Book Title: Nandanvana
Author(s): N L Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Previous | Next

Page 274
________________ (254) Nandanavana also come to exist. Its conduct is nearly monk-like (but it has some freedoms like going abroad etc.). All the laymen have six daily duties. They worship deities prominently. This creates a positive mental state. Fynes, Hopfe and others have described it on the basis of Śvetambara system and no Digambara process has been mentioned despite Jaini's book (1979). Most of the western scholars presume Jaina tenets as tenets of austerity and salvation. Many authors up to 1995 have postulated them to be following detachmental path where the life and the world are negated and there is an idea of escape from both the corners. It is pessimistic towards life and the world and discourages every type of activities. Its ethics and practices are based on this concept. The Jainas are like Quakers - worshippers of peace and satisfaction. But their five principles of non-violence, non-false-speaking, non-stealing, non-sex and non-attachmental possession are indicative of the tendency of life negation. Prof. Hopfe states that the laity generally observes the first three as far as possible but there is laxity in observing the last two. However, the monks and nuns do observe them fully. Secondly, all these five concepts have no boundary. They apply to all the living creatures. Prof. Schweitzer has said that these concepts are not the basic concepts of the Jainas. They are originated from their detachmental ideology, which promotes in-activity in life. The Jainas talk about compassion etc. so that they may become detached from the world. What is the purpose there for others for them? They accept the passionate in activity and negate the sympathetic assistance for others. It is due to this that the Jaina ethics/practices promote individualism and egoism (Acharya Rajneesh had also similar thoughts). According to Basham also, the Jaina ethics and practices are basically negative and selfish. They are individualistic rather than socialistic. That is why; the life-style of a Jaina is controlled by harsh rules. This is the secret of the longevity. Despite this, the Jaina tenets do not offer permanent happiness without monkhood. This is in contrast with other religions. All the above five principles of the Jainas are the same for both -- the laity and monks. However, their total observation is there in the monkhood only. (Many scholars discussed the effect of the principles of non-violence in terms of the life-style of the Jainas in the form of Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592