ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 04

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

Page 473

furies of nature. But we know that apart from the scarcity caused by natural circumstances, there is also an artificial scarcity created by indulgence into such selfish tendencies as hoarding and profiteering not only by individuals but by nations also, trying to expend and wanting to occupy others territories by force.
"The greater the possessions, the greater the happiness" is the motto of many. Jainism teaches us quite the opposite: "the lesser the possessions the greater the happiness". Happiness comes from what we are and not from what we possess. We should realize the blissful nature of the self, become free and be not the selves of worldly objects. This puts an end to the struggle for wealth and other possessions. For those who can reach the highest stage of monkhood, scarcity becomes a selfimposed virtue followed voluntarily in pursuance, of complete freedom from bondage; for those who cannot attain that height, limitations of possessions, coupled with a sense of detachment towards what one has, is recommended. The idea behind the vow of non-possession is not a morbid feeling of self-mortification but a sense of, and belief in the inherent bliss of the self.
The answer of Jainism to the problem of scarcity is; Be not attached to the worldly objects; be not their selves; turn to the self within wherefrom comes the true happiness. Has does not imply a life of inertia, but that a contemplation and contentment.
What is true of the individual is true of the nations. The glorifications of a king who desire to conquer others territory (vijigisu), through very commen in other ancient Indian literature, is foreign to Jaina literature; the greed for expansion is unmistakably condemned in the too well known story of Bharata and Bahubali.
Injustice
The bigger fish swallow the smaller ones. The mighty and the aggressive prosper; the humble and the meek suffer. The result is the rule of jungle. In the sphere of politics, we kill and crush in the name of caste, creed and colour. The result is war and bloodshed.
Jainism brings us hope of justice in the form of doctrine of karman. As we sow, so shall we reap? Through there is no God who sits upon judgement on us, there is a law, based on the theory of cause and effect, which works automatically and unfailingly.
All life is equal and the stronger have no right to do any injustice to the weaker; and if they do, they do not harm anybody but themselves. Ill feeling vitiates our morals structure first; it harms anybody else afterwards. To kill a man with a hot rod of iron, the killer will burn his own hands first before he can kill the other. It is not so much out of regard for the life of others that we are forbidden to kill, as out of regard for our own selves.
We should meet an injustice not with force but with forbearance. Enmity leads to enmity; but if we do not retaliate, it subsides. Parsva's attitude of equanimity to Dharanindra and Kamatha beautifully illustrates the Jaina attitude, when the former tried to save him from the latter who tried to kill him.
Jainism has also opposed from the beginning any social injustice arising out of casteism or racialism. 'Mankind is one community', says Jinasena. Mahatma Gandhi successfully applied the creed of nonviolence to redress the injustice of one nation against another. The creed of non-violence, if applied to the international problems, has the potentially of wiping out the institution of war from the surface of earth. Thus, the answer of Jainism to the problem of injustice is four-fold: doctrine of Karman, equality of life, non-violence and equanimity.
Ignorance
In spite of the spread of education in modern times, the problems of life seem to multiply rather than decrease. Of what use in knowledge, which binds us rather than liberate? Jainism teaches us that all knowledge is relative and co-related. Let us be respective to every thought. Let us not assume the attitude of finality about our knowledge. One-sided attitude only complicates problems rather than solve them. It does not give us any solution to such ethical questions as 'determinism' and 'freedom
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STUDY NOTES version 4.0