Jiva

MIND, MATTER AND GOD : JIVA, JADA AND ISVARA
M.M.NINAN
Buddhism accepts reincarnation but not in the sense of Sakara or that of Hinduism in
general. At death the body goes back to the material elements, and the spirit and mind
seperates itself into their components. The desire to live, and the attachment of spirit to
continue finds itself to form a new life form, just as a car is remade from the parts from
the junkyard. The ultimate aim is to cease to exist in the sense of destroying this
reincarnation.
The Prajna-paramita (Perfection of Wisdom) Sutras taught that all entities, including
dharmas, are only conceptual existents or constructs
Though we perceive a world of concrete and discrete objects, these objects are "empty"
of the identity imputed by their designated labels. The Heart sutra, a text from the
prajnaparamita-sutras, articulates this in the following saying in which the five skandhas
are said to be "empty":
Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.
Emptiness is not separate from form, form is not separate from emptiness.
Whatever is form is emptiness, whatever is emptiness is form.
69