JAINA Convention 2009 07 Los Angeles

Author(s): Federation of JAINA
Publisher: USA Federation of JAINA

Page 47

15th Biennial JAINA Convention 2009
attachment to desires, suffering ceases when attachment to desire ceases, freedom from suffering is possible by practicing the Eightfold Path.)
Truths 1-3 emphasize that we keep on absorbing these karmons through activity, and throw some out after their effect has taken place. Thus the soul has a Karmic Computer attached to it that keeps all the records - it also dictates some tasks from previous records, i.e. past lives. The fundamental aim in life is in removing this old karmic matter as well as stopping the inflow of the new karmons. So this karmic process can be stopped and rehabilitated through Jainness. One of the key negatives responsible for heavy karmic matter (Truth 4A, 4B) is kashaya (destructive emotions) which is composed of anger, pride, deceit and greed.
These kashayas are correlated with the color coding (leshya = karmic stain) of the karmic density of soul. Of the six consecutive levels (black, blue, grey, yellow, lotus-pink and luminous white) the first three represent heavier karmic density whereas the next three represent lighter karmic density. In practice, an analogy of picking fruits from a tree is used to classify the degree of color stain (Sthanag Sutra; verses 537 & 538). A person with the first level uproots the tree for its fruits, the second cuts the tree from its trunk, the third cuts a branch, the fourth cuts off a bunch, the fifth plucks ripe fruit from the tree and the sixth merely picks up ripe fruit fallen to the ground (see the figure). Thus the person with the highest spiritual level has the total preservation of the environment in the forefront - a real Jain. Furthermore, the karmon intake is increased upon creating waste and pollution since these are regarded as acts of violence. We can take a cue from 'the bee that sucks honey from the blossom of a tree without hurting the blossom while strengthening itself."
Six different personality types which are color coded by karmic stains as expounded in an ancient Jain parable. The true Jain merely picks up ripe fruit falling to the ground.
स्याउपर
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I'm not an environmentalist. I'm an Earth warrior. ~Darryl Cherney, quoted in Smithsonian, April 1990
Ecology - The Jain Way
SEAT
(Picture taken from the early 19th Century, Leeds Collection, K.V.Mardia)
दृष्टान
With realization of one's own potential and self-confidence in one's ability, one can build a better world.
~Dalai Lama