Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c8.s7.16

v1.c8.s7.16

The seven conceptions of the soul are apparently based on the Buddhistic classification of beings as shown below, namely, two classes of the Kāmāvacaras, one class of the Rūpāvacaras and four classes of Arūpāvacaras.¹ The underlying idea of these conceptions is that the soul is made of elements that constitute one or other of the above-mentioned categories of beings. In short, these theories amount almost to the identification of the soul with the body (tam jīvam tam sarīram), a theory not accepted by any of the Buddhist philosophers.²