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PREFACE
THERE HAS recently been a revival in seeking to understand Jainism and to search for its meaning in a modern context. Young Jains abroad who are brought up in a multicultural community are trying to understand its relevance in the new environment. Jainism, I suggest, was founded on scientific principles which can be assessed by each individual and to begin with, I have constructed four Axioms (fundamental basic assumptions) on which, in my opinion, Jainism is founded. These Axioms focus on the essence rather than on the detail.
This work started with my Inaugural Address as Professor of Statistics at the University of Leeds in 1975 where its relevance to Statistics was demonstrated. The Axioms were first presented to a small gathering in Leicester in 1979 which included Dr. Natubhai Shah and Paul Marett, when it received enthusiastic welcome. The book "The Jaina Path of Purification" (1979) by Professor Padmanabh S. Jaini of the University of California at Berkeley, rekindled my interest. The present book owes a great deal to Professor Jaini's work. The sources from the Jain scriptures which underly the following discussion can, in most cases be found in his book and, therefore, they have not been duplicated here. The spelling of Jain terms generally follows Professor Jaini's transliteration. His book also provides a very good glossary which will help the reader to realise that, for example, the words karma and yoga have completely different meanings in Jainism from those in Hinduism. That is, their popular meaning in English is not applicable (see the key words which follow). As a first introduction to the subject, we refer the reader to Paul Marett's book "Jainism Explained" (1985) and Vinod Kapashi's book "Jainism for Young Persons" (1985). A recent article by Ursula King (1987) is also recommended.
For this book we assume a nodding acquaintance with Mathematics and Physics. This allows us to use a sharper scientific and pictorial representation than would have otherwise been possible. Many Jain children follow their religion by birth rather than by conviction; there are about 9 million Jains in India and about 100,000 abroad. It is hoped that such a book as this might help teenagers to be Jains through conviction.
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