Svetambara and Digambara
In the previous post, Jainism - the most peaceful religion in the world, we had our first contact with Jainism and presented its essential characteristics. Now we will present their main sects and Jain´s philosophy.
The Jainas are divided into two main sects: the Svetambara (White Robes) and the Digambara (Sky Robes). Most Jainas belong to the Svetambara group. According to some authors, the origin of the two sects dates to the 1st or 3rd century AD and is due to disputes surrounding the texts that should constitute the scriptures of Jainism. The Digambara are concentrated in southwestern India and the Svetambara in the northwest, in the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. These two sects are believed to have their origin in events that occurred about two hundred years ago after the nirvana of Mahavira, the last Tirthankara.
Bhadrabahu, the head of the Jain monks, predicted a period of famine and led about twelve thousand people to southern India. Twelve years later, they returned and found the new Svetambara sect. Bhadrabahu's followers then became known as Digambara.
The Svetambara/Digambara split was probably the result of a series of councils held to codify and preserve the Jain scriptures, which existed as oral tradition long after Mahavira's death. The last council, a meeting of ecclesiastical authorities with the aim of discussing and deliberating on pastoral issues, doctrine, faith, and customs, was held in the city of Valabhi, in 453 AD or 456 AD and without the participation of the Digambara. This council codified the Svetambara canon still in use. The Digambara monastic community denounced the codification and with that the schism between the two communities became irrevocable.
The two sects agree with almost all the principles of Jainism, but the Svetambara consider their scriptures to be closer to the original teachings of Mahavira. They wear seamless white clothes and believe they have retained most of the original scriptures transmitted by Mahavira. They recognize that women, as well as men, can achieve liberation.
The Digambara are more orthodox and reject a considerable part of these scriptures. They consider that the renunciation preached by Mahavira implies total nudity for the monks because, according to tradition, Mahavira and his first eleven disciples owned nothing and used nothing. They also believe that only men can achieve liberation, women must wait until they are incarnated as men.
Monks, nuns, lay people
In the Jain community there are monks and nuns, lay people. Everyone follows the same fivefold spiritual discipline. Monks and nuns are differentiated from laypeople only by the degree to which they embody this discipline. Through severe asceticism the monks and nuns strive to make this the last birth. Lay people follow less rigorous practices, striving to achieve rational faith and do virtuous deeds in this birth.
Jainism considers monastic life as the ideal way of life for human beings. Among the Svetambara, entry into monastic life is authorized for both sexes from the age of seven, but generally occurs at an older age. The novice must abandon all his possessions; at the time of his ordination (Diksa) his head is shaved, and he takes the five vows, in a stricter version than that of the laity.
Jaina monks lead an itinerant life, apart from the monsoon season, when they retreat to a specific location. They usually move in small groups of five or six. For their food, they depend on the charity of lay Jainas, to whom they offer spiritual assistance in return.
Svetambara monks may own trivial things, such as a thin white robe and the Mukhavastrika, a fabric mask placed over the mouth, whose purpose is to prevent the involuntary ingestion of insects. The Digambara interpret the precept of detachment in an extremely strict way and for this reason they do not wear clothes and, as they do not have a bowl, they use their hands as food containers. The nuns wear a white robe. They usually travel alone.
Natural difficulties
Monks are expected to suffer hardships imposed by climate, terrain, travel, or physical abuse with equanimity. However, exceptions are allowed in emergencies, since a monk who survives a calamity can purify himself by confession and the practice of even more rigorous austerities.
The Digambara monks take the same “great vows” as the Svetambara, but, in recognition of a much more intense interpretation of the vow of non-inauguration, the full-fledged Digambara remain naked, while those of lower rank wear a loincloth and keep a piece of cloth with a maximum length of 1.5 meters.
They use a peacock feather duster to sweep the ground where they walk so as not to harm any life form. They drink water from a gourd and beg for their only meal of the day using their cupped palms as a begging bowl. They consider their interpretation of the Jain monastic vocation to be more in line with the ancient model than that followed by the Svetambara.
Slavery and permanent liberation of the Jiva
Karma is the link that connects the soul to the body and the cause of slavery and sadness. Jains believe that every action, good or bad, that a person performs opens the channels of the five senses, through which an invisible substance, karma, filters and adheres to the Jiva, (vital principle of the soul), weighing it and determining the conditions of the next reincarnation.
Jains believe that the highest and most exalted state of beatification, the permanent liberation of the Jiva from all involvement in worldly existence, can only be achieved through one's own efforts. No spirit or God can help the Jiva to gain liberation. Mohandas K. Gandhi was deeply influenced by Jain ethical principles and made the doctrine of Ahimsa (non-violence) an integral part of his own philosophy and a method of political action.
Jainism asserts that absolutism (especially moral absolutism) leads to fanaticism and violence, and therefore supports tolerance between beliefs, claiming that no belief exclusively contains the truth.
The behavior of the layperson
Many treatises on religious behavior and lay vows were produced between the 5th and 17th centuries AD. According to these writings, lay behavior should reflect the ascetic “great vows.” Jain doctrine, however, holds that while the ascetic path can lead to the destruction (Nirjara) of karma, the lay path allows only the departure (Samvara) of new karma, and this does not radically alter an individual's karmic status.
Lay people must observe eight rules of behavior and must take twelve vows. The eight rules vary, but in general they include the absolute and unrestricted practice of Ahimsa (non-violence) which has its strong point in food. They should not eat meat of any kind, any animal products, or certain vegetables (tubers, onions, and garlic) as they are of inferior origin and cause the effect of agitating the mind, making the practice of meditation difficult.
Other rules include not eating at night, not drinking alcoholic beverages or substances considered to alter consciousness (caffeine, theobromine). They must practice charity towards all living beings, read about the transcendental qualities of the Tirthankaras and recite the Navkarou Ṇamōkāra Mantra, the most significant mantra in Jainism and one of the oldest in continuous practice. This is the first prayer recited by Jains during meditation.
Mantra is a syllable or poem, usually in Sanskrit. Mantras originated from Hinduism, but they are also used in Jainism and Buddhism, as well as famously in spiritual practices that have no connection with established religions.
Pilgrimage
Viewed as a particularly meritorious activity, pilgrimage is popular among renunciates and lay people. Pilgrimage sites were created during the medieval period at locations marking major events in the lives of the Tirthankaras. Some of which were destroyed during the Muslim invasions, which began in the eighth century.
The Parasnath and Rajgir hills in the state of Bihar and the Shatrunjaya and Girnar hills in the Kathiawar Peninsula are among these important ancient pilgrimage sites. Other shrines that have become pilgrimage destinations are Shravanabelagola in the state of Karnataka, Mounts Abu and Kesariaji in the state of Rajasthan and Antariksha Parshvanatha in the Akola district of Maharashtra.
For those who cannot make a pilgrimage to the most famous locations, it is possible to worship their representations in local temples. Small regional networks of sanctuaries are also considered reproductions of large pilgrimage spaces.
Community confession
Lay people make a community confession. Letters are sent asking for forgiveness and the removal of all resentments over conscious or unconscious mistakes during the past year. Called Dashalakshanaparvan (Day of Observance of the 10 Religious Qualities), the festival makes a public display of the Tattvarthasutra, an ancient text written in Sanskrit by Acharya Umaswami sometime between the 2nd and 5th centuries A.D. The Tattvārthasūtra is considered one of the oldest and greatest authority in Jainism.
On the full moon of the month of Karttika (October-November), while Hindus celebrate Diwali (the festival of lights), Jains celebrate Mahavira's Nirvana (final liberation; literally “extinguishment”) by lighting lamps . Another important Shvetambara ceremony is the Jnanapanchami (Fifth Knowledge), which occurs five days later and is celebrated with temple worship and reverence for the scriptures. The equivalent Digambara festival takes place from May to June. Mahavira Jayanti, Mahavira's birthday, is celebrated by both sects in early April with public processions.
Worship, hymns, baths, and offerings
One of the main forms of worship for the layperson is to pay homage to the statues of the Tirthankaras. The Jainas wash the statues and dedicate offerings to them, such as honey, flowers, rice, etc. Some Jaina groups, such as the Sthanakavasis and the Terapanthis, are against image worship.
The believer does not worship the statue itself, but rather the qualities associated with it, to receive inspiration to follow the same path. Statues can be worshiped in temples or in small shrines in homes. They are represented in a meditation position, sitting, or standing.
Jaina prayers refer to the great acts of the Tirthankaras and the teachings of Mahavira, being said in an ancient dialect of Bihar, Ardha Magadhi. With the main prayer, Namaskara Sutra, the Jaina pays homage to the qualities of the five great beings of Jainism.
Daily worship includes hymns of praise and prayers, recitation of sacred formulas and veneration of idols (Tirthankaras) — bathing the image and making offerings of flowers, fruits, and rice. The Shvetambara also decorate images with clothes and decorations.
A long-standing debate within both Jain communities concerns the relative value of external acts of worship and internalized acts of mental discipline and meditation. Monks and nuns of all sects are prohibited from physical displays of worship.
Period of abandonment of wandering life
The most critical time of the Jain ritual year, however, is the four-month period, usually from late July to early November, when monks and nuns abandon the wandering life and live among lay communities. For the Shvetambara, the most important festival is Paryushana (Abiding) which occurs in the month of Bhadrapada (August-September).
Paryushana designates peacemaking through forgiveness and service with wholehearted effort and devotion and staying in one place during the monsoon season. The festival is characterized by fasting, preaching and recitation of scriptures. On the last day of the annual Samvatsari festival, alms are distributed to the poor and a Jina image is ceremonially displayed through the streets.
Philosophical questions
The contribution of Jains in the development of Indian philosophy was significant. Jain philosophical concepts such as Ahimsa, Karma, Moksha are common in Hinduism and Buddhism. While Jainism based its philosophy on the teachings of Mahavira, several Jain philosophers contributed to Indian philosophical discourse.
Jains have been influenced and contributed significantly in the ethical, political, and economic spheres of India. The Jainas have a long-enlightened tradition and are the most literate religious community in India. Its libraries are the oldest in the country. They have an elaborate cosmology and beliefs, attested to by names, categories, classes, hierarchies, degrees, and orders.
Transtheism – refers to a system of thought or religious philosophy that is neither theistic nor atheistic but is beyond them. Theologian Paul Tillich or Indologist Heinrich Zimmer coined the word. Zimmer applies the term to Jainism, which is theistic in the limited sense that the gods exist but are irrelevant because they are transcended by Moksha (a system that is not nontheistic but in which the gods are not the highest spiritual instance ). Zimmer uses the term to describe the position of the Tirthankaras having passed "beyond the pious rulers of the natural order".
Atheism – the universe was not created by any god or supreme being and is the inflexible result of the laws of self-imposed naturalness. There is no creator of the universe, lawgiver, governor, or external supernatural agent. Although mention is made of certain beings, they are generally indifferent to them. Belief in these entities is not necessary and appears in Jaina cosmology only to refer to the wheel of reincarnations of living beings.
Pananimism – the universe is a living totality. Every being represents a soul, complex, translucent, or heavy. From the earth or the wind, to insects or mammals, all beings reflect the universe and are worthy of respect. A conception of the world close to pantheism.
From an epistemological point of view, Jainism is relativist, as it argues that knowledge of the world alone can be approximated and that, over time, even its own religion will eventually disappear. Jaina sages applied this principle.
Theories of knowledge applied to liberation
In Jain thought there are four stages of perception – observation, willingness to recognize, determination and impression – leading to subjective cognition (Matijnana), the first of the five types of knowledge (Jnana). The second type, Shrutajnana, derives from scriptures and general information. Both are mediated cognition, based on external conditions perceived by the senses.
Canonical literature
Towards the end of the fourth century BC, a council met at Pataliputra for the purpose of fixing the Jain canon. Its final form, however, was established at the Council of Valabhi, presided over by Devardhi around 454 AD. There are forty-one Sutras, including eleven Angas, twelve Upāngas, five Chedas, five Mǖlas and eight miscellaneous works; several Prakirnakas (unclassified works); twelve Niryuktis (commentaries); and the Mahābhāsyaou great commentary.
Each tradition has developed an extensive corpus of authorized annotated literature, and each has developed a body of narrative literature. For example, so great was the influence of the story of Rama on the classical Hindu Ramayana that Buddhists and Jains felt obliged to retell the story in their own terms. Jain literature includes sixteen different versions of this story in Sanskrit and Prakrit.
Many Jains consider the main scripture to be the Tattvartha Sutra, or Book of Realities, written more than eighteen centuries ago by the learned monk Umasvati, also known as Umasvami. According to the Digambara, these texts were first written in 57 AD, when religious teachers were unavailable and the only source of information was what people could remember about the sayings of Mahavira, the twenty-fourth Tirthankara who revived the Jainism.
He expounded the spiritual, philosophical, and ethical teachings of the earlier Tirthankaras of the remote pre-Vedic era, and of the Kevlin (Narrow River). Its original language was Ardha-Māgadhi, a Middle Indo-Aryan language and a Prakrit, a concept from the Vedic era that means "putting first, the original form of anything, the primary substance". In Hindu texts it means "nature, body, matter, phenomenal universe" and is believed to have been spoken in modern day Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and used in some early Buddhist and Jain dramas. It was probably an eastern Indo-Aryan language, related to modern languages such as Magadhi and Bhojpuri. After the Christian era, Sanskrit became more popular.
In addition to the canons and commentaries, the Svetambara and Digambara traditions produced a large body of literature written in several languages, in the areas of philosophy, poetry, theater, grammar, music, mathematics, medicine, astronomy, astrology and architecture.
The epics Cilappatikaram and Jivikacintamani, important works of post-classical Tamil literature, were written from a Jain perspective. The Adipurana by the Jain lay poet Pampa is the earliest extant piece of Mahakavya (“high poetic”) Kannada literature. The Jainas were equally influential in the Prakrit languages, Apabhramsa, ancient Gujarati and, later, Sanskrit.
The path to liberation is through the three jewels of right faith (belief in real existence), right knowledge (knowledge of real nature without doubt or error) and right conduct (the practice of the five virtues). Through them, the flow of Karma to the soul is stopped and the existing Karma is discharged.
When the last particle of Karma is exhausted, “the combination of soul and matter is dissolved” and the soul attains infinite faith, knowledge, bliss, and power. One transcends the cycle of earthly existence (Samsara) and goes to a place or state called Siddhashila, where the Jiva, identical with all other pure Jivas, experiences his own true nature in eternal stillness, isolation, and non-involvement and in eternal goodness-adventure.
Preservation of manuscripts
The religious merit resulting from hearing and reading Jain texts encouraged the careful and loving preservation of the manuscripts. Jains traditionally maintain important libraries throughout India, among the most significant are those of the Shvetambara in Chambay (or Khambhat), Patan (both in the state of Gujarat) and Jaisalmer (Rajasthan) and those of the Digambara in Karanja (Maharashtra) and Mudbidri (Karnataka).
The palm leaf miniatures and paper manuscripts and wooden book covers preserved in Jain monastic libraries provide a continuous history of the art of painting in western India since the 11th century AD.
The problem with oral transmission is that if those who carry the knowledge of a text in their minds die before transmitting it to others, or after transmitting it only partially, that knowledge is lost forever. It is no different from a situation where every copy of a particular book is destroyed.
This appears to have been the situation of the ancient Jain community and the reason why the decision was finally taken to put their textual tradition into written form during the time of Chandragupta, r. w. 321 BC- c. 297 BC, of the Mauryan Empire. The Shvetambara and the Digambara agree that a time will come when the teachings of the Tirthankaras will be completely lost.
Jainism will then disappear from the Earth and reappear at an appropriate point in the next cycle of time (Kalpa). The two sects disagree, however, on the extent to which the corruption and loss of the teachings of the Tirthankaras has already occurred.
When this cycle reaches its lowest level, even Jainism itself will be lost in its entirety. Then, in the course of the next rise, the Jain religion will be rediscovered and reintroduced by new Tirthankaras only to be lost again at the end of the next crisis. In each of these enormously long alternations of time there are always twenty-four Tirthankaras.
Jains believe that Lord Rishabha was the first human to receive philosophy in the current cycle. The twenty-third Tirthankara was Parshva, an ascetic and teacher, whose traditional dates are 877 B.C.-777 B.C., 250 years before the death of Mahavira, the last Tirthankara, in 527 B.C. Jains consider him, along with all the Tirthankaras, a reformer which called for a return to beliefs and practices aligned with the eternal universal philosophy on which faith is said to be based.
֍
Did you like this post? Do you have any suggestions or criticism? Write your comment below and, if you want, you can share it. All of this helps a lot in my work.
Links used and suggested
Comments