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Healing in Jainism
Shugan C Jain PhD
Healing is generally understood as the act or process of curing or of restoring to health. Assessed physically, healing is the process by which the cells in the body regenerate and repair to reduce the size of a damaged or narcotic area. Healing incorporates both the removal of necrotic tissue (demolition), and the replacement of this tissue. For centuries, people of faith have offered prayers for the sick, often with dramatic results. More recently, medical research has shown consistent proof that healing prayers definitely have positive results for the sick. But this is nothing new.
Jains on the other hand talk of holistic healing as healing of the body is a by-product of the total process. Further being atheists, Jains do not pray to some external agency to heal, rather it focuses on the patient to cure himself and asks his family /friends to help him heal (parasparopragraho jivånama or living beings help each other). The Jain doctrine and way of life and the attending family and friends act as healing factors to enable recovery from bodily injuries /sicknesses at super human rate.
Jains consider soul and body as separate entities. Soul is sentient and eternal with knowledge and bliss as its main attributes. On the other hand body is matter which is insentient and keep on changing (fusion and fission). Even though soul and body are different, Jains place very high importance on the health of the body as this is the primary organ / entity which soul uses to achieve its ultimate objective of being supreme soul or just soul i.e. liberation of the soul from matter association (karmas) which is the cause of transmigration and pain. We shall review Jain philosophy, literature to see how healing is achieved.
Literature: The earliest sacred literature of Jains called Purva, fourteen in number existed even before Mahavira (and hence called Purva). The twelfth Purva is called Prâoâvaya (or science of health). It deals with ways and means of keeping the body fit. It became a part of the 12th limb called Dropivada during Mahavira's time. However both Pradavaya and Dropivåda are now extinct. Still we find traces about keeping physically fit in all Jain sacred texts. Literature on health and curing diseases did not become popular in earlier days as they were considered having false (mithya) knowledge i.e. not about purification of the soul but about keeping the body fit. So Jain monks and scholars did not write much on the subject. From 21 century AD onwards, Jain ascetics considered it essential for their followers to know about ways and means of keeping themselves physically fit so that they can perform their spiritual uplift and religious duties properly. So we see acaryas Nagarjuna, Samantabhadra, Pujyapada in 2 to 5 centuries AD writing texts exclusively on sickness, causes and treatments. Uditåcårya in 11th century AD wrote detailed texts called Kalyanakäraks which are claimed to be derived from Pråòåvaya.
During the period of Bhaktivada's popularity, Jain acaryas like Ác Mångtunga (Bhaktámabra stotra), Ác Kumudacandra (Kalyadamandir stotra), Ác Vadiraj (Ekibhävastora) and many more wrote hymns seeking relief from worldly pains and curing different ailments of the body. These all became very popular (and are so todate). Later on more than 1000 texts on health, sickness, curing etc have been written by Jain ascetics and scholars who are quoted frequently.
Similarly the story literature of Jains has several stories like Mainasundari which talk of sicknesses inflicting the Jain practitioners and how they got rid of the same to ultimately achieve liberation. Then we have Ac Samantabhadra (suffering from endless urge to eat), Ac. Pujya Pada and Ac Vadiraj (a leper himself getting rid of his as well others leprosy), 23rd tirthankara Pároewanath (who is credited with removing the worldly pains of snake couple (Padmavati and Dhareòadra gods etc)), the four Dadagurus, now Ac MahaPrajóa spearheading healing of physical ailment through Prekoa meditation. Now a day's almost all the monks and nuns have started offering healing touch to their followers also We find use of meditation, prayers, charity, tantras and mantras being used as the factors of healing.
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