How Jains Know What They Know A Lay Jain Curriculum

Author(s): John E Cort
Publisher: Z_Nirgranth_Aetihasik_Lekh_Samucchay_Part_1_002105.pdf and Nirgranth_Aetihasik_Lekh_Samucchay_Part_2

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John E. Cort
Jainbū-jyoti
III. Four Prakaranas
1. Jīvavicara of Santisuri
2. Navatattva
3. Dandaka (24 kinds of jivas)
4. Sangrahani (ślokas by Haribhadra on geography and astronomy)
IV. Tribhāsyas by Devendrasuri
1. Caityavandana
2. Guruvandana
3. Paccakkhāna (fasting, vows, not sallekhanā)
V. Six Karmagranthas VI. Two Brhadsangrahaņīs
1. Maladhārī Candrasuri (most read)
2. Jinabhadra
VII. Two Brhadsetrasamāsas (different authors)
VIII. Tattvärthādhigamasutra
There is no evidence that Folkert followed up on this list, except for his unfinished research on pratikramana. In this essay I will fill in that gap, by surveying why it is that a respected Jain monk-intellectual might present this as a curriculum for lay Jain study. This list forms what in another context I have termed a "Canon-near", in contrast to the usual sets of texts studied by scholars of Jainism, which in some ways form "Canons-far." As I defined these two concepts, "In a Canon-near text, primacy and authority are defined by praxis and the resultant contextualized understanding, whereas in a Canon-far text primacy and authority are located in some intrinsic ontological value of the texts themselves" (Cort 1992 : 175). While I doubt if any but a very small number of Jain laity actually study these texts, for the list is really much closer to what one would expect of a curriculum for either mendicants or lay pandits, it nonetheless provides us with a textualentrée into Jainism that is an alternative to the usual ones of the 45 Śvetārbara Agamas or other such lists.