RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Jainism
life left — may not pluck the vegetable or fruit from its source — and must strain through a cloth the water he drinks. Further regulations prescribe the covering of the ascetic's mouth and nose with a cloth that no insects may be drawn in with the breath to their death, and the pushing of a broom before him as he walks that no living thing may be crushed by his feet. The systems have developed along similar lines, with orders of monks upon whom severe duties press, and lay communicants from whom a lesser degree of abstinence is demanded. Both have had temples of ambitious structure, in which were placed statues of the founders and their disciples, though those of the Jains are the more monumental. These resemblances and differences are now quite fully accounted for.
The fundamental assumption of the Jains is the eternity of matter, which is regarded as atomic in structure. Time proceeds in pairs of 3. The Jain cycles each of enormous length, in the Philosophy, first of which goodness constantly increases, and in the second diminishes. Since matter is eternal, no necessity arises for creative agency, and Jains have consequently been called atheists. But worship is paid to the Jina, and indeed to Hindu deities, since the native predilection to polytheism has in Jainism, as in Buddhism, been too strong for the philosophy to overcome. Over against the eternity of matter the Jain puts the eternity of individual spirits. The Jain philosophy is therefore dualistic as against the spiritualistic monism of Buddhism. These spirits are bound by the action of Karma (the accumulated effects of all deeds in former existences), but owing to the differences in the manner of conceiving individual existence, that action is regarded differently from the Buddhistic method. To the Buddhist the soul is not a permanent individual entity passing as a unit from one state of existence or incarnation to another, but a dissoluble aggregate of qualities in which not individuality but the effect of Karma is the integrating factor. To the Jain the human spirit is an eternal entity which in its various incarnated lives Karma affects as a permanent individuality. Consequently Nirvana takes a different form in the two religions. Logically in Buddhism it is the annihilation of Karma as an integrating principle, in consequence of which the individual as such ceases to exist. In Jainism Nirvana is release of the soul from union with the body and from connection with matter, but the soul continues consciously to exist. Salvation is wrought through ascetic practises, guided by the three jewels of right faith, right knowledge, and right conduct. For the layman eight reincarnations are necessary to secure release, while the ascetic secures the same result by twelve years of strenuous self-denial, after which he may if he will at once enter Nirvana by felo de se. The monks are compelled to take the five major vows, practically identical with those of Buddhism.
The great similarity of the two systems and also their mutual dislike led to patient search for the reasons of the resemblances and the differences. Especially have the religious life and obligations of thepre-Jain Brahman ascetic been under review.
The result is the discovery that of the Brahman ascetic of early times were demanded four of the five major vows, viz., Ahimsa, truthful- 4. Basis ness, honesty, and continence. But in Brah- besides these points, common to the manism. three systems, there are others which are established as clearly pre-Jainistic. Thus it was required of the Brahman recluse not to change his residence during the rainy season, at other times the period of his stay in a place was limited, though in the later systems the bounds of his stay varied; the rules for dress in all three systems reduce to practically the same basis, and Brahman and Jain ritual provide for the elimination of hair and beard. Even the straining of drinkingwater is Brahmanic, and the equipment of cloth and begging-bowl is common to Brahman and Jain. Jainism stands revealed, therefore, as one of the two revolts against Brahmanic teaching, ritual, and doctrine which took form in the sixth century b.c, and for ten centuries threatened the extinction of the parent faith. Yet, like Buddhism, it borrowed thought and even much of its religious terminology and practise from Brahmanism. Its monks are called Yatis, a Brahmanic name for eremite, and the titles given the Jina are commonplaces in pre-Jain Brahmanism.
On such a basis, in the sixth century B.C., in the north central part of India, Vardhamana, after twelve years of asceticism, launched 5. The his system. His social status as a System Kshatriya opened to him the ears of and its the wealthy, while his performance of History, the ascetic vows and the sanctity thus gained won him the reverence of the lower orders of the population. He laid the usual emphasis of the Brahman upon the evil in matter and on the value of the ascetic life as the means to evade it. The older vows were made more stringent; a theology with its heaven and hell and Nirvana was formulated. The system broke with Brahmanism in making its benefits extend to all castes and even to the outcasts, though it was affirmed that all preceding Jinas (twenty-three in number) were of the warrior caste. Its ascetics were called Nirgrantha, " freed from bonds," Yatis, " ascetics," or Sadhus, " holy ones." And since not all could follow the ascetic pattern, provision was made for the lay community. The members vowed obedience to the Jina, the law and the teacher; in the early morning they worshiped at home, and in the temple the image of the Jina, read and recited from the scriptures, sang hymns, and then at different times of the day practised their devotions. Meanwhile they had the privilege of contributing to the support of the monastics, and received the name of upasakas or " worshipers " and sravakas or "hearers." After eight reincarnations they were promised Nirvana. For the monk a more rigorous routine is prescribed, and a speedier release foretold. During the rainy season he seeks shelter in a monastery of the order, for then life is more abundant and movement pregnant with danger to it. For the remaining eight months he takes the road and wanders barefoot and bareheaded; he may not sleep in a bed nor take any conveyance,
Jainism James