3 types of body

Jainism categorizes living beings primarily based on the nature of their bodies. The first type is the mobile-bodied beings (trasa), which include all animals and humans capable of movement. The second type is immobile-bodied beings (sthavara), which encompass entities like plants, earth-bodied, water-bodied, fire-bodied, and air-bodied souls that do not have mobility. These classifications are part of the six-fold division of living beings (ṣaḍjīvanikāyas) found in Jain scriptures such as the Ācārāṅga and Sūtrakṛtāṅga.

Apart from these physical bodies, Jainism also recognizes the pure soul (jiva), which is distinct from the body and is the conscious substance that inhabits these bodies. The soul itself is immaterial, eternal, and undergoes transmigration through different types of bodies until liberation. Thus, the three types of bodies in Jain thought highlight the distinction between the physical forms that souls inhabit and the soul itself, which is the true knower and experiencer.