Jinamanjari 2000 09 No 22

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

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alleviate suffering? What is the meaning of life in relationship to the human experience and is there a way of attaining liberation through this experience? Although many religious and philosophical traditions attempt to answer these questions, it is Jain's position that chapter eight of Akalanka's commentary on karmology and Umasvāti's karma theory that "excels over others as it not only has qualitative details but it has quantitative details as well (31)". That is, Jaina karmology is not only an articulate science of tranquility, self-introspection and self-intervention, it is also the science behind the perfecting of one's lifestyle in order to gain equanimity, and ultimately mokşa.
For those of us in the West, N.L. Jain's translation is a tremendous aid to help plumb both the depths of the Tattvārtha-sūtra and some of the components of Akalanka's work. Jain's introduction is quite provocative and provides intriguing insights into both the discussion of Umāsvāti's text and the debate over the authorship of the subsequent commentaries. With these positives stated, however, Jain's presentation does tend to be a bit 'choppy' at times, and it appears the author is confidently assuming that his readers are more than familiar with his sources. For example, he often falls into the habit of making statements such as some other scholars say' and 'many authors state' (e.g., pp.12-13) without providing proper citations that would offer a much better map for those relatively new to the territory. Despite these minor shortcomings (he does provide an appendix of readings) the language employed in this translation does not overwhelm, and provides an interesting challenge for both the researcher and general reader alike.
Mikal A. Radford is a Ph.D. Candidate at McMaster University (Hamilton) and Lecturer of Religion and Philosophy at Sheridan College, Oakville, ON
Jainism: An Indian Religion of Salvation. Translated from the original German (Helmuth von Glasenapp) by Shridhar B. Shrotri. Motilal Banarsidas, 41 U.A. Bungalow Road, Jawahar Nagar Delhi - 110007, India. ISBN # 81-208-1376-6. Price: Rs. 595.00
The original German work (1925) by Otto Max Helmuth Von Glasenapp was a superb monograph which covered all aspects of
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