RAS question
The key difference between Jainism and Buddhism is:
Correct answer: (A) Jainism accepts the concept of soul (jiva) while early Buddhism rejects permanent self (anatta).
The key doctrinal difference is that Jainism accepts eternal individual souls, or jiva, while early Buddhism rejects a permanent self through the doctrine of anatta.
Explanation
Jainism and Buddhism share the wider sixth-century BCE setting of non-Brahmanic religious questioning, but they do not teach the same view of the self. Jainism treats jiva as an eternal, individual soul that can be liberated, while early Buddhism denies a permanent self through anatman or anatta. Encyclopaedia Britannica's early Buddhist section directly supports the Buddhist side: Buddhism retained karma and moksha while rejecting atman, and anatta means no-self. The contrast is therefore philosophical, not just external. Jainism keeps a soul doctrine and allows liberation of jiva; early Buddhism refuses a permanent self and teaches the Middle Path rather than extreme asceticism.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) Language alone cannot explain the difference, because the real contrast is doctrinal: Jainism accepts jiva, whereas early Buddhism rejects a permanent self.
- (C) There is a clear difference, since Jain teaching accepts eternal individual souls while early Buddhist teaching includes anatta, the doctrine of no-self.
- (D) Region is not the key distinction here, because the tested issue is belief about the self and liberation, not where the traditions arose or spread.
Concept
This tests the heterodox religious movements of ancient India, especially the doctrinal comparison between Jainism and Buddhism. RAS repeatedly asks this because the soul/no-self contrast is a clean way to separate two traditions that otherwise share ascetic, karma-related and anti-ritual contexts.