Introduction to Jaina Sadhna

Author(s): Sagarmal Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

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10: An Introduction to Jaina Sadhanā
monks so luxurious and corrupt in India that they could not retain the faith of common man. Jainism, on the other hand, throughout had a leaning towards extremism and remained strict and mostly inflexible in its moral code. That is why Jaina monks could not go and propagate Jainism across the boundaries of India. Fourthly, owing to its strict code of conduct even for a house-holder it was not easily adaptable for foreign people; for this very reason it could retain the faith of a common man and its own entity in India. Thus the extremism of Jaina religion on the one hand prevented its expansion in India and abroad, but on the other, it proved the sole cause of its survival in India. It is because of the strict austerities associated with Jainism that it remained a closed set, little understood beyond its adherents. Even the unusual absorbing power of Hinduism could not absorb it. This bespeaks of its originality which could withstand the challenge of Hinduism. Last but not least among the causes of extinction of Buddhism from the Indian soil was that Buddhism never tried to develop the order of laymen and lay-women. By the word order they mean the order of monks and nuns, while Jainism always laid stress on the fourfold order -- the monks, the nuns, the laymen and the lay- women and that is why it did not lose its identity.
Thus the two parallel religions, which occurred against the same socio-religious background and began their journeys together, drifted wide apart and had altogether a different history. Buddhism died in India, but remained in China, Japan, Srilanka and many other countries; Jainism remained in India, neither expanding nor suffering from further shrinking.