Kashaya (Jainism)

In Jainism, Kashaya (loose translation: Passion) are aspects of a person that can be gained during his or her worldly life. According to the Jaina religion as long as a person has Kashayas, they will not escape the cycle of life and death. There are four different kind of Kashayas, each being able to gain their own kinds of intensity.

The Four Kashayas

The four kasaya are: krodha (anger), lobha (greed), mana (ego) and maya (deceit). Out of the many causes of bondage, emotions or passions are considered as the main cause of bandha or bondage. The karmas are literally bound on account of the stickiness of the soul due to existence of various passions or mental dispositions. The passions like anger, pride, deceit and greed are called sticky (kaṣāyas) because they act like glue in making karmic particles stick to the soul resulting in bandha. The karmic inflow on account of yoga driven by passions and emotions cause a long term inflow of karma prolonging the cycle of reincarnations. On the other hand, the karmic inflows on account of actions that are not driven by passions and emotions have only a transient, short-lived karmic effect. Hence the ancient Jain texts talk of subduing these negative emotions: