Jains Today in World

Author(s): Pirre Paul AMIEL
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

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Research Institute" at Shivaji University, Kolhapur is a great scholar. He has written numerous authoritative works on Jainism. In this one, he exposes very clearly its fundamentals and what especially distinguishes it from Buddhism and Hinduism.
The present book does not present anew the theoretical and philosophical aspects of Jain tradition. They have been largely and precisely displayed in the two works mentioned above. It aims to complete them by a description, as correct as possible, of the Jains, laity and ascetics, as they are presently in India and around the world with their daily activities, rituals, religious observances and aspirations. It is necessary to say that Jains don't constitute a monolithic community and they do not all share exactly the same doctrine, the same creeds and on some matters the same practices, a thing that does not make this study easy.
To speak of the Jains, we first need to try to briefly recap their history- whose origins are not exactly known. This history is still unfolding after having been marked, at some era, by a period of glory called "The Golden Age of Jainism". Chapter one gives a brief outline of it from undated origin to the present day. During their long past, Jains have split into two great sections that have themselves produced various branches. Their present diversity is described in chapter two.
In the next chapter, we will speak of the "great beings" that Jains worship. According to their tradition, some of them enjoy perfect and eternal bliss in the “Siddhaloka", at the summit of universe, a place where all liberated souls of the "samsara" (the constant cycle of deaths and rebirths) abide, while some others are dwelling in the skies (the upper world). These are the "heavenly beings" that may distribute favours to humans. Some other beings live in the middle world (our world) where they are making immense efforts to liberate their souls from the very painful "samsara". Finally, we will say a word of the "fiendish beings" who dwell in the hells (the underworld) where they inflict frightful sufferings on each other, for a period of