ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 03

SR No.: 007713
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: International School for Jain Studies
Publisher: International School for Jain Studies
Publication Year: 2012
Total Pages: 292
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 7 MB

Page 234

SCHOOL
OF
SELF STUDY IS THE SUPREME AUSTERITY
स्वाध्याय
परमे
have a code of ethics that reflect their belief in God, and they have lives that are oriented towards their concept of God.
But, apparently, Jainism does not believe in God, so what is this "thing" that makes Jains live as though God does exist? The answer, in fact, is God. The Encyclopedia of Jainism says, "The Jains do believe in a God after their own way of thinking."8 Jainism is not atheistic, but theistic, and it is dissonance between the Jain concept of God and the traditional concept of God that has caused Jainism to be understood as atheistic.
Why Jainism is considered atheistic.
The terms āstika and nästika are sometimes confounded with theism and atheism. The different interpretations of astika and nastika are outside the scope of this essay, but an extremely brief summery could be as follows: To Panini, nastika is not accepting life after death. According to Nyayakosa, an nastika does not accept the existence of isvara. And to Manu says that an nästika rejects the authority of the Vedas. 9/10 For the purposes of this essay, nastika can mean the rejection of the Vedas and the Vedic gods. And Jainism surely is an nästika tradition, but that does not imply atheism.
STUDY NOTES version 5.0
The confusion of the terms āstika and nastika pales in comparison to the confusion and relativity of the terms theism and atheism, which is made apparent by the commonly cited examples of Socrates being accused of atheism for not believing in the official Athenian gods, and of early Christians being considered atheists by the Romans because of a lack of idol worship.11
It is likely that Jainism is considered atheistic because of a problem with terminology, but redefining such terms is outside the scope of this essay. Jainism is considered atheistic
8 The Encyclopedia of Jainism, Volume 9.Ed. Nagendrea Kr. Singh, Indo-European Jain Research Foundation.Anmol publications PVT. LTD. Delhi, 2001, pp. 2423-2425
9 The three definitions of Nästika are from: Tukol, T.K. Compendium of Jainism. "Concept of God and of Worship," Dharwad: Prasaranga, Karnatak University. 1980. p. 61
10 Kothari, Ajay P. The Concept of Divinity in Jainism, Prakrit Bharati Academy, Jaipur, 2000, p. 131
[Kothari and Tukol use very similar paragraphs, neither used citation, assumed general domain]
11 Shah, Hemant, Concept of God in Jainism, From the Harvard University Pluralism Project website: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~pluralsm/affiliates/jainism/article/main.htm
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