Book Title: Introduction to Jainism
Author(s): Rudi Jansma, Sneh Rani Jain
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

Previous | Next

Page 21
________________ WHO ARE THE JAINS? 19 icons of the Tīrthamkaras look much like those of Buddha, but they differ from the latter in that they are usually naked to indicate their complete detachment from material possessions. There are good reasons to suppose that the Jain icons were the models for those of Buddhism, and not the other way round as some may think. Many of the icons of sitting Jinas seem to be of far earlier date than the Buddha himself. Due their attitude of nonviolence and tolerance for deviating views of others they have through the centuries touched a keynote which resounds even today in all religions of India as well as in politics. Nonviolence though perhaps less explicit, is also one of the principles of Hinduism and Buddhism and of religions that originated outside India, such as Christianity and Islam. It was even part of the religion of the Mexican Aztecs, in so far as they were influenced by their “god who descended from heaven,” known as Feathered Serpent. Apparently nonviolence represents a universal principle, which however has time and time again been misunderstood by humanity. What is remarkable is that one of the aspects of karma was known by the Scandinavians as Orlog – a word still in use with the meaning of “war,” in the Dutch language for example. The well-known Arabian “Jihad” means in the first place “inner combat,” i.e. the battle which leads to conquest of the divine over the animal nature, and of course not what many have made of it: the battle and victory by me – the good one - over the other – the bad one. As we will see, Jain religion is unbelievably old. Perhaps it is the oldest religion in the world, or has its roots in an even older, universal religion, which through the ages has revealed itself to humankind in innumerable forms. Jains are not just ethicists. Their ethics and way of life are deeply anchored in a thorough philosophy, and in scientific and biological knowledge. Their system covers, among other things, astronomy, cosmology, mineralogy, biology, chemistry, physics, medicine, and theology - if we may apply these names of comparable disciplines in the modern world. Jain Education International For Personal & Private Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 ... 256