which could be attained by higher knowledge and meditation upon the great
truth. The unconscious is not what we call matter. It includes matter, which is
given the name pudgala, but it also includes such things as space and time,
virtue and vice, and the like.
    According to Jaina philosophy all living things are classified into five
categories, according to the number of senses they possess.
    • The highest group, possessing five senses, includes men, gods, the
        higher animals and beings in hell. Of these, men, gods, and infernal
        beings together with certain animals (notably monkeys, cattle, horses,
        elephants, parrots, pigeons and snakes) possess intelligence.
    • The second class contains creatures thought to have four senses only
        —touch, taste, smell, and sight; this class includes most larger insects,
        such as flies, wasps, and butterflies.
    • The class of three-sensed beings, which are thought to be devoid of
        sight and hearing, contains small insects, such as ants, fleas, and bugs,
        as well as moths, which are believed to be blind because of their
        unfortunate habit of flying into lighted lamps.
    • Two-sensed creatures, with only the sense of taste and touch, include
        worms, leeches, shellfish, etc.
    • It is in the final class of one-sensed beings, which have only the sense
        of touch, that the Jaina classification shows one of its most original
        features. This great class is in turn divided into five subclasses:
        vegetable-bodies, which may be simple as a tree, containing only one
        soul, or complex as a turnip, which contains countless souls;
        earthbodies, which includes earth itself and all things derived from
        earth, such as stones, clay, minerals, and jewels; water-bodies, found
        in all forms of water—in rivers, ponds, seas, and rain; fire-bodies, in
        all lights and flames, including lightning; and wind-bodies, in all sorts
        of gases and winds.
    Injury to one of the higher forms in the scale of being involves more
serious consequences to the soul than injury to a lower form; but even the
maltreatment of earth and water may be dangerous for the soul’s welfare. For
the layman it is impossible not to harm or destroy lives of the one-sensed
type, but wanton and unnecessary injury even to these is reprehensible. The
Jaina monk vows that as far as