Jain Spirit 2001 12 No 09

Author(s): Jain Spirit UK
Publisher: UK Young Jains

Page 28

FEATURES
Women Are Equals
Neither the Jain mendicants nor the lay people have traditionally indulged in any of the practices exhibited at the Kumbh-mela. Here I recall the famous sermon of the Buddha on the "Middle Path". He had rejected the very same mortifications but they have unfortunately survived among the ascetics of a wide variety of yogic traditions of India.
The "Middle Path" is a very important concept, and I believe it is equally important also for the Jains. Does this not mean then that what you are really talking about is what the great Greek traditions are talking about, i.e. nothing in excess? You should not be too ascetic and certainly not be totally un-ascetic.
endlessly by their ascetic teachers to relinquish in a ritualistic way, by formally taking the vow of limiting one's acquisitions.
As regards the profits - an inevitable outcome of skilful enterprise, honesty and hard work - the Jains may be compared to the Quakers in the West. Both generate a lot of wealth, but do not necessarily spend it on themselves, i.e. they are not consumers. The large surplus is then spent on promoting the cultural institutions like temples and libraries and on philanthropic activities, notably for the care of animals and hospices and so forth. It can be said to their credit that they have not allowed their affluence to weaken
their habits of vegetarian diet and limited ascetic practices mentioned earlier. Earning wealth through legitimate means (nyayopatta-dhana) is not forbidden to any Jain layperson. It is firmly held that if a person has an impulse to give up the household life, he/she should be enabled to do so without delay, and renunciation of a large fortune on such an occasion
is seen as highly meritorious, a further proof of the sincerity and noble disposition of the renunciant.
I agree with you. But the real question is where do we draw the line? Asceticism varies from one country and culture to another. In a country like England where one expects snow in winter, even a holy man would not go barefoot or live without warm clothes. You have lived in India where it is hot, but it is possible to survive there without clothes and go about without any means of transport. The Jains abroad will also gradually modify their practices to suit the climatic conditions and to conform to the legal restrictions on certain severe forms of asceticism in the West.
"Earning wealth through legitimate means is not forbidden to any Jain
layperson."
The above interview was conducted for Mark Tully's BBC broadcast series "Something Understood". Part 1 of this interview was published in Issue 8 and Part 3 will be published in Issue 10.
I want to come back to the question of consumerism. There are certain professions which are barred to Jains because these have to do with taking life in some way or another. However, one profession which Jains do very obviously practise with enormous success, is commerce and business. It seems to me that commerce and business is all about money, acquiring things and consumerism, just the sort of things which would be opposed to your doctrine of renunciation. So how is it that it is tolerable to Jains, that it is right for Jains?
Well, this is a question often raised by many sociologists, including Max Weber, the author of Indian Religions, and a point which the Jains themselves are unable to explain to others. I believe that the Jains see in commerce and business far less opportunities for committing violence in contrast to warfare, military service or farming. But even in business, they are not permitted to sell arms or poisonous chemicals or deal in animal parts such as skins and bones. So they dealt historically in such commodities as cloth, grains, metals, precious stones and the like. It is small wonder that even to this day they are considered prominent among the cloth merchants, the jewellers, and are dominant in banking and the stock market. Now coming to the profit side, it is true, as you point out that this is indeed accumulation. The Jains too perceive it as possessions (parigraha), which they are admonished
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Jain Spirit . December 2001 - February 2002