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MILLENNIA BEFORE DARWIN
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evolution from time immemorial. Here we will only pay attention to the views of Jainism about changes of form and evolution in nature.
Outsiders often think that Jainism started with Mahāvīra, who lived some 2575 years ago. The very old scriptures which were in existence in his day - the twelve Angas – were destroyed in that same period by hostile factions. In the following centuries texts were written based on monk's memories and traditions, but these are not exactly the same in the two main sects of Jainism. The most important available scripture, written some centuries after Mahāvīra's passing, known as the Tattvārthadhigama Sūtra, contains sufficient information for our purpose. In reality, Jainism is far older, as we have already seen, and it is believed that the teachings given to humankind are essentially the same each time. Thus, from a Jain point of view, the teachings are as old as thinking humanity itself.
Mutations from within
A concept included in the ancient-and-modern teachings of the Jains is that of parināma, what literally means “bending" or transformation. Thanks to the observations of the Jains (and others) of the fact that forms in nature are changing continually, humankind already knew this thousands of years before the western world apparently became aware of it. The Tattvārthadhigama Sūtra says the following about this concept of transformation or modification: It “means the continuation of one's own nature through change; transformation is the continuity of the essential nature of substances and qualities through change. Parināma of a substanceS4 is the change in the character of its attributes”S5 (Tattvārthadhigama Sūtra V 41). An example is change of color. The qualities are subject to change, parināma, by adopting new modes and losing old ones. All changes in the physical properties of organisms, as in the western theory of evolution, fall under the term “parināma.” The soul is
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