Jainism is an indigenous Indian religion that is not based on the Vedas; however, many of its teachings are consonant with practices of Hinduism, especially those elements of Hinduism that are themselves pre-Vedic. Most characteristic is its focus on asceticism.
Tirthankaras and Mahavira
Mahavira is thought to be the last of 24 Tirthankaras ("Fordmakers"). In Jain cosmology there is no beginning and no end to the universe, only cycles of progress and decline. At the beginning people lived happily and did not need religion. As time progressed and ethics/morals deteriorated they needed patriarchs to guide them. As Evil increased Tirthankaras came to create religion to put people back on the right path. The wretched 5th period began 3 years after Mahavira died. This period will last 21,000 years. The following period is a "very wretched" period in which people are short lived. At the end everyone will be destroyed. A few will survive who will recreate the world for the nascent phase of the next cycle.
Jain teachings were transmitted orally. Bhadrahabu, the 11th successor to Mahavira, was the last to remember all the teachings perfectly. Successive monks recreated the teachings as the Agamas.
Freeing the Soul: Ethical Pillars
A Jain can discover his/her own perfect nature--the Jiva--higher consciousness, soul, "living" and thus transcend the miseries of an earthly life. Jains believe in reincarnation and desire to be free of samsara--the wheel of karma. The path to this involves purifying one's ethical life until nothing remains, save the purified jiva. One who has achieved this state is called Jina ("winner" or "conqueror" over the passions). Tirthankaras were Jinas who helped others find their way.
In Jain ideology the soul is covered by debris of karmic accumulations. But unlike Hinduism or Buddhism, Jain karma is material, composed of subtle matter that binds jiva to ajiva ("nonliving" or "lacking soul." There are eight major types of karma that allow the soul to either rise or fall within the cycle of samsara. To avoid accumulating karma Jains adapt their lives to:
ahimsa: non-violence
aparigraha: non-possessiveness
anekantwad: non-absolutism (cf. monastic vows of poverty, stability, chastity and obedience)
Ahimsa: all the universe is composed of living things--1 drop of water contains 3000 living beings, all who want to live. To kill anything has negative karmic effects. Jains avoid eating after sunset so as to avoid eating non-seen insects. Some ascetics wear cloths over their mouths to avoid inhaling organisms. The higher the life form the heavier the karmic burden. Levels of life determined by degree of sensitivity--the highest are those beings with many senses; lower beings are "one-sensed"--plants and the elements. Jains are strict vegetarians (cf. Pythagoras and St. Thomas Aquinas). They have set up hospitals for sick and wounded birds. They often go to market to buy animals and raise them in comfort as orphans. Non-violence extends to words--one's profession must not injure beings. Jains often are clerks, bank tellers, involved in education, law, and publishing--"harmless" occupations. They cannot be farmers because tilling the soil damages the soil and the organisms within; it also causes pain to pack animals. Monks walk looking down to avoid stepping one any being--whether insects or rocks.
Jains often carry ahimsa to extremes--no bathing or swimming so as not to injure water bodies; no lighting/extinguishing fire so as not to injure fire bodies; no walking on grass so as not to injure plants.
Aparigraha: non-attachment to things or people. Possessions possess us; acquisition drives our emotions. Some monks wear no clothes; the Tirthankaras are always shown nude--free. Attachments to friends and relatives bind us (cf. St. Francis of Assisi's public renunciation of his father and worldly possessions; Jesus renounces his parents and family). We should be compassionate to others but not drawn into dependent love. The consequences of attachment are extolled in the story of the muni (monk) who sees 12 dogs chasing one dog with a bone. So long as we cling to things we will have to bleed for them. Jain's see world consumerism as evil to the individual and the world for it creates poverty, hunger, and environmental destruction.
Anekantwad--"relativitism." Jains try to remain open minded, to avoid anger or judgment; all things are only partially true. To illustrate this is the story of the many blind men trying to describe an elephant by touching only parts of it. The Jain wishes to preserve the flow of maitri--pure love, compassion, and communication.
Jains do not deny some truth in the doctrines of other philosophies; however, those who assert absolutism in their religion are going to extremes. The Great Legend (Mahapurana) of Jinasena reveals the logical fallacy of the Creator/Created paradigm when seen from the perspective of transcendent reality.
Spiritual Practices
Jainism is an ascetic path and is thus practiced most fully by monks and nuns. They meditate, live a life of celibacy, endure physical penance, fast, and live simply. They sleep on bare ground or on wood boards; they endure harsh weather with indifference. At initiation they may pull out their hair rather than be shaved. They learn to accept social disapproval--partly because they depend on others by begging for food. There are two groups of Jains:
The Digambaras--sky clad--wear no clothes; they have no shame or possessions. Because India allows nudity only for its holy men, women are prevented from becoming nuns. Women are inferior to men and can be liberated only once they are reborn male and become Tirthankaras.
The Shvetambaras wear white robes. Both men and women are allowed into this order which believes that women as well can become liberated. Clothing is not for them a sign of being tied to the material world.
In the 17th century CE a group broke away from the Shvetambaras to become the Sthanakvasis, protesting against idolatry and temple worship--carrying the tradition to its logical conclusion that the Tirthankaras are beyond reach to people still in their mortal, material state.
Each have stories predicting the birth of Mahavira, and its attendant visions and miracles. These stories bear a great resemblance to the stories surrounding the birth of the Buddha and of Christ. Interestingly, there is also debate between whether Mahavira ever married (as again with the Buddha or Christ), and like the Buddha, Zarathushtra, and Jesus, began their mission in their early 30s.
Lay householders can journey upward toward the final state by passing through 14 stages of ascent--gunasthana. The first four stages consist of the removal of false mental impressions. Stage five is moral purification by plumbing the depths of what psychoanalysts call the "shadow self"--the dark side of one's personality. After this spiritual inertia builds and self-control and the relinquishing of the passions follow. Through this process the veils of karma are lifted and the soul experiences more and more of its own luminosity. The highest state of bliss--kevala--is when the soul is liberated to "boundless vision, infinite righteousness, strength, existence without form, a body neither light nor heavy."
Lay spiritual life is likely to consist of 6 duties:
practice of equanimity through meditation
praise of the Tirthankaras
veneration of teachers
making amends for moral transgressions
indifference to the body--by difficult body positions
renunciation of certain foods or activities for specific periods.
Forms of Worship
Jainism speaks of no beginning and no end; therefore there is no Personal God/Creator looking down on us. Personal devotion--bhakti--only chains us (another reason the Jains are held in contempt due to the popularity of bhakti forms of devotion within Hinduism). The world operates by the power of nature. There are gods and demons, but they are subject to the same passions as are humans.
The Tirthankaras are honored in images. They all look alike--idealized, because the soul is non-particularized. Bulls are shown with the first Tirthankara--each has a symbol to identify the Tirthankara (cf. Greek gods and idealized sculpture). The worshipper feels reverence toward the image; he comes not as a supplicant because the Tirthankaras are not available as helper. They do not intervene. The are models of moral life. The lay can carry out worship service either alone or in groups.
The worship of Tirthankaras is called devapuja. One approaches not a image but a living Jina, radiant and omniscient with teachings emanating from the body as a divine soul. People come with offerings and waving lamps. But the worshiper does not expect--nor desire--reciprocity from the Jina. Liberation from samsara is a personal effort, not "Grace" given from without.
World Jainism
Jainism was mostly a small heterodox minority within Hindu India. Shree Chitrabhanu for 29 years walked over 30,000 miles throughout India to teach Jainism to the people. In 1970 and 1971 in Switzerland and then the US he attended the Temple of Spiritual Understanding Summit Conference--the first time a Jain monk had ever traveled outside India. He has since established Jain meditation centers in the US, Brazil, Canada, Kenya, and the UK.
