Jain Spirit 2003 06 No 15

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

Page 31

and human affairs is in turn giving way to a cyclical view: we now talk quite routinely about climatic or evolutionary cycles. This approach is familiar to Jains, who view eras of time in terms of the downward and upward motions of a wheel, avarsapini and utsarpini respectively. The Jain concept of karma also involves cycles of death and rebirth, from which the individual soul seeks liberation. Relativity, sub-atomic particles and the insights associated with DNA and genetics all make sense to Jain cosmology. They reveal a universe that is neither mechanistic nor chaotic, but composed of an infinite variety of complex patterns. The relevance of the Jains' ancient wisdom to our age of complexity is one of the most powerful themes explored by Dundas.
WORDS
Such insights also impact on attitudes towards human society and humanity's relationship with the rest of nature. The reintegration of human beings and nature is the starting point for 'green' philosophy and so it is tempting, especially for some Westerners, to see in Jainism the basis of a green spirituality or an 'ecological religion'. But the truth, as Dundas observes, is far more complicated than that:
Environmentalism as a world-view is of course very much a component of modern Western, or westernised liberal discourse. And it is natural that the Jain community. ... would wish to align itself with this most obvious manifestation of contemporary ethical concern. ... [Yet] for traditional Jain ascetic practice, nature as the repository of an infinite number of differing and often unseen life forms is in fact a source of danger to be kept at bay rather than to be engaged with.... Interaction with the natural world thus blocks spiritual progress. ... However, religions do not remain static and it may be that with Jain environmentalism' there can be seen the emergence of a westernised ethical discourse for a laity whose concerns throughout history have generally been more diverse and variable than those of the ascetic community.
Jain philosophy, in other words, draws no distinction between reverence for all forms of life and the renunciation of the world that is ultimately required to attain moksha, or deliverance from the karmic cycle. For ascetics especially, but also for lay people, ahimsa is linked intimately to renunciation, because it is part of a larger process of withdrawal from all human activity. But Jainism is a philosophy of balance and so the ideal of withdrawal does not preclude positive social action. On the contrary, ahimsa enjoins benevolence and care. This
Paul Dundas
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COMPEXITY IS STRENGTH
helps us to understand the powerful Jain contribution to such areas as animal welfare, charity, science, medicine and law. The great achievements of Jains in these fields and others might indeed stem from the underlying ascetic ideal which gives them a sense of humility and, most importantly, a sense of proportion.
Respect for the individual is a crucial part of the Jain teaching. On the mundane level, ahimsa requires a profound awareness of human (and non-human) dignity. On the spiritual level, the jiva is for Jains at once a soul and a life-monad that passes through rebirth after rebirth. When it eventually attains deliverance, it retains its individuality, although it is divested of such karmic characteristics as gender and physical form. Jainism is a religion without a first cause, or supreme deity, although archetypal gods and goddesses abound. The absence of a supreme being has led some Westerners to view Jainism as 'atheistic'. This is incorrect for many reasons. One of them, which Dundas emphasises, is that the liberated souls (jives) achieve the status of the supreme self (paramatman), freed from karma and so akin to divinity. As Dundas explains: ... the paramatman, often in fact referred to as 'God'. [exists] in potential state within all beings. Jain devotional worship of the fordmakers, who as a totality are frequently also designated as 'God', should be interpreted as being directed towards this and as an acknowledgement of the spiritual principle within each individual.
The Jains provides a comprehensive and lucid account of Jain history, including the religion's ancient, pre-Vedic roots, the role of the twenty-four Tirthankaras, especially the last one, Mahavir, the 'Great Hero' of Jainism. With rigour and clarity, Dundas explains the philosophical differences between the Digambaras and Shvetambaras, the 'Sky Clad' (naked) male ascetics and the 'White Clad' ascetics of both sexes respectively. He looks at the influence of these two schools and he explores new developments in Jainism and the effects of Jain belief and practice. Most importantly, Dundas emerges as a scholar who personifies manypointedness and who has become one of Jainism's strongest advocates.
Paul Dundas
THE JAINS
Revised edition of 'The Jains'
PHOTO JAMES MATURIN-BAIRD / BOOK COVER- PEERLESS PICTURE LIBRARY
Paul Dundas, The Jains
(Second Edition)
London and New York:
Routledge, 2002 ISBN 0-415 26605-X (hbk) ISBN 0-415-26606-8 (pbk)
Aidan Rankin is Research and Publications Officer for the Economic Research Council in the UK.
June-August 2003 Jain Spirit
29 www.jainelibrary.org