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JAIN JOURNAL
The anthropological error of confusing Jainism with "Hinduism” undoubtedly came about because of the fact that Jainism, due to its small number of adherents and due to its long conformity to the externals of Brahmanism, is by and large indistinguishable from that religion to the eye of the superficial scholar. In reality Jainism represents a tradition divergent from the mainstream of Vedic thought.
Only in Jainism, of all the living religions, do we see a fusion of the primitive with the profound. It has preserved elements from that first stage of man's religious awareness, animism. It affirms the separateness of spirit from matter, even though our modern philosophers and religionists regard any form of dualism as untenable. Despite the opinions of these men, Jainism is fundamentally scientific.
The Jainas claim a great antiquity for their faith. It began, they say, with the Lord Rsabha, the first teacher of the path to liberation, several thousand years ago. This claim is borne out by both the Yajur Veda and the Rg Veda scriptures of Brahmanism. It is upheld by Drs. Zimmer and Jacobi and by many Eastern historians. More hesitant scholars, however, are only willing to acknowledge the historicity of the last two saviours of the Jainist twenty-four, since there is abundant evidence for their having existed in the Buddhist scriptures.
The influence of Jainism is great indeed. In India it led great numbers of adherents to the Code of Manu away from the cult of human and animal sacrifice. Today we observe its influence in the reverencefor-life (ahimsā) doctrine of Brahmanism, a doctrine which originated with the Jainas. Jainism is also largely responsible, though indirectly, for the birth of Buddhism, a faith which in many respects may be regarded to have been influenced by Jainism. Buddha himself practised the Jaina disciplines before he set out on his own.
With regard to the Semitic faiths, we may speculate about the influence Jainism may have had on Sufi Islam or on Essene Judaism. A greater degree of certainty is justified, however, when we examine three early Christian heretical sects: Ebionism, Marcionism, and Manicheanism. These three sects were noted for their strict asceticism and vegetarianism. Marcionism and Manicheanism were especially close to Jainism due to their strong emphasis on the complete separateness of spirit from matter. The orthodox Christians had much trouble with the latter sect, for despite persecutions, it would not die. In the thirteenth century, it was reborn in a form that resembled Jainism more than any religion of the past or present. The sect's name in Medieval times was
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