International Journal Of Jaina Studies Vol 01 To 03 2005 To 2007

SR No.: 022773
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Peter Flugel
Publisher: Hindi Granth Karyalay
Publication Year: 2008
Total Pages: 202
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 19 MB

Page 50

International Journal of Jaina Studies Vol. 1-3 (2005-2007) 41-59
ARE JAINA ETHICS REALLY UNIVERSAL?
William J. Johnson"
To many outside, and some within, the Jain tradition, the ethical bar seems to have been set at a daunting height. The concept of ahimsa, or non-violence, appears to be both universal and non-negotiable. Of course, other traditions, especially Indian ones, also subscribe to ahimsa as a prime value. What makes the Jain position different, however, is their capacious definition of what counts as a living being or jiva: as a result, it seems almost impossible not to do harm to other beings and yet remain functional as a living. sentient being oneself. Reactions to this range from astonished admiration, through incomprehension and disbelief, to outright cynicism, especially when it is realised that lay Jains operate in the modern world much like anyone else.
My argument in this paper is that such reactions stem from a basic misunderstanding or confusion, one to which some Jains themselves are not immune. The confusion arises from a conviction that Jaina ethics in general, but particularly the precept of non-violence (ahimsa), as followed by Jaina monks and nuns, is universal, in the sense of being equally applicable to all people, in all circumstances, at all times. (In other words, the fact that lay people, for practical reasons, cannot live up to this standard is seen as a falling off, with all its attendant karmic and soteriological consequences.) I think this view has been largely propagated and endorsed by Western students of religion, and taken up more or less enthusiastically by some Western-based Jains seeking to establish Jainism' as a 'world religion', and to align it with various ecological movements. It is, indeed, an understandable view, given that it is based on doctrines and precepts. compiled in authoritative textual sources. But precisely because such texts were composed by ascetics, either specifically for other ascetics (monks and nuns), or, in the mediaeval period, in a conscious attempt to unify the Jain community by constructing a ladder of ascetic practices between the monastic and the lay world, it is necessary to contrast such a view with actual practice.'
* International Journal of Jaina Studies (Online) Vol. 2, No. 4 (2006) 1-18
In the case of the ladder, I am thinking specifically of the śravakācāra texts that have been so brilliantly analysed by Williams (1963) in his book Jaina Yoga. I also suspect that the indispensable and wide-ranging
41