A plant soul is the religious philosophical concept that

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

s contain

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

s. Religions that recognize the existence of plant souls include

Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion whose three main pillars are nonviolence (), asceticism (), and a rejection of all simplistic and one-sided views of truth and reality (). Jainism traces its s ...

and

Manichaeism Manichaeism (; in ; ) is an endangered former major world religion currently only practiced in China around Cao'an,R. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''. SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 found ...

In Jainism

Jains believe that plants have souls ('' jīva'') that experience only one sense, which is touch. The

Ācārāṅga Sūtra The Ācārāṅga Sūtra, the foremost and oldest Jain text (''First book'' c. 5th–4th century BCE; Second book c. Late 4th–2nd century BCE), is the first of the twelve Angas, part of the agamas which were compiled based on the teachings o ...

states that "plants ... and the rest of creation (experience) individually pleasure or displeasure, pain, great terror, and unhappiness" (1.1.6). In another excerpt from the Ācārāṅga Sūtra (1.1.5), (Note that the pronouns "this" and "that" in

Hermann Jacobi Hermann Georg Jacobi (11 February 1850 – 19 October 1937) was an eminent German Indologist. Education Jacobi was born in Köln (Cologne) on 11 February 1850. He was educated in the gymnasium of Cologne and then went to the University of Be ...

's original 1884 translation have been substituted with "men" and "plants".)

In Manichaeism

The '' Cologne Mani Codex'' contains stories showing that Manichaeans believed in the existence of sentient plant souls. In

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

's '' Confessions'' (4.10), Augustine wrote that while he was a Manichaean, he believed that "a fig-tree wept when it was plucked, and the tree, its mother, shed milky tears".

Influence of Jainism on Manichaeism

Fynes (1996) argues that Jain ideas about the existence of plant souls were transmitted from

Western Kshatrapa The Western Satraps, or Western Kshatrapas (Brahmi: , ''Mahakṣatrapa'', "Great Satraps") were Indo-Scythian (Saka) rulers of the western and central parts of India (extending from Saurashtra in the south and Malwa in the east, covering moder ...

territories to

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

and then integrated into

Manichaean Manichaeism (; in ; ) is an endangered former major world religion currently only practiced in China around Cao'an,R. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''. SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 found ...

beliefs.

References

Vitalism Plants Religious philosophical concepts Jain philosophical concepts Manichaeism Souls {{religious-philo-stub

In Jainism

In Manichaeism

Influence of Jainism on Manichaeism

See also

References