What are the guiding principles used to address the question?
We used the following guiding principles to address all the questions. It includes certain basic concepts that are very important to understand and to level set the basics of Jainism.
- All of the responses are intended for lay people living in US society and not for monks or nuns. There is a difference in how monks/nuns vs. lay people follow Jainism. Monks/Nuns take five vows and laypeople have responsibilities for family, work, community, etc.
- All of the responses are in reference to human beings with a fully developed mind, which mean individuals with ability to decide between right and wrong, freewill, free thinking and be able to meditate.
- All of the responses are based on Jain values and principles and the intent is to create a positive and enriching experience about the religion. We are not imposing our views on anyone.
- We will focus on the intent of the questions and consider possible implications of the answers.
- We practice Anekantvad - different people are going to have different perspectives. Respect everyone irrespective of their choices; no exception. If there are multiple views then our attempt will be to reflect those in the answer.
- Agamas are texts of Jainism based on the discourses (deshna) of the Tirthankara delivered in a samavasarana (divine preaching hall).
- The agamic literature and the Purvas were passed from one head of the order to his disciples for around 980 years after the nirvana of Tirthankara Mahavira.
- It became difficult with time to keep the entire Jain literature committed to memory and written documentation started in the 5th century (~1000 years after Tirthankara Mahavira nirvana).
- Jain Fundamental Beliefs:
- Universe has no beginning and no end. It is everlasting, eternal and has both finite and infinite component.
- The universe constitutes of six fundamental substances or entities known as Shad Dravya (Dravastikaya) and they are
- Soul (Jiva)
- Matter (Pudgal)
- Principle of Motion (Dhamastikaya)
- Principle of Rest (Adharmastikaya)
- Space (Äkäsha)
- Time (Käl)
- All six substances are eternal. Although, they undergo countless and continuous changes, they do not transform from one substance to another and retain their inherent qualities.
- Soul (Jiva) is the only living substance, which has consciousness. Every living being is a soul. An infinite number of souls exist in the universe and they are all unique. The remaining 5 substances are non-living beings (Ajiva).
- Souls are classified into two major categories: Liberated Souls and Non-Liberated souls. Liberated souls known as Siddhas have ended their cycle of birth and death and they don’t have physical bodies. There are infinite number of non-liberated souls and they all have the possibility of achieving liberation.
- Karma is one of the categories of matter (Pudgal), hence it exists since eternity.
- Soul is in Mithyätva (Delusion or ignorance and wrong belief) from Eternity.
- Karma is attached to the Soul from eternity. Our Mithyätva (Delusion or Illusion), Kashäya (vices) and the intention behind our actions of body, mind, and speech continue to bind us with new Karma.
- Principle governing the successions of life cycles (Birth, Life, and Death) is Karma.
- Aim of Jainism:
- Enhance spiritual life, find happiness within and reduce kashays (greed, anger, lust, ego etc.) within.
- To realize the original attributes of a Soul by removing Mithyätva and Kashäya and thereby freeing the soul from its bondage to Karma.
- External renunciation is meaningless if the Soul remains fettered by internal shackles (Kashaya or vices) - Bhava-Puhad (13).
- The True Nature of a substance is the Religion of a substance - - any activity of Body, Mind and Speech which reduces/removes Mithyätva and Kashäya (Anger, Ego, Deceit, and Greed) is known as Religion.
- Our conduct must be accompanied by compassion, friendship, love, sympathy, equanimity etc. otherwise it is merely mechanical action.
- Mithyätva or Delusion means:
- False knowledge about the attributes of our soul and worldly realities.
- One does not know the Truth but one firmly believes the Untruth is Truth.
- Belief is held with absolute conviction and belief is not changeable even by compelling counter argument or proof to the contrary.
- Mithyätva (not Karma) is the root cause of all Sufferings.
- Kashäya means Anger, Ego, Deceit, Greed, Attachment, Aversion and other vices.
Very informative in simple language
ReplyDeleteI appreciate you use agams and quotes from teachers when possible. Great work!
ReplyDeleteWell explained, precise, thanks
ReplyDeleteI think one of the other important aspect is to refrain from liking or disliking of any living and non living things and irrespective of circumstances. In other words ANUKULTA NO RAG NA KARVO ANE PRATIKULTA NO ANGAMO NA KARVO WHICH MEANS SAMTA BHAV RAKHVO IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES.
ReplyDeleteSomething doesn't seem quite right here!
ReplyDeleteLet's make it simple. It would make sense if you would view a souls as water (such as ocean)! Same, Undifferentiated, vast, everywhere etc...
So, it doesn't make sense to say water is infinite. You can say, there is only one water! In the same way, when you say there are infinite souls, it is as absurd as saying there is infinite water! You could simply say, there is just one soul!
Then you go on to say, there is liberated soul and non-liberated soul. Again the same mistake? You don't say that there are two waters - clean water and dirty water. No. It is the same water. Only that one has got added some impurities. Those impurities are not water. If I make you wear a lot of clothes, or apply mud on your face, are you a different person?
No. It is still the same you. Only that you need to shed those clothes and clean your face, but that does not make you two people, one clean and naked, and other dirty and with lots of clothes.
I've grown up in a Jain community and have learned about karma for years - yet there's one issue I can't seem to resolve. Is karma a "one way street"?
ReplyDeleteFirst, a few basic “facts” (at least according to what I've been taught):
- humans are the only living beings capable of assessing right and wrong, and making moral choices accordingly
- if one leads a “good” (ie, limited karmic attachment) life then one is rewarded with a better birth position the next time around. The same is true for the opposite: lead a bad human life and you’re reborn as a rat or spider or paramecium or a hellish being.
Let’s say a soul X is born in human form. That human is not a very good person, accumulates loads of bad karma, and, when it’s time, is reborn as a vulture (for example).
Vultures are not particularly virtuous creatures. They root around in dead bodies all day. And, as previously established, given they’re not human they can’t make moral choices. Instead, they do what they do (eat dead stuff), accumulate bad karma, and the cycle continues, with soul X being reborn next time as a rat, or dung beetle perhaps. Here is the key question: How could the vulture -- who eats dead animals as a matter of purpose — ever go back up the karmic chain to human form given its very existence is rooted in actions that are un-Jain?
And it’s not just the vulture. Any predator is, by definition, engaging in fundamentally un-Jain behavior. Not only that, but they lack the ability to make moral choices, per Jainism. So, how could the leopard, crocodile or great white shark ever get back up the ladder to human form?
If they did return to human form, that makes me question the notion that a life of ahimsa is the only path to purification.
Therefore, the only answer is they can’t (and I’m ruling out an absurd answer like “well, if the great white shark became a vegetarian maybe it could be reborn better!” Jainism itself has claimed that no non-humans can make moral choices, so the only way for the shark to be reborn "higher" would be if it had some inherent defect that denies its fundamental essence).
Therefore, karma must be a one way street. Once you go “down” from human, you lose the ability to make moral choices and you live a life with inherently more violence. At best you can tread water and get reborn as a similar species, but inevitably the river only flows one way, and we all end up as hellish beings. Certainly no hellish beings are making the journey against traffic.
So, in the end, then, is the karmic mechanism truly a one way street? Or, what am I missing?
The apparent contradiction you've identified is insightful. If non-humans cannot make moral choices, yet their essential nature involves actions that accumulate negative karma (like predation), it does seem to create a one-way downward spiral with no mechanism for ascent.
DeleteHowever, Jainism provides several explanations for this apparent paradox:
Time-bound karmic effects: While negative karma from past lives may cause rebirth as a lower being, this karma eventually exhausts itself. The vulture may not be accumulating many new negative karmas through its natural behavior because, as you noted, it lacks moral deliberation.
As per Jain doctrine, karmic consequences are tied not just to actions themselves but to the intention and awareness behind them. A being without moral agency cannot accumulate new negative karma in the same way a human would for similar actions, because the element of conscious choice is missing.
This helps explain why the vulture's natural behaviors may not necessarily create many new negative karma that would further degrade its future births, thus allowing for the possibility of eventual upward movement in the cycle of rebirth rather than an inevitable downward spiral.
Samvara (stoppage) and natural restraint: Samvara refers to the stoppage of new karmic influx. While animals cannot practice deliberate samvara through conscious ethical choices, they still experience natural limitations and restraints. Even predatory animals don't kill indiscriminately - they hunt only when hungry and within their natural patterns. This natural restraint, while not consciously chosen, still functions as a form of samvara that prevents unlimited karmic accumulation.
Nirjara (shedding) through suffering: Nirjara is the shedding or elimination of accumulated karma. In Jain philosophy, suffering itself can serve as a means of nirjara. Lower beings often experience significant hardship and suffering which, while not consciously chosen as austerity, still serves to discharge past karmic burden. The difficult existence of animals may itself be a process of nirjara that gradually lightens their karmic load.
The apparent contradiction in karma's directionality becomes less problematic when we properly understand how Nirjara functions, particularly in its Akam (unintentional/passive) form.
Akam Nirjara represents the passive, natural shedding of karmic matter that occurs automatically as karmic fruits mature and are experienced. This process happens for all beings, regardless of their capacity for moral choice. It's comparable to the evaporation of water from a pond - a natural, ongoing process of reduction that occurs even while new water (karma) might still be flowing in.
Gradual progression: Through the combined effects of natural samvara (limited influx) and involuntary nirjara (shedding through suffering), souls can gradually reduce their karmic burden enough to eventually progress to higher births over vast cosmic timeframes.
Over immense cosmic timescales, the gradual effect of Akam Nirjara can reduce karmic burden sufficiently to allow rebirth in higher forms, potentially returning to human form where conscious spiritual progress becomes possible again.
Different types of karma: Jainism recognizes eight types of karma, and the interplay of samvara and nirjara affects each type differently, creating a complex system of karmic evolution rather than simple decline.
Rather than a one-way street, these principles create a cosmic mechanism where even beings currently incapable of conscious moral choice can experience karmic evolution. The principles of samvara and nirjara ensure that the path to spiritual progression remains open for all souls, though the journey may span countless lifetimes.
This perspective reinforces the Jain view of a universal potential for spiritual advancement and ultimate liberation, regardless of current life form.
You wrote this:
ReplyDeleteMithyätva (not Karma) is the root cause of all Sufferings.
Principle governing the successions of life cycles (Birth, Life, and Death) is Karma.
Me:
How is jainism different from buddhism?
Jain Dharm believes in Atma (soul) and its eternal existence, while Buddhism believes in Anatta (non existence of soul). That's one major difference and there are more, but if you look only from Karma and Punarjanm then both are very similar and also with Hindu and Sikh Dharm too.
DeleteVery initiatve and wish you all the best. My name is L Ashok Jain and a scholar persuading Jainism. I am happy to contirbte to this blog spot.
ReplyDelete