The Jain 1992 04 Special Issue

Author(s): Natubhai Shah, Vinod Kapashi
Publisher: UK Jain Samaj Europe

Page 37

=jain
Namo ayariyanam
I devote myself to religious leaders
Namo uvajjhayanam
I devote myself to religious teachers
Namo loe savva sahunam
I devote myself to all the monks in the world
If he cannot chant, someone else chants - even in his ear, if required so that the dying person has noble thoughts and his soul leaves this world in a peaceful
state.
Indeed, this applies not only to humans, but to all living beings: if a Jain knows that any animal is dying, he will go up to it and quietly recite the Navkar Mantra in its car. The most famous example of this is perhaps found in the story of Parshvanath, the twentythird Tirthankara, when he found two snakes dying in a burning log. Parshvanath recited the mantra to the snakes, who were then able to die in peace, tranquillity, and recollection. According to the Jain scriptures, they were reborn as Dharnendra and Padmavati, heavenly attendants of Parshvanath. They are revered in all Jain temples alongside Parshvanath.
RITUALS IN CHRISTIANITY
Rev. Michael Ipgrave
Rituals are important in Christianity for various reasons, they offer up to God important moments in our lives, they provide discipline for spiritual training, they bring the community together to reaffirm its identity. Most of all, they give Christians a way of identifying with Jesus as they repeat in their own lives significant actions from his life story.
This is very apparent in two rituals which are central for almost all Christians - baptism and eucharist. Baptism marks initiation into Christian life either as a baby born into a Christian home, or as a nonChristian entering the community of faith. At the beginning of Jesus' ministry, he was ceremonially washed (by his cousin John) in the river Jordan. So Christian life begins with a washing with clean watereither of the whole body, or just symbolically of the forehead. This signifies purification from sin; it also represents death by drowning the newly baptised come out of the water as if rising to new life in a second birth.
Another great ritual in Christianity is the eucharist, also called Communion or Mass; this, the usual Sunday morning worship in most churches, is in two
parts. First, there are readings from the scriptures, telling the story of God's involvement with his world through the people of Israel and the life of Jesus,and some kind of sermon, in which Christian faith is related to the contemporary world. The faithful will also confess their sins, pray for the world and for themselves, and sing hymns. This first part is like the Jewish worship which Jesus would have attended as a child in the synagogue.The second part of the eucharist is a sacred meal patterned on the 'Last Supper' eaten by Jesus with his disciples on the night before his death. This is now celebrated in very different ways; in one church, there may be splendid music, beautiful vestments, clouds of incense, elaborate ceremonial, while in another there is an informal atmosphere and no special ceremonial. Whatever the style, though, the substance is the same: the priest or president takes bread and wine, gives thanks to God, breaks the bread, and distributes the bread and wine to the people to eat and drink. The bread is broken as Jesus' body and the wine poured out as his blood: Christians believe that Jesus himself, though unseen, shares in the meal with them, and feeds them with his own life.
Other rites mark important stages of life marriage, sickness, death or events in the life of the Christian community - the ordination of a new priest or deacon, the enthronement of a bishop, the blessing of a church, pilgrimage to a holy place. There are festivals throughout the year most importantly, Easter, celebrating Jesus' victory over death, and Christmas, his birthday and each Sunday is kept as a time for special prayer, fellowship, and rest. There are also the individual rituals which form the pattern of daily lifeprayer in the morning, at nightfall, and before going to bed, Bible reading, fasting. There are no strict rules about these rituals; each Christian, by the light of the Spirit given him, is to use them as helps and guides as he journeys to God.
Jainism & Christianity
What do Jainism and Christianity have in common? That is a large question, which could be tackled in many different ways: I want to approach it from the central point of Christian teaching, the idea of the Trinity. This Christian doctrine speaks of God as relating to his people in three different ways - as Father, as Son, and as Spirit. Jains would not speak in such terms, but still these three ways do define three different areas of faith, experience, and conduct in which there are interesting parallels between the two religions.
When Christians talk of God as Father, they imply that they are his children, and so members of one family. Moreover, God's loving care extends not only to humans but to the whole of his creation: Jesus himself said, "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And
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