Jain Journal 1970 01

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 71

JANUARY, 1970
179
survival record from before the second millennium B.C., and to the nutrition charts from the West's own food scientists. Lord Aristanemi, the twenty-second teacher to whom King Nebuchadnazzar I paid homage in 1140 B.C. is the patron prince of the food animals. Indeed a prince in his own wedding procession, he heard the crying, crying of animals ... his wedding feast !"...yet they have souls like ours.” His heart turned sick. On the spot he tore off his jewels, he set free the animals, and he abandoned the worldly life to wander on the common road, teaching mercy for food animals. To this day, the devout bow to the ideal of Lord Nemi. Indeed no, the position against flesh-eating cannot be overstated in the religion of Jainism
11. Is Jainism a religion unto itself, complete and original ?
... all the way within India's total history. Even aboriginal animism, India's joint heritage from her spiritual genesis, is preserved in the Jaina broad division of living beings, between the immobile and the mobile. Rgveda, accepted by the West as dating not later than the second millennium B.C. cites an independent Jainism. Vanity, vanity, says Jainism, to flaunt the chronological age of your religion. Yet in point of history, Jainism has endured the three massive military-religious invasions, Arya"), Muslim, and British, without compromise of its exclusive and notable principle of the sanctity of the souls of all living beings. It so endures into our latter days of the twentieth century. In-depth study of comparative religions reveals the initiative and maturity of the comprehensive Jaina range : ethics and morals, fine arts and exact sciences, cosmo-gonical metaphysics in place of parlor metaphysics, poetry and parables of tender spiritual imaginations, a finished psychology, and a peace-inducing philosophy. Jainism is nearly unknown to the West. Scanty information is mostly misinformation. Yet it can prove itself all the way from ancient archeology to palm-leaf manuscripts. As the Hindu Rgveda retains the name of the first teacher, Rsabhadeva, so the Buddhist canon retains the name of the last teacher. Mahavira who was the giant senior contemporary of the Buddha. Yes, above time Jainism stands as author in its own right
s own right of a religion complete and original. 12. What is original in Jaina philosophy ?
... viewpoints, or the theory of manifold truth. This unique Jaina logic can be called a pluralistic, relativistic, realistic logic. It simply is a pluralistic view of a single thing. Example : The seven blind men with their seven views of one elephant. Each view is a partial truth, yet the real nature of the elephent is in the unity within the multiplicity. In this original way, the practical Jaina philosophy allows for