On the Indian Sect of the Jainas

by Georg Bühler

The bondage of souls, if they inhabit a human body, can be abolished by the suppression of the causes which lead to their confinement and by the destruction of the Karman. The suppression of the causes is accomplished by overcoming the inclination to be active and the passions, by the control of the senses, and by steadfastly holding to the right faith. In this way will be hindered the addition of new Karman, new merit or new guilt. The destruction of Karman remaining from previous existences can be brought about either spontaneously by the exhaustion of the supply or by asceticism. In the latter case the final state is the attainment to a knowledge which penetrates the universe, to Kevala, Jñâna and Nirvâṇa or Moksha: full deliverance from all bonds. These goals may be reached even while the soul is still in its body. If however the body is destroyed then the soul wanders into the "No-World" (alôka) as the Jain says, i.e. into the heaven of Jina 'the delivered', lying outside the world. [[10]] There it continues eternally in its pure intellectual nature. Its condition is that of perfect rest which nothing disturbs. These fundamental ideas are carried out in the particulars with a subtilness and fantasy unexampled, even in subtile and fantastic India, in a scholarly style, and defended by the syâdvâda--the doctrine of "It may be so",--a mode of reasoning which makes it possible to assert and deny the existence of one and the same thing. If this be compared with the other Indian systems, it stands nearer the Brâhmaṇ than the Buddhist, with which it has the acceptance in common of only four, not five elements. Jainism touches all the Brâhmaṇ religions and Buddhism in its cosmology and ideas of periods, and it agrees entirely with regard to the doctrines of Karman, of the bondage, and the deliverance of souls. Atheism, the view that the world was not created, is common to it with Buddhism and the Sâṅkhya philosophy. Its psychology approaches that of the latter in that both believe in the existence of innumerable independent souls. But the doctrine of the activity of souls and their distribution into masses of matter is in accordance with the Vedânta, according to which the principle of the soul penetrates every thing existing. In the further development of the soul doctrine, the conceptions 'individual soul' and 'living being' to which the Jaina and the Brâhmaṇ give the same name,--jîva, seem to become confounded. The Jaina idea of space and time as real substances is also found in the Vaiśeshika system. In placing Dharma and Adharma among substances Jainism stands alone.

The third jewel, the right Walk which the Jaina ethics contains, has its kernel in the five great oaths which the Jaina ascetic takes on his entrance into the order. He promises, just as the Brâhmaṇ penitent, and almost in the same words, not to hurt, not to speak untruth, to appropriate nothing to himself without permission, to preserve chastity, and to practice self-sacrifice. The contents of these simple rules become most extraordinarily extended on the part of the Jainas by the insertion of five clauses, in each of which are three separate active instruments of sin, in special relation to thoughts, words, and deeds. Thus, concerning the oath not to hurt, on which the Jaina lays the greatest emphasis: it includes not only the intentional killing or hurting of living beings, plants, or the souls existing in dead matter, it requires also the utmost carefulness in the whole manner of life, in all movements, a watchfulness over all functions of the body by which anything living might be hurt. [[11]] It demands finally strict watch over the heart and tongue, and the avoidance of all thoughts and words which might lead to dispute and quarrel and thereby to harm. In like manner the rule of sacrifice means not only that the ascetic has no house or possessions, it teaches also that a complete unconcern toward agreeable and disagreeable impressions is necessary, as also the sacrifice of every attachment to anything living or dead. [[12]]

Beside the conscientious observance of these rules, Tapas--Asceticism, is most important for the right walk of those, who strive to attain Nirvâṇa. Asceticism is inward as well as outward. The former is concerned with self-discipline, the cleansing and purifying of the mind. It embraces repentance of sin, confession of the same to the teacher, and penance done for it, humility before teachers and all virtuous ones, and the service of the same, the study and teaching of the faith or holy writing, pious meditations on the misery of the world, the impurity of the body, etc. and lastly, the stripping off of every thing pertaining to the world. On the other hand, under the head of exterior Asceticism, the Jaina understands temperance, begging, giving up all savoury food, different kinds of self-mortification such as sitting in unnatural and wearying positions, hindering the action of the organs, especially by fasts, which, under certain circumstances may be continued to starvation. Voluntary death by the withdrawal of nourishment is, according to the strict doctrine of the Digambara, necessary for all ascetics, who have reached the highest step of knowledge. The Kevalin, they say, eats no longer. The milder Śvetâmbara do not demand this absolutely, but regard it, as a sure entrance to Nirvâṇa. In order, however, that this death may bear its fruits, the ascetic must keep closely to the directions for it, otherwise he merely lengthens the number of rebirths. [[13]]

From these general rules follow numerous special ones, regarding the life of the disciple of Jina. The duty of sacrifice forces him, on entrance into the order, to give up his possessions and wander homeless in strange lands, alms-vessel in hand, and, if no other duty interferes, never to stay longer than one night in the same place. The rule of wounding nothing means that he must carry three articles with him, a straining cloth, for his drinking water, a broom, and a veil before his mouth, in order to avoid killing insects. It also commands him to avoid all cleansing and washing, and to rest in the four months of the rainy season, in which animal and plant life displays itself most abundantly. In order to practice asceticism, it is the rule to make this time of rest a period of strictest fasts, most diligent study of the holy writings, and deepest meditation. This duty also necessitates the ascetic to pluck out in the most painful manner his hair which, according to oriental custom, he must do away with at his consecration--a peculiar custom of the Jainas, which is not found among other penitents of India.

Like the five great vows, most of the special directions for the discipline of the Jain ascetic are copies, and often exaggerated copies, of the Brâhmanic rules for penitents. The outward marks of the order closely resemble those of the Sannyâsin. The life of wandering during eight months and the rest during the rainy season agree exactly; and in many other points, for example in the use of confession, they agree with the Buddhists. They agree with Brâhmaṇs alone in ascetic self-torture, which Buddhism rejects; and specially characteristic is the fact that ancient Brâhmanism recommends starvation to its penitents as beneficial. [[14]]

The doctrine of the right way for the Jaina laity differs from that for the ascetics. In place of the five great vows appear mere echoes. He vows to avoid only serious injury to living beings, i.e. men and animals; only the grosser forms of untruth--direct lies; only the most flagrant forms of taking, what is not given, that is, theft and robbery. In place of the oath of chastity there is that of conjugal fidelity. In place of that of self-denial, the promise is not greedily to accumulate possessions and to be contented. To these copies are added seven other vows, the miscellaneous contents of which correspond to the special directions for the discipline of ascetics. Their object is, partly to bring the outward life of the laity into accordance with the Jaina teaching, especially with regard to the protection of living creatures from harm, and partly to point the heart to the highest goal. Some contain prohibitions against certain drinks, such as spirits; or meats, such as flesh, fresh butter, honey, which cannot be enjoyed without breaking the vow of preservation of animal life. Others limit the choice of businesses which the laity may enter; for example, agriculture is forbidden, as it involves the tearing up of the ground and the death of many animals, as Brâhmanism also holds. Others have to do with mercy and charitableness, with the preserving of inward peace, or with the necessity of neither clinging too much to life and its joys nor longing for death as the end of suffering. To the laity, however, voluntary starvation is also recommended as meritorious. These directions (as might be expected from the likeness of the circumstances) resemble in many points the Buddhist directions for the laity, and indeed are often identical with regard to the language used. Much is however specially in accordance with Brâhmanic doctrines. [[15]] In practical life Jainism makes of its laity earnest men who exhibit a stronger trait of resignation than other Indians and excel in an exceptional willingness to sacrifice anything for their religion. It makes them also fanatics for the protection of animal life. Wherever they gain influence, there is an end of bloody sacrifices and of slaughtering and killing the larger animals.

The union of the laity with the order of ascetics has, naturally, exercised a powerful reaction on the former and its development, as well as on its teaching, and is followed by similar results in Jainism and Buddhism. Then, as regards the changes in the teaching, it is no doubt to be ascribed to the influence of the laity that the atheistic Jaina system, as well as the Buddhist, has been endowed with a cult. The ascetic, in his striving for Nirvâṇa, endeavours to suppress the natural desire of man to worship higher powers. In the worldly hearer, who does not strive after this goal exclusively, this could not succeed. Since the doctrine gave no other support, the religious feeling of the laity clung to the founder of it: Jina, and with him his mythical predecessors, became gods. Monuments and temples ornamented with their statues were built, especially at those places, where the prophets, according to legends, had reached their goal. To this is added a kind of worship, consisting of offerings of flowers and incense to Jina, of adoration by songs of praise in celebration of their entrance into Nirvâṇa, of which the Jaina makes a great festival by solemn processions and pilgrimages to the places where it has been attained. [[16]] This influence of the laity has become, in course of time, of great importance to Indian art, and India is indebted to it for a number of its most beautiful architectural monuments, such as the splendid temples of Âbu, Girnâr and Śatruñjaya in Gujarât. It has also brought about a change in the mind of the ascetics. In many of their hymns in honour of Jina, they appeal to him with as much fervour as the Brâhmaṇ to his gods; and there are often expressions in them, contrary, to the original teaching, ascribing to Jina a creative power. Indeed a Jaina description of the six principal systems goes so far as to number Jainism--as also Buddhism--among the theistic religions. [[17]]

But in other respects also the admission of the laity has produced decisive changes in the life of the clergy. In the education of worldly communities, the ascetic--whose rules of indifference toward all and every thing, make him a being concentrated entirely upon himself and his goal--is united again to humanity and its interests. The duty of educating the layman and watching over his life, must of necessity change the wandering penitents into settled monks--who dedicate themselves to the care of souls, missionary activity, and the acquisition of knowledge, and who only now and again fulfil the duty of changing their place of residence. The needs of the lay communities required the continual presence of teachers. Even should these desire to change from time to time, it was yet necessary to provide a shelter for them. Thus the Upâśraya or places of refuge, the Jaina monasteries came into existence, which exactly correspond to the Buddhist Sanghârâma. With the monasteries and the fixed residence in them appeared a fixed membership of the order, which, on account of the Jaina principle of unconditional obedience toward the teacher, proved to be much stricter than in Buddhism. On the development of the order and the leisure of monastic life, there followed further, the commencement of a literary and scientific activity. The oldest attempt, in this respect, limited itself to bringing their doctrine into fixed forms. Their results were, besides other lost works, the so-called Aṅga,--the members of the body of the law, which was perhaps originally produced in the third century B.C. Of the Aṅga eleven are no doubt preserved among the Śvetâmbaras from a late edition of the fifth or sixth century A.D. These works are not written in Sanskrit, but in a popular Prâkrit dialect: for the Jina, like Buddha, used the language of the people when teaching. They contain partly legends about the prophet and his activity as a teacher, partly fragments of a doctrine or attempts at systematic representations of the same. Though the dialect is different they present, in the form of the tales and in the manner of expression, a wonderful resemblance to the sacred writings of the Buddhists. [[18]] The Digambaras, on the other hand, have preserved nothing of the Aṅga but the names. They put in their place later systematic works, also in Prâkrit, and assert, in vindication of their different teaching, that the canon of their rivals is corrupted. In the further course of history, however, both branches of the Jainas have, like the Buddhists, in their continual battles with the Brâhmaṇs, found it necessary to make themselves acquainted with the ancient language of the culture of the latter. First the Digambara and later the Śvetâmbara began to use Sanskrit. They did not rest content with explaining their own teaching in Sanskrit works: they turned also to the secular sciences of the Brâhmaṇs. They have accomplished so much of importance, in grammar, in astronomy, as well as in some branches of letters, that they have won respect even from their enemies, and some of their works are still of importance to European science. In southern India, where they worked among the Draviḍian tribes, they also advanced the development of these languages. The Kanarese literary language and the Tamil and Telugu rest on the foundations laid by the Jaina monks. This activity led them, indeed, far from their proper goal, but it created for them an important position in the history of literature and culture.

The resemblance between the Jainas and the Buddhists, which I have had so often cause to bring forward, suggests the question, whether they are to be regarded as a branch of the latter, or whether they resemble the Buddhists merely because, as their tradition asserts, [[19]] they sprang from the same period and the same religious movement in opposition to Brâhmanism. This question, was formerly, and is still sometimes, answered in agreement with the first theory, pointing out the undoubted defects in it, to justify the rejection of the Jaina tradition, and even declaring it to be a late and intentional fabrication. In spite of this the second explanation is the right one, because the Buddhists themselves confirm the statements of the Jainas about their prophet. Old historical traditions and inscriptions prove the independent existence of the sect of the Jainas even during the first five centuries after Buddha's death, and among the inscriptions are some which clear the Jaina tradition not only from the suspicion of fraud but bear powerful witness to its honesty. [[20]]

The oldest canonical books of the Jaina, apart from some mythological additions and evident exaggerations, contain the following important notes on the life of their last prophet. [[21]] Vardhamâna was the younger son of Siddhârtha a nobleman who belonged to the Kshatriya race, called in Sanskrit Jñâti or Jñâta, in Prakrit Nâya, and, according to the old custom of the Indian warrior caste, bore the name of a Brâhmanic family the Kâśyapa. His mother, who was called Triśalâ, belonged to the family of the governors of Videha. Siddhârtha's residence was Kuṇḍapura, the Basukund of to-day, a suburb of the wealthy town of Vaiśâlî, the modern Besarh, in Videha or Tirhut. [[22]] Siddhârtha was son-in-law to the king of Vaiśâlî. Thirty years, it seems, Vardhamâna led a worldly life in his parents' house. He married, and his wife Yaśodâ bore him a daughter Anojjâ, who was married to a noble of the name of Jamâli, and in her turn had a daughter. In his thirty-first year his parents died. As they were followers of Pârśva the twenty-third Jina, they chose, according to the custom of the Jainas, the death of the wise by starvation. Immediately after this Vardhamâna determined to renounce the world. He got permission to take this step from his elder brother Nandivardhana, and the ruler of his land divided his possessions and became a homeless ascetic. He wandered more than twelve years, only resting during the rainy season, in the lands of the Lâḍha, in Vajjabhûmi and Subbhabhûmi, the Rârh of to-day in Bengal, and learned to bear with equanimity great hardships and cruel ill treatment at the hands of the inhabitants of those districts. Besides these he imposed upon himself the severest mortifications; after the first year he discarded clothes and devoted himself to the deepest meditation. In the thirteenth year of this wandering life he believed he had attained to the highest knowledge and to the dignity of a holy one. He then appeared as a prophet, taught the Nirgrantha doctrine, a modification of the religion of Pârśva, and organised the order of the Nirgrantha ascetics. From that time he bore the name of the venerable ascetic Mahâvîra. His career as a teacher lasted not quite thirty years, during which he travelled about, as formerly, all over the country, except during the rainy seasons. He won for himself numerous followers, both of the clergy and the lay class, among whom, however, in the fourteenth year of his period of teaching, a split arose--caused by his son-in-law Jamâli.