ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 02

Author(s): International School for Jain Studies
Publisher: International School for Jain Studies

Page 223

path of synthesis between fate and human effort; knowledge and action; and supra-moral plane of life and practical code of morality.
The answer of Jainism to the problem of knowledge is represented in its doctrine of nonabsolutism.
Much of misunderstanding between one nation and the other could be solved it we could adopt the attitude of non-absolutism on political problems.
Selfishness Selfishness lies at the root of all problems. All immoral practices arise out of selfishness nature of man. Selfish can be overcome by realizing the true nature of self. According to Vedanta, the individual self (atman) is identical, with the universal self (Brahman); and the summum bonum of life is to realize this identify. This broadens our outlook and lifts us above selfishness. Buddhism, on the other hand, asks us not only to destroy our ego but also to believe that the self, for which we struggle so much, is a non-entity. Both of these views represent entity and that each should have a distinct existence. What Jainism lays down is neither a belief in the unity of life nor in the non-entity of the self, but a distinction between the self (Jīva) and the non-self (ajīva) and a victory over passion which are based on a false conception of the identity of the two.
An ordinary Jaina (samyagdrsti) is not allowed to indulge in feelings of anger, pride, hypocrisy and greed continuously for more than a year, a householder at an advanced stage (śrāvaka) for more than four months, and a monk for more than fifteen days. Perfection or libration is attained when these feelings are completely overcome; and not, as the Vedanta will have us believe, when the self merges into the universal self; as the Buddhism believes, when it is annihilated. We need not discard commonly experienced, separate, existence of the self.
The above ethical idea, which Jainism gave with reference to individual sādhanā, could be interpreted afresh in the context of modern day problems to suggest that all nations could also maintain their individuality, and yet live in peace and harmony if negative ideas of anger, pride, hypocrisy and greed could be renounced. It could, thus, teach the possibility and utility of coexistence in modern times and bring the hope of a brighter future for warridden humanity of today. If Jaina ethics could bring home to us that alone, its purpose will be more than achieved.
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STUDY NOTES version 5.0