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The Enduring Significance of Jaina Cosmography
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Buddhism, was that reaching liberation was becoming increasingly difficult as a result of general degeneration. Instead of striving for salvation in this world, therefore, one could rather be reborn in the Pure Land of a Buddha where salvation would be guaranteed. There are indications of this theological possibility having been developed already in the second century AD in India', and it was later developed in various branches of Mahāyāna Buddhism. In this way several cults around a specific Buddha and his Pure Land evolved, and the method of reaching his land was typically through devotional practices.
Considering the development of the Videhas and the Viharamāna Tīrthankaras, one is led to wonder if Jainism also developed cults similar to the Pure Land Buddhisms. To my knowledge this has not been the case and there could be several reasons as to why. First of all, Jaina Tīrthankaras were never given the same agency as Mahāyāna Buddhas. Sīmandhara may be a living Jina preaching at this moment, but Jaina theology would not allow him to respond to devotional practices, for if he did, it would imply that he wants to help us and hence he would not be free from passions (vītarāga) which, after all, is a defining characteristic of someone who has reached omniscience. Further, to be reborn in Videha does not mean that one automatically will achieve salvation or bump into a Viharamāna Tīrthankara as in the Pure Lands of Mahāyāna Buddhism. The Videhas are areas that remain in a state that makes salvation possible. Our world was also in this state a few thousand years ago, but that did not mean that all who were born in that period reached salvation. Far from it, only a few will be able to achieve that final state of omniscience.
This does not mean, however, that Sīmandhara did not evolve a cult of his own. In fact, one of the biggest temples built in Gujarat in recent times is dedicated to him (Dundas 2002: 269). Dundas also recorded a curious anecdote related to a famous Terāpanthi monk in which a layman committed suicide in order to be reborn in the presence of Sīmandhara (ibid: 306 n75). Still, the Videhas have not
| SR No. | 525075 |
| Book Title | Sramana 2011 01 |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Sundarshanlal Jain, Shreeprakash Pandey |
| Publisher | Parshvanath Vidhyashram Varanasi |
| Publication Year | 2011 |
| Total Pages | 172 |
| Language | Hindi |
| Classification | Magazine, India_Sramana, & India |
| File Size | 15 MB |