Facets of Jaina Religiousness in Comparative Light

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

Page 60

JAINA CONCEPTION OF THE HOLY PENTAD
I take refuge in the dharma expounded by the omniscient Jina (kevali
pannattam dhammam saranam pavvajjāmi). According to a generally accepted Jaina tradition, the third refuge, sādhu, in the above formula of four refuges, includes ācāryas, upādhyāyas and sādlius. This means that the first three refuges symbolize the five holy beings adored in the formula of fivefold obeisance. The refuge-formula is thus only a variation of the obeisance-formula with the significant addition of dharma or the Doctrine preached by the all-knowing Jina.
This formula of four-fold refuge reminds us of the Buddhist formula of three-fold refuge (tri-sarana) just as the formula of five-fold obeisance reminds us of the Buddhist formula of obeisance to the Triple-Gem (tri-ratna). In the Buddhist instance the number of the refuges and the adorable ones is the same; there are only three śaranas and three ratnas. In the Jaina instance the saraņas are four while the adorable ones are five.
The Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha are the three jewels' as well as three ʻrefuges' of the Buddhists. Obeisance is offered first to the Buddha, then to the Dharma and finally to the Sangha. It may be pointed out that the ideal spiritual Sangha in Buddhist theory consists of the four classes of enlightened beings, viz. Samyaksambuddhas, Pratyekabuddhas, Arhats, and Bodhisattvas. It is this Sangha which is the refuge of the devout Buddhists, The historical and human Sangha also consists of four classes of the followers of Buddha and his Dharma viz. bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇis, upāsakas and upāsikas. The human Sangha in some sense symbolizes the spiritual Sangha. We may say that the human and historical Sangha is an aspect of the way to transcendental and transhistorical Sangha. The fashionable practice, current in some circles of modern writers, of interpreting Sangha merely as 'the order of monks' is based on an inadequate understanding of Buddhist faith, which in fact, envisa ges a transhistorical and supramundane (lokottara) character of the Triple-Gem.58
The Jaina sources usually classify sentient beings into four states (gati), viz. gods (deva), humans (manuşya), animals (tiryak) and hells (naraka).54 All these classes of beings are denizens of the realm of transmigration (samsāra). Ontologically a fifth class of beings is recognized in Jaina faith. This class consists of the released souls, those disembodied beings who are wholly freed from all forms of karma. They are known as the siddhas. Theoretically, therefore, the siddhas constitute the highest
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For a detailed discussion of this aspect of Buddhism the reader is referred to the following works: Bhikshu Sangharakshita, A Survey of Buddhism; Ibid., The Three Jewels; L.M. Joshi, God's Alternative; Edward Conze, Buddhist Thought in India. Tattvārthasūtra, VIII. 10.
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