Introduction to Jaina Sadhna

Author(s): Sagarmal Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 15

8: An Introduction to Jaina Sädhanā
world. They established the supremacy of man instead of the God and other deities and declared that no other being except man himself is the maker of his own destiny. It is only man who can attain even Godhood through his moral life and spiritual practices. For both of them every living being is capable to attain Nirvāṇa, i.e., Godhood or Buddhahood. Both of them rejected the concept of grace of God. For them, it is our own self, which is solely responsible for misfortune as well as suffering. Thus they both accepted the supremacy of self and law of Karma. Moral code preached by Buddha and Mahāvira, in its general sense, was also the same. Both preached five Silas or Mahāvratas, with only one difference, that in place of non-possession of Mahāvira, Buddha preached non-consummation of intoxicative drugs.
The major differences between these two sister religions from the view-point of metaphysics and ethical code are following:
(i) The philosophical approach of Buddhism towards other philosophical doctrines was negative one, while that of Jainism was positive one. Lord Buddha preached that one should not fall in or accept any of the drstis, i.e., philosophical view-point, either it may be of eternalism or of nihilism, because none of them represents a right view-point, while Mahāvira said that both the doctrines are partially true, if they are viewed from different angles; so one should not discard one's opponent's, view as totally false. For Jainas different opposite views may be acceptable from different angles. For Mahāvira nothing was absolutely true or false and so he remained positive in his approach all the time. Secondly, while Buddhism laid stress only on the changing aspect of reality, Jainism gave due consideration to changing as well as eternal aspect of reality.
(ii) So far as moral and religious practices are concemed,