________________
Winning! The Jain Art of Self Mastery
Lyssa MILLER
What is the Jain art of self mastery all about ? It is about conquering - conquering our fears, our pain, our confusion, and our unrest. It is about freedom - freedom from the negatives of our daily existence. It is about mind over matter, and self over mind. Finally, it is about winning !
Jainism has long been maligned by Western scholars as an ascetic tradition in the extreme. But if we look more closely, we will find that the fundamental insights of modern psychology are at the heart of this ancient tradition. The concepts of self-help and self mastery are found in Jainism which is a pragmatic philosophy as up-to-date as the discoveries of Freud and Jung.
This tradition dates back into pre-history ; several of its earliest teachers are mentioned in the Hindu Vedas. Modern Jains follow closely the principles taught by Mahavira, a contemporary of Buddha ( 599 B.C. - 527 B.C. ), who was the last of 24 Jain tirthankaras (founders of the path ) and the first whose words were written down. The philosophy of Mahavira is not religion, but a way of life which is beneficial to people of any culture and time. The Jains believe that the persistent and unbiased study of the nature of things as they are provides the basis for the art of self mastery.
We can look at the development of Jain thought as a series of questions about ourselves and the worlds we live in : the inner world of our memories and emotions and dreams; and the outer world of our social relationships. The answers to these questions are found ultimately in personal, individual experience.
The Jains believe that to conquer our inner world and find our rightful place under the sun, we must first understand who and what we are. We must learn to distinguish between the Self and the not-Self. Only then do we know what we are dealing with. Only then are we cognizant of the relative force of energies — the energy of Self and that of matter.
The question underlying all questions is “Who am I ?" Do we really know who we are ? If not, if we're not sure, the Jains tell us to begin by
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
