Jinamanjari 2002 04 No 25

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

Page 64

It will be seen that in a religious system like Jainism there is no place for a distinction of caste and creed, or for struggle over ritual and ceremony. But if within the Jaina community these weaknesses exist, they are in spite of specific religious injunctions against them (these differences are usually the result of the close association of the Jainas with communities where these differences play an important part). It stands to the credit of Jainism that it actively seeks a synthesis with all other systems through its outlook of anekanta, and logically proves that it is one truth that is revealed to us through its many aspects and practices. It also wants non-violence in thought, word and deed to be established as a rule of good conduct. Thus, it makes a definite move towards a common understanding among all faiths, and a feeling of brotherhood among all humankind and living beings.
The Jaina literary traditions claim a great antiquity for the religion that had been promulgated and revitalized from time to time by no less than twenty-four Tirthankaras. The last of these was Lord Mahavira. Great was Mahavira's birth. Greater still was the life that he led, and the greatest was the truth that he revealed to mankind in the form of the Jaina creed. May the memory of his holy preaching inspire in us that breadth of vision, that spirit of toleration and that feeling of humanity which is the highest and most urgent need of the world today.
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Quotation:
Those who speak ill of me,
I become the cause of their happiness. Neither I should be angst of their utterance Nor reproach of their pretence.
--Yogindu's Paramppapāyasu,
a sixth century Prakrit Text, v. 186.
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