Jain Journal 1997 01

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

Page 28

OHIRA: JAINISM AND UNIFICATION THOUGHT
the world in order to weaken the power of flesh and strengthen the power of mind, so that man can return to God by subjugating his flesh. This is, according to him, the main purpose of religion. Religion thus compels us to perform all that our flesh dislikes to do, for instance, "Fast!", "Offer services!", "Make sacrifices!", and even "Become an offering!" An offering means sacrificing one's own life to God. So it is said in St. Luke 17:33, "Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it." Then, the puritan way of life led by Jaina ascetics has truly been the course of rigorous life worthy of God's praise.
Rev. Tomohisa Ota made a comparative study of the three Testaments, i.e. Old, New and Completed, in his small book entitled, "The Bible and the Unification Principle" (publ. by Kowa, Tokyo, 1995). While comparing the views on 'salvation' and the 'messiah' expressed in these three works, he came to find a law of continuity working through them, taking the form of thesis-antithesis-synthesis. However, when a comparison is made between the two of them, i.e. between the Old Testament and the New Testament, or between the New Testament and the Completed Testament, we see much discontinuity. The Completed Testament has a key to unify the whole, comments Rev. Ota, otherwise there remains a state of mutual alienation and exclusion. We would like to adopt his method in reviewing the position of Jainism, after we make a brief exposition of his account summarized in the following chart.
Salvation
Messiah
Old T
Law
Deed
By self-reliance
Political emancipator
Functional
New T
Gospel
Faith
By grace
Redeemer
Completed T
Word
Attendance
By both
Ontological
Exemplary
Redemptive
Both
Regarding salvation, Judaists insist that righteousness which leads one to salvation is attainable by deed through abiding in law, while 6. It is Prof. Bruhn's thought that the 'puritanism' of Jainism stands in the central position of the major contributions made by Jainas towards the solution of world's problems. We shall be greately indebted to him, if Prof.
95
Both
Both