Jainism (redirected from Jains)

Jainism (jī`nĭzəm) [i.e., the religion of Jina], religious system of India practiced by about 5,000,000 persons. Jainism, Ajivika, and Buddhism arose in the 6th cent. B.C. as protests against the overdeveloped ritualism of Hinduism, particularly its sacrificial cults, and the authority of the Veda. Jaina tradition teaches that a succession of 24 tirthankaras (saints) originated the religion. The last, Vardhamana, called Mahavira [the great hero] and Jina [the victor], seems to be historical. He preached a rigid asceticism and solicitude for all life as a means of escaping the cycle of rebirth, or the transmigration of souls. Thus released from the rule of karma, the total consequences of past acts, the soul attains nirvana, and hence salvation. Mahavira organized a brotherhood of monks, who took vows of celibacy, nudity, self-mortification, and fasting. Since the 1st cent. A.D., when a schism developed over the issue of nudity, there have been two great divisions of Jains, the Digambaras [space-clothed, i.e., naked] and the Svetambaras [white-clothed]. Jainists, then as now, accumulate merit through charity, through good works, and in occasional monastic retreat. Early Jainism, arising in NE India, quickly spread west, and according to tradition Chandragupta, the founder of the Maurya empire, was converted to the sect, as were several kings of Gujarat. The Jaina canon, however, is preserved in an ancient dialect of NE India (see Prakrit literature). As Jainism grew and prospered, reverence for Mahavira and for other teachers, historical and legendary, passed into adoration; many beautiful temples were built and cult images set up. However, as time passed, the line between Hindu and Jain became more and more unclear. Soon Hindu gods such as Rama and Krishna were drawn into the Jaina pantheon, and Hindu Brahmans began to preside at Jaina death and marriage ceremonies and temple worship. The caste system, which primitive Jainism had rejected, also became part of later Jaina doctrine. Modern Jainists, eschewing any occupation that even remotely endangers animal life, are engaged largely in commerce and finance. Among them are many of India's most prominent industrialists and bankers as well as several important political leaders. A distinctive form of charity among Jains is the establishment of asylums for diseased and decrepit animals.

Bibliography

See M. S. Stevenson, The Heart of Jainism (1915, repr. 1970); M. L. Mehta, Jaina Philosophy (1970); A. K. Chatterjee, A Comprehensive History of Jainism (1984).

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Jainism

Religion of India established in the 6th century BCE. It was founded by Vardhamana, who was called Mahavira, as a reaction against the Vedic religion, which required animal sacrifices. Jainism's core belief is ahimsa, or noninjury to all living things. Jainism has no belief in a creator god, though there are a number of lesser deities for various aspects of life. Jains believe their religion is eternal and hold that it was revealed in stages by a number of Conquerors, of whom Mahavira was the 24th. Living as an ascetic, Mahavira preached the need for rigorous penance and self-denial as the means of perfecting human nature, escaping the cycle of rebirth, and attaining moksha, or liberation. Jains view karma as an invisible material substance that interferes with liberation and can be dissolved only through asceticism. By the end of the 1st century CE the Jains had split into two sects, each of which later developed its own canon of sacred writings: the Digambaras, who held that an adherent should own nothing, not even clothes, and that women must be reborn as men before they can attain moksha; and the more moderate Svetambaras, who retained a few possessions such as a robe, an alms bowl, a whisk broom, and a mukhavastrika (a piece of cloth held over the mouth to protect against the ingestion and killing of small insects). In keeping with their principle of reverence for life, Jains are known for their charitable works, including building shelters for animals. Jainism preaches universal tolerance and does not seek to make converts. In the early 21st century Jainism had some 4.5 million followers.

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Jainism 

one of the primary religious and philosophical systems of India, which arose in the sixth century B.C.

The wandering preacher Vardhamana is considered the founder of the faith. He was later given the names Mahavira (“great hero”) and Jina (“conqueror”), giving rise to the name of the religion. In the process of development, Jainism broke up into a number of sects, the most important of which are the Digambaras (the naked or, more precisely, “sky-clad”) and the Svetambaras (“white-clad”). The central religious and philosophical literature of Jainism is the Jain canon, the most important works of which are the Jain sutras. Among the noncanonical works of Jainism, the most interesting are the works of Umasvati (first century B.C.) and Siddhasena (sixth century A.D.). Jainism, whose development paralleled that of Buddhism, was a reaction against the ritualism and the abstract speculative quality of Hinduism. Jainism denounced the authority of the Vedas and opened the Jain community to men and women of all castes.

Basic to Jainism is the teaching concerning jivas living beings, and their two characteristic states of existence, perfect and imperfect. In the state of imperfect being a jiva, whose essence is an eternal conscious soul, finds itself joined to matter—its body. The body entangles the soul in a state of suffering, whose presence is a sign of imperfect existence. According to the relationship of the spiritual and bodily elements, these jivas form a kind of stairway: on the lower steps are jivas, in the form of inanimate objects and plants; on the higher steps, jivas in the form of animals, men, and gods. (A god in Jainism is only one of the forms of imperfect being of a jiva.) A drop of dew, a man, a god—these are all steps in a single system of essentially identical forms of being, distinguished by their being burdened by matter. At the top of this hierarchy are the “liberated” jivas, for which material bonds, or even spiritual determinations of their existence, do not exist—they are completely able to govern their own being. Only jivas of human form can achieve liberation. Such jivas are called Tirthankaras; they appear in the world periodically. Vardhamana is considered the last of the Tirthankaras in the present era (the 24th).

Asceticism is considered the basic path to “liberation.” The ascetic principles of Jainism stipulate the active annihilation of the bodily element (the Jain rules of conduct enjoin refusal to use clothing, strict fasting, and every possible form of torture). Along with the suppression of the bodily element, the rules of Jainism demand observance of ahimsa—the principle that no bodily harm be inflicted on any living creature. The stressing of the primary and, specifically, the moral significance of asceticism and the strict observance of ascetic rules distinguishes Jainism not only from Buddhism but from all the other religious systems of India, which also stress asceticism. In its practice, despite its essential rejection of ritual, Jainism maintains a certain amount of ritualism, which evolved as a necessity of “mass” worship: the worship at the temples of the Tirthankaras, public confession, and the reading of Jain texts.

In contrast to Buddhism, Jainism is strongly ontological, having a philosophy of being: jiva and ajiva (nonsoul, which includes the material) are considered coequal, eternal primal substances. Thus, Jainism, in contrast to Hinduism, is dualistic. Along with the jivas and ajivas,representing two basic essences (tattvas) of Jainism’s ontology, there exist five other tattvas, exhausting all possible types of interrelation between jivas and ajivas. Each of the seven tattvas is classified in a specific manner and arranged hierarchically. In particular, matter is divided into the sensitive (karmic), representing something like power, and the gross, which is perceptible by the senses and which can be divided into atoms (paramanu).

Although it never spread outside India, Jainism has retained its influence there. In the early 1970’s there were several million followers, mostly in Gujarat and Rajasthan, largely of the tradesman and craftsman castes; since plowing involves the killing of living beings, the observance of ahimsa precludes agricultural occupations. The Jains, as tradesmen and pawnbrokers, are a major financial and economic power in contemporary India. The Jains maintain many institutes and colleges and a number of journals.

REFERENCES

Radhakrishnan, S. Indiiskaiafilosofiia, vol. 1. Moscow, 1956. Pages 240-89. (Translated from English.)
Glasenapp, H. Der Jainismus: Eine indische Erlosungsreligion. Berlin, 1925.
Champat, Rai Jain. The Practical Dharma. Allahabad, 1929.
Schubring, W. Die Lehre der Jainas. Nach den alien Quellen dargestellt. Berlin, 1935.
Thomas, P. Hindu Religion, Customs and Manners. Bombay [1948].

V. P. LUCHINA