The scripturally based historical religions that originated in India, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism, hold nuanced and distinctive perspectives on the concept of the soul. In a shared cultural environment, each tradition sought to relate itself to influential and established religious ideals, yet to distinguish its own position with respect to that ideal. The soul is one such concept. All of the traditions accept the fundamental ontological premise that there is an animating and vital incorporeal aspect of human beings, the presence of which distinguishes life from death. The status of the soul with respect to bodily life and death is a key issue, and in the Indian traditions this implicates the law of karma, which holds that actions have a residual force that has influence over an individual beyond the present lifetime and is thus the driving force behind the cycle of birth and...