Facets of Jaina Religiousness in Comparative Light

Author(s): L M Joshi
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

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FACETS OF JAINA RELIGIOUSNESS
society, came into existence. But the seeds of śrāvakācāra or śrāvaka-dharma have definite canonical foundation. Jainism or Jaina Dharma can hardly be called only a 'philosophy' or only a 'religion either in its early or later phase. It has always been a pathway (märga) to ultimate Release (mokşa) from bondage (bandhana) of karma based on a particular point of view.
Pt. Dalsukh Malvania has, at one place, described Jainism as “an ethical system” and pointed out several reasons for according the status of "religion' to it. He points out that "the acceptance of God is not a necessary condition for a system to be a religion.” In support of this statement we may refer to Jaina, Bauddha, Sānkhya, Mimāmsā, Taoist and Confucian instances which do not teach belief in the reality of God or Creator. Pt. Malvania lists the following reasons for considering Jainism as a religion : it teaches belief in the transmigration of the soul; its ethics is a means for the release of the individual soul from all bondages; it advocates asceticism as a way to avoiding the social evils; it teaches a theory of karma; it enjoins worship of perfect souls who attained release and taught a way to it; and finally, "like any other religious system, Jainism also has its own mythology, which puts Jainism on the religious map."9 All these are good reasons as far as they go. We are, however, of the opinion that the word 'religion' is not so important or necessary as the above arguments seem to assume.10 Frankly speaking, the word Dharma is much more meaningful and comprehensive than the word “religion. In the English language it is difficult to think of a religion without God, whereas Dharma, while it includes much that is signified by religion, has dispensed with the idea of God. Nevertheless, Dharma whether of the Jainas or of the Bauddhas, has inspired a profound conception of supreme Holiness which, in its essential nature, is different from the conception of Divinity found in theistic religious systems of the world. 11
A fundamental fact about Jainism is that it is the product and manifestation of faith (śraddhā) in the reality of an ultimate transcendent state of Holiness (viśuddhi) revealed by the Jinas. The long and short of Jaina form of religiousness, therefore, is the theory and practice of this Holiness.
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“Though an Ethical System Jainism is a Religion" in Approaches to the Stuly of Religion (seminar papers), p. 93. Ibil. pp. 93-94. The following observation of Pt. Malvania does not hold good in the case of Buddhism : "The aim of religion, especially in India, is to know the self in its true nature, to realize the natural condition of the soul so that it can be free from all the internal and external bondages" (loc. cit.). According to Buddhism, the aim of religious striving is to realize selflessness (nairātmya) because in Nirvana there is neither the self nor anything belonging to it. We have already referred to the opinion of W.C. Smith (in The Meaning and End of Religion) who hopes that the use of the word 'religion' will disappear in the future. S.A. Jaina, Reality, p. 298, gives "God" as one of the meanings of siddha. This is incorrect.
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