Jainism

Main Features:

• Asceticism
• Non-violence
• Ahimsa = non-violence. Non-injury to any living being. All living things have a soul
• No creator God

“Jain” = “a follower of a Jina.”

• Jina means victor or conqueror - one who has achieved complete victory over attachments and aversions. A Jain is someone who reveres and follows these persons and regards their teachings as authoritative.
• Jainism’s emphasis on non-violence does not mean that they stress docility or meekness. Jainism’s teaching are full of martial values. The Jina is a conqueror - someone who might have been a conqueror of the world but instead transposed the war from the outer battlefield to the inner one.

Jinas also called “Tirthankaras” - “one who establishes a “tirth” (ford or crossing) across “the ocean of existence (as called by Hindus and Jains).

• A human being, but extraordinary one who has conquered attachments and aversions that stand in the way of liberation from worldly bondage.

• Does so by means of his own effort, achieved a state of omniscience, all things are known to him (past, present, future)
• Before final attainment, Tirthankaras imparts his self-gained liberating knowledge to others so that they might become victors too. So he establishes a place of crossing for others.
• Jinas are the core figures of all forms of Jainism -- their teachings are central to Jainism, they are the main objects of veneration -- some Jains worship images of the Tirthankaras, others do not.
• No longer present in our part of the universe -- they came, achieved omniscience, imparted teaching, departed.
• The primary purpose of the teachings is the attainment of liberation from the world’s bondage.

An infinity of Tirthankaras have come and gone in the universe -- even now there are Tirthankaras teaching in other parts of the cosmos. In ours, 24 have come and gone in the present cosmic period. The first (Risabha) lived for 8.4 million years.

• The last of these was Lord Mahavira -- lived and taught some 2500 years ago. An actual historical figure, a contemporary of Buddha.
• No founder – eternal. Cyclical time. Jains believe that time is infinite, without any beginning or end. Time is divided into infinite equal time cycles (Kalchakras).
• There will be no more until the next cosmic cycle of time begins.
• Sectarian divisions: Digambaras and Svetambaras, 1^st century CE

The self is ensnared in repeating cycles of death and rebirth; liberation is escape from this cycle

• The cycle has no beginning nor end; the cosmos and souls that inhabit it also have no beginning or end, they will never cease to be
• Each soul has been wandering from birth to birth from beginningless time and will do so eternally unless it achieves liberation. Achieving liberation is based entirely on one’s own efforts, and it’s not easy.

Jiva: soul. Main feature is awareness, consciousness

• siddha: liberated jiva. no karma or rebirth, reside at uppermost part of universe (siddhashila); perfect knowledge and perception, infinite bliss
• sansari jiva: non-liberated jiva
• Jivas are found on earth, as well as in the water, air, and sky, and are

scattered all over the universe. Human beings, celestial beings,
infernal beings, animals, fish, birds, bugs, insects, plants, etc. are
the most common forms of Jiva with which we can easily relate. However,
Jain scriptures state that there are 8.4 million species of Jiva in

Karma (with a Jain twist): Jains maintain that karma is an actual physical matter that is attracted to the soul by an individual’s actions; it adheres to the soul because of the individual’s desires and aversions.

• Accumulation of karma is responsible for the soul’s bondage - they cover the soul and conceal its true nature
• To be liberated, one must avoid accumulating any further karma - this is the basis for Jainism’s extraordinary emphasis on non-violence
• One must also eliminate karma already adhering to the soul, this requires radical measures: asceticism
• Traditional image: asceticism as a kind of fire that burns away karmic imprisonment
• Jainism’s highest aspirations are represented in asceticism

Moksha: visualized as a process occurring in stages (though it can occur quickly in some extraordinary individuals)

• Liberation is preceded by obtaining omniscience - an innate quality of the soul that is occluded by karmas
• Once the last karmic accretions are shed, the body ceases to function, the soul rises to the abode of the liberated at the very top of the cosmos.
• There it abides in omniscient bliss for infinity, among other liberated souls, including those of the Tirthankaras.

Jain Cosmology

• The Hindu notion of maya (world as illusion) is rejected. Mind and matter are eternally separate. The visible universe is continually in the process of change but indestructible. Has its own internal principles.
• Nothing is ever created or destroyed in the universe -- matter has a reality status unlike in Hinduism.
• The cosmos is envisioned as a colossal standing human figure:
• At the base are the hells, populated by extremely wicked beings
• The middle world is represented by a thin disc -- this is where humans live. Here is where karma can be overcome. Deities come and go, they too are not absolute
• Top of the world is where perfected souls dwell - represented by a crescent moon or a kind of inverted umbrella.

Images

• Jain images are marked by tremendous restraint; the Tirthankara usually holds nothing in the hands; elongated arms and broad shoulders; auspicious mark on chest, Jinas are almost indistinguishable from each other;