$JES 401 Jain Philosophy and Practice 2 Level 4 Book

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

Page 34

affairs. He does not like dishonesty. He wants to have good and right conduct. Now, he does not indulge in Anantänu-bandhi (life-long-lasting passions) Kashäya. He develops three qualities:
• Compassion for miserable living beings
Non-aversion over the good qualities of others
Practice of proper conduct.
Now he begins to develop Samyaktva or Samyag-drashti which means having faith in the path of liberation as indicated by the Tirthankars. This denotes faith in the words of Äpta (the Jina), Ägam (the scriptures), and Tattvas (the fundamentals). The right faith is also defined as faith in the right Deva (God), the right guru (teacher), and the right Dharma (religion). Along with these righteous thoughts, he develops virtues that will ultimately lead him to the fourteen stages of spiritual development.
Samyag Darshan (Right Faith or Belief)
Ächärya Umäsväti has defined the term Right Faith in his authoritative Jain sacred text, Tattvärtha Adhigama-Sutra, as follows:
"Tattvärtha-sraddhänam Samyag-darshanam"
That is, Right Faith is faith in the true nature of substances as they are in its own state. In other words, Right Faith means a true and firm conviction in the seven (or nine according to some) principles or Tattvas of Jainism as they are, without any perverse notions.
Samyag Darshan is the integrity or purity of inclination, attitude, and outlook towards the essence of spiritual welfare. On the attainment of this spiritually beneficent inclination, strong manifestations of passions subside. Right inclination arouses the pure desire to acquire knowledge and in its light, we gain understanding that reality is not absolute but relative, not one-sided but many-sided. This, in turn, leads to the rise and development of equanimity purified by discretion.
'Samyag-darshan' is the right faith resulting from the use of discretionary power of thought accompanied by the understanding of the truth of the universal law of cause and effect relation. Such a faith is an inclination or attitude having special strength of discretionary faculty, which enables us to discriminate the good from the evil, what is worthy of acceptance from what is worthy of rejection, and what is beneficial from what is harmful. The faith wedded to this strength is the firm faith in the right path leading to liberation or the spiritual good. As soon as right faith makes its appearance, whatever little knowledge be it little scriptural knowledge, ordinary intellect or limited learning the soul possesses, turns into right knowledge (Samyag-jnän). Right faith determines the rightness of knowledge. Based on right faith and right knowledge, conduct (right conduct) is cultivated; and at last, as a result, liberation is attained.
However great may be the development of knowledge or intellect, but if the faith (outlook, attitude or inclination) is wrong, evil or perverse, that knowledge or intellect will be misused. Moreover, if the faith is right, good or wholesome, whatever little knowledge is there, it will be used rightly. It is the faith that directs knowledge this way or that way. Rightness of knowledge and conduct depends on the rightness of faith.
Right Faith consists of believing the true nature of every substance in the universe. Jainism advocates that one should first try to know, comprehend, and understand the nature of reality; one's own self, religious goal, and a path. To achieve that goal, one should analyze, examine, test, verify, and then, if satisfied, be convinced of its truth.
From a practical point of view, faith in reality means to have total faith in the preaching of Tirthankars (Arihantas) and the scriptures, known as Agams because it describes reality by a person who has no attachment and aversion to any person or object of the universe.
Out of these three jewels, Right Faith or Belief comes first and it forms the basis upon which the other two jewels, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct, rest. The basic conviction in the fundamentals of Jainism
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JAIN PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE - 2