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10th anniversary pratishtha mahotsava
should we put
JAINISM IN A MUSEUM
Thoughts on ten years of the Jain Centre
PAUL MARETT
Honorary Life Member of Jain Samaj, Europe
When the Editor got in touch with me an idea had already come into my mind for a topic for my next contribution to Jain News. The Pratistha in the Jain Centre was held ten years ago. That is only one two-hundredand-fiftieth of the time since Bhagwan Mahavira last walked on this earth. The second millennium, for Jains, started over 500 years ago and Jains are already 45 years into the twenty-sixth century. Jainism. is probably the oldest religion in the world. In a world where everything is changing are Jains clinging to an outmoded past? Is it time, then, to put Jainism where all ancient artefacts belong, in a museum?
As you go into the Jain Centre you see the splendid showcases dioramas is the right word-of the museum. They are wonderfully colourful and when the lights are switched on visitors, and I am sure regular users of the Jain Centre, are entranced by them. (My favourite is the one with the blind men and the elephant illustrating the Jain principle of anekantavada, the same thing can be very different depending on your viewpoint, a lesson in tolerance.) But sometimes I look at them and think, they do give a beautiful picture of the ancient world of Jainism, a splendid museum of the past. Now, is this where Jainism belongs, in a museum?
Definitely not. Jains can look back proudly on the past. They can point to their ancient temples, recite solemn and moving prayers in languages long gone from common use. But the Jain world is the world of the present, and still more of the future. The Jain Centre is not some ancient monument: it was brought into being by Jains of the present to serve Jains of the future. It was paid for with money earned in labour, in business, in professions. It was planned and worked for by modern Jain people. It is a
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meeting place for Jain people, men and women, young and old. These are people whom we see in daily life, going to work, going to school, cooking their meals, watching TV, caring and quarrelling, laughing and weeping, like other people.
Yet Jains are not quite the same as other people. The Jain community still follow the principles put forward by Mahavira. These principles are as relevant today as they were 2,500 years ago. The way of life of modern Jain men and women in Britain is
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far removed from that of the men and women of Magadha in the sixth century B.C., but kindness to all living beings means the same today as it did then. It would be foolish to suggest that Jains are a community of saints. There are very good ones and, I am afraid, bad ones too. Most are average. But all carry in their hearts something which cries out at exploitation of living beings, which seeks to live in amity with all and enmity with none.
A symbol of this is the Jain Centre, built for all Jains, and non-Jains as well, but also the particular home of Jain Samaj, Europe. Here in the past ten years Jains have shown that Jainism is not a museum piece but a living vibrant force in the present and for time. to come. So, I should like to keep the lovely dioramas in the Jain Centre, but add to them as time goes by with the exploits of Jains here and now. Could we have diorama including the sponsored charity work around Rutland Water, the presentation of goods to Oxfam, the activities of the youth of Jain Samaj? Jains, looking around the Jain Centre, should be proud of their ancient heritage and prouder still of bringing it into the present and the future.
Jai Jinendra!
When something has happened, do not talk about it; it is hard to collect spilled water.
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