by Christopher Key Chapple
The Jaina of Purification, by Padmanabh S. Jaini. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979, pp. xv, 374.
Jaina Yoga: A Survey of the Medieval Sravakacaras, by R. Williams. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1983, pp. xxx, 296. Lala Sunder Lal Jain Research Series, Vol. I. First Edition, Oxford University Press, 1963 (London Oriental Series, Vol. 14).
Jainism is one of the oldest of the world’s religious traditions, dating from at least 850 B.C. It is also one of the smallest of religions, numbering fewer than three million members, the vast majority of whom reside in India. There are more Mormons than Janinas, although Mormonism was established less than two hundred years ago. However, despite its size, Jainism has developed an extensive literature and Jaina practices have left an indelible impression on other religious traditions in India. Unfortunately, relatively few materials on this important tradition are available in English, and some of the more important works are out of print. Two recent publications have done much to rectify this situation: The Jaina Path of Purification by Padmanabh S. Jaini and Jaina Yoga by R. Williams. The former serves as a comprehensive introduction to the history and philosophy of Jainism; the latter concentrates on religious practices prescribed in medieval texts for the lay community.
The first work under consideration here is written by Padmanabh S. Jaini, Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He opens the work with a compelling description of the ritual fasting to death in 1955 of a prominent Jaina monk. Such an event takes place infrequently, and is only sanctioned for advanced monks who have been diagnosed as terminally ill. This particular holy man, having owned nothing, not even a scrap of clothing for thirty-five years, died fully conscious, chanting Jaina scriptures, symbolizing to his community the embodiment of the doctrines of non-possession (aparigraha) and non-violence (ahimsa).
Like most spiritual traditions of India, Jainism is concerned primarily with spiritual liberation. Whereas the Buddha emphasized the transcendence of suffering through the realization of the dependent nature of things, the Jaina teachings of Parsva (fl. 850 B.C.) and Mahavira (599 to 527 B.C.) lay stress on the binding power of katana and described methods for uprooting the influences of past actions which are said to literally stick to the force of one’s life (jiva) and thereby impede liberation (kaivalyam). The practices taught to achieve the purification of past karma correspond to the abstinences (yama) of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra: non-violence (ahimsa), truthfulness (satya), non-theft (asteya), sexual restraint (brahmacarya) and nonpossession (aparigraha). These: five, particularly the doctrine of ahimsa, determine the practice of Jainism for both the monastic and lay communities. Jaini gives a thorough account of how the various disciplines have influenced the livelihood of the Jainas and how the Jainas in turn have attempted to influence Hindu and Muslim attitudes. In one interesting historical note, Jaini points out that the Jaina monk Hiravijaya-Suri persuaded the Muslim emperor Akbar (1556-1605) to prohibit the killing of animals on certain days and very nearly converted him to vegetarianism.
Jaini’s work is a rare combination of thorough scholarship (replete with footnotes in Pali, Sanskrit, and Prakrit) and a sensitive, sympathetic presentation of religious insight. He not only documents the historical periods and doctrinal conflicts between major sects of Jainism (over such issues as nudity of monks and the potential of women to attain liberation), he also contextualizes the tradition both in the Indian milieu and in terms of its contribution to world spirituality. In contrast to the emphasis placed on sitting meditation in Buddhism and some schools of Hinduism, Jaini makes clear that the fundamental practice of Jainism is the application of sanctioned disciplines in the day to day life of all Jainas, from the worldly merchant to the highest of the holy monks.
Jaina Yoga, by R. Williams, is a more specialized study of the Jaina tradition, focusing on the sravakadharma or sravakacara, the corpus of rules which have been elaborated to regulate the daily life of the layman (p. xi). It is an impressive work of scholarship, drawing from more than fifty Sanskrit and Prakrit texts written from the fifth through thirteenth centuries in western and southern India. Brief biographies of each of the major authors of the Svetambara and Digambara sects are given. Then, each of the major aspects of Jaina practice is outlined with copious references to the original texts. This survey begins with discussion of the three central practices of Jainism (right belief, right knowledge, right conduct) and concludes with a discussion of the stages of life (kriya) through which the Jaina layman passes. In the intervening forty-six sections, Williams details the various vows, professions, and observances to be undertaken by the Jaina community, citing not only the five major vows given above, but detailing numerous other vows to which the layperson is expected to adhere. Of particular interest is the section on “The Professions,” which cites texts deeming certain trades as utterly unacceptable and others as conducive to spiritual advancement. These latter range from farming, which though tolerable, is least acceptable due to the many lives taken in the cultivation of land, to trading, deemed as one of the least violent ways of earning a living, as long as the product in which one deals is not procured by violent means or holds itself the potential for causing harm.
As mentioned earlier, little has been known of Jainism in the West due to a paucity of texts available in translation and the veritable neglect of the tradition by modern scholars. The availability of these two works does much to rectify this situation, Jaina Yoga serves not only as an excellent source for understanding the application of Jaina asceticism in the life of the householder, but also provides a key to the major texts written during the apex of Jainism’s popularity in India. The Jaina Path of Purification introduces the reader to Jainism in its totality, offering anecdotes from sacred literature as well as historical data and summaries of major philosophical tenets of the tradition. Any understanding of the religious life of India would be incomplete without knowledge of Jainism. The two works, in addition to supplying the requisite information, convey the fervor and spiritual power of this magnificent tradition.