Many philosophies and religions say that a soul is a supernatural essence of a living human being that lives after death. It is usually said to be immortal. It cannot be discovered by science, because it cannot be tested in any controlled way. Many different opinions exist as to what happens to personal experience after death.
Reincarnation is a belief that after the body dies, the soul will be born again in another body. It is important to Hinduism. Buddhists understand the idea of an eternal soul, and the idea of simple annihilation as delusion; they say that there is no unchanging, permanent self, soul or essence in phenomena. Buddhists believe in transmigration, or rebirth in samsara or other planes of existence, based on how they understand kamma (Pāli; karma in Sanskrit), and nibbana (nirvana in Sanskrit) for Enlightened ones. In Jainism the soul is sometimes called jiva.[1]
Resurrection is the Christian belief that a soul returns in the same body. In most Christian denomination this was realized in Jesus Christ but is also the promise for all souls; see heaven, hell, and Final Judgement.
Most atheists say that there is no such thing as a soul, and that the body is the only part of a person.
- ↑ Jagmanderlal Jaini. Outlines of Jainism. (2013). Page 84. Cambridge University Press.