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B.5.15.1
Jain Theism and Guņānuvāda
Chuck Sapienza Univ. of Illinois
Introduction By outsiders and insiders alike, Jainism is considered one of India's atheistic religions. Phrases such as "The Jains are explicitly atheistic," are common place. Anyone spending time with Jains and discussing their religion with them is sure to come across two things: Claims of atheism, but also many references to God. The claim to atheism and the references to God come from laypersons, monks, teachers, and preachers, and can be found in just about any book on Jainism, canonical texts included. This essay seeks to explore "atheism” in a religion that in practice and in theory, in the literature, in the temple, and in the household, there is not just God, but also icons, prayer, pūjā, bhakti, and all manner of fervent ritualism. “Atheism" turns out to be a messy and relative term, and perhaps Jainism is better categorized as unique type of theism. Pulling from the term gunānuvāda, which in this context means "worship of the qualities," which is a central concept in Jain ritual, I present the term gunanutheism as a step in the direction of clarifying the nature of divinity in Jainism.
Basics of Jain Theism Before any attempt to categorize Jainism as a specific type of theism or atheism, a brief explanation of the Jain concept of divinity is in order. In Jainism, the soul is called the Jiva. The gunas or qualities that each Jiva naturally and intrinsically has are infinite knowledge (ananta-jñāna), infinite perception/faith (ananta-darśana), infinite energy/capability/power (ananta-vīrya), and infinite bliss (ananta-sukha). These are known as the four divine gunas. "Jainas speak of the 'innumerable qualities of the soul. Nevertheless, it can legitimately be said that the presence of those qualities... perception, knowledge, bliss, and energy - are sufficient to define the soul as a totally distinct and unique entity, an existent separate from all others." Not only does the Jīva have all those infinite properties, but it also has always
1 Jones, Lindsay, "Atheism." Encyclopedia of Religion, Second Edition, Detroit: Thompson Gale, 2005. pp. 576585. 2 For Jain arguments against theism see: Joshi, L.R. "A New Interpretation of Indian Atheism." Philosophy East and West, Vol. 16, No. 4,(July-Oct., 1966), pp. 199-200 3 Jaini, Padmanabh S. The Jaina Path of Purification, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 2001, p. 106
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