Jainism encourages spiritual development through cultivation of personal wisdom and through reliance on self-control through vows.71 Jains accept different levels of compliance for ascetics and lay followers.71 Ascetics of this religion undertake five major vows:
Ahimsa: Ahimsa means non-violence. The first major vow taken by ascetics is to cause no harm to living beings. It involves minimizing intentional and unintentional harm to other living creatures.
Satya: Satya literally means "truth". This vow is to always speak the truth. Given that non-violence has priority, other principles yield to it whenever they conflict: in a situation where speaking truth could lead to violence, silence is to be observed.71
Asteya: The third vow, asteya, is to not take anything that is not willingly offered.71 Attempting to extort material wealth from others or to exploit the weak is considered theft.
Brahmacharya: The vow of brahmacharya requires the exercise of control over the senses by refraining from indulgence in sexual activity.
Aparigraha: Aparigraha means non-possessiveness. This vow is to observe detachment from people, places and material things.71 Ascetics completely renounce property and social relations.
Laymen are encouraged to observe the five cardinal principles of non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, celibacy, and non-possessiveness within their current practical limitations, while monks and nuns are obligated to practise them very strictly.71
History
Main article: History of Jainism
Royal patronage
The ancient city Pithunda, capital of Kalinga, is described in the jaina text Uttaradhyana Sutra as an important centre at the time of Mahavira, and was frequented by merchants from Champa.72 Rishabha, the first tirthankara, was revered and worshiped in Pithunda and is known as the Kalinga Jina. Mahapadma Nanda (c. 450–362 BCE) conquered Kalinga and took a statue of Rishabha from Pithunda to his capital in Magadha. Jainism is said to have flourished under Nanda empire.73
The Mauryan dynasty came to power after the downfall of Nanda empire. The first Mauryan emperor, Chandragupta (c. 322–298 BCE), became a Jain in the latter part of his life. He was a disciple of Badhrabahu, a jaina acarya who was responsible for propagation of Jainism in south India.74 The Mauryan king Ashoka was converted to Buddhism and his pro-Buddhist policy subjugated the Jains of Kalinga. Ashoka's grandson Samprati (c. 224–215 BCE), however, is said to have converted to Jainism by a jaina monk named Suhasti. He is known to have erected many jaina temples. He ruled a place called Ujjain.75
In the 1st century BCE the emperor Kharvela of Mahameghavahana dynasty conquered Magadha. He retrieved Rishabha's statue and installed it in Udaygiri, near his capital Shishupalgadh. Kharavela76 was responsible for the propagation of Jainism across the Indian subcontinent. Hiuen Tsang (629–645 CE), a Chinese traveller, notes that there were numerous Jains present in Kalinga during his time.77 The Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves near Bhubaneswar are the only surviving stone jaina monuments in Orissa.78
King Vanaraja (c. 720–780 CE) of cavada dynasty in northern Gujarat was raised by a jaina monk Silunga Suri. He supported Jainism during his rule. The king of kannauj Ama (c. 8th century CE) was converted to Jainism by Bappabhatti, a disciple of famous jaina monk Siddhasena Divakara.79 Bappabhatti also converted Vakpati, the friend of Ama who authored a famous prakrit epic named Gaudavaho.
Bahubali monolith of Shravanabelagola
Jainism has contributed significantly to Indian art and architecture. Jains mainly depict tirthankara or other important people in a seated or standing meditative posture. Yaksa and yaksini, attendant spirits who guard the tirthankara, are usually shown with them.102 Figures on various seals from the Indus Valley Civilisation bear similarity to jaina images, nude and in a meditative posture.102 The earliest known jaina image is in the Patna museum. It is approximately dated to the 3rd century BCE.102 Bronze images of Parsva, can be seen in the Prince of Wales Museum, Mumbai, and in the Patna museum; these are dated to the 2nd century BCE. A sandalwood sculpture of Mahavira was carved during his lifetime, according to tradition. Later the practice of making images of wood was abandoned, other materials being substituted.103
Remnants of ancient jaina temples and cave temples can be found all around India. Notable among these are the Jain caves at Udaigiri Hills near Bhilsa in Madhya Pradesh and Ellora in Maharashtra, and the Jain temples at Dilwara near Mount Abu, Rajasthan. The Jain tower in Chittor, Rajasthan is a good example of Jain architecture.104 Decorated manuscripts are preserved in jaina libraries, containing diagrams from jaina cosmology.105 Most of the paintings and illustrations depict historical events, known as Panch Kalyanaka, from the life of the tirthankara. Rishabha, the first tirthankara, is usually depicted in either the lotus position or kayotsarga, the standing position. He is distinguished from other tirthankara by the long locks of hair falling to his shoulders. Bull images also appear in his sculptures.106 In paintings, incidents of his life, like his marriage and Indra's marking his forehead, are depicted. Other paintings show him presenting a pottery bowl to his followers; he is also seen painting a house, weaving, and being visited by his mother Marudevi.107 Each of the twenty-four tirthankara is associated with distinctive emblems, which are listed in such texts as Tiloyapannati, Kahavaali and Pravacanasaarodhara.108
A monolithic, 18 m statue of Bahubali referred to as "Gommateshvara", built by the Ganga minister and commander Chavundaraya, is situated on a hilltop in Shravanabelagola in the Hassan district of Karnataka state. This statue was voted by Indians the first of the Seven Wonders of India.109
A large number of ayagapata, votive tablets for offerings and the worship of tirthankara, were found at Mathura.110
Customs and Practices
Jains praying at the feet of a statue of Lord Bahubali.
Sadhvis meditating
Worship
?amokara mantra is the fundamental prayer of Jainism. In this prayer there is no mention of names, including that of the tirthankara. Jains do not ask for favours or material benefits from the tirthankara or from monks. This mantra simply serves as a gesture of deep respect towards beings they believe are more spiritually advanced and to remind followers of Jainism of their ultimate goal, nirvana.63
In Jainism, the purpose of worship or prayer is to break the barriers of worldly attachments and desires, so as to assist in the liberation of the soul. Jains follow six obligatory duties known as avashyakas: samyika (practising serenity), chaturvimshati (praising the tirthankara), vandan (respecting teachers and monks), pratikramana (introspection), kayotsarga (stillness), and pratyakhyana (renunciation).111 Related to the five auspicious life events of tirthankara called Panch Kalyanaka are such rituals as the panch kalyanaka pratishtha mahotsava, panch kalyanaka puja, and snatra puja.112113
Festivals
Paryushana is one of the most important festivals for Jains. Svetambara Jains normally refer to it as Paryushana, with the literal meaning of "abiding" or "coming together", while Digambara Jains call it Das Lakshana. It is a time when the laity take on vows of study and fasting with a spiritual intensity similar to temporary monasticism. Paryushana lasts eight days for Svetambara Jains and ten days for Digambara Jains.114
Mahavira Jayanti, the birthday of Mahavira, the last tirthankara, is celebrated on the thirteenth day of the fortnight of the waxing moon in the month of Chaitra, which date falls in late March or early April of the Gregorian calendar.115
Diwali is a festival that takes place during the month of Kartik in the Indian lunisolar calendar, around the new-moon day (amavasya). This usually falls in October or November. Mahavira attained his nirvana at the dawn of the amavasya (new moon).116 According to the Kalpa Sutra by Acharya Bhadrabahu, 3rd century BCE, numerous deva were present there, illuminating the darkness.117 On 21 October 1974 the 2500th Nirvana Mahotsava was celebrated by Jains throughout India.118
Fasting
Most Jains fast at special times, particularly during festivals. A Jain, however, may fast whenever it seems appropriate. A unique ritual in this religion involves a holy fast to death, called sallekhana. Through this one achieves a death with dignity and dispassion as well as a great reduction of negative karma.119 When a person is aware of approaching death, and feels that all his or her duties have been fulfilled, he or she may decide to gradually cease eating and drinking. This form of dying is also called santhara. It can take as long as twelve years of gradual reduction in food intake. Considered extremely spiritual and creditable, with awareness of the transitory nature of human experience, santhara has recently been the centre of a controversy in which a lawyer petitioned the High Court of Rajasthan to declare it illegal. Jains see santhara as spiritual detachment requiring a great deal of spiritual accomplishment and maturity, a declaration that a person has finished with this world and chooses to leave.
According to Jain cosmology, the universe is made up of six dravya (substances): sentient beings or souls (jiva), non-sentient substance or matter (pudgala), principle of motion (dharma), the principle of rest (adharma), space (akasa) and time (kala).34 The latter five are united as the ajiva (the non-living). As per the Sanskrit etymology, dravya means substances or entity, but it may also mean real or fundamental categories.4 Out of the six dravyas, five except time have been described as astikayas, that is, extensions or conglomerates. Since like conglomerates, they have numerous space points, they are described as astikaya. There are innumerable space points in the sentient substance and in the media of motion and rest, and infinite ones in space; in matter they are threefold (i.e. numerable, innumerable and infinite). Time has only one; therefore it is not a conglomerate.5 Hence the corresponding conglomerates or extensions are called—jivastikaya (soul extension or conglomerate), pudgalastikaya (matter conglomerate), dharmastikaya (motion conglomerate), adharmastikaya (rest conglomerate) and akastikaya (space conglomerates). Together they are called pancastikaya or the five astikayas.6
Soul
According to Jain philosophy, this universe consists of infinite jivas or souls that are uncreated and always existing. There are two main categories of souls: unliberated mundane embodied souls that are still subject to transmigration and rebirths in this samsara due to karmic bondage and the liberated souls that are free from birth and death. All souls are intrinsically pure but are found in bondage with karma since beginningless time. A soul has to make efforts to eradicate the karmas attain its true and pure form.
10th-century Jain monk Nemichandra describes the soul in Dravyasamgraha:7
The sentient substance (soul) is characterized by the function of understanding, is incorporeal, performs actions (doer), is co-extensive with its own body. It is the enjoyer (of its actions), located in the world of rebirth (samsara) (or) emancipated (moksa) (and) has the intrinsic movement upwards.
Jain metaphysics is the description of the reality according to Jainism, which includes the canonical Jain texts, commentaries and the writings of the Jain philosopher-monks. Jain cosmology considers the loka, or universe, as an uncreated entity, existing since infinity, having neither beginning nor end.1 Jain texts describe the shape of the universe as similar to a man standing with legs apart and arm resting on his waist. This Universe, according to Jainism, is broad at the top, narrow at the middle and once again becomes broad at the bottom.2
Mahapura?a of Acarya Jinasena is famous for this quote: "Some foolish men declare that a creator made the world. The doctrine that the world was created is ill advised and should be rejected. If God created the world, where was he before the creation? If you say he was transcendent then and needed no support, where is he now? How could God have made this world without any raw material? If you say that he made this first, and then the world, you are faced with an endless regression."
Ahimsa: Ahimsa means non-violence. The first major vow taken by ascetics is to cause no harm to living beings. It involves minimizing intentional and unintentional harm to other living creatures.
Satya: Satya literally means "truth". This vow is to always speak the truth. Given that non-violence has priority, other principles yield to it whenever they conflict: in a situation where speaking truth could lead to violence, silence is to be observed.71
Asteya: The third vow, asteya, is to not take anything that is not willingly offered.71 Attempting to extort material wealth from others or to exploit the weak is considered theft.
Brahmacharya: The vow of brahmacharya requires the exercise of control over the senses by refraining from indulgence in sexual activity.
Aparigraha: Aparigraha means non-possessiveness. This vow is to observe detachment from people, places and material things.71 Ascetics completely renounce property and social relations.
Laymen are encouraged to observe the five cardinal principles of non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, celibacy, and non-possessiveness within their current practical limitations, while monks and nuns are obligated to practise them very strictly.71
History
Main article: History of Jainism
Royal patronage
The ancient city Pithunda, capital of Kalinga, is described in the jaina text Uttaradhyana Sutra as an important centre at the time of Mahavira, and was frequented by merchants from Champa.72 Rishabha, the first tirthankara, was revered and worshiped in Pithunda and is known as the Kalinga Jina. Mahapadma Nanda (c. 450–362 BCE) conquered Kalinga and took a statue of Rishabha from Pithunda to his capital in Magadha. Jainism is said to have flourished under Nanda empire.73
The Mauryan dynasty came to power after the downfall of Nanda empire. The first Mauryan emperor, Chandragupta (c. 322–298 BCE), became a Jain in the latter part of his life. He was a disciple of Badhrabahu, a jaina acarya who was responsible for propagation of Jainism in south India.74 The Mauryan king Ashoka was converted to Buddhism and his pro-Buddhist policy subjugated the Jains of Kalinga. Ashoka's grandson Samprati (c. 224–215 BCE), however, is said to have converted to Jainism by a jaina monk named Suhasti. He is known to have erected many jaina temples. He ruled a place called Ujjain.75
In the 1st century BCE the emperor Kharvela of Mahameghavahana dynasty conquered Magadha. He retrieved Rishabha's statue and installed it in Udaygiri, near his capital Shishupalgadh. Kharavela76 was responsible for the propagation of Jainism across the Indian subcontinent. Hiuen Tsang (629–645 CE), a Chinese traveller, notes that there were numerous Jains present in Kalinga during his time.77 The Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves near Bhubaneswar are the only surviving stone jaina monuments in Orissa.78
King Vanaraja (c. 720–780 CE) of cavada dynasty in northern Gujarat was raised by a jaina monk Silunga Suri. He supported Jainism during his rule. The king of kannauj Ama (c. 8th century CE) was converted to Jainism by Bappabhatti, a disciple of famous jaina monk Siddhasena Divakara.79 Bappabhatti also converted Vakpati, the friend of Ama who authored a famous prakrit epic named Gaudavaho.
Bahubali monolith of Shravanabelagola
Jainism has contributed significantly to Indian art and architecture. Jains mainly depict tirthankara or other important people in a seated or standing meditative posture. Yaksa and yaksini, attendant spirits who guard the tirthankara, are usually shown with them.102 Figures on various seals from the Indus Valley Civilisation bear similarity to jaina images, nude and in a meditative posture.102 The earliest known jaina image is in the Patna museum. It is approximately dated to the 3rd century BCE.102 Bronze images of Parsva, can be seen in the Prince of Wales Museum, Mumbai, and in the Patna museum; these are dated to the 2nd century BCE. A sandalwood sculpture of Mahavira was carved during his lifetime, according to tradition. Later the practice of making images of wood was abandoned, other materials being substituted.103
Remnants of ancient jaina temples and cave temples can be found all around India. Notable among these are the Jain caves at Udaigiri Hills near Bhilsa in Madhya Pradesh and Ellora in Maharashtra, and the Jain temples at Dilwara near Mount Abu, Rajasthan. The Jain tower in Chittor, Rajasthan is a good example of Jain architecture.104 Decorated manuscripts are preserved in jaina libraries, containing diagrams from jaina cosmology.105 Most of the paintings and illustrations depict historical events, known as Panch Kalyanaka, from the life of the tirthankara. Rishabha, the first tirthankara, is usually depicted in either the lotus position or kayotsarga, the standing position. He is distinguished from other tirthankara by the long locks of hair falling to his shoulders. Bull images also appear in his sculptures.106 In paintings, incidents of his life, like his marriage and Indra's marking his forehead, are depicted. Other paintings show him presenting a pottery bowl to his followers; he is also seen painting a house, weaving, and being visited by his mother Marudevi.107 Each of the twenty-four tirthankara is associated with distinctive emblems, which are listed in such texts as Tiloyapannati, Kahavaali and Pravacanasaarodhara.108
A monolithic, 18 m statue of Bahubali referred to as "Gommateshvara", built by the Ganga minister and commander Chavundaraya, is situated on a hilltop in Shravanabelagola in the Hassan district of Karnataka state. This statue was voted by Indians the first of the Seven Wonders of India.109
A large number of ayagapata, votive tablets for offerings and the worship of tirthankara, were found at Mathura.110
Customs and Practices
Jains praying at the feet of a statue of Lord Bahubali.
Sadhvis meditating
Worship
?amokara mantra is the fundamental prayer of Jainism. In this prayer there is no mention of names, including that of the tirthankara. Jains do not ask for favours or material benefits from the tirthankara or from monks. This mantra simply serves as a gesture of deep respect towards beings they believe are more spiritually advanced and to remind followers of Jainism of their ultimate goal, nirvana.63
In Jainism, the purpose of worship or prayer is to break the barriers of worldly attachments and desires, so as to assist in the liberation of the soul. Jains follow six obligatory duties known as avashyakas: samyika (practising serenity), chaturvimshati (praising the tirthankara), vandan (respecting teachers and monks), pratikramana (introspection), kayotsarga (stillness), and pratyakhyana (renunciation).111 Related to the five auspicious life events of tirthankara called Panch Kalyanaka are such rituals as the panch kalyanaka pratishtha mahotsava, panch kalyanaka puja, and snatra puja.112113
Festivals
Paryushana is one of the most important festivals for Jains. Svetambara Jains normally refer to it as Paryushana, with the literal meaning of "abiding" or "coming together", while Digambara Jains call it Das Lakshana. It is a time when the laity take on vows of study and fasting with a spiritual intensity similar to temporary monasticism. Paryushana lasts eight days for Svetambara Jains and ten days for Digambara Jains.114
Mahavira Jayanti, the birthday of Mahavira, the last tirthankara, is celebrated on the thirteenth day of the fortnight of the waxing moon in the month of Chaitra, which date falls in late March or early April of the Gregorian calendar.115
Diwali is a festival that takes place during the month of Kartik in the Indian lunisolar calendar, around the new-moon day (amavasya). This usually falls in October or November. Mahavira attained his nirvana at the dawn of the amavasya (new moon).116 According to the Kalpa Sutra by Acharya Bhadrabahu, 3rd century BCE, numerous deva were present there, illuminating the darkness.117 On 21 October 1974 the 2500th Nirvana Mahotsava was celebrated by Jains throughout India.118
Fasting
Most Jains fast at special times, particularly during festivals. A Jain, however, may fast whenever it seems appropriate. A unique ritual in this religion involves a holy fast to death, called sallekhana. Through this one achieves a death with dignity and dispassion as well as a great reduction of negative karma.119 When a person is aware of approaching death, and feels that all his or her duties have been fulfilled, he or she may decide to gradually cease eating and drinking. This form of dying is also called santhara. It can take as long as twelve years of gradual reduction in food intake. Considered extremely spiritual and creditable, with awareness of the transitory nature of human experience, santhara has recently been the centre of a controversy in which a lawyer petitioned the High Court of Rajasthan to declare it illegal. Jains see santhara as spiritual detachment requiring a great deal of spiritual accomplishment and maturity, a declaration that a person has finished with this world and chooses to leave.
According to Jain cosmology, the universe is made up of six dravya (substances): sentient beings or souls (jiva), non-sentient substance or matter (pudgala), principle of motion (dharma), the principle of rest (adharma), space (akasa) and time (kala).34 The latter five are united as the ajiva (the non-living). As per the Sanskrit etymology, dravya means substances or entity, but it may also mean real or fundamental categories.4 Out of the six dravyas, five except time have been described as astikayas, that is, extensions or conglomerates. Since like conglomerates, they have numerous space points, they are described as astikaya. There are innumerable space points in the sentient substance and in the media of motion and rest, and infinite ones in space; in matter they are threefold (i.e. numerable, innumerable and infinite). Time has only one; therefore it is not a conglomerate.5 Hence the corresponding conglomerates or extensions are called—jivastikaya (soul extension or conglomerate), pudgalastikaya (matter conglomerate), dharmastikaya (motion conglomerate), adharmastikaya (rest conglomerate) and akastikaya (space conglomerates). Together they are called pancastikaya or the five astikayas.6
Soul
According to Jain philosophy, this universe consists of infinite jivas or souls that are uncreated and always existing. There are two main categories of souls: unliberated mundane embodied souls that are still subject to transmigration and rebirths in this samsara due to karmic bondage and the liberated souls that are free from birth and death. All souls are intrinsically pure but are found in bondage with karma since beginningless time. A soul has to make efforts to eradicate the karmas attain its true and pure form.
10th-century Jain monk Nemichandra describes the soul in Dravyasamgraha:7
The sentient substance (soul) is characterized by the function of understanding, is incorporeal, performs actions (doer), is co-extensive with its own body. It is the enjoyer (of its actions), located in the world of rebirth (samsara) (or) emancipated (moksa) (and) has the intrinsic movement upwards.
Jain metaphysics is the description of the reality according to Jainism, which includes the canonical Jain texts, commentaries and the writings of the Jain philosopher-monks. Jain cosmology considers the loka, or universe, as an uncreated entity, existing since infinity, having neither beginning nor end.1 Jain texts describe the shape of the universe as similar to a man standing with legs apart and arm resting on his waist. This Universe, according to Jainism, is broad at the top, narrow at the middle and once again becomes broad at the bottom.2
Mahapura?a of Acarya Jinasena is famous for this quote: "Some foolish men declare that a creator made the world. The doctrine that the world was created is ill advised and should be rejected. If God created the world, where was he before the creation? If you say he was transcendent then and needed no support, where is he now? How could God have made this world without any raw material? If you say that he made this first, and then the world, you are faced with an endless regression."
No comments:
Post a Comment