Jainism, some called it the world’s most peaceful religion. It’s monks are famous
worldwide for their strict adherence to non-violence. Going as far as to sweep the floor as they
walk to avoid stepping on lifeforms, covering their mouths as to not swallow or breath hot
air on living creatures, and following a strict vegetarian diet that not only bans all meat,
fish, and eggs, but also potatoes!!! So what is Jainism, why is it considered the world’s
most peaceful religion, and why is this monk butt naked! Well, Let’s Find Out.
INTRO
So, this is the official symbol of Jainism. Yes that is a Swastika....we'll get to that.
Adopted in the 1970’s it represents the main beliefs of Jainism. I’m not going to
explain what it means right now. Rather we’ll fill this symbol in as we go along.
A Jain is someone who accepts the teachings of the Tirthankaras. 'Jainism' comes from
the word “Jina”. The Sanskrit word Jina means ‘spiritual victor’ while Tirthankara
means ‘maker of a ford’. Different kind of ford, thank you.
Tirthankaras are the most important people in Jainism. They have removed all their attachments
to the world and during their lifetimes they managed to break free from the cycle of rebirth
and death that Jains believe keeps souls trapped on Earth.
They then built a metaphorical ford across the river of rebirth so others can follow
them to liberation.
In non-Jain histories, a guy called Mahavira tends to gets labeled as the founder of Jainism.
In the same way as Jesus does in Christianity. For the Jains though, Mahavira, who predated
the Buddha by a few decades, is just the last one in a line of 24 Tirthankaras...well technically
there has been an infinite number of Tirthankaras but we just don’t have time to get into
that. Jains believe they all preached the same eternal truths anyway.
Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism all grew up together in ancient India. The world that
these three religious buddies evolved in during the sixth and fifth centuries BCE was dominated
by two ideas.
The first of these is samsara, when we die our souls move to a new body and we are trapped
in an endless cycle of death and rebirth. Which is not super fun.
The second idea was karma, that actions, good or bad, affect your future rebirths.
Right so, Jainism is quite complicated, the best way to understand it is to break it down
into its 8 core ideas.
1. The Three Jewels
The Tirthankaras preached that the path to freeing your soul was the 'Three jewels'.
Those Three Jewels are:
Right Faith – samyag-darśana
Right Faith is accepting the 7 truths or tattvas of Jainism. A list inside of another list.
How exciting!
1. Jiva - All living things have an immortal, perfect soul
2. Ajiva - Non living things have no soul
3. Asrava - Doing actions drags karma to your soul
4. Bandha - Karma can stick to your soul
5. Samvara - You can stop the influx of karma
6. Nirjara - You can seperate karma from your soul
7. Moksha - Separating karma from your soul free it from the cycle of rebirth and death
The second Jewel is:
Right Knowledge – samyag-jñāna
Right Faith is believing those 7 truths. Right Knowledge is truly understanding them. You
can do this by listening to Jain monks and reading Jain scripture.
The last Jewel is:
Right Behaviour – samyak-cāritra.
Right Behaviour is using your faith and knowledge to live a life that is good and does not harm
others. You can do this by following the Five Great Vows of Jainism, the Mahavratas. Another
list inside of a list, yeah Jains love lists...like a lot! The Mahavratas are:
1. Ahimsa - Non-violence
2. Satya - Always being truthful
3. Asteya - Not Stealing
4. Brahmacharya - Being faithful to your partner or being totally celibate
5. Aparigraha - Not being weighed down by possessions or unnecessary attachments to
people, places or things.
These Three Jewels are seen as the only path to moksha, freeing your soul. They are so
important that they were incorporated into the official Jain symbol as those 3 dots there.
Ahimsa is by far the most important of the Vows and is strictly followed by all Jains.
So let's take a look at it.
2. Ahimsa - Non-Violence
Some Jain temples have an inscription above their doors, usually in Sanskrit but sometimes
English, that reads. “Nonviolence is the highest religion.” Jains believe that if
you want to achieve moksha then you need to stop harming other lifeforms.
Jains believe that every living thing has a soul and can therefore feel pain and suffering.
Animal and even human rights are a fairly new concept but Jains have granted something
similar to all life, even microbes, for thousands of years.
Ahimsa is the hand in the middle of the Jain symbol and the text there at the bottom reads
"All life is bound together by mutual support and interdependence."
3. Anekantavada - No one opinion is correct
Life is complicated. In order to understand it a little better Jain's came up with the
“Many-pointed Doctrine”, Anekantavada.
No single viewpoint can be the only truth. Instead the full truth must be built out of
a bunch of viewpoints.
There is a famous story in Jainism that helps get this point across. Five blind men go up
to an elephant and each touch one part and attempt to describe what the creature looks
like. The guy at the trunk says it must be as thick as a tree trunk. The guy at the tails
says no, it's actually more like a rope. The guy at the belly claims it's a wall, the other
guy at the leg disagrees saying it's a pillar and the last guy grabbing the ears thinks
there all fools because it's clearly a fan.
The story then goes on to say that a nearby wise man told them they were all right, but
only partially, and that all their points together could describe the whole elephant......
That wise old man.... Albert Einstein. After explaining the elephant to the blind men,
the wise old man bestowed more knowledge upon them. He said, “To never miss a Cogito video
make sure to click Subscribe and ring the notification bell” and the blind men nodded
for they knew this was great wisdom.
Some modern Jains often see anekantavada as a part of ahimsa, as tolerance of other worldviews.
Especially when it comes to other religions.
4. Samsara & Moksha.
Samsara, the endless cycle of death and rebirth. For Jains rebirth is not a good thing. Even
a good rebirth as say as a prince or a potato is sad because no matter how good your life
is all happiness is temporary because it all ends in death. Yeah, bummer.
There is only one cure for this, moksha.
If you achieve Moksha, then your soul will escape the cycle and go live at the top of
the universe in infinite bliss. This can only be done by completely removing karma from
your soul.
4. Karma - What Goes Around Comes Around
The term karma means ‘action’, but this action has consequences. Jains believe that
your karma affects how you will be reborn in your next life. But good or bad rebirth
is irrelevant to the Jains because it's the fact that karma keeps rebirth going that they
see as the problem. Jains have a rather unique view of karma. They see it as a physical substance.
Jains believe Karma is atoms that cover the entire universe.
-ZOOM IN ON KARMA PARTICLES. THEY ALL SAY HELLO IN TINY VOICES.-
When you do any action it attracts these good or bad karma atoms to your soul. Then later
in life or possibly in another life they release their good or bad effects. Once they've done
that they fall off your soul. Passions such as hate, anger, greed, and lust will act as
a glue that makes even more atoms stick to you, and so will make the consequences more
powerful. Imagine your soul as a cloth and karma as dust, passionate actions make the
cloth wet and so dust sticks to it easier.
Karma is what keeps you stuck in the Samsara cycle. Karma physically binds your soul to
this earth.
But wait, there's more! You can escape this by burning away all the karma attached to
your soul. The best way to do this is by becoming a Jain monk or nun.
5. Monks and Nuns
The monk & nun life is based around the five Mahavratas (great vows) that we saw earlier.
The first of the Mahavratas is Ahimsa. For regular Jains Ahimsa means trying to avoid
harming other forms of life. For a monk or nun this is turned up to 11 and includes even
microscopic life.
Along with being strict vegetarians, they can't eat raw food, eat at night, or eat any
food they haven't inspected in case they accidentally consume other lifeforms. They can’t cook
so they go around to Jain households daily and beg for food. It is considered a very
holy act for those regular Jains to donate food to them.
They also carry small brooms to brush away tiny lifeforms in their way so they don't
crush them, cannot ride in vehicles because of the damage they cause and they cannot bathe
because of the harm done to water borne life.
Some Jain monks even wear mouthguards to avoid inhaling airborne life or harming it with
their hot breath.
The second Mahavrata is not to lie.
The third is not to steal.
Those two are simple, I hope even non-Jains are sticking to those ones.
The fourth Mahavrata is the complete renunciation of sexual relations. Because ehhhhhh....how
do I say this…. Strict Jains believe that eh…. people pollen contains vast numbers
of living things most of which would die soon after the act. They also believe that having
a romantic relationship is a form of attachment, kind of like the Night's Watch. I probably
should have just said that...can we delete the people pollen part?
The fifth and final Mahavrata is that of non - possession. Jain monks carry nothing but
a few necessary items, like their brooms and move everyday in order to avoid attachment
to one place.
For Jains this is the best possible life because of how non-violent it is. It is the best way
to achieve moksha and regular Jains hold the monks and nuns in very high regard.
Due to the monks and nuns dependence on the Jain community the relationship between the
two is extremely close and personal
Interestingly the earliest of nuns in history are probably found in Jainism, and can be
traced back to the times of Mahavira and Jainism is quite unique in the fact that nuns outnumber
monks by a huge margin.
6. Regular Jains, the normies
The vast majority of Jains are not monks or nuns. Many accept that their time to be a
monk or nun will come in a future life.
They follow the 5 "Small Vows" (anuvrata) which are like a diet version of the 5 Great
Vows. These aren't strict rules, there more what you’d call "guidelines" . Regular Jains
should try to avoid violence and violent jobs. They shouldn't lie. They shouldn't steal or
cheat people in business. They shouldn't be too frisky and should remain loyal to their
husband or wife and should do their best to unburden themselves of their wealth ideally
through charity.
Jains are an extremely charitable community. But rather than their cash donations going
to monks or nun, they are spent on temples, health clinics, schools, libraries, or animal
shelters.
Regular Jains practice strict vegetarianism. Eggs are counted as meat. Jain don’t like
to harm insects so honey is out too. Anything fermented is considered to have life forms
in it, so alcohol is out the window. Root vegetables like Potatoes, Onions, and Garlic,
literally my entire diet, are cancelled because you need to rip the entire plant out of the
ground to eat them thus causing destruction.
Due to these vows Jains have gravitated towards careers in things such as business and law.
Today Jains are one of the wealthiest and most educated groups in India.
7. Loka - The Jain Universe
The Jain universe or loka is made up of three parts. The wide top part is the heavenly realm,
the waist is Earth, and the wide bottom part is hell.
At the tippy top of the universe is the siddha loka where the souls of those that have achieved
moksha go and enjoy infinite bliss. That's where all the Tirthankaras are chillin.
Oh, would you look at that, we’ve got some more of our Jain symbol filled in.
Jain Hell is very Dante's . There are seven layers, the deeper down you go the worse it
gets.
You stay in hell until all of your bad karma is burned away and you get to be reborn on
Earth again.
Now Hell in Jainism isn't really a punishment, like it is in other religions. Rather it is
seen as the natural consequence of bad karma.
The zone above the waist, is the realm of the gods.
This realm is super fun. There is no suffering. Everyone is happy, The is unlimited refills
and a trampoline. The people that are reborn here are the ones with really good karma.
But just like with Hell this isn't really a reward. You are reborn here due to the laws
of karma and even the Gods eventually die and karma still binds their souls in Samsara.
So even the gods will eventually be reborn on Earth and will need to try and achieve
moksha.
This is why some Jains say that bad karma is a chain of iron and good karma is a chain
of gold, but both are chains.
All souls can be reborn in the Loka as any of 4 types. Plant/Animal, Human, Hellbeing,
or God. Which is what that Swastika in the Jain symbol represents, each of the four potential
rebirths. BOOM, looks like we filled in the whole symbol.
The Swastika also represents the cycle of death and rebirth. All Jain temples and holy
books must contain the swastika. It is an ancient and beloved symbol in India for many
different religions. The Nazis made things a bit awkward in that regard.
Every living thing from a grape to a god has the ability to be reborn as a human and achieve
moksha.
So those are the 8 main concepts of Jainism. But it does leave us with some questions.
You may be wondering is there a Jain God? What do they pray to? What’s the dealio.
Well the Jain concept of God is very unique. They don't believe in a creator of the universe.
Instead it has simply always been here.
The Liberated Souls at the top of the Loka are beyond all wants & desires so they would
see no reason to interfere on Earth. Jains worship them in order to be more like them
rather than asking them to help them out in life.
Some Jains worship the Gods in the upper heavenly realm and since Jains are surrounded by Hindus
they tend to worship the same gods. But in the Jain worldview those Gods in heaven are
imperfect and are still trapped in Samsara just like them.
What about different religious sects, does Jainism have those? Of course it does just
like every other religion.
The two main sects are the Digambara and Svetambaras.
Now you may be thinking ughhhh to yourself right now. What boring theological reason
could there be for this split. Is an argument about how to make holy bread or who should
have been the main religious guy over another. Nope...This ones about naked dudes.
The main theological divide between the Digambara and the Svetambaras is whether or not monks
should wear clothes. The Digambaras ( “sky- clad”) claim that in order to be completely
non-attached to the world, monks should also renounce clothing. This had the consequence
of saying that women could not achieve moksha, because they can’t be naked in public.
The Svetambaras (white clad) disagree and argued that a person can be unattached to
clothes mentally but still wear them. So women can achieve moksha just like men.
There are some more differences between them, such as which Jain scriptures they accept,
but the main one is the clothing.
Modern Day
Jains have been highly influential in India for thousands of years. Shaping it's vegetarian
friendly diet and lending the concept of Ahimsa to Gandhi's independence movement.
As knowledge of the Jains becomes more common outside of India it confronts many people
with difficult concepts.
People tend to assume that the world exists for human consumption. To fulfill human desires.
But for Jains the world is something to give up. Where humans are not dominant over other
lifeforms but rather a part of an intricate web, where animals and plants are more than
things to consume.
In the last century Jainism has found itself in a strange position. Their ancient philosophy
have garnered the eye of the modern world as their ideas of non-violence, strict vegetarianism,
and what could be called an environmentalist outlook are strikingly relevant in a world
coming to terms with the fact that it may be consuming itself.
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So those are the basics of Jainism. It isn't even close to covering everything. One video
simply can't do it. Religions are too diverse, too deep, and mean too many different things
to different people. But learning even the basics of anything that millions of people
deeply care about gives us an insight into our fellow humans worldview and I hope you
enjoyed it :D
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