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Non-theistic, austere, and ascetic religion
In the previous post, we highlighted religious pluralism in India and its sacred books. We will now specifically address Jainism, in two posts, the first on religion and the second focused on sects and philosophical issues.
Traditionally known as Jain Dharma, Jainism emerged in northern India between 599 BC and 527 BC (traditional date indicated by Jainism) or 540 BC and 470 BC (according to academics). Its name derives from the Sanskrit verb Ji (to conquer). It refers to the ascetic battle that is believed to have taken place between Jain renunciates (monks and nuns).
Dharma is a key concept with multiple meanings. The word Dharma is often used in Hinduism (Sanatana Dharma), which is the universal and eternal law in Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. It appears for the first time in the Vedas.
Dharma can be understood as the cosmic law that governs nature and life. If the individual lives in the present and in harmony with natural law, without attachment to the fruits of his actions, he can gradually free himself from Samsara, the cycle of births and deaths.
Jainism is a non-theistic religion that has as its religious ideal the perfection of man's nature. It is considered an eternal Dharma with the Tirthankaras guiding each temporal cycle of cosmology. The three main pillars of Jainism are Ahimsa (non-violence), Anekantavada (non-absolutism) and Aparigraha (asceticism).
One of the world's oldest religions in practice today, Jainism was able to survive and attract adherents through royal patronage from political powers such as the Mauryan Empire (322-185 BC). It later survived persecution under various Muslim rulers from the 12th to 16th centuries and resisted the efforts of Christian missionaries in the 19th century.
The religion has between four and five million followers, known as Jains, who reside in India, where they number around 4.5 million according to the 2011 census. The Indian states Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat probably have the largest population, Jain.
Another state in India with a large Jain population among its residents is Karnataka. There were many Jains in Lahore (historical capital of Punjab) and other cities before the 1947 partition. Many then fled to the Indian section of Punjab, especially in the city of Ludhiana. Outside India, East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda) has significant communities. Many Jains migrated to the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States.
Life with austerity and without worldly pleasures
Asceticism is a philosophical doctrine that advocates abstaining from physical and psychological pleasures, believing it to be the path to achieving perfection and moral and spiritual balance. Religious ascetics should live a life of austerity and without worldly pleasures, with the intention of achieving maximum spiritual mastery. Carnal pleasures, natural to human beings, would be considered sinful and should be renounced.
In the Jaina community there are monks and lay people. Everyone follows the same fivefold spiritual discipline. Monks and nuns strive to make this birth like the last by practicing severe asceticism. Lay people follow less rigorous practices, striving to achieve rational faith and do honorable deeds in this birth.
Along with Hinduism and Buddhism, Jainism is one of the three oldest Indian religious traditions still in existence and an integral part of South Asian religious belief and practice. It is a non-theistic religion because it does not believe in an omnipotent god but rather in superior mortal beings (Devas). Jains also believe in the principle of cause and effect (Karma) and in the eternal, uncreated universe. Other characteristics are non-violence, the theory of multiple faces of truth and a morality based on the liberation of the soul.
Devas have no power over people and are not looked to for guidance or assistance in freeing them from karmic bondage. It is up to everyone to achieve salvation or liberation from Samsara (cycle of rebirth and death) by adhering to a strict code of spiritual and ethical behavior. The perfection of the individual is achieved through the practice of an ascetic life, without any divine assistance. It emphasizes aspects such as austerity, self-control, and renunciation.
Every living being has a soul
Every living being, human and animal, as well as plants, rivers, mountains, seas, has a soul (Jiva) that can be more divine or more demonic. Each soul has its own divinity. Therefore, everyone must consider all living beings as part of him, do not cause them any harm, and be respectful and kind to everyone.
Everyone must struggle against the passions and bodily senses to obtain enlightenment, or omniscience and purity of the soul. He must strive to direct the soul to a divine and liberated state. He who overcomes his inner enemies will reach the higher state (Siddha) and will be called victor or conqueror. The most illustrious of the few individuals who have achieved enlightenment are called Jina (conqueror).
Monastic and lay followers of the tradition are called Jain or Jaina (follower of the conquerors). Matter and the soul (jiva) have distinct natures and throughout life the living being, whether human or animal, colors its soul according to its actions. The Jain religion proposes purification through asceticism and the doctrine of non-violence (Ahimsa).
Thus, all beings have equal value and are interconnected in the chain of existence by karmic links. The correct path for Jainism is to limit possessions and maintain a pure life. Attachment to things is negative because it unbalances souls. Moksha (Nirvana) is the state in which the soul frees itself from the cycle of birth and death and achieves ultimate purity, its goal.
Living substance and inanimate substance
Jain reality comprises two components, Jiva (soul or living substance) and Ajiva (non-soul or inanimate substance). Consciousness is the essence of the self (or soul), and its manifestations are perception (simple apprehension) and intelligence (conceptual knowledge). Reality is external and is perceived through the senses. Both jiva and ajiva are eternal; they never existed for the first time, and they will never cease to exist.
Jiva, the vital principle of the soul
Jiva is not a product or property of the body. It is an infinite number of identical spiritual units, classified by the number of sense organs they possess. Plants belong to the lowest class because they only have the sense of touch. Worms have touch and taste. Vertebrates have all five sense organs. Human beings and liberated souls have Manas, an additional internal sensory organ, so they are capable of reasoning (Samjnin).
The essential characteristics of Jiva are Chetana (consciousness), Sukha (bliss) and Virya (energy). In its pure state, Jiva possesses these qualities unlimitedly. Souls, infinite in number, are divisible into movable and immovable, according to the number of sense organs possessed by the body in which they inhabit.
The first group comprises souls that inhabit bodies that have between two and five sense organs. The second group consists of souls inhabiting immensely small particles of earth, water, fire, and air, together with the vegetable kingdom, which possesses only the sense of touch. Furthermore, the universe is populated by an infinite number of tiny beings (Nigoda), some of which are slowly evolving, while the rest have no chance of emerging from their unhappy state.
Formless and genderless, Jiva cannot be perceived directly by the senses. Like the universe, Jiva has no point of origin or end. Although it is not ubiquitous, it can, by contraction or expansion, occupy varying amounts of space. Jiva can fill both the smaller and larger bodies like the light from a lamp in a small or large room. The soul takes on the exact dimensions of the body it occupies. Upon death, it takes the form of the last physical body that housed it.
Ajiva, matter in all its forms
Ajiva is matter (Pudgala) in all its forms and in the conditions under which it exists: time, space and movement. The word pudgala (mass-energy) is derived from pum (to unite) and gala (to separate), and reveals the Jain conception of matter as that which is formed by the aggregation of atoms and destroyed by their disaggregation. Matter has characteristics of touch, taste, smell and color. Its essential characteristic is lack of awareness.
The four elements, earth, water, air and fire, are animated by souls. The particles of the earth are the bodies of the elementary souls called earthly lives. The smallest unit of matter is the atom (Paramanu). Heat, light and shadow are forms of fine matter.
The non-sentient immaterial substances are space, time and the principles of movement and its suspension. They are always pure and not subject to contamination. The principles of motion and its arrest do not exist independently, but constitute a necessary precondition for the motion or rest of any object.
Karma, a chain of cause and effect
The word Karma means doing and refers to the creation and reconstitution of the karmic matter that embodies the soul. The fundamental principle of Jain doctrine is that all phenomena are linked in a universal chain of cause and effect. Every event has a defined cause. By nature, each soul is pure, possessing infinite knowledge, happiness and power; however, these faculties are restricted over time by the soul's contact with matter.
This matter, which produces the chain of cause and effect, of birth and death, is karma, an atomic substance and not a process, as happens in Hinduism and Buddhism. The effects of karma contemplated in Jainism are more a set of physical laws than moral laws.
Matter refers both to the mass of things and to the energy forces that structure this mass, making and remaking it in its various forms. Particles of karma are in the universe and associate with a soul due to the actions of that soul. The initial spiritual state attracts this karmic matter in the same way that a bookshelf gathers dust.
The quantity and quality of these particles determine the existence that the soul will have, its happiness or unhappiness. Once matter becomes attached to the soul, one becomes trapped, incarnation after incarnation, in the wheel of samsara, and does not see the real nature of the soul and reality.
It is only possible for a soul to achieve liberation when all particles of Karma are removed from it. To free oneself from the shackles of Karma, one must stop the influx of new Karmas and eliminate those already acquired. Nirjara (attrition) is the process that allows the liberation of particles of Karma from a soul and includes practices such as fasting, restricted diet, taste control, retreat to isolated places, mortification of the body and meditation.
To awaken and achieve liberation from matter, it is necessary to make the Five Vows and then continue with the actions that result from them. These actions lead a person through a 14-stage path, from ignorance and slavery to enlightenment and freedom.
Meditation
Jaina meditation aims to take the soul to a state of complete freedom from its bonds. Jain texts offer a detailed guide on meditation techniques to achieve knowledge and full consciousness. These techniques are designed to help the practice of staying away from attachments and hatreds and thus gaining release from the bonds of Karma through right perception, right knowledge and right conduct. These three points are known as the three gems of Jainism, and are essential for the soul to rise.
The Five Vows
The Five Vows of monastics are called Great Vows (maha-vrata) and those of lay people are called Small Vows (anu-vrata).
1. Ahimsa (non-violence),
2. Satya (truth),
3. Asteya (not stealing),
4. Brahmacharya (chastity),
5. Aparigraha (non-possessiveness).
The Five Vows direct a person's thoughts and behavior, as it is believed that as someone thinks, so will they. It is not enough, therefore, to simply abstain from violence, lying or stealing; one should not even think about such things. If one adheres to this discipline, he will escape the cycle of samsara and achieve liberation.
After achieving this, he becomes a Tirthankara, a vau builder (the one that crosses a small river branch, between thirty and fifty meters, where the depth does not exceed 50 cm) who can show others how safely traverse the currents of life, abandoning desire, freeing oneself from ignorance, and refusing the temptations of the world. In Jainism, suffering is caused by ignorance of the true nature of reality, and liberation is achieved through spiritual awakening and experiencing the truth that one has realized.
The 14 steps in scripture and the Five Vows
Stage 1 – the soul languishes in darkness, ignorant of its true nature and a slave to passions and illusion.
Stage 2 – the soul gets a glimpse of the truth but is too mired in illusion to retain it.
Stage 3 – the soul recognizes its own bondage and attempts to free itself but is still trapped in attachments and illusion and falls back to Stage 1.
Stage 4 – the soul, having recognized its bondage, longs to be free again, but is suppressing, rather than eliminating, its attachments and thus remains trapped.
Stage 5 – the soul has a flash of enlightenment and understands that it must make the Five Vows and adhere to them to free itself from slavery.
Stage 6 – the soul can contain its attachments and passions to a certain extent through the discipline of the Five Vows.
Stage 7 – the soul overcomes spiritual lethargy and becomes stronger through the practice of meditation and observance of the Five Vows. Self-awareness grows, as does a broader view of the nature of one's soul and reality.
Stage 8 – Harmful Karma is discarded, self-control is improved, and deeper understanding is achieved.
Stage 9 – more karmic debt is eliminated through conscious living and greater spiritual insight is achieved.
Stage 10 – at this stage, the person has almost eliminated attachments, but is still attached to the concept of the body as itself. This is understood as a body's greed, which must be overcome to progress.
Stage 11 – eliminate the identification of the self with the body and releasing all other attachments. Recognize the transitory nature of the people and objects to which they are attached and release them.
Stage 12 – all karma-producing passions have been eliminated, including attachment to the body.
Stage 13 – fully recognizing the nature of reality and the soul, one engages in deep meditation to remove oneself from all activity that could result in karma-producing passions and regression to a previous stage.
Stage 14 – as the person approaches death, they release all karmic debts and experience the liberation of moksha, complete understanding, wisdom, and total freedom from bondage. The soul is freed and will never again incarnate on the earthly plane to experience suffering and death.
For some people, like the Tirthankaras, Stage 14 is reached long before death (when they reach Moksha, the liberation) and they are recognized as spiritual conquerors (they have completely mastered themselves) and ford builders who then teach others how do what they did.
The Tirthankaras
Jains developed their own legendary history, The Deeds of the 63 Illustrious Men, which Western scholars call the Universal History. The most important figures in this story are the 24 Tirthankaras, perfected human beings who appear from time to time to preach and embody the faith.
They are considered souls born as human beings, who achieved Moksha, that is, liberation from the cycle of rebirth, through renunciation of the pleasures of matter and dedication to transmitting spiritual teachings to other human beings.
Jains believe that their tradition has no historical founder. Parshvanatha (or Parshva), the first Jain figure, was a renunciate teacher who may have lived in the 7th century BC and founded a community based on the abandonment of worldly concerns. He is considered the 23rd Tirthankara of the current era (Kalpa). Vardhamana, known as Mahavira (Great Hero) was the 24th and last of that time.
Mahavira, the choice of an ascetic life
Mahavira was born near Patna (present-day Bihar) and was a contemporary of Buddha. He was the son of a chief of the Kshatriya (warrior) class. He is said to have grown up as the son of wealthy parents who died when he was 28 or 30. From then on he renounced his status as prince to pursue the ascetic life.
Although he was accompanied for a time by Goshala Maskariputra, founder of Ajivika (following the ascetic way of life), an ascetic sect that arose in India at about the same time as Buddhism and Jainism and which lasted until the fourteenth century, Mahavira passed his next twelve and a half years following a path of solitary and intense asceticism.
According to Jain belief, he was not the founder of the faith, just one in a long line of enlightened sages who abandoned their ignorance and understood the true nature of reality and the soul. He is believed to have died in Pavapuri, near modern Patna.
Jain teachings
Non-possession (Aparigraha) – the possession of any asset is related to physical and psychological violence. Violence in all its forms originates from the desire to possess, dominate and control. Jaina ascetics refuse to possess anything. For lay people, the possession of some things is necessary to carry out daily tasks. Transient possessiveness (using a being to abandon them) is a form of attachment and is based on relationships of exploitation of power, on the part of one side, instead of unconditional love and equanimity.
Non-absolutism (Anekantavada) – the concept of non-absolutism in Jainism refers to the truth in a more comprehensive and free way, without dogmas and absolute truths. Assuming that someone has privileged access to the truth is the most powerful driver of conflict between human beings. The concept of non-absolutism refers to the pluralism of opinions, and the notion that various views on truth are not the truth itself.
Jainism encourages its followers to consider the points of view of other philosophies, and they believe that when any of these philosophies, including Jaina itself, clings too much to its own ideas it makes the mistake of considering its point of view as absolute.
Non-violence (Ahimsa) – Jainism orders the avoidance of all forms of injury, whether committed to the body, mind or speech. Violence is intentional or unintentional aggression. In thought, it is the greatest and most subtle form of violence because it arises from ideas of attachment and aversion, based on passionate states, which result from negligence or lack of care in behavior. Non-violence is the basis of Jainism and its central point.
Non-stealing (Asteya) – the practice of Asteya requires that one not steal, nor intend to steal, another person's property through action, speech and thoughts. It is one of the five main vows of Hinduism and Jainism.
Image from the parable of the blind men and the elephant,
widely used to explain the concept of anekantavada. (Wikipedia)
Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism is a way of life, having its origins in the concept of compassion for life and non-violence. Its practice is seen as an instrument of non-violence and import and cooperative coexistence, that is, consuming only beings without a nervous system, mainly from the plant kingdom. This is seen as the form of survival that causes the least violence against living beings. Fruits are better for Jainism because only a part of the plant is extracted from them and not its destruction as occurs if there are roots or shoots.
The use of dairy products is permitted if they are obtained and prepared in accordance with established standards. In some regions of India, such as Rayastán or Karnataka, the influence of the Jainas was so strong that the Hindu prefecture in the area also became vegetarian. It seems that Majavira was the one who planted a system coherent with common concepts and other Sramic systems such as the cycle of rebirth of Samsara or Moksa liberation integrated into the idea of respect for all living beings.
Non-violence as a political tactic
Notable in this context is the friendship between the lay Jain Raychandrabhai Mehta and Mohandas Gandhi, who considered his interactions with Mehta important in formulating his own ideas about the use of non-violence as a political tactic. Throughout history, Jains have been nobles, kings, or warriors of importance.
Jain philosophers were forced to integrate the principle of non-violence with war and the government of kingdoms. This apparent contradiction was resolved in several ways, for example, by planting the need to keep Jainism itself safe or defending the idea that it is possible to go to war with the minimum necessary violence.
Categories of belief systems in Jainism
Astika (existence) which accepted the Vedas as the highest spiritual authority; Nastika (non-existence) which rejected the authority of the Vedas and the Hindu priests. The three Nastika schools that continued to develop were Charvaka, Buddhism and Jainism. Jainism was championed by the spiritual ascetic Vardhamana known as Mahavira (Great Hero).
The Jain doctrine is based on the following foundations or beliefs known as Tattva, that is, an attempt to explain the nature of the human being and offer solutions to it:
Jiva – the essence of living entities. The soul is a different substance from the body that houses it. Its main attributes are knowledge, consciousness and perception.
Ajiva – lifeless entities consisting of space, matter and time.
Asrava – the interaction between Ajiva and Jiva generates an influx of karma in the soul, to which it is attached.
Samvara – by right conduct, the influx of additional karma can be stopped.
Bandha – the Jiva's bondage to karma restricts his real potential for perception and perfect knowledge.
Moksha – the Jiva withdraws his karma, expresses its freedom and has a pure and intrinsic quality of perfect knowledge in its true form.
Niryara – existing karma can be destroyed by performing asceticism and meditation.
Right knowledge, faith and practice
The three jewels, right knowledge, faith and practice must be cultivated together because none of them can be achieved in the absence of the others. Faith leads to calm or tranquility, detachment, kindness and renunciation of pride of birth, beauty of form, erudition and courage. Right faith leads to perfection only when followed by right practice. However, there can be no virtue without correct knowledge, the clear distinction between self and non-self.
Entrance to the yaina mandir (Jain temple) in Ranakpur (Rajasthan, India). Wikipedia
Jain cosmology
Jaina cosmology understands that the universe was not created by any God or supreme being and will never cease to exist. It is independent and self-sufficient and requires no higher power to govern. The early Jains contemplated the naturalness of the earth and the universe and developed detailed hypotheses about various aspects of astronomy and cosmology. According to Jaina texts, the universe is divided into three parts, the upper, middle and lower worlds. Its constituent elements are the five foundations of reality (Astikayas):
soul,
matter,
space,
principles of movement,
suspension of movement.
For the Digambaras there is a sixth substance, time. These elements are eternal and indestructible, but their conditions constantly change, manifesting three characteristics: emergence, stability and disappearance.
The time
For the Jainas, time is infinite and cyclical, like a large wheel divided into two identical parts, equivalent to ages. One performs an upward movement (Utsarpini); the other a downward movement (Avasarpini). Each of them is divided into six eras or Ara. The two cycles joined together make a rotation of the wheel of time, which is called Kalpa.
These kalpas repeat without beginning or end. In the ascending period, human beings progress in knowledge, age, stature and happiness. The descending period is marked by human and world degeneration, the distancing of spirituality, the excess complexity of human existence, the forgetfulness of religion and the loss of quality of life.
According to the Jainas, we live in a period of downward movement, in an era of unhappiness (Dukham Kal), which began 2,500 years ago and will last 21,000 years.
Jainism claims to provide a more realistic analysis of the world and its complexities than Hinduism or Buddhism. The world is part of eternity that moves, drives, creates and transforms everything. It is divided into five worlds, each of them inhabited by a certain type of beings.
Image from the 17th century that explains the system of Jain cosmology.
The upper world
At the top of the universe is the supreme abode (Siddhashila), which is the place where the souls (Siddhas) who have achieved liberation dwell. Below are thirty heavens, inhabited by celestial beings, some of whom are on their way to the supreme abode.
The celestial world (Urdhvaloka) consists of two categories of heaven, one for the souls of those who may or may not have entered the Jain path and another for those who are well advanced on the path, close to their emancipation.
At the apex of the occupied universe is the Siddhashila, the crescent-shaped abode of the liberated souls (Siddhas). Finally, there are some areas inhabited only by Ekendriyas, one-way organisms that permeate the occupied universe.
The average world
The Middle World (Madhyaloka) includes several continents separated by seas. In the center is the continent of Jambudvipa, considered the only continent on which souls can achieve liberation. Human beings inhabit this continent and a second one next to it and part of the third continent.
Inferior world
The lower world (Adholoka) is made up of seven hells, each one darker and more painful than the one above it, where beings coexist with demons, in an environment of torment. Below the seventh hell lies Nigoda, the base of the universe inhabited by countless lower forms of life.
Temples
The temple is the most important Jain institution and the laity dedicated their wealth to its maintenance and construction. The faithful do not allow the temples to have mutilated statues or damage of any kind and they are considered the best maintained in India. The temple usually contains a place of retreat for ascetics. The act of making donations for the construction of temples is also considered a form of worship, as is the practice of pilgrimages.
The oldest temple is located in Mathura, in northern India, and can be dated between the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. The temples must have been retreats of ascetics or simple caves. There are also temples outside India that reproduce the architecture of those found there. Jain temples usually have columns at the entrance. Some of the branches of Jainism do not have temples, such as the Taranapanthi, who reject the image worship of the Tirthankaras.
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