ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 04

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

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Prasn tha (2900 years ago) and reestablished by Lord Mah vra around 2600 years ago. More research is needed to establish antiquity of Jainism.
However from the present day religious rituals of Jains, we get a feeling that other religions in India, due to their political patronage and following by masses have affected Jain rituals. Similarly we see Jainism affected the rituals of other Indian religions in introducing idol worship, eliminate animal or human sacrifice etc. Philosophically, however, Jains contributed a lot to Indian philosophies and religions by way of its doctrine of non-violence and path of spiritual purification. Thus we see Jains do assimilate with the society fairly easily.
Salient features of Jainism:
God is neither the creator, nor destroyer or administrator of the universe. The universe is eternal; it existed from times immeorial, and will exist forever. Its existence is governed by a number of universal laws. Only its form and contents go through a process of change continuously. All events in this universe occur due to a collection of five co-factors, namely nature (svabh va), predetermined associations, time, past karmas and efforts. The reality i.e. sat' as per Jains is 'existent' (asti). They further define existence as substance /dravya. Dravya is further classified as J va or sentient / living beings and aj va or insentient / non-living beings. Primary characteristic of reality/substance is 'permanence with change or with origination / destruction and permanence. It means permanence and change (parim nitya) or eternal - non-eternal (nity nitya) and Arthkriyakaritva (power to produce activity). Origination and destruction are the nature / functions of substance itself. However the changing substance does not leave its own nature of permanence. Substances are further classified as sentient / living being / J va and insentient/ nonliving beings / aj va. J va is further subdivided as mukta / liberated and sa sr/empirical. Empirical souls are further classified in many ways and the most common classification is sth vara / stationery i.e. living beings, which cannot move on their own, and tras / mobile i.e. living beings, which can move as per their objectives. Aj va are subdivided as matter (p dgala), the only concrete substance; dharma / principle of motion; adharma / principle of rest;
k sa / space and k la / time that are supportive and non-concrete. J va and matter are the only active substance types while the other four are supportive and supports actions and interactions of j va and matter. Empirical souls and matter interact with each other. Their interaction is called sa s ra or the world. Jains describe these interactions and states as tattvas, seven in number. The first two are j va and aj va, which are the main actors; the next two i.e. influx and bondage show the interactions between them and called sa s ra or engagement for pleasure and pain. This is called pravrti or engagement and Jains talk of moral ethics to minimize demerit and maximize merit during this engagement. Causes for sa s ra are delusion, inadvertence, laziness, passions and activities of mind/body and speech. The next two i.e. stoppage and dissociation of soul from matter are the nivștti or the state of detachment and spiritual purification to attain the last stage called mokṣa or liberation of the soul from sa s ra or bondage. Bondage is further classified as auspicious for meritorious results and inauspicious for de-meritorious results. Pure soul is with infinite intuition, knowledge, bliss and energy while empirical soul has only traces of these due to karmic veil on it. Similarly there are other totally opposite characteristics of the two concerning size, shape, movement etc. Doctrine of karma is perhaps one of the most important contributions of Jain. All our acts and events in life are based on a cause-effect relation i.e. as you sow so shall you reap. Karmas, subtle matter particles, are like the seeds of our activities to yield result at appropriate time. Their bondage is the cause of sa s ra and the empirical soul is called mukta / pure soul when it frees itself from karmic bondage. The holy Jain texts provide
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STUDY NOTES version 4.0