Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin 6

Author(s): L C Jain
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 271

Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin No. 6
A great obstacle in building a true man who could realise his own iniportance, had faith in his own deeds and felt responsible for his own actions, was the mysterious superpower, the concept of creator God, who had been invested with the power of deciding everyone's destiny and giving judgement to his deeds
Mahāvira and Buddha broke this deep rooted concept and let the common man believed that the man was all powerful. The man is the architect of his own destiny. He is responsible to his every action and deed. This proclaimation of an all powerful man was the highest socio-philosophical achievement of Buddhism and Jainism.
The Media Mahāvira and Buddha adopted for spreading their massage deserves special mention. They did not prefer to use the polished language of the so-called higher men but both adopted the language of the common man of the age. Buddha adopted Magadhi, the language of Magadha region and Mahāvira Ardhamāgad hi, half Māgad hi and half of other regions.
The ultimate aim of both Jainism and Buddhism is also the same i. e. explosion of knowledge sammā sambod hi or sammāditthi which leads to nisseyasa or nirvana, the liberation from all the sufferings.
Our attention is often drawn towards these common features but mostly in religio-philosophical perspective. I intend to evaluate them in the light of culture and civilization.
Mahavira and Buddha after thorough observations of the structure of society, minute examinations of religions, critical analysis of philosophical concepts and intensive psychical intution discovered secret of the entire conspiracy of so-called intellectuals of the age against the development of human culture and civilization. The secret was nothing but the game of 'sacred' viz. :
(a) Sacred man by sacred birth, (b) Sacred violence, (c) Sacred language, and (d) Sacred ignorance.
It is surprising to note that some are sacred from birth though they are born through same biological process, while others are born untouchable and so on. Some are wealthy and powerful by birth while others are slave and deprived of bread and butter. This centralization