जै · The Jain Encyclopedia
Every kind of living being · four are nigoda

The 563 kinds

५६३ जीवभेद

Five hundred and sixty-three kinds of living being, from the Jīva-vicāra: twenty-two one-sensed, six with two to four senses, twenty animals, three hundred and three humans, a hundred and ninety-eight gods, fourteen hell-beings. Four of the twenty-two are nigoda.

Śāntisūri's Jīva-vicāra, the primer every Śvetāmbara student begins with, sorts life into 563 kinds: 22 one-sensed, 6 two- to four-sensed, 20 five-sensed animals, 303 humans, 198 gods, 14 hell-beings. The twenty-two one-sensed are earth, water, fire, air and plant bodies, each subtle and gross, each developed and undeveloped — twenty — plus the plants of one soul per body, pratyeka, which are gross only.

Nigoda is the sādhāraṇa plant, subtle and gross, developed and undeveloped: four of the 563. The map lights those four among the rest. The point of the count is the disproportion — four kinds, holding infinitely more souls than the five hundred and fifty-nine others together, more in one body than have ever been freed.

the lokaskandhaas Jambūdvīpa× asaṃkhyātaaṇḍaraas Bharata× asaṃkhyātaāvāsaas Kośala× asaṃkhyātapulavias Sāketa× asaṃkhyātaone bodyas a houseananta soulsthe nesting — Gommaṭasāra 164–165, the Digambara text's structureeach level holds asaṃkhyāta × the loka's space-points of the nextthe 563 kinds of living being — Jīva-vicāra22 · 6 · 20 · 303 · 198 · 14four are nigoda — and hold infinitely more souls than the other 559one breath: seventeen lives and a fraction, each 256 āvalikā65,536 in a muhūrta — the teachers say seventeen and a halfavyavahāra-rāśinever once trasa · infinitevyavahāra-rāśibeen out, come backSiddhaśilā608 liberated in six months and eight samayas608 leave the first heap in their placethe ledger — the commentators on Gommaṭasāra 197, and the thokaḍāevery siddha there has ever beenthe souls in one nigoda body — infinite times as many, off the frameNigoda: the smallest body, the most soulsa body too small to see, in which infinite souls are born, breathe and die togethereverywhere in the loka; four of the 563 kinds of living beingone body holds infinite times every siddha there has ever been — Gommaṭasāra 196608souls liberated, and 608 out of nigoda, every six months and eight samayas
Nigoda: the smallest body, the most souls — The 563 kinds highlighted

Measurements and counts

one-sensed22
two- to four-sensed6
five-sensed animals20
humans303
gods198
hell-beings14
In all563
Nigoda among them4
SourceJīva-vicāra, Śāntisūri

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समयं गोयम! मा पमायए

Do not be heedless, Gautama, for even a single samaya.

Uttarādhyayana Sūtra 10