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JAINA CONVENTION 2017
Tri-Natna: Three Steps of Salvation
By Saman Shrutpragya
The nights that have departed will never return. They have been wasted by those given to adharma (unrighteousness). Mahavir Swami (Uttaradhyayana Sutra, 14. 25)
The tri-ratna or three jewels of Jain doctrine underpin all religious practice, at least in principle, since in Jainism they are considered to be necessary for the achievement of salvation. The three steps are samyak darshan (right or proper perception), samyak gyana (right or proper knowledge), and samyak charitra (right or proper conduct). Although all three steps have substantive meaning and value, they are inseparably linked and interdependent. The first of these steps, however, is held to be foundational, the basis for the second and third steps which follow on from it. Only when right or proper perception is established is it possible to move forward on the spiritual journey. To be clear about what is involved in each of the three steps, as well as their interconnection, it is helpful to commence discussion of the doctrine of tri-ratna with an outline of samyak darshan, the first of the three jewels.
Samyak darshan is predicated on the concept of true faith or clear vision on the path to selfrealisation, faith being made complete by means of inner awareness or experience. Faith itself is held to enable one to set out on the spiritual journey, as it points one in the correct direction that needs to be taken. In essence, what is meant by faith here is a kind of surrender to the core teachings of Jainism, even, one might say, a blind acceptance of their truth, at least initially. By first having a commitment to belief in this manner, it paves the way for testing what it means in actual experience, and this, in turn, is held to make possible the second and third of the three steps, bringing right knowledge (samyak gyana) supported by proper conduct (samyak charitra).
First and foremost with samyak darshan, then, acceptance of the central tenets of Jain teaching is indispensible, and how this translates into experiential reality for any individual can be illustrated by considering the notion of the soul or atma. In Jainism, as the soul is held to be an uncreated and eternal entity, all adherents of the religion cannot achieve anything of spiritual
