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greater importance to ascetic practices. The austere discipline of mortifying the flesh, decried by Buddhism, acquires great importance in Jainism. Monastic disciplines of the two religions also show some important differences.68 The divergence between the Jaina and Buddhist outlooks is reflected in many other aspects of these religions. Thus, while Buddhism advocates the anatta (no-soul), theory (at least according to the traditional schools), belief in the existence of innumerable souls is one of the basic doctrines of Jaina philosophy. It credits even inanimate objects like stones, trees, mountains, etc., with souls of varying degrees of consciousness. Again, with respect to the world (Loka), the Buddhists held that we could neither speak of its eternity, nor of its annihilation, while the Jainas subscribed to the realistic view of the material world. Secondly, the Buddhist Nirvana is defined as escape from existence while Jaina salvation assumes continued existence of disembodied soul in the state of perfection and bliss. The omniscience of the Kevalin has always been an important dogma with the Jainas. The Buddhists did not concede such aclaim. Thirdly, the Jaina theory of karman is matrialistic while the Buddhists regard kannan as an immaterial psychological principle. The Buddhists stress the active aspect of karman as doing; the Jainas-emphasize its mechanical aspect that comes forward in the karmaphala. The ideas about matter also differ considerably in the two religions and the emphasis on non-violence and non accumulation are not carried to the same extreme extent in Buddhism as in Jainism. The Buddhists regarded ahimsa as positive mental attitude of metta and karunâ while the Jainas emphasized its negative aspect. Further, the Buddha denounced nudity, so strongly emphasized by Mahâvîra, and asked his followers to keep themselves 'properly clad'. These differences gave rise to a state of considerable rivalry and opposition between the adherents of the two religions.
1.
Lord Mahâvîra
2.
See Jacobi, Intro. to SBE, 45; Acharya Shri Tulsi, Pre-Vaidic Existence of Sramana Tradition, Calcutta, 1964; Jain, R. C., 'The Pre-Aryan Shramanic Spiritualism', Muni Hazarimal Smrti Grantha, 'Beawar, 1965, pp. 12-26; Mehta, M. L., 'Antiquity of Jaina Culture', Munishri Mishrimalji Maharaja Abhinandana Grantha, Jodhpur, 1968, pp. 1-9.
See section on the Jaina divinities, p. 180.
