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84 First Steps to Jainism
power of fault and of merit, in acceptance of the theory of the migration of souls, and in striving after a nirvana.
When and where the Karman doctrine has had its origin in India we do not know; only it is sure that it existed at least a thousand years before the beginning of the Christian Era, and has since become the basis and centre of religious thought. Although the various sects and schools are to some extent in accord with one another in their estimation of the efficacy of the Karman, there exist great differences between them regarding its philosophical explanation. There may be distinguished a whole scale of views, from the most extreme realism, which regards the Karman as a complexity of material particles infecting the sinful souls, to the most extreme idealism, according to which it is a species of newly produced invisible force, after all, in its highest meaning only unreal, because the entire world of the senses is an empty illusion, a dream, a Fata Morgana.
The conception first mentioned, the most realistic of all that have had their origin in India, is that of the Jains, of that Indian religious community which has existed from pre-Buddhistic times down to the present day. Their fundamental idea is, that the soul, pure in itself, is polluted through its actions and, in order to regain its natural state, must be free from its stain-an idea which is also found in other religions, but which, however, while it has remained with them only an allegorical expression, has been adopted by the Jains in the real sense of the word, and has been worked up into an original system, which even now is the foundation of the belief of one-and-a-half million people.
The Karman theory of the Jains as still taught today has been fully dealt with in a great number of works, Of these up till now, as far as I know, the following have been published: (1) the Karmagranthas; (2) the Pancasamgraha; and (3) the Karmaprakrti.
1. The Karmagranthas are six books, of different dimensions, which treat of the most important points of the Karman doctrine. The text, composed in Prakrit-Gathas, and the Sanskrit Commentary on books I.-V., have been written by Devendrasuri (died Samvat 1327 in Malava). There also exist a Comme - ntary on the Gathas, Balavabodhas written in Gujarati by Maticandra, Yasahs - oma and his pupil Jayasoma, which is printed in the collection Prakaranar
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