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PHILOSOPHY
Eternal India
encyclopedia
The transformation of the
atman
to a
jiva
is the result of
karma,
actions of mind, speech and body of a being. Every activity
or act, whether good or bad, produces
karma
of some sort. Activi-
ties or deeds of a cruel nature result in
karma
of a more durable
character. Unlike the Hindu conception of
karma
which is formless,
the Jains think of it as a sort of subtle matter flowing in through the
organs of sense and settling on the soul.
Jain philosophy divides the
Jivas
in the world according to the
principle of the development of the sense organs — the lowest consists
of
Jivas
with only one sense organ (trees and plants which have only
the awareness of touch), creatures with two-sense organs (worms,
leeches etc which have the sense of taste and touch), three sense
organs which are devoid of sight and hearing (ants, fleas, bugs and
moths), creatures with four sense organs like flies, wasps and but-
terflies which have touch, taste, smell and light, and the highest group
with five sense organs - men, and certain animals like monkeys,
horses, elephants, parrots, pigeons and snakes which possess intel-
ligence. Jainism attributes souls to many things, including those not
generally thought of as living, like stones, rocks and running water.
In its insistence on
ahimsa
or non-violence, Jainism, went much
further than any other Indian religion. Meat-eating is forbidden and
even insect life is carefully protected.
Jainism differs from Buddhism in that it subjects its lay folk to
a more rigid discipline and in bringing them under the regular
pastoral care of the clergy. The laymen are in theory expected to
spend full moon and new moon nights in fasting, meditation prayers
and penance at a Jain monastery. The Jain ecclesiastical year ends
with a general contemplation and penance in which all Jains, both
monks and laymen, are expected to confess their sins, pay their debts
and ask pardon from their neighbours and all, each and every one
in the world. For any offences committed, whether deliberate or oth-
erwise. Liberation
(moksha)
can be gained only by monks. "Full sal-
vation is not possible to the layman. In this Jainism differs from
Buddhism and Hinduism which concede it in exceptional circum-
stances." (A.L. Basham)
The life of a Jain monk is austere in the extreme. The hair on
their heads is pulled out by them with their own hands. They cannot
prepare their food but must beg for it from laymen.. The life of a
monk is governed by five vows: a) The vow of non-violence by which
they do not hurt or harm any living thing by words, deed or feeling,
b) The vow of truth c) The vow of non-stealing d) The vow of
celibacy and e) The vow of non-attachment by which they abandon
all property and possessions limiting themselves to only a few pieces
of unsewn cloth. These rules also apply to the laity but are interpreted
less strictly. The emphasis on
ahimsa
has led Jains avoiding agri-
culture because it involves harming organisms living in the earth.
Jainism, though not denying the existence of superhuman beings,
has strenuously rejected the doctrine that the universe is created by
a divine will or a divine mind. It has never diluted this position,
unlike Buddhism which in its later version, Mahayana Buddhism,
came up with a pantheon of divine beings.
The Jain argument against God as the creator of the world is
stated in the
Mahapurana,
a poem in Sanskrit composed by the
Digambara teacher, Jinasena, in the 9th century.
Some foolish men declare that the creator made the world,
The doctrine that the world is created is ill-advised and
should be rejected.
If God created the world, where was he before creation?
If you say he was transcendent then, and needed no support,
where is he now?
No single being had the skill to make this world-
For how can an immaterial God create that which is material?
How could God have made this world without any raw
material?
If you say he made this first, and then the world, you are faced
with an endless regression.
If you declare that this raw material arose naturally you fall
into another fallacy,
For the whole universe might thus have been its own creator
and have arisen equally naturally.
Good men should combat the believer in divine creation,
maddened by an evil doctrine,
.Know that the world is uncreated, as time itself is, without
beginning and end,
And is based on the principles, life and the rest.
Uncreated and indestructible, it endures under the compulsion
of its own nature,
Divided into three sections — hell, earth and heaven.
Two of the most interesting and individual features of Jainism
are the related doctrines of "Viewpoints" (
nayavada
) and "May be"
(syadvada
) which are often called together the Doctrine of Manysid-
edness" (
anekantavada
). This doctrine declares that a given propo-
sition though generally accepted as true may be so only in a relative
sense as the absolute and whole truth can only be seen by the
perfected soul. Our knowledge can only be fragmented and limited.
This is brought out in the famous Indian parable of the six blind men
who were told by a king to touch an elephant and describe what they
felt. The man who touched the trunk said it was a snake, he who
touched the tail said it was a rope., he who touched the leg said it
was a trunk. The Jain tradition of tolerance is at least in part due
to the doctrine of the many sidedness of truth.
Founded by Adinatha Rishabhadeva, the first Tirthankara of this
circle of time, Jaina ideas were in circulation during 23rd Jain
Tirthankara Parswanatha's time in the eight-ninth century B.C. but
it was the 24th Tirthankara, Mahavira, a contemporary of the Bud-
dha, who gave shape to them in the sixth century B.C. His teachings
led to the spread and organisation of Jainism. Mahavira left behind
him a strongly organised religious order through whose efforts
animal sacrifices fell into disuse and non-violence became firmly es-
tablished as a rule of life even among those who did not join the order
and influenced Indian culture a very long way.
Jainism is one and undivided as far as its philosophy is con-
cerned. But about the beginning of the Christian era, it split into two
sects called the Digambacas and Svetambaras, chiefly on certain rules
and regulations for the monks, the most important difference being
that while the former held that monks should not wear any clothes
the latter asserted that they could. In the 16th century further minor
splits took place amongst both these sects, the most important being
one that renounced idol worship altogether and devoted itself to the
worship of the scriptures. These are called
Sthanakvasis
and
Tera-
panthis
amongst the Svetambaras and
Samaiyas
among the Digam-
baras.
Mahavira allowed women to enter the ascetic position subordinate to
monks in the hierarchy. Jaina rituals are performed by men as well as
women.