is what is meant by returning to one's destiny." ==Philosophy==