Ethical Doctrines in Jainism

Author(s): Kamalchand Sogani
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur

Page 16

that absolutism in philosophy is subversive of ethical speculation, since absolutism is always based on a prioristic trend of thought very remote from experience. In this regard the statement of Samantabhadra is significant. According to him, the conception of bondage and liberation, Puṇya (virtue) and Papa (vice) lose all their relevancy, if we exclusively recognise either permanence or momentariness as constituting the natur of substance. A little reflection will make it clear that the concept of Ahimsă belonging to the realm of ethics is a logical c
e of the ontological nature of things.
Thirdly, I have pointed out that Jaina ethics finds its culmination in mysticism. Thus if the fountain-head of ethics is metaphysics, mysticism is its completion. Ethics is the connecting link between the metaphysical speculation and the mystical realization. It will not be amiss to say that Jainism is not merely ethics and metaphysics but spiritualism too. This is manifest from the persistent emphasis laid by all the Jaina Ācāryas on the veritable achievement of Samyagdarśana (spiritual conversion). The whole Jaina Ācāra, whether of the householder or of the Muni, is out and out sterile without having Samyagdarśana as forming its background. Thus spiritualism pervades the entire Jaina Ācāra; hence the charge that the Jaina ethics is incapable of transcending morality and does not land us deep in the ordinarily unfathomable ocean of spiritualism gives way. It may be noted here that owing to its deep adherence to the spiritual way of life Jainism has developed fourteen stages of spiritual evolution, called Guņasthānas. I have subsumed these stages under the following heads, namely, 1) Dark period of the self prior to its awakening (1 st Dark night of the soul); 2) Awakening of the self; 3) Purgation; 4) Illumination; 5) Dark period post-illumination. (2nd Dark night of the soul); and 6) Transcendental life. There is also a state beyond these stages, known as the Siddha state.
Fourthly, I have indicated the theoritical possibility of devotion in Jainism. It is generally recognized that devotion in Jainism is a contradiction in terms, since devotion presupposes the existence of a Being who can actively respond to the aspirations of the devotee, and in Jainism the conception of such a Being is inadmissible. It is true to say that Jainism does not uphold the idea of such a Being known as God, but it undoubtedly recognizes the Arhat and the Siddha as the divinity-realised souls who may be the objects of devotion. Again, it is not inconsistent to aver that the Arhat or the Siddha can in no way be affected by devo