JAINISM. - Jainism is a philosophical-religious movement that appears to have formed around the 8th century B.C. in northeast India, in reaction to Brahmanical orthodoxy, and that was consolidated in the 6th century B.C. by an ascetic reformer named Vardhamāna, called Mahāvīra (q.v.; “Great Hero”).
OUTLINE:
I. General considerations
II. Development of the sect
III. The canonical books
IV. The three jewels: faith, knowledge, conduct
V. Diffusion.I. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
The followers of the sect, originally called Nirgrantha (“without bonds”), later assumed the name Jaina, derived from the title Jina (“Victorious”) given to the prophets of the sect. These are called Tirthakara or Tirthānikara (“those who make the law”), and are regarded by Jains as the revealers and protectors of Jain doctrine, inasmuch as their work is limited to periodically restoring the law, which has existed from eternity, to its purity among men. Thus there is a long series of 720 Tirthākara who have succeeded one another and will continue to do so in time and space to ensure the survival of the doctrine in the world. For Jains, men are distributed in ten regions of the universe, which is subject to three ages (past, present, and future), and in each of these inhabited regions, for each age, there is the manifestation of 24 Tirthākara. The last of the 24 prophets who succeeded one another in the present age in the region we inhabit is precisely Mahāvīra. He cannot therefore be considered the founder of a new religion, but rather the reformer of a sect that had long existed. Indeed, even the 23rd Tirthākara, his predecessor Pārśva, who according to Jain texts lived 250 years before Mahāvīra, seems to have been a real person and the true founder of Jainism.II. DEVELOPMENT OF THE SECT
At the death of Mahāvīra, the leadership of the sect, which according to some texts was already flourishing at that time, was taken by his first disciple Gautama and later by Sudharma, who survived the master. Under them and their successors the sect continued to prosper, and schools were founded and flourished, but differences and schisms also began to appear.These conflicts culminated in the 1st century A.D. in the division of Jains into two rival sects, Śvetāmbara and Digambara. To understand the causes of this schism, one must go back to the 4th century B.C. The texts state that the pontiff of that time, Bhadrabāhu, predicting a terrible famine in northern India lasting 11 years, persuaded part of the community to emigrate to Mysore. Meanwhile, the hardships of life forced the Jains remaining in the north to violate one of Mahāvīra’s precepts, namely the nudity prescribed for ascetics. It came about that the emigrated Jains, remaining faithful to tradition, disapproved upon their return of the conduct of their northern coreligionists, and since no agreement was reached, the schism occurred: the northerners took the name Śvetāmbara (“clothed in white”) and the emigrants that of Digambara (“clothed in air,” i.e., naked). This account has been considered historical even by Jacobi, since it is quite plausible, and the period designated coincides with serious economic disturbances in northern India resulting from political struggles.
III. THE CANONICAL BOOKS
But if officially the schism was attributed to such a trivial reason, in reality there were other and far more serious grounds for disagreement between the two groups, especially regarding canonical literature. The Digambaras in fact do not admit the authenticity of the canonical books, which the Śvetāmbaras trace back, if not directly to Mahāvīra, at least to his most immediate disciples.The latter would have transmitted the teachings of the master by memory, dividing them into 14 groups called Pārśva, from which were then derived the Aṅga sayings. The Pārśva, transmitted orally from pontiff to pontiff, were gradually almost entirely forgotten, so that in 312 B.C. the Jains of the north were forced to convene a council at Pāṭaliputra (Patna) to gather what remained of the Pārśva into a twelfth Aṅga. Even this, however, gradually disappeared, so that after many centuries, at the Council of Valabhī (5th century A.D.), Jain canonical literature was reduced to only 11 Aṅga, which, after careful revision, were finally put in writing, together with other later collections. Thus was formed the Siddhānta (“Code of Liberation”), comprising 45 treatises, of which the 11 Aṅga were the oldest part. The Digambaras, refusing to recognize the work of the Council of Pāṭaliputra, declared both the Pārśva and the Aṅga lost and adopted as canonical books three major treatises by the celebrated master Puṣpadanta and other more recent works. Around the Siddhānta, written in Ardhamāgadhī (a language presumed to have been used by Mahāvīra in his teaching), a vast literature soon developed, written both in Prakrit and in Sanskrit. The doctrine was popularized and made accessible to the people through collections of allegorical tales, hymns, and religious dramas. A typical example of this allegorical-didactic literature, full of good intentions but exceedingly tedious and devoid of artistic value, is the Upamitibhavaprapañcakathā (“The Allegorical Tale of Human Life”), written in the 10th century by Siddharṣi (published in the Bibliotheca Indica, edited by P. Peterson and H. Jacobi, Calcutta 1914, and translated in the first three chapters by A. Ballini, in Giornale della Soc. asiat. ital., vols. XVII–XXIII).
IV. THE THREE JEWELS: FAITH, KNOWLEDGE, CONDUCT
Like the vast majority of Indian religions, Jainism asserts that the world is suffering and aims to lead men to liberation, to nirvāṇa, by combating false beliefs (mithyātva) through the teaching of the true doctrine (samyaktva). To uproot from the soul the love of existence and annul the personality that binds man to the cycle of rebirths (saṃsāra), the Jain must possess three elements that constitute the essence of the doctrine, the so-called “three jewels” (triratna): right faith (samyagdarśana), right knowledge (samyagjñāna), and right conduct (samyakcāritra).Since Jainism is an atheistic system, right faith does not imply belief in any creative or sustaining principle of the universe. It consists simply in believing in the law revealed by the Tirthakaras and taught by the masters of the community. Objects of faith and veneration for the Jain are also the supreme beings, Arhat (blessed ones) and Siddha (perfected ones), whose souls have attained release; as well as the masters and ascetics, who bear witness to the truth of the law, the former through teaching and the latter through example. Naturally, the first place in the hierarchy of these venerable beings belongs to the Tirthakaras, whom the people have ended up regarding as veritable deities, to whom offerings are made and favors are sought. For the educated, however, all these beings are merely superior souls to whom respect is shown, and the temples and images dedicated to them are observed only to remind men of the merits of these benefactors. Thus Jainism seeks to justify the very widespread cultic practices among the people, which are in contrast with its fundamental atheism.
The second of the jewels, right knowledge, comprises the entire body of metaphysical, logical, and cosmological doctrines that will serve as the foundation for Jain ethics. The followers of Mahāvīra start from a conception of being that is entirely different from that of the Brahmans or the Buddhists: they affirm, in fact, that being is not one, eternal, and immutable as is stated in the Upaniṣads, nor nonexistent according to the Buddhist theory of emptiness, but instead maintain that being, or rather substance (dravya), is indeed characterized by eternal existence, since it is uncreated and permanent, yet it is neither one nor immutable, inasmuch as it manifests itself through various qualities and modes that are transient and subject to destruction. Being is therefore indeterminate and in continual becoming. To clarify this concept, called anekāntavāda (the theory of indeterminacy), the Jains resort to the example of the potter who shapes a bowl from clay: the substance, which is permanent, passes from one mode of existence, the crude, to another, the formed; thus there is the destruction of one mode of existence and the production of another, while the substance remains unchanged. Jainism posits the existence of six kinds of substances, divided into two categories: on the one hand, jīva (soul, vital principle), which represents the animate substance; on the other, inanimate substances (ajīva), comprising matter (pudgala), space (ākāśa), time (kāla), dharma, and adharma. The jīva is immaterial, eternal, formless, and characterized by consciousness (cetana), and thus stands in contrast to matter, which is also eternal but corporeal and perceptible to the senses. Just as the atoms of matter are infinite, so too are souls infinite in number, since everything that exists—from humans to the tiniest particles of earth—possesses a soul. Space provides the place for soul and matter to exist; dharma renders them capable of motion, and adharma allows them to remain at rest. This particular conception of dharma and adharma is unique to Jainism. The essential attribute of the soul, consciousness, manifests itself through two activities: perception and knowledge. Through perception (darśana), one gains a general, vague, and indeterminate notion of things; through knowledge (jñāna), the soul comprehends things in their details, acquiring analytical knowledge. Consequently, Jainism admits two methods of knowledge: one synthetic, called svādvāda, characteristic of this system, and one analytical, called nayavāda. The term svādvāda may be translated as “theory of possibility,” since the Jains wish to show that, given the essential indeterminacy of things (anekāntavāda)—inasmuch as substances are indeterminate and their attributes vary—one can only consider them from one perspective or another; thus every statement made about something can only be made from a particular standpoint. One may say, for example, of the same object, “this is a pen” or “this is not a glass,” and so on. This synthetic method of knowledge, which considers a thing in its entirety, is complemented by the analytical method, which considers things from a single aspect or examines only one attribute to the exclusion of others.
Just as the specific attribute of the soul is consciousness, that of matter is corporeality, which renders it capable of assuming different forms and being perceived by the senses, by virtue of its qualities (guṇa): tangibility, taste, odor, and color. The infinite atoms (anu) that compose it combine into compounds (skandha), similar to molecules, whose union gives rise to bodies. These skandhas may be gross (sthūla), producing the larger and heavier bodies, or subtle (sūkṣma), such as those that constitute karma and vital powers.
The conception of karma as something material is peculiar to Jainism: subtle matter, in flowing over the soul and forming with it a kind of chemical combination, becomes karma and imprisons the soul in matter, dimming its splendor and imposing upon it a material body. This amalgamation of matter and soul may take eight forms, depending on the effect it produces: it may dim the individual’s vision of things, hinder moral progress, determine the social condition in which one will live, the duration of one’s life, and so on. The result of this combination of soul and subtle matter is the karmanasāra, a subtle body that attaches itself to the soul and accompanies it through successive rebirths, determining the individual’s state. Simultaneously with this process of karma absorption, however, there occurs in the soul a process of discharge (nirjāra), by which karma that has already produced its effect is expelled from the soul. When the soul succeeds in discharging all the karma it has absorbed without taking on new karma, it returns to its essential splendor, and liberation is achieved. Since every particular karma is caused by actions performed by the individual, there are good and bad karmas that produce pleasant or painful consequences. But whether good or bad, karma always causes rebirth, keeping the soul bound to matter. Hence the necessity of destroying the karma already accumulated and at the same time preventing the assumption of new karma. To achieve this result, one must possess the third jewel, right conduct (samyakācāritā), which comprises the precepts of Jain morality, aiming at the absolute annihilation of matter and thus marked by inhuman severity. Jain morality is founded on five principal precepts or vows (vrata), common to monks and laity alike, which forbid the Jain from killing, lying, stealing, sexual intercourse, and greed. The observance of these precepts is made possible by the three controls (gupti), meditation, isolation, and the like, which separate the person from the world and grant perfect mastery over all one’s acts and functions.
A vast mass of minute disciplinary rules has been devised by the Jains to avoid the assumption of new karma, while for the elimination of karma already assumed, external ascetic practices (fasting, which may even lead to voluntary death by starvation, segregation, yogic practices, etc.) and internal ones (penance, devotion to superiors, meditation, etc.) are employed. For the Jains, therefore, the ideal state for achieving liberation is the monastic life, to which women are also admitted; but since not all can withdraw from the world and have the strength to follow such severe rules, Jainism has adapted its prescriptions for laypeople (śrāvaka = hearers). While the five principal precepts remain binding for them as well, they are interpreted with greater leniency, especially the last two. The process of liberation is thus slowed for the devout layperson.
Like Buddhism, Jainism affirms that the only condition in which liberation is possible is the human one; thus even the gods, who are merely souls elevated to a happier state for having acted well, are compelled to descend to earth again in order to achieve liberation. Jainism, which has had to accept part of the Brahmanical pantheon as a natural concession to popular mentality, has thus sought not to renounce its fundamental principles.
Jainism — James William
Atheistic. In the universe as conceived by the Jains, the gods occupy the upper part (ūrdhva); the middle part (madhya), divided into ten regions, is reserved for humans, while the lower part (adhas) is the world of the sick, where the souls of the wicked are reborn. Above all, even above the gods, are the liberated souls, in a kind of heaven conceived as an open umbrella, hovering over the universe, where, lacking the condition that governs motion (dharma), they remain motionless in eternal bliss.
Diffusion
The strict discipline imposed on the Jains, extending even to the smallest acts of life, and the cardinal principle of non-violence (*ahimsa*), which forbids the taking of any form of life, could not favor a wide diffusion of this religion, which hindered any human activity contrary to its first precept. It is therefore not surprising to see Jainism confined to certain particular castes (merchants, bankers, jewelers) and to note the progressive decline in the number of its adherents. Even in ancient times, despite the hyperbolic figures given by some texts, its followers could not have been very numerous: Jainism remained confined to certain regions of India, never crossing its borders. Indeed, this religion, so austere, lacked the sense of love and compassion for human suffering and the missionary zeal that enabled Buddhism to win over the peoples of Asia.
Today, the Jains form a small but economically powerful community (1,430,000) in India. They are mainly concentrated in the Bombay region, Gujarat, Rajputana, and in the south, in Mysore and the Madras region. Bengal, the land of Jainism’s origin, now has only a few followers. Thanks to their favorable economic position, Jain temples and monasteries are extremely wealthy, some ranking among the masterpieces of Indian architecture. The principal ones are: in the north, the sanctuaries of Mount Abu in Rajputana, the Satrunjaya and Girnar mountains in Gujarat, dating back to the 13th century, and the temples of major cities (Delhi, etc.); in the south, the most famous and revered site is Sravana Belgola in Mysore. The Jains finance many social institutions (schools, orphanages, etc.) and propaganda institutes that disseminate their doctrines through texts and periodicals. Among the journals, the *Jaina Gazette* is published in English.