Jainism

Author(s): Herbert Warren
Publisher: Divine Knowledge Society

Page 15

JAINISM
This is the teaching of the Jain Arhats, according to the present understanding of the writer; and in any case it is a rational theory of good, evil, and immortality,
The idea that we have fallen from a state of purity is not held; for if it is possible to fall from a final state of purity there is no guarantee that the mental and moral discipline, austerity, and rectitude of life will result in everlasting happiness; and, further, in a pure state there are no impurities, and nothing else would move us to fall into a state where we hurt and injure others.
This, then, is the presentation of the subject in a vague general statement. We may now pass on to the analysis of the subject into parts. The subject falls naturally into four parts, namely.---
1. The Universe, 2. Man as he actually is, 3. Man as he may become,
4. Means to that end, each of which is considered in some detail in the following pages.