 |
Articles | Author |
| 1. MONKS & NUNS | Dr. Natubhai K. Shah | |
| 2. LAY JAIN MEN AND WOMEN | ||
| 3. THE CONCEPT OF GOD AND THE DESTINY OF THE SOUL IN JAINISM | Dr. Natubhai K. Shah | |
|
Articles | Author |
| 1. MONKS & NUNS | Dr. Natubhai K. Shah | |
| 2. LAY JAIN MEN AND WOMEN | ||
| 3. THE CONCEPT OF GOD AND THE DESTINY OF THE SOUL IN JAINISM | Dr. Natubhai K. Shah | |
1. MONKS & NUNS
| Lifestyle | Vows |
| Virtues | |
| Restrictions | Goal |
The ascetics, whether male or female, are those fully dedicated souls who have renounced worldly life and pleasures to devote themselves to the pursuit of MOKSA or liberation.
A spiritually advanced Jain lay person, when ready for further advancement to the path of liberation, undertakes five great vows also known as Mahavratas in a ceremony called "Diksa" (Initiation) or Pravrajya (Renunciation).
So what is Diksa?
Diksa is the ritual constitutes the symbolic rebirth of the individual.
He renounces his name and worldly possessions. The new medicant takes on the lineage name of his teacher for example: -Nandi, -Kirti, -Sena, -Candra, -Sagara, -Vijaya).
Among the Svetambars, Diksa is normally barred to those who are physically or mentally incapacitated, who lack the consent of their parents and who are less than eight years old.
Among the Digambaras, person who renounce the world are normally of advanced age.
The Svetambara monk is given three large piece of cloth which constitutes his new wardrobe, a rajoharana - brush made of woollen tuffs, a begging bowl, a blanket, a staff and volumes of scriptures.
The Sthankvasi monk is given a muh-patti - a small strip of cloth which is tied over his mouth, in addition to the articles noted above.
The Digambara monk renounces every possession, including clothes. He is given a small whisk broom made of peacock feathers.
The hair of the monk is pulled from one's head in five handfuls, thus preparing him for severe demands of the ascetic life.
He takes fifty monastic vows. The monks lead an itinerant (roaming or wandering) life, do not dwell, and on principle more than one to five days (maximum a month) in the same locality but during the four months of Monsoon they remain sedentary. The habitation is chosen according to the minute rules. Nowadays most Monks stay in Upashraya (shelters for monks).
Their time table is strictly regulated. The day and night is divided in four equal parts - paurasi, each of which is reserved for specific work:
 | study, |
| meditation |
| at the third Paurasi in day-time Gochari (food begging), |
| and at night, sleep. |
After taking mahavratas, a Monk must become totally obedient to his Upadhyaya (preceptor) and to his Acharaya (the head of his order).
As for Nuns, they are governed by a sort of 'Mother Superior', who in turn is responsible to a male Acharya.
All the Monks are very closely bound up with all other members of the religious community. It gives them chance to dispense their spiritual support to the faithful aity, who in return aid them by material contribution essential for the promotion of religion.
On initiation, the Monk vows to observe for the life the five great vows - Mahavratas:
He also observes five precautionary rules - Samitis, viz taking due care in walking or moving about, in
| speaking |
| eating and drinking |
| in lifting |
| removing & putting down things |
| books etc |
| and in attending to the calls of nature |
The intention is not to hurt life.
Then he practices control of three restraints - Guptis of mind, speech and body, keeping silent and immobile for a length of time.
Strict observance of vows helps the Monk to liberate himself from the bondage of transmigration and to attain Moksha - Salvation, he must purify his soul of the karmic matter by which it is invaded.
His preoccupation is twofold: to reject the karmas which have previously accumulated and have not yet ripened and to put a stop to the influx, of new karmas.
A Monk has six essential duties:
| Pratikaman | Consists of retrospection, introspection, confession and repentance and making penance for them. |
| Pratyakyana | determination of acting according to saintly status and code in conduct. |
| Stuti | Adoration, recitation and contemplation of divine charachteristic of twenty four Tirthankaras |
| Vandana | Obeisance to arhant (tirthankaras), siddha (liberated souls) and gurus (teachers). |
| Samayika | Meditation upon one's soul, its attributes, and modes to accomplish a state of equanimity |
| Kayotsarga
|
That is practicing complete bodily abandonment for some time daily, whereby he tries to relinquish all the sense of attachment to the body and things connected with it. |
He cultivates and observes ten virtues, namely:
| forgiveness |
| humility |
| straightforwardness |
| truth-fullness |
| greediness |
| self-control |
| mortification of flesh renunciation |
| detachment |
| continence |
All Jain monks and nuns go barefoot, and use no vehicle. The rules which have references to a monk's food are numerous and strict. He must not take food specially prepared for him, he eats only in daylight, he fasts often, and he may not hoard food.
In addition, to observing the restrictions called for by the Mahavratas, Jain Monks ordinarily perform certain voluntary austerities - Tapas intended to aid their spiritual progress. Twelve such practices are considered useful; of these six are 'external' and six 'internal'.
Depending upon observance, the soul passes through fourteen stages of spiritual development. So far Karma is attached to the soul, it has got to go through the cycle of birth and death. The goal of Monkshood is absolute freedom from Karmas. Once it is achieved the soul is permanently in a happy and blissful state, with omniscient and omnipotent powers. To achieve liberation, even a Monk, may have to go through many births and deaths and there are no short cuts.
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| Vows |
The aim of Jain ethics is so to organize the combined activity of a society that its individuals may have the greatest possible number of facilities for attaining Moksha or Nirvana, i.e. perfect peace and bliss of the soul. The Jain discipline is hard. The ethics are simple. Scriptures have prescribed eleven stages of spiritual progress for a layman and also precise vows and conduct to achieve it.
The first stage of Jain layman's life is that of intelligent and well reasoned faith in Jainism; and the second is when he takes a vow not to destroy any kind of life, not to lie, not to steal or take anything dishonestly, not to have illicit sexual activity, to limit his possessions and to give charity in the way of knowledge, medicine, comfort and food.
The conduct for laity has been described systematically in Shravakacara texts. It is based on the principle of non-violence not only physical but also by speech and thought, to all living being from the lowest to the highest form of life, whether it is with one sense, two senses, three senses, four senses, five senses and five senses with brain like human beings.
It means that as far a humanly possible, Jains will avoid killing or harming even the tiniest creatures.
Jains by birth or by conviction observe, as far as possible, following basic restraints and vows for spiritual progress of their souls.
Basic Restraints (Mulgunas):
Avoidance of indiscriminate and unchecked indulgence in five sinful practices.
Drinking water should be filtered and kept covered and one should eat only in daylight when the risk of harm to tiny organisms is less.
Certain trades such as brewing, fishing, butchering and dealing in the commodities of trades where violence in involved are prohibited for Jains.
A true Jain will do nothing to hurt the feelings of another person. Jain ethics are meant for all persons in every walk of life. "Do your duty and do it as humanely as possible" is the primary precept of Jainism in brief. Any violence absolutely unavoidable in the execution of one's duties e.g. as a patriotic warrior, or a guardian of the members of the society is not forbidden by Jain ethics.
Twelve vows prescribed for a layman is broken down into three categories:
Category 1: The Five Anuvratas - limited or restricted vows
| Ahimsavrata: | Refraining from causing injury to living beings with more than one sense faculty |
| Satyavrata: | Refraining from false speech. |
| Asteyavrata: | Refraining from theft |
| Brahmavrata: | Refraining from illicit sexual activities. |
| Aparigrahavrata: | Limiting one's possessions. |
Category 2: The three Gunavratas - vows that strenghten the Anuvratas.
| Digvrata: | Restricting one's activities to a specific area in any given direction. |
| Bhogopabhogavrata: | Restricting the objects of one's enjoyment (items of food, clothing, etc.) |
| Anarthadandavrata: | Refraining from all "unwholesome" activities (Hunting, gambling and so forth) |
Category 3: The four Siksavratas - vows of spiritual discipline
| Samayikavrata | Attainment of equanimity through meditation. |
| Desavakasikavrata | Further restriction on the area defined by Digvrata |
| Posadhopavasavrata | Fasting on certain holy days each month |
| Danavrata | Performing "charity" - offering food, residence, medicine and books to medicants and others |
The six daily duties of a lay Jain person are:
3. THE CONCEPT OF GOD AND THE DESTINY OF THE SOUL IN JAINISM
| Aim of the Jain Life |
Jainism is perhaps the oldest religion that developed in India Subcontinent. It is believed that its culture, which professes the tenets of non-violence and truth, refraining on accumulation of possessions, existed in India before the advent of Aryans, who believed in Vedic religion.
Jain culture was known as ascetic Shraman tradition, while Vedic religion as Brahamanic tradition – Modern Hinduism.
It
is believed that in every half-cycle of time in the universe, twenty-four
Tirthankaras or Prophets (also known as Jina) revive the philosophy and show the
path for permanent happiness and bliss in language which living beings can
understand.
The focal point of a Jain Temple is
an image or images of one or more of the twenty-four Tirthankars.
The image is conventionally represented seated or standing, calm and
detached, worshipped as God.
God, according to Jain belief, is perfectly happy soul with infinite capacities for activities, a pure and perfect soul without any material body, a being that cannot perish or become degenerate.
Jains do not believe in God as creator and ruler, but believe:
| That every soul has existed from eternity |
| And from eternity souls have ever been emerging from the ordinary embodied worldly condition in the pure liberated condition, |
| And will continue to do so for ever, |
| but they will never come down from this condition of God-hood to the condition of souls in ordinary embodied states. |
From all eternity, the ordinary soul has been indulging in the false attachment and aversion to other things, ignorant of its nature, and by reason of this indulgence it is never at ease. Upon the abandonment of this attachment and aversion the soul becomes calm and tranquil and when completely free from the influence of these unnatural activities, the soul lives its natural life and becomes all-knowing, permanently happy and immortal. In short it becomes God.
Jain worship images in the temple
or meditate on them, not for asking any worldly favours, but
to follow their examples so that one day their own souls becomes liberated
and purified, achieve Moksa – “The State of Permanent
Happiness and bliss”.
The Tirthankar is not a creator or ruler. Neither does the Tirthankar answer requests or control the affairs of the world. The prayers and meditation of the devotee are directed to admiration and praise of the objects of his or her devotions, and to the noble aim of emulating the Tirthankar’s virtues and spiritual life.
In short Jain’s concept of God is that of purified, omniscient, happy, blissful, all-powerful and eternal perfect being, who neither creates other things or beings, nor rewards, nor punishes.
The first Tirthankar, Rsabhnath, lived thousands of centuries back and the last, Mahavira, who was thirty year older than Buddha (founder of Buddhism) preached his teachings, more than 2500 years ago.
Mahavira showed a path to liberation of the soul from the cycle of reincarnation, of birth and death, through spiritual training, austerity, the control of passions and a noble ethical code centring on Ahimsa (total harmlessness to every living being).
| The
aim of Jain way of life is to purify soul from its attachment to the Karmas
and achieve Moksha, a state of permanent happiness, bliss and
self-realisation. |
| Moksha is the state from which the soul, which has removed the bondage of its deeds, does not have to go through the cycles of birth and death. |
The teachings of Jainism lead us to happiness which is permanent, self generated which comes from within, not dependant upon external materials and which produces peace and tranquillity of mind, as opposed to sensual pleasures which are temporary, dependant upon external things and which produce wavering and unsatisfied mind.
To explain what happens to us when we die one has to understand some aspects of Jain Philosophy.
Everything in the Universe is
either living or non-living aka jiva or ajiva.
| Jiva or souls could be either liberated or embodied. |
| Ajiva or non-living things could either be rupi (with form) or arupi (formless). |
Non-living things with form are called pudgala or matter.
· It has primary characteristics of touch, taste, smell and colour and can be divided into a number of subtle sub-divisions smallest being paramanu (sub atom) formless non-living beings like:
o Dharma (motion),
o Adharma (Rest),
o Akasa (Space) and
o Kala (time) which cannot be experienced by sense organs, while Pudgala can be experienced.
The Universe consists of matter and spirit (soul) and though they are found in combination to a large extent, they are distinct.
Conciousness is the attribute of
the soul, while the function of matter is to provide a body for the soul to
inhabit, to form the organs of speech, mind and respiration and to contribute
pleasure, suffering, life and death of living beings.
· The Dharma (medium of motion) assists the motion of souls.
· Adharma (medium of rest) assist rest of matter.
· Akasa (space) provides accommodation.
· Kala (time) assists substances in their continuity of being (through gradual changes) in their modifications, in their movements and their priority or non-priority in time.
The destiny of the soul is decided
by the fine subatomic particles attracted to the soul by its action or deeds (Karma).
Whatever we do, whatever we speak, whatever we think, and whichever manner these activities are done, attract different Karmic particles in intensity, quality and quantity.
If these Karmic particles are mild in character, they are dissociated from the soul by feeling sorry or asking for forgiveness.
If they are strong in intensity and character, they remain attached to the soul, till they get ripened, which may happen in short time or after thousand of years.
High intensity Karmic particles are removed by experiencing their effects, but low intensity ones can be removed by austerity and living a noble life.
Karmas are like bank balance. If they are good (merit), one enjoys their fruition till they are exhausted. If they are bed (demerit), one suffers from misery.
Jain scripture have described different kind of Karmas in details and have explained the cause of happiness, misery and apparent inequality of this world. If some person is doing bad deeds, still enjoying a good life (of material wealth), it is due to fruition of good Karmas in past lives, but his soul is collecting demerit because of bad deeds and he will have to suffer its effect in future. When all the Karmas are shedd, the soul is purified and remains in its natural blissful state.
Until liberated, the destiny of living beings to constant transition from one physical body to another, a recurring cycle of birth and death and rebirth. We have all of us passed through countless lives in the past, and we face countless more lives in the future.
The soul (jiva) is the one
unchanging element of living beings. It
may be embodied in any of four broad categories of existence, as heavenly being,
human, in animal or plant form, or as a denizen of the hells.
The type of being in which the soul is reborn, the shape, form, colour
longevity etc, of the body it occupies depends upon its Karma.
When we die the soul rises and occupies a body which is formed by fusion of Pudgala or matter particles and which grows with the help of the soul, while corpse, which is made of matter gradually, disintegrates in Pudgala. These Pudgala may from the body of other soul.
In conclusion when one dies, depending upon its Karma the Jiva (soul) takes birth in the uterus, it may be umbilical (with a sac covering), incubatory (from an egg) or umbilical without sac covering, or it takes birth of celestial or hellish beings in special beds.
The body is formed from Pudgala
(matter) and the longevity, the happiness or misery are experienced
according to the attachment of Karma. It
may be liberated and can attain perfection and permanent happiness and bliss by
annulling the previous Karma by calm and patient endurance of their
effects and simultaneously warding off fresh Karma by the attitude of
dispassion and the contemplation of their true nature.
When the soul eliminates all the Karmas, it achieves its final
pure state, Moksha or Nirvana, the state of Siddha.
The Siddha is completely detached from the affairs of the universe,
abiding in a state of eternal calm, bliss and total knowledge.
Numbered among the Siddha are the Tirthankars (whom Jains worship
as Gods), who in their last worldly lives attained omniscience, taught the
people the path of liberation, and finally passed to the bliss of Moksa.
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