Jainism Some Essays

Author(s): A S Gopani
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

Page 71

5 Jainism and Buddhism
When I speak of Jaina Religion what I mean is the Jaina Religion as propounded and preached by Mahavira. So also when I refer to Buddhism, I mean Buddhism as formulated by Buddha. It is now an acknowledged truth that Jainism is earlier than Buddhism on the basis of many solid and valid arguments. However, so far as my narration and presentation in this Chapter are concerned, they have relation to Jainism not in its earlier form but to that which was concieved and enunciated by Mahāvira. So it should not be forgotten that my discussion in this chapter is to be understood in the light of Jainism of Mahāvira's conception and of Buddhism of Buddha's conception.
Common Characteristics of the śramanic Ideology
Jainism and Buddhism have their roots in the śramaņic Ideology which is one of the two Ideologies, namely, Brahmanic and Śramaņic current in Bhārata varsa from pre-historic times. Here below are mentioned some of the broad features of Sramaņic Ideology.
The chief characterstic of the Sramaņic Ideology is the attitude of renunciation towards the world, meaning in other words, the rejection, and
on, of the material prosperity. The acceptance of God or Brahma as the prime cause or creator of the world is not tenable in the frame-work of this Ideology. Advitavādins or the Absolutists hypothesize that this mundane existence is nothing but the transformation of one basic element which remains the same throughout. Denying this the Sramaņas subscribe to the view or the theory that there are more than one elements existing in this universe. According to it, there is no one Super-soul permeating the universe, but there are infinite souls. Moreover, the Šramaņas had firm conviction that there were two broad entities, namely, the Soul and the Non-Soul the latter, again being sub-divided into Bhūtas which were real and disparate. They had unshakable faith in the fact that the mundane existence was real, that the Jiva assumed worldly or physical form, that is to say, the soul became embodied and it got its release from it by adopting a Siamanic way of life which consisted of renunciation, penance, meditation, mental equipoise etc. etc. They stood by such theories that the cause of the mundane existence was Karma which again was responsible for births and deaths and that the removal of these was called Emancipation. Those who preached Emancipation were no other than human beings—they declared