Jainism

Author(s): Vallabh Smarak Nidhi
Publisher: Vallabh Smarak Nidhi

Page 27

ken series of states, each depending on the condition just preceding it and giving rise to the succeeding one. The Jain and Buddhist concepts of liberation are also different. The tenets of Jainism, moreover, are claimed to have been promulgated by various Jinas at different times, while the Buddhist doctrines were preached for the first time by Lord Buddha himself.
Jainism lays stress upon external and internal self-denial, while Lord Buddha was opposed to external austerities, regarding them as useless for purifying the mundane soul. While the two systems have common words like “ Jina" "Arbat,". etc., used in both for deified souls, the word "Niggantha'10 (Nirgrantha in Sanskrit and Nîgganttha in Pali) meaning “ free from all fetters," internal as well as external, is used exclusively for Jain monks and deified persons.
Prof. Dalsukh Malvaniya, a well-reputed Jain scholar, holds that in the Upanishads, regarded as the fountain head of all other Indian philosophical systems, the foundation of Jainism is not found. This fact establishes its
10 Acharanga Sutra 109; Bhagavati 9. 6. 383.