ISJS Transactions 2018 07 To 09 Vol 02 No 03

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

Page 15

confirmed that when she visits Jain homes, there is usually one child in a bedroom and that this bedroom is stuffed with possessions."
One mother opined: "The hardest is teaching to go barefoot to the temple. When it's very hot, they can't. When it's very cold, they can't. That is the hardest thing." This mother feels that flexibility should be allowed in the teaching of Jainism to children. "They should love and enjoy it." And despite her misgivings about having children attend the temple barefoot in inclement weather, she successfully persisted in teaching her son to go to the temple. "He goes twice to the temple (daily). Then we do pūjā with clean clothes."
Rationalism
Another mother found rote learning of rituals difficult for her children:
The hardest Jain principle today is to follow rituals. Like to read the śloka? that would be one basic thing which my children won't know....Children today, don't want to learn things unless you give them a scientific....reasoning.... If you tell them something humanitarian they will understand. They will help with a sick animal or a sick person. They want to give something back to the society, but if you tell them to go to the temple and do ritual or do idol worship or something like that, or you read the sloka of the Jains [they won't do it)."
Well-educated children of equally well-educated householders tend to demand rational, scientific explanations for religious practices. While scientific explanations for bhakti worship may be more difficult to provide than faith-based practices, the Jain pillars themselves and many daily living practices can be shown to have logical, fact-based benefits:
With my parents it was like at six you stop eating. After sunset you can't eat, but we were not told the logic behind it as much. But today, science says that you need to rest the digestive system. So, when you eat earlier, and you don't eat later, you become healthier. So even the smaller things of Jainism, if they are actually taught with reasoning to the children today, then they will accept the principles more easily. So, I think that Jainism that is taught today needs to be taught with reasoning.
Gender Issues
Sociologist Prakash Jain reports that the results of a recent survey on gender issues finds a significant gap in the male to female ratio for Jains in India. This gap reflects biases favoring the birth of a male child in all religions throughout India, except Christianity. Dr. Jain attributes this imbalance to female feticide among Jains, which is surprising, as Jains protect even the life of one-sensed organisms. Obviously, not all Jains are practicing female feticide, but the practice continues among enough Jains to cause risk to Jainism as a whole. Reasons
The Practice and Instruction of Jain principles... 19
for this practice among Jains are similar to those used by other Indians, and include: the avoidance of dowry (though Jains are not said to support this practice), a rising number of female renunciants (3:1 ratio, women to men), and, prestige associated with the birth of a male child."