________________
•
An intricate description of atomic and subatomic particles can be found in many ancient Jain scriptures. It was not until after the structure of the atom" was discovered in the early 1900's that modern science discovered the existence subatomic particles such as quarks, leptons, and gauge bosons that Jain scriptures delineated in great detail.
Similarly, western theories of quantum mechanics also did not begin to appear until the late 20th century while they were all known by omniscient Jain saints who imparted this knowledge to their disciples via an oral tradition eventually culminating in its transcription.
⚫ Jain philosophy has always believed that microscopic lives existed in water and that plants were living entities. It was not until modern times that science and most of society accepted these beliefs.
The Jain number theory and Jain logic has been documented in detail in scriptures that are a millennia old or older, but were not discovered by western thought until modern times".
Jain metaphysical concepts have been existence for eternity and are just beginning to be touched upon by western thought.
Scientific Aspects of Jain Scriptures Unsubstantiated by Modern Science
Jain scriptures contain much more knowledge that was not attained by the rest of society until modern times. Certainly, the Jain saints had complete knowledge of everything, but not all of it was imparted and transcribed due to the sheer magnitude of information. Indeed, what is contained in the scriptures and what is known by modern science is only a microscopic fraction of what the omniscient saints knew.
Because so much of the knowledge that was imparted by these omniscient saints has been proved by modern science, we can attribute a strong sense of credibility to the knowledge they have imparted which has not yet been proved by modern science. The following information, information that is all scientific in nature, will be discovered by science eventually although it has been by Jain scholars and omniscient saints for eternity.
Karma Theory
Science presently recognizes four fundamental forces: electromagnetic, gravitational, and two types of nuclear forces. At present, research is in progress to relate these forces to reduce them to a "superforce." Jain philosophy asserts that the underlying particles of this force are particles called karmons12.
These karmic particles have many of the same properties observed in nuclear elements: they can undergo fusion and fission, they have density, and can undergo "karmic decay" which is similar to nuclear decay.
Scriptures describe karma in an extremely scientific manner: a very detailed breakdown of these karmons is made into 108 different categories. Additionally, the karmic values that these karmons follow the rules of mathematics; Jain scriptures delineate extremely specific cause and effect accounts of karma.
Jain Education International
3
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
