Jain traditions look at the great hero Vardhamana Mahavira as their mentor. He is believed to be the last of the twenty four Tirthankaras and the founder of the doctrine of the Digambara, the naked monks. (De bary et al 1988). Jainism was broadly divided into Digambara and Shvetambara. The former was known for nudity culture while the latter was wearing white robes though they both observed the same principles It has made tremendous steps in the spread of this practice across India while still maintaining its purity Jain monks do studies mostly secular learning. They make up stories with moral lessons and this explains the use of Sanskrit and Prakrit in medieval literature. They also had a significant contribution to sciences, linguistics, Math and Astronomy. The renowned Mahatma Gandhi was born in Jain religion and he attributes his achievements to Jain ascetics.
Ahimsa is at the heart of the spiritual path for Jain
The Indian Jainism is known as a staunch supporter of nonviolence (Ahimsa).The term Ahimsa means peace or no desire to cause harm to a life. Ahimsa does not only prohibit the act of violence but also the desire to harm. Therefore, the Jain’s practices and doctrines are predominantly based on Ahimsa. They believe in a close connection between soul and matter and that salvation is achieved by freeing the two so as to gain pristine and bliss that is self sufficient in eternity. Jainism place great essence on solid matter. This explains why they attributed life to everything that exists in the universe. According to Jain, the whole world has life including stones something that Buddhism disputes.
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Jain has a materialistic view of life. This brings in focus the Jain’s belief that everything contains life including plants This is the main contradiction between Jain’s and Buddhism because Buddha disputes the argument that plants have lifelike that of Animal gods and human. Jain finds life in every element on earth including earth itself. It classifies living organisms into five main classes according to their number of sense they possess. Fist class involves gods, men animals and bodies in hell. The second class is that of creatures with only four senses of sight, touch, taste and smell. That is the bigger insects like flies and butterflies. The third class is that of three sensed creatures lacking the sense of sight like bugs and fleas. The fourth one involves two sensed organisms with the sense of touch and taste like worms. The fifth one is one sensed organism with that of touch.
This classification is also divided into five more sub classes; Vegetables like trees, Earth bodies like earth itself, water bodies like seas and rivers, fire bodies like flames and finally wind bodies like winds.
Therefore Jain accords life to every element. Jainism in its pristine nature is all knowing and claims to represent the whole universe. Hence every action, word even thought of a man is believed affect soul of the above named bodies. Jainism also places big emphasis on Karma. It believes that Karma is cause of soul bondage and is even further intensified by acts of elfishness and by being cruel which leads to unhappy results. When a body accumulates Karma, it takes penance and fasting to be freed. The soul is never freed until it cleanses itself off Karma. Actions which do not cause harm to others and are done in clear motives only attract little Karma which is dispelled easily. Matters of deliberate and accidental harm attract serious punishment. The ill treatment of water and earth nature is dangerous for the soul.
For the Jain monk to remain pure, he/she must avoid injuring even plants not even by eating or drinking water. He therefore leaves the responsibility to his servants to give him food. He strains his thirst as much as he can so as not to damage water bodies. They live a restricted and regulated life style avoiding not to even step on an insect or a plant. That’s why they walk around with feathers and a broom to sweep wherever they step. To avoid the claws of Karma, one who believes in Jain must harm on the lower life. This is due to infinite number of lives in the world. The metempsychosis is eternally continuous through progressive and declining phases with no breaks but systole and diastole. In such a continuous universe there’s therefore no human effort involved but a natural law that cannot be influenced by neither gods nor men. An individual has freedom to seek self salvation. Mahavira called his followers for a life of strife for perfection whether monks or laymen. Jainism has more strict doctrines administered by the Jain clergy than Buddhism.
However, Jain ethical scriptures contain selfishness despite their teaching on nonviolence and compassion. This is due to the fact that one’s spiritual purity depends on one’s ability to do well and not because it’s a virtue. One must avoid doing harm not because it endangers life of another but because it restricts the purity of one’s life and minimizes chance of facing Karma. Jainism has been one of the most rigid religions in India for over two thousand years ago. Over centuries, It has remained to be a system of spiritual morality that emphasizes on morality, honesty and compassion in personal relationships and rigid non violence doctrines.
Jain’s literature is predominantly rich in Ahimsa teachings. The book of sermons for example focuses on non violent life regulations and degradation of human emotions are some of the themes addressed. The parable of the man at the well is intended to the consequences of Karma. The book of good conduct is a teaching of humans unending earthly desires that leads to evil doing to attain them but eventually his/her life is shortened. It insists that a wise person knows the religion first before losing his true sense and starts searching his own sense of self concept.
The book of sermons continues to emphasize on the need for co- existence in all the large and small creatures. It dictates that even the smallest creatures should be given a chance to live fully. The books still focuses on the need for respect of life. It says that natural for any other element to grow to full age just like normal human being even though they also focus on enlightened self interest that the sole reason for doing what is good is entirely for an individual benefit. The Hero of penance and self control teaches that one must refrain from doing and violence to live a sinless life and feel cheerful and fulfilled by living it despite the challenges that could come along. The story of wise men and fools contrasts two lives, that of the world and that of religion. In the refuge of all creatures’ narrative, the virtue of kindness is emphasized. Monks practice evangelism spiritual guidance and consolation. The final penance concept teaches that one of the corrective behaviors of Karma is through strict fasting or starvation to death but not to cause harm to one self. However the moral verses seem to differ with the previous and are more acceptable by other religions like Christians and Muslims. According to Quatrain authors, good conduct was about sympathy, love and togetherness rather than mere acts of avoiding evil doing and sharing.
References
Hay, S. N., & De Bary, W. T. (1988). Sources of Indian tradition . Motilal Banarsidass Publishe.
