Jain Articles

 

 

 

 

 

Jainism: The Sky Clad Religion

Paul Derengowski, ThM

 

Introduction

One of the more unique non-Christian religions that very few have knowledge or awareness of and is centered mainly in the cities of Ahmadabad, Mumbai, and Calcutta, India is the religion known as Jainism.  Totally about four million members worldwide, mainly because of its non-evangelistic outreach, Jainism is not only a Hindu sect, but is contemporary with the beginnings of Buddhism.  In fact, because of the close resemblance in upbringing and subsequent religious experiences, between Jainism's founder (Nataputta Vardhamana aka "Mahavira") and Siddhartha Guatama (the Buddha), the two are sometimes confused.  Nevertheless, there are enough distinctions to also delineate Jainism from Buddhism, as well as Hinduism.

Jainism had its beginning in the sixth-century B.C. when as a man by the name of Mahavira (which means "Great Man" or "Hero") rejected his early upbringing in a life of luxury and embraced the ascetic life of a wandering monk.1  Legend has it that one day Mahavira noticed group of monks in a park outside the town in which he lived (Vaisali), led by the ascetic Parshva.  Intrigued by what he saw he proceeded to renounce his previous life, including a wife and daughter, and join the order.  He was thirty years old at the time.  It would not be for another year, though, until he abandoned all to become an ascetic himself.  He waited out of respect for his dying parents, plus he needed to garner his brother's consent, who wished for him to consider what he was doing to make sure of his decision.

When the time came for Mahavira to join Parshva's sect, the first thing he did was to pluck Mahavirafive handfuls of hair out both sides of his head, and five handfuls of hair out of his beard as well.  He then committed to living the complete life of an ascetic by committing to abusing his body through neglect.  This was summarily carried out whether through personal self-abuse and lack of caring for his body, the abuse of other human beings, or by attacks stemming from wild animals.  In essence he was making a statement which determined that there was something evil or unclean about the physical body as opposed to that of the spirit; it would be something that the Gnostics would develop in their belief system.

Three distinct characteristics marked Mahavira's self-asceticism: nakedness, hunger, harmlessness, and inconsistency.  Book 1, Lecture 8, Lesson 1 of the Jain Sutras give us a fairly clear picture of the kind of life Mahavira not only lived, but exemplified to his followers to lead:

Mahavira's inconsistency came later when he found that all the gnawing and chewing of the insects which he allowed to crawl all over him got to be a bit too much, especially when it came to the genitalia.  So, instead of being totally stark naked, he allowed for a loin clothe to be worn.

To a naked monk the thought occurs: I can bear the pricking of grass, the influence of cold and heat, the stinging of flies and mosquitos [sic]; these and other various painful feelings I can sustain, but I cannot leave off the covering of the privities.  Then he may cover his privities with a piece of cloth.

A naked monk who perseveres in this conduct, sustains repeatedly these and other various painful feelings: the grass pricks him, heat and cold attack him, flies and mosquitos [sic] sting him.  A naked monk (should be) aspiring to freedom from bonds.  Penance suits him.  Knowing what the Revered One has declared, one should thoroughly and in all respects conform to it. (1)—Book 1, Lecture 7, Lesson 7.

Mahavira's association with Parshva was short-lived, and he proceeded to set out on his own, wandering the Indian countryside.  Some time afterward, though, he met another naked man by the name of Goshala Makkhali, who was a not only an ascetic as well, but espoused a fatalist doctrine that would eventually result in disputes between them.  Separating from Goshala, Mahavira did not associate himself with anyone else, and wandered about for twelve years avoiding people and striving for moksha or deliverance.

Then in his thirteenth year of wandering Mahavira's mission was accomplished.  He attained Nirvana ("Kevala") while squatting under a blazing sun alongside a river.  According to the Kalpa Sutra, "Life of Mahavira, Lecture 5,"

When the Venerable Mahâvîra had become a Gina and Arhat, he was Kevalin, omniscient and comprehending all objects; he knew and saw all conditions of the world, of gods, men, and demons: whence they come, wither they go, whether they are born as men or animals (kyavana) or become gods or hell-beings (upapâda), the ideas, the thoughts of their minds, the food, doings, desires, the open and secret deeds of all the living beings in the whole world; he the Arhat, for whom there is no secret, knew and saw all conditions of all living beings in the world, what they thought, spoke, or did at any moment. (121).

Mahavira then spends the next thirty years of his life gathering followers and teaching them the finer points of his life, doctrine, and experiences.  Forty-two years of asceticism as a monk finally end with Mahavira dying at the age of seventy-two.  Finally he had been "freed from all pains" and released from this life.


Jain Cosmology or the Loka

Jain Beliefs & Philosophy

Five Great Ascetic Vows for Jain Monks

Twelve Rules for Jain Laypersons

Six Traditionally Approved Occupations for Jains

Jain Holy Books

Sects of Jainism

 

 

Jain Logic

 

References

1 Jacobi questions the actual wealth and power of the family from which Mahavira was reared in his Introduction to the Jaina Sutras.  Apparently Mahavira's father, Siddhârtha, was a "petty chief" of what amounted to a small village (suburb?) where caravans passed by called Kundagrâma.  According to Jacobi, "Indeed, though the Gainas fondly imagine Siddhârtha to have been a poweful monarch and depict his royal state in glowing, but typical colours, yet their statements, if stripped of all rhetorical ornaments, bring out the fact that Siddhârtha was but a baron; for he is frequently called merely Kshatriya—…From all this it appears that Siddhârtha was no king, nor even the head of his clan, but in all probability only exercised the degree of authority which in the East usually falls to the share of landowners, especially of those belonging to the recognised aristocracy of the country."  Hermann Georg Jacobi, Jaina Sutras: Part I & II (Forgotten Books, 2008), 3.