You would notice Fisher talking (in pages 124-127) about the AAA (!), the three “basic principles that Jains adopt to avoid accumulating karma”. They are:
A. Ahimsa (non-violence).
B. Aparigraha (non-attachment).
C. Anekantwad (non-absolutism).
Strictly speaking they are not doctrines as you may see in Islam or Western Christianity! These, as we would see below, are attitudes a Jain is expected to adopt in their life style!
Together with these we may also briefly look at their denial of “divine deity” and affirming an eternal world!
A. Ahimsa
1. Ahimsa means non-violence or non-injury. Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent campaign to resist the Colonial power is influenced by the Jain understanding of ahimsa.
2. Jains take maximum precautions to avoid injuring “living beings” including tiny microscopic organisms. They are also proactive to promote ahimsa.
a. Avoid eating in the night.
b. Wearing a cloth over the mouth.
c. Adopt vegetarianism.
d. Charitable hospitals are established to treat wounded birds.
e. Avoid leather products.
3. Even kicking a stone while walking, the Jains consider, is a form of himsa, the opposite of ahimsa. Violence against vegetation too is not encouraged. One source say, the Jains prefer to eat fruits, nuts and milk so as to minimize himsa.
4. Negative thoughts and abusive words are also a form of himsa, which a devout Jain will avoid.
5. International Ahimsa Day – October 2nd, birthday of Gandhi! And since 2007 Jains award people who promote this concept! Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela were recipients of this award in 2007!
6. Non-violence, then, is accepted as the central tenet of Jainism. The purpose of this is to be kind in thought, speech and action to every living being. This is visible in the strictness of a pure Jain diet and the way monks and nuns sweep the floor before walking to protect any insects.
7. To read what the Jain scriptures say about ahimsa, you may click on http://www.hinduwebsite.com/sacredscripts/jainscripts/akaranga.asp and got the fourth lesson! The Jain scriptures recognize that living being appreciates pain and therefore suggest that no one at any time should use violence! [May be we should teach the Jain Scriptures to the Canadian hockey players!]
B. Aparigraha
1. Aparigraha means non-attachment. One must learn to live like a lotus leaf in water. Another frequently mentioned example to illustrate this concept is a tamarind fruit! There is a space between the juicy fruit and the shell that covers the fruit!
2. Keeping one’s detached from people, places and material things is the purpose of aparigraha.
3. Aparigraha also means non-possessiveness, non-hoarding, not desiring more than we need! It is an avoiding of the collection and accumulation of excessive material possessions; it also refers to the abstaining from over-indulgence. Jains believe the need to restrict one's needs.
4. The Digambara monks are the classical example of the extreme form of aparigraha. Aparigraha is a practice of letting go, not clinging, not fearing loss and change.
5. Jains affirm that practice of aparigraha is an answer to global poverty! If the world practices aparigraha there will be no more “butter mountain and milk lakes”, while there is mass malnutrition! For Jains aparigraha critiques the capitalist system and provides a new economic paradigm for a culture of peace and plenty!
C. Anekantwad
1. Anekantwad means a sense of non-absolutism. Jains are encouraged to remain open minded! This is in a sense related to the two above!
2. The story of five visually impaired persons encounter and description of the elephant.
3. The idea of anekantwad is considered as “Jainism's greatest contribution to human thought. It fosters tolerance and a respect for another point of view and a healthy spirit of sympathetic understanding, reconciliation, cooperation and coexistence.”
4. Gandhi, though not a Jain, absorbed the concept of anekantwad and converted that into an extreme catholicity in which “it was not sufficient to merely tolerate, or accept another religious viewpoint but to approach it with a spirit of understanding, respect and appreciation.”
5. About anekantwad, Gandhi once observed: “I very much like the doctrine of many-ness of reality. It is this doctrine that has taught me to judge a Muslim from his own standpoint and a Christian from his. Formerly, I used to resent the ignorance of my opponents. Today, I can love them because I am gifted with the eyes to see myself as others see me and vice versa. My Anekantwad is the result of the twin doctrine of Satya and Ahimsa.''
D. God
1. Jains do not believe in any God. They explicitly reject the existence of any such being.
2. Its own inherent laws, the Jains believe, govern the physical world, and no external reality like God is required for it. Similarly the Law of Karma governs the moral world, and no God as the bestower of reward and punishment is required.
3. There is no need to believe in God. Human is God because potentially human is perfect. Human is, of course, not the creator of the world.
4. Human is capable of attaining infinite power, infinite knowledge, infinite faith and infinite bliss. Human, in other words, is capable of attaining Godhood. Hence, if there is God in any sense, it is human who is God.
5. The Tirthankaras have attained perfection, and therefore can all be taken as God. They neither create nor destroy anything, nor do they need any such thing being done. They have conquered once for all their ignorance and passion and they do not require anything.
E. World
1. Since Jains do not believe in any creator God, Jainism has got no creation myth.
2. For Jains the world did not come into existence at a definite moment of time.
3. Jain philosophy takes the world as real, but counsels not to be unduly attached to it.
4. World is the ground where humans perform their moral actions. And it should not be treated as a place of sensuous enjoyments. But the world of course, generally attracts one in the direction of the sensuous entertainments, which should be guarded against.
Questions to Explore:
1. List the basic principles the Jains follow to avoid accumulating karma and explain them in detail.
2. How do the Jains explain the presence and continuance of this universe? Explain your answer.
3. Critically comment on the relevance of ahimsa for contemporary life in ever shrinking global village with concerns for the sustainability of the planet earth.
B. Aparigraha (non-attachment).
C. Anekantwad (non-absolutism).
Strictly speaking they are not doctrines as you may see in Islam or Western Christianity! These, as we would see below, are attitudes a Jain is expected to adopt in their life style!
Together with these we may also briefly look at their denial of “divine deity” and affirming an eternal world!
A. Ahimsa
1. Ahimsa means non-violence or non-injury. Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent campaign to resist the Colonial power is influenced by the Jain understanding of ahimsa.
2. Jains take maximum precautions to avoid injuring “living beings” including tiny microscopic organisms. They are also proactive to promote ahimsa.
a. Avoid eating in the night.
b. Wearing a cloth over the mouth.
c. Adopt vegetarianism.
d. Charitable hospitals are established to treat wounded birds.
e. Avoid leather products.
3. Even kicking a stone while walking, the Jains consider, is a form of himsa, the opposite of ahimsa. Violence against vegetation too is not encouraged. One source say, the Jains prefer to eat fruits, nuts and milk so as to minimize himsa.
4. Negative thoughts and abusive words are also a form of himsa, which a devout Jain will avoid.
5. International Ahimsa Day – October 2nd, birthday of Gandhi! And since 2007 Jains award people who promote this concept! Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela were recipients of this award in 2007!
6. Non-violence, then, is accepted as the central tenet of Jainism. The purpose of this is to be kind in thought, speech and action to every living being. This is visible in the strictness of a pure Jain diet and the way monks and nuns sweep the floor before walking to protect any insects.
7. To read what the Jain scriptures say about ahimsa, you may click on http://www.hinduwebsite.com/sacredscripts/jainscripts/akaranga.asp and got the fourth lesson! The Jain scriptures recognize that living being appreciates pain and therefore suggest that no one at any time should use violence! [May be we should teach the Jain Scriptures to the Canadian hockey players!]
B. Aparigraha
1. Aparigraha means non-attachment. One must learn to live like a lotus leaf in water. Another frequently mentioned example to illustrate this concept is a tamarind fruit! There is a space between the juicy fruit and the shell that covers the fruit!
2. Keeping one’s detached from people, places and material things is the purpose of aparigraha.
3. Aparigraha also means non-possessiveness, non-hoarding, not desiring more than we need! It is an avoiding of the collection and accumulation of excessive material possessions; it also refers to the abstaining from over-indulgence. Jains believe the need to restrict one's needs.
4. The Digambara monks are the classical example of the extreme form of aparigraha. Aparigraha is a practice of letting go, not clinging, not fearing loss and change.
5. Jains affirm that practice of aparigraha is an answer to global poverty! If the world practices aparigraha there will be no more “butter mountain and milk lakes”, while there is mass malnutrition! For Jains aparigraha critiques the capitalist system and provides a new economic paradigm for a culture of peace and plenty!
C. Anekantwad
1. Anekantwad means a sense of non-absolutism. Jains are encouraged to remain open minded! This is in a sense related to the two above!
2. The story of five visually impaired persons encounter and description of the elephant.
3. The idea of anekantwad is considered as “Jainism's greatest contribution to human thought. It fosters tolerance and a respect for another point of view and a healthy spirit of sympathetic understanding, reconciliation, cooperation and coexistence.”
4. Gandhi, though not a Jain, absorbed the concept of anekantwad and converted that into an extreme catholicity in which “it was not sufficient to merely tolerate, or accept another religious viewpoint but to approach it with a spirit of understanding, respect and appreciation.”
5. About anekantwad, Gandhi once observed: “I very much like the doctrine of many-ness of reality. It is this doctrine that has taught me to judge a Muslim from his own standpoint and a Christian from his. Formerly, I used to resent the ignorance of my opponents. Today, I can love them because I am gifted with the eyes to see myself as others see me and vice versa. My Anekantwad is the result of the twin doctrine of Satya and Ahimsa.''
D. God
1. Jains do not believe in any God. They explicitly reject the existence of any such being.
2. Its own inherent laws, the Jains believe, govern the physical world, and no external reality like God is required for it. Similarly the Law of Karma governs the moral world, and no God as the bestower of reward and punishment is required.
3. There is no need to believe in God. Human is God because potentially human is perfect. Human is, of course, not the creator of the world.
4. Human is capable of attaining infinite power, infinite knowledge, infinite faith and infinite bliss. Human, in other words, is capable of attaining Godhood. Hence, if there is God in any sense, it is human who is God.
5. The Tirthankaras have attained perfection, and therefore can all be taken as God. They neither create nor destroy anything, nor do they need any such thing being done. They have conquered once for all their ignorance and passion and they do not require anything.
E. World
1. Since Jains do not believe in any creator God, Jainism has got no creation myth.
2. For Jains the world did not come into existence at a definite moment of time.
3. Jain philosophy takes the world as real, but counsels not to be unduly attached to it.
4. World is the ground where humans perform their moral actions. And it should not be treated as a place of sensuous enjoyments. But the world of course, generally attracts one in the direction of the sensuous entertainments, which should be guarded against.
Questions to Explore:
1. List the basic principles the Jains follow to avoid accumulating karma and explain them in detail.
2. How do the Jains explain the presence and continuance of this universe? Explain your answer.
3. Critically comment on the relevance of ahimsa for contemporary life in ever shrinking global village with concerns for the sustainability of the planet earth.
4. “A human’s richness should be measured not by the amount of his material wealth but by the fewness of his, or her, wants.” How will you interpret this statement of a Jain in the light of what you have learnt from Jainism?
