Jain Journal 1974 04

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

Page 30

168
and order, has been brought to bear especially upon the Anga and Upanga'. Jacobi also considers that the redaction of the Anga took place early, and tradition places the event under Bhadrabahu.
III
The Antiquity of Jaina Philosophy
When we come to consider how old Jaina doctrines are, and compare them with that of other schools of thought in India, we find that Jaina ethics are generally based on primitive ideas. As illustrations of these notions, nearly everything is possessed of a soul; not only have plants their own souls, but particles of earth, cold water, fire, and wind also.24
JAIN JOURNAL
Now ethnology teaches us that animism is the basis of many beliefs that have been called 'the philosophy of savages'; and that when civilization advances, some kind of anthropomorphism takes its place. Therefore it is natural to conclude that animistic beliefs must have been fairly prevalent, in large classes of Indian society, when Jainism first took its rise. And since this must have happened at an early date, it points to the antiquity of Jaina philosophy. 25
Another mark Jainism has in common with the oldest Brahman philosophies, Vedanta and Sankhya. The category of Quality is not yet clearly and distinctly conceived, but is just evolving out of the category of Substance. That is to say, things which we recognize as qualities are constantly mistaken for and mixed up with substances. For instance, the Sutra rarely use the expression 'guna,' or 'qualities'; but more modern books regularly do so, showing the idea to be a later innovation. Again the terms 'dharma' and 'adharma' (merit and demerit) are treated of as kinds of substances with which soul comes in contact. Now Professor Oldenberg has pointed out that this was distinctly a primitive conception of the Vedic Hindu, and such a confusion of ideas would never have occurred at a later period.
24 S. B. E., vol. xlv. p. xxxiii. 25 Ibid., p. xxxiii,
Some Early Jaina Doctrines
Have we any means of discovering what was the teaching of early days, and whether it corresponded with the doctrines of Mahavira ? It will be admitted, from what has been said above, that the Nigantha