The Heart of Jainism/Chapter 12

by Alice Margaret Sinclair Stevenson

CHAPTER XII

THE END OF THE ROAD

Pañċa Parameśvara.

We have traced the journey of a jīva along the upward path that leads through the destruction of karma, by way of the fourteen upward steps and the keeping of the twelve vows and the eleven Pratimā, to monkhood. It only remains to us to note the different ranks a man may hold as an ascetic before he finally attains mokṣa.

Sādhu.First, he is just an ordinary ascetic or sādhu; if he be a Digambara, he will wear no clothes and live in the forest, lost to the world and immersed in meditation, eating only once a day and tearing out his hair as it grows. Nowadays one hears of only two or three Digambara ascetics. If he be a Śvetāmbara^[1] or a Sthānakavāsī,^[2] he will move from Apāsaro to Apāsaro clad in white clothes.

Upā-
dhyāya. The next step to which he can rise is that of Upādhāya or instructor. An exceptionally clever monk may be chosen from amongst the others as teacher, when he is expected to study the scriptures and teach them to his fellow monks. Amongst the Tapagaċċha no monk can be chosen as an Upādhāyaya till he has been an ascetic for at least a year, but this does not seem to be always the rule with other sects. The scriptures he will most probably teach are the Uttarādhyayana Sūtra, the Upāsaka Daśāṅga Sūtra, and the Bhagavatī Sūtra. The last, the Bhagavatī Sūtra, holds almost the same position amongst many Jaina that Hindus give to the Bhagavadgītā or Christians to the Gospels.

These scriptures most Jaina laymen are familiar with, but the instructor should, according to some Jaina, have also studied the scriptures the laymen have not read, namely, the eleven Aṅga and the twelve Upāṅga or the Ċaraṇaśitarī^[3] and the Karaṇaśitarī^[4], or, according to others, the eleven Aṅga and the fourteen Pūrva. All teaching and studying is a kind of austerity; if a man studies intentionally to gain merit, he will get merit (puṇya); if, however, he studies and teaches to gain and impart knowledge with no thought of acquiring merit, he will destroy certain karma (nirjarā).

Āċārya.A still higher rank is attained when a monk becomes an Āċārya or Superior. In many sects the Āċārya is chosen simply by seniority (this is nearly always the case in Kāṭhiāwāḍ), but in others the Āċārya is selected for ability, or powers of leadership, as is generally done in Mālwā.

The choosing of a new Superior or Āċārya is made the occasion of great rejoicing. Jaina laymen come to the Apāsaro, take the twelve vows or renew them, and sing songs and make the greatest noise imaginable. In order to permit of animals sharing in their rejoicing, they pay butchers varying sums to cease killing for those days. An Āċārya is a man of very high dignity: he never travels alone, but is always accompanied by at least two sādhus; and as his fame grows, the number of his disciples increases. When the writer, for instance, had the pleasure in Rājkot of meeting Śivalālajī Mahārāja (who is considered the most learned Sthānakavāsī āċārya of the present time), he had travelled thither with twenty-one attendant sādhus.

The power of excommunication for religious offences lies with the Āċārya^[5] acting with the Jaina community or saṅgha, and it is to the Āċārya that, whenever possible, the monks of his saṅgha should make confession. As a rule the Acarya wears the same dress, eats the same food, and follows the same rule as his fellow monks; sometimes, however, his little sitting-board is raised slightly higher from the ground than those of the other monks.

It must not be thought that the ordinary sādhu must gain the rank of Instructor and Superior to go to mokṣa, a simple ascetic can do that; but it is generally easier for the higher ranks of ascetics to attain deliverance than for the lower, because their office helps them to develop the necessary qualities. An Āċārya should, of course, observe with special attention all the usual ascetic discipline.

A Māgadhī śloka describes the ideal Āċārya as possessing thirty-six qualities: he controls the five senses; he is chaste in the nine ways; he keeps the three gupti; he is free from the four kaṣāya; he keeps the five great vows; he observes the five rules of conduct; and he maintains the five samiti: such are the thirty-six qualities of an Āċārya.

Tīrthaṅ-
kara or
Arihanta.The goal of every monk is to become at last an Arihanta or Tīrthaṅkara, the Being who has attained perfection of knowledge, perfection of speech, perfection of worship, and absolute security, for no danger or disease can ever come where he is. Having become a Tīrthaṅkara, the jīva is at length freed from the dread that overshadows every Jaina, the fear in this life of suffering or sorrow, which has to be borne with no Friend at hand to strengthen and comfort, and the dreary expectation after death of the endless cycle of rebirth.

A meaning often given to the word Tīrthaṅkara is that of one who finds a ford (tīrtha) through this world (saṁsāra) to mokṣa, or one who attains a landing on the other side. But many Jaina say it denotes one who forms four communities (tīrtha) of monks and nuns and male and female lay-followers. When a new Tīrthaṅkara arises, the followers of the preceding one follow him, as the followers of Pārśvanātha followed Mahāvīra.

We have noticed^[6] the eight glories which surround a Tīrthaṅkara when he preaches; besides these, the Jaina assign to him an enormous list of attributes. A Tīrthaṅkara, for example, is worshipped by the sixty-four Indra, and has thirty-five special qualities of speech, and thirty-four pertaining to his body, which is distinguished by one thousand and eight specified marks. We shall probably, however, gain a better idea of the Jaina's real conception of a Tīrthaṅkara, not by working through this long bare list of qualities, but by studying one of their prayers of adoration—that surest mirror of a man's mental picture of his god. The writer's Sthānakavāsī friends tell her that every morning and evening during Paḍīkamaṇuṁ they worship the Tirthankara in Gujarātī words which may be rendered as follows:

'You I salute at various times, the Lord Arihanta. What kind of a Lord is He? He knows what is passing in your mind and my mind. He knows what is passing in the mind of every man. He knows what is going on at various times. He sees all the fourteen worlds as though they were in his hands. He is endowed with these six qualities: boundless knowledge, insight, righteousness, austerity, patience, strength. He is endowed with thirty-four kinds of uncommon qualities. He is endowed with speech. He is endowed with thirty-five kinds of truthful speech. He has one thousand and eight auspicious marks. He is free from the eighteen sins and endowed with the twelve good qualities. He has destroyed four of the hardest karma, and the four remaining karma are powerless. He is longing to get mokṣa. He dispels the doubts of souls^[7] with yoga. He is endowed with body, with omniscience, with perfect insight, and has the before-mentioned righteousness. He has the highest kind of saṅkita, which is permanent; he has Śuklaleśyā, Śukladhyāna, Śuklayoga; he is worshipped, adored and saluted by the sixty-four Indra. He is the most learned paṇḍit. He is endowed with these and other endless qualities.'

Siddha.We have seen that a Tīrthaṅkara has still four karma left which bind him, and until these four do actually snap, the jīva which began its upward journey, perhaps from a clod of earth, has not yet reached its final goal. When by austerities these last karma are destroyed and break 'like a piece of burnt-up string', the soul loses its body and becomes a Siddha.

The Siddha has the following characteristics: absolute knowledge, faith, insight, righteousness, and prowess. He also has the power of becoming minute and gigantic at will, and of moving anywhere unhindered; he is unaffected by anything, so that neither death, disease, rebirth, nor sorrow can any longer touch him. He is also without a body; and this is the reason why Jaina feel they can never pray to a Siddha. A Siddha has, however, one hundred and eight attributes, and these the Jaina recite, telling their rosary of one hundred and eight beads. An ordinary Jaina tells his beads five times a day, but a very devout Jaina might tell the one hundred and eight beads one hundred and eight times a day. The Jaina say they do not worship or salute the Siddha when doing this, but tell their beads only with the object of stirring up their spiritual ambition and in order to remind themselves of the qualities a Siddha must possess, in the hope that some day they too may reach their desired goal, and rest in perfect bliss in the state of Nirvāṇa, doing nothing for ever and ever.

Thirty-five Rules of Conduct.
How even non-Jaina may reach Mokṣa.

One of the unique glories of Jainism is that it, unlike most Indian-born religions, believes in the possibility of aliens reaching its goal. Even Europeans and Americans,^[8] although they may never have heard of Jainism, if they follow, though unconsciously, the thirty-five rules of conduct, of necessity destroy their karma and so are sped to mokṣa like an arrow from a bow.

It will therefore be well worth our while to study these rules, for they contain the pith of the Jaina creed expressed in terms of conduct. The thirty-five rules are contained in ten Sanskrit śloka which describe the true Jaina, and which might be rendered thus:

2. He who gains his livelihood by honesty, and admires and follows excellence of conduct, and marries his sons and daughters to well-born and well-behaved folk.
3. He is known to be afraid of committing sins, he follows the customs of his country, never speaks evil of any man and especially not of his ruler.
4. He lives in neither too secluded nor too open a residence. It must be situated in a good locality and have good neighbours. The house must not have too many entrances.
5. He always associates with good men, worships his parents, and abandons an unprotected place of evil reputation.
6. He regulates his expenditure according to his income,^[9] dresses according to his position, and being endowed with eight kinds of intelligence hears religious discourses every day.
7. If he suffers from indigestion, he does not eat. He eats only at fixed times. He should gain his three objects^[10] in such a way that one does not interfere with the other.
8. He gives alms to him who comes unexpectedly, to the sadhu and to the poor, is free from obstinacy and has a partiality for good qualities.
9. Knowing his own strength and weakness, he avoids such actions as are not suited to the time and country [in which he lives]. He worships persons who are rigid in keeping their vows and far advanced in knowledge, and he feeds those who deserve feeding.
10. He is provident, has more than ordinary knowledge, is grateful for what is done for him, is loved by people, is modest, merciful, of a serene disposition and benevolent.
11. He is always intent on defeating the six interior enemies^[11] and controls all his five senses. Such are the suggestions of a householder's duties.

The Three Jewels (Ratna Traya).

The Jaina sum up all their belief, as expressed in the Tattva, in their vows, and in their rules of conduct, under the heading of the Three Jewels: Right Knowledge (Samyak Jñana), Right Faith (Samyak Darśana), Right Conduct (Samyak Ċāritrya).

Right
Know-
ledge.The Sanskrit sloka that defines Right Knowledge runs:

' Wise men call that knowledge Right Knowledge which one gets, whether concisely or in detailed form, from the Tattva as they exist.'

Right Knowledge is in fact knowledge of the Jaina creed; and this jewel must be gained before any other can be obtained, for only when Right Knowledge is possessed can a man know what virtue is, and what vows he ought to keep. Mahāvīra himself said: 'First knowledge and then mercy', for unless a man know what a jīva is, how can he show mercy to it?

Right
Faith.Central among the Three Jewels is Right Faith; for unless Right one believes in what one knows, how will one follow it? Faith. Samyak Darśana stands for true faith and insight into the great Jaina doctrines and scriptures. The Jaina say that it is like the digit 1, which, standing before the ciphers that follow it, gives them value, for without faith all conduct is worthless.

'To hold the truth as truth, and untruth as untruth, this is true faith.'

Right
Conduct.The Jaina say that there may be Right Knowledge and Right Faith, but if these are not accompanied by Right Conduct all are worthless. To the monk Right Conduct means the absolute keeping of the five great vows. His conduct, as we have seen, should be perfect, or Sarvaċāritrya, for he must follow the conduct laid down for him in every particular; but the layman is only expected to possess Deśaċāritrya (partial conduct), for, so long as he is not a professed monk, he cannot be absolutely perfect in conduct.

Three
Śalya
that in-
jure
Ċāritrya. Right Conduct, however, can be ruined by three evil darts, or śalya. The first of these is intrigue or fraud (Māyā śalya), since no one can gam a good character whose life, social or religious, is governed by deceit. Even in such holy matters as fasting, intrigue can make itself felt.

A second poisonous dart is false belief or Mithyātva śalya, which consists in holding a false god to be a true one, a false guru to be a true guru, and a false religion to be a true religion; by so doing one absolutely injures Right Knowledge and Right Faith which lead to Right Conduct; this is therefore a highly poisonous dart. The great evil wrong belief does shows how supremely important it is for men to know who is the true Tīrthaṅkara, and the definition, which the Jaina repeat every day at their devotions, runs as follows:

'He who is omniscient, free from all love of the world and from all failings; he who is worshipped by the three worlds and who explains the inner meaning [of religion] as it exists: this adorable deity is the great god.'^[12]

The Jaina similarly define a false god:

'Those gods who retain women, weapons and rosaries, who are steeped in attachment and so stained, who are in the habit of giving and accepting favours, these can give no help towards deliverance.'

In the same way it is of great importance to recognize good gurus, especially in a land swarming with worthless ascetics. This is the Jaina definition, which is also repeated by them every day:

'They who keep the (five) great vows, are steadfast, live only on alms, are immersed in meditation, preach religion: these are to be considered gurus.'

And in contrast the Jaina say:

'They are not gurus who are slaves to all desires, eat everything, have worldly possessions, are unchaste and preach falsely.'

Still more interesting is their definition of true religion:

'That which holds beings from falling into an evil state [after death] is called religion. Self-control is the foremost of its ten divisions. The omniscient says that such a religion is the means of liberation.'

The Jaina definition of false religion runs:

'Religion which is full of false precepts, which is stained by killing, even if it is thoroughly known, is the cause of wandering through rebirths.

Covetousness (Nidāna śalya) is the third poisonous dart which destroys Right Conduct. If, for instance, when a man is performing austerities, he admits some such worldly thought into his mind as, 'Now after this austerity I may have gained sufficient merit to become a king or a rich merchant', that very reflection, being stained with covetousness and greed, has destroyed like a poisonous dart all the merit that he might have gained through the act. In the same way, if a man indulges vindictive or revengeful thoughts when he is performing austerities, the fruit of his action is lost, and no merit is acquired and no karma destroyed.

Three
Jewels
com-
pared. It is interesting to compare these Three Jewels with the Buddhist Tri-Ratna: Buddha, the Law and the Order; and with the Mohammedan Triad: Happiness (Khera), Mercy (Mera), Prayer (Bandagī); and again with the Parsī Trio: Holy Mind, Holy Speech and Holy Deeds.

Perhaps also in no more concise fashion could Jainism be compared with Christianity than through their three jewels; for whilst the Jaina believe in Right Knowledge, Right Faith and Right Conduct, referring to an impersonal system, each of the Christian jewels, Faith, Hope and Love, refers to a personal Redeemer.

Faith,
Hope
and Love. The Jaina religion enshrines no Faith in a supreme Deity; but for the Christian the dark problems of sin and suffering are lit up by his faith in the character and power of God, which ensure the ultimate triumph of righteousness.

Hope to the Jaina is almost a meaningless word: he has hope neither for his own future, overcast as it is by the shadow of innumerable rebirths, nor for that of his religion, which will, he believes, in its due season perish from off the earth. To the Christian, on the other hand, his present circumstances and his future are alike bathed in the golden sunshine of hope, so that hopefulness may be said to be the very centre of the Christian creed and the foundation of its joy. No evil can befall the man in this life who with Dante has learnt that in God's will is our peace; and even in the presence of death he is sustained by the living hope^[13] of a glorious future assured to him by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

As to the future of his faith, he waits with unswerving confidence the fulfilment of the magnificent śloka:

'The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.'^[14]

But it is the third jewel, Love, that most clearly distinguishes the Christian from the Jaina ideal. To the Jaina, love to a personal God would be an attachment that could only bind him faster to the cycle of rebirth. It is a thing that must be rooted out at all costs, even as Gautama tore the love for his master Mahāvīra out of his heart. But to Christians love is the fulfilling of the law, and it is in its light that they tread the upward path; for it is through love that they see the form of their guide, and 'with unveiled face reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord are transformed into the same image from glory to glory'.

Such is the greater Tri-ratna that Christ is holding in His pierced hands and which He offers to the Jaina to-day. And the Jaina in their turn, when they are won to Him, will pour into His treasury their trained capacity for self-discipline and self-denial and their deliberate exaltation of the spiritual and eternal over the comfortable and material, which are so greatly needed in the Christian Church in all ages.

Then all the jewels, set together and no longer separated, shall adorn a glorious diadem for the thorn-crowned Man of Sorrows.

1. Unless he be a follower of either Ātmārāmajī or Āṇandavijayajī, when he will wear yellow clothes.
2. The followers of Śrīlālajī, however, who are found mainly in Mālwā, never live in an Apāsaro lest they should be held guilty of the lives destroyed in building it.
3. Or Ċaraṇānuyoga.
4. Or Karaṇānuyoga.
5. The Āċārya, acting with the community, excommunicates for religious offences; but for offences against society the Mahājana (committee of leading Baniyā) excommunicates.
6. p. 191.
7. i. e. Bhavya jīva, those souls who will eventually obtain mokṣa.
8. Quite uncivilized races might reach mokṣa, but it would be easier for Europeans and other civilized people, provided they were vegetarians, to do so.
9. The old Jaina rule with regard to the regulation of income was to divide it into four equal parts, of which they set one part aside as savings, invested another part in trade, paid all their household expenses with the third portion, and devoted the remaining quarter to charity. The rule is not strictly followed now, but it is still usual to divide the income up and apportion it, though not giving so largely to charity as in the old days.
10. Every Indian, Jaina included, has four great objects in his life: dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa (religion, wealth, pleasure and mokṣa). A devout Jaina householder is only supposed to give attention to the first three, for if he acquit himself well in gaining these, the last will follow naturally.
11. Both Hindus and Jaina believe that there are six interior enemies: passion (kāma), anger (krodha), greed (lobha), pride (māna), excessive exultation (harśa) and envy (matsara).
12. i.e. Tīrthaṅkara.
13. 1 Peter i. 3 ff.
14. Habakkuk ii. 14.