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· Besides “Hindu ” or Vedic metaphysics, there are systems in India not based on the Vedas and Upnishads, and are therefore classed as heterodox by the Vedists, who, however, it must be admitted to their credit, do not consign them to the "uncovenanted mercies of God," as some Christian sects have done. These a:e the Buddhist and Jain systems. Much bas been written and spoken on Buddhisnı, but very little on Jainism. In this article, therefore, I intend to present a short sketch of the latter, in the hope that Hindu metaphysics. may receive proper' consideration in the Occident.
" Jain " ( or, more properly speaking, “ Jaina's) means a follower of Jina, which is a generic term applied to those persons ( men and women ) that have conquered the lower nature--passion, hatred, and the like and brought into prominence the highest. The Jain philosophy, therefore, bases its doctrine on the absolute necessity ( for the realization of truth ) of conquering the lower nature. To the undeveloped or insufficiently developed observer, it is the conquering of the lower nature; to the fully developed, it is the realization of the perfect.
There lived many such Jinas in the past, and many will doubtless yet be born. The philosophy of the Jains, therefore, is not essentially founded on any particular writting or external revelation, but on the unfoldment of spiritual consciousness, which is
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