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CHAPTER 5
JAINA ETHICS AND MISCELLANEOUS CUSTOMS AND MANNERS
1. INTRODUCTORY
In this chapter we propose to discuss the religious life of Jainas with special reference to its social aspect. Religion and social behaviour are so closely bound together that social life, customs and manners of a community could not be properly understood unless we take into account the religious beliefs held by that community. Religion not only states the highest goal to be achieved by its followers but lays down elaborate rules of conduct by observance of which the desired objective may be reached without fail. Philosophy and ethics are two important and significant aspects of religion. There is always a close relation between these two aspects in the sense that philosophy determines the nature of ethics and ethics tries to accomplish the basic principles enunciated by philosophy. In view of this intimate inter-relation between philosophy and ethics, we will first state in brief the main outlines of Jaina philosophy before we discuss the Jaina ethics in detail.
2. MEANING OF JAINISM
Jainism is a religion propounded by a 'Jina'. Principles enunciated by a 'Jina' constitute Jainism. A 'Jina' is not a super-natural being nor an incarnation of an all powerful God. A 'Jina' means a conqueror, that is, one who has conquered the worldly passions by one's own strenuous efforts. Human beings are entitled to become 'Jinas' and as such 'Jinas' are persons of this world who have attained supreme knowledge, subjugated their passions and are free from any sort of attachment. Jainism is nothing but a set of principles preached by such persons. Hence Jainism is not an Apaurusheya religion, i.e., a religion propounded by a non-human being or
