Book Title: Historical Facts About Jainism
Author(s): Lala Lajpatrai
Publisher: Jain Associations of India Mumbai

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 93
________________ 81 the assertion that the resemblance of the historical statements of the Jains to those of the Buddhas and the agreement of their doctrines and customs are so close tliat they warrant the suspicion of a mutual interdependence. He shows that the account of the life of Vardhamana differs in very important and 1111merous details from that of Sakyamuni Gautama and that such resemblances, as are found, may be expected to occur in the lives of any two men, who were contemporaries and caste-fellows, and both became ascetics and teachers of religious systems. He further points out a number of very considerable differences between the doctrines and customs of the Jains and of the Buddhas and proves with the help of the ancient Dharmasutras, that their resemblances are inore easily explained by the theory that both sects borrowed from the Brahainans than by the assumptiou that the Jains innitated the Buddhas. In answering Mr. BARTH's strictures on the Jaina tradition he admits that the Jain sect may have been for a long time small and unimportant, but contends that small sects, like the Jews and Parsis, often do preserve their doctrine and traditions with great pertinacity and better than large religious communities. He adds that the trifling differences in doctrines or usages, which caused the various schisnis in the Jaina church, indicate that the latter was inost particular about its tenets, and that the detailed list

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145