$JES 202 Jain Story Book Level 2 Book

Author(s): JAINA Education Committee
Publisher: JAINA Education Committee

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Preface Jai Jinendra Non-violence (Ahimsa) is the backbone and focal point of Jain philosophy. Non-violence, non-absolutistic viewpoint (Anekäntaväda), and non-possessiveness/ non-attachment (Aparigraha) are fundamental principles of Jainism. Non-violence strengthens the proper conduct of every individual, non-absolutistic view strengthen the right thinking of every individual, and non-possessiveness strengthens the interdependence of all existence and provides harmony in society. If we observe these three principles in their true spirit, peace and harmony can certainly be attained within us as well as in the world. Although not fully introduced to the western world, Jainism is India's oldest living religion. The basic principles of Jainism are scientific and the truths' presented in the Jain scriptures are universal; however, their interpretations and applications have to be done in the context of time and space in which we find ourselves. In English-speaking countries where many Jains have settled permanently such as USA, Canada. UK. and Africa, children do not have access to Jain educational material. In an attempt to make Jain principles known globally, the educational material must be made widely available in English. It is also necessary to publish Jain literature and educational material in a variety of media (i.e. books, videos, cassettes, CDs, DVDs, and web deployment) for English-speaking people interested in Jain philosophy, religion, and scriptures. JAINA Education committee has taken up this task. The JAINA Education Committee is pleased to present a set of JAINA Education books for students of all ages interested in learning Jainism. These books are grouped into four age levels: Level 1 for elementary, Level 2 for middle school, Level 3 for high school, and Level 4 for college students. The entire list of JAINA Education Series Books is listed in this section. Every edition of the Päthashälä books go through minor/major revisions incorporating suggestions received from various Päthashälä teachers, educators, and students from different centers. The education committee members are Jain Päthashälä teachers of various centers and they have spent countless hours in the preparation/review of this material. Great care has been taken to present the material in a non-sectarian way and incorporate the uniqueness of every Jain sect. Significant effort has been made to maintain consistency in the spellings of Jain words. Many youths have helped us in improving the English grammar in these books. The Jain Story Book (JES 202 - Level 2) was originally compiled and coordinated by Pradip and Darshana Shah of Chicago, Illinois in 2004. A great deal of effort has been taken by them for the preparation of the material. Significant time was spent in the selection of the stories. The stories were selected from the previous version of JAINA Education story book, the story book of Shri Manubhai Doshi, and few of the stories were gathered from various sources and we are grateful to the authors and publishers for being able to use their work liberally. We are thankful to Anita Parikh of Connecticut for the design and layout of this book. We needed to modify the popular versions of certain stories because we felt that they violated the basic principles of the Jain religion and in some cases they were not conducive to American culture which treats men and women equally. The following stories have been modified from their popular version:
1. Chandanbälä - The popular story indicates that Chandanbälä had no tears when ascetic Mahävir came to her house for Gochari and then he turned around. Immediately Chandanbälä started crying and Mahävir turn around and accepted Gochari. This explanation violates the monk's conduct with regards to acceptance rules of Gochari. Monks cannot go back to the same house twice for
JAIN STORY BOOK