Sunday, March 31, 2024

Wisdom Quarterly to convert to Jainism (4/1)

This famous picture of the Buddha is said to actually be Mahavira, who is usually depicted bald.

Oh, you April Fool's Day pranksters!

Who had the first nuns?
One of the most remarkable, and largely inexplicable, things about Jainism is how similar it is to Buddhism, how much the life of the Buddha mirrors the life of Mahavira -- so much so that the British in India translating the ancient texts always assumed the stories were talking about one person. In fact, even though we know better now, it is very reasonable to postulate that the reason they are so similar is because they were the same historical figure and a schism divided Buddhism between strict vegetarian wandering ascetic purists (the Jains) and more reasonable (Middle Way) sectarians. Each built up its own camp and back story.

Bald, naked ascetic under a tree: Mahavira
While this may sound preposterous, note the curious detail that Siddhartha was not always called the Buddha ("Awakened One") but was previously called Mahavira ("Great Hero"), a common epithet, just like Bhagavan ("Blessed One") or Tathagata ("Wayfarer"). They both led sramana (wanderer) traditions that rebelled against the supremacy of the Vedas (ancient "wisdom books") of the temple-bound Brahmin priests. Both talked incessantly about karma (deeds). Both emphasized the necessity of direct experience of the Truth, not mere faith (saddha), moral observances (sila), book learning (suta), or scholarship or relying on intermediary "priests" to dispense blessings, boons, good luck charms, viewings (darshan), or magical transmissions, as they have come to do because people for ages have been looking for an easier and easier Path to Freedom.

Jainism explained
(Cogito) Jainism, some call it the world’s most peaceful religion. Mahavira (the Nigantha Nattaputta as he is known in Buddhism) was a contemporary of the historical and slightly younger Siddhartha Gautama who became the Buddha. They led the two "wandering ascetic" Indian traditions to survive to the present.

Mahavira meets a naga (MGP)
[Most peaceful? Except perhaps for the fact that as Jains do not engage in any harmful work, many have become investors investing in the worst trades weapons, alcohol, drugs, funding every kind of harm known to humankind. Is it wrong to invest and profit from arms sales? Cattle raising? Big Pharma sorcery? Pesticides? Weapons R&D? AI technology?]

Jain monastics (sramanas or wandering ascetics, both nuns and monks, and there are possibly more females since Mahavira was the first to ordain women) are famous worldwide for their strict adherence to ahimsa or “non-harming,” “non-violence.”

Going as far as to sweep the floor with a dust broom as they walk to avoid stepping on any tiny lifeforms, covering their mouths as to not swallow [small bugs] or breathe hot air on [unseen] living creatures, and following a strict vegetarian diet that bans:
  • all meat,
  • all fish,
  • all eggs
  • all potatoes (and root vegetables and some fruits).
Who wouldn't prefer naked founder?
So what is Jainism, and why is it considered the world’s most peaceful religion?

The ancient Jain philosophy has garnered the eye of the modern world as their ideas of non-violence, strict vegetarianism (with many now becoming vegans), and what could be called an environmentalist outlook are strikingly relevant.

Jains have been highly influential in India for thousands of years, shaping its vegetarian-friendly diet and lending the concept of ahimsa to Gandhi's independence movement against the colonial British empire.

Naked Jain monk honors 24 Tirthankaras of history, jinas and mahaviras, Jains and great heroes

Hey, Mahavira, really is naked.
A “Jain” (Jaina) is someone who accepts the teachings of the Tirthankaras, the “Ford-makers or Ford-finders.”

“Jainism” comes from the word Jina. Tirthankaras, those who cross over and bridge this dangerous side of the river and that safe side, allowing followers to move from samsara to moksha, from endless-rebirth to liberation.

They, the teachers, are the most important people in Jainism. They have removed all attachments to the world and during their lifetimes have managed to break free from the endless cycle of rebirth and death. It is this cycle, this endlessly turning wheel (samsara), that Jains believe keeps souls trapped in the world, going from one birth to another.

[Naked? White-clad versus sky-clad]
White clad vs. sky clad? Mahavira
There are two kinds of Jains, the Svetambaras and the Digambaras, the more mellow reformed and the strict orthodox. Some wear white cotton robes, whereas the others go about naked like severe ascetics from the time of the Buddha. They own nothing (niganthas), cling to nothing, not even castoff bark cloth rags to protect against the elements and for the sake of modesty. These "sky-clad" ascetics and their followers were the vegetarian gymnosophists mentioned by the ancient Greeks. (Gymnos means "nude," which is what one did in the ancient Greek gymnasium, and sophist means "philosopher" or "teacher" as in sophistry or philo-Sophia, the "love of wisdom").

Sources
(Amazon.com put a copy limit on this, so I couldn't export my notes, and it took me hours to do it manually, and it made me angry, and this is the only way I can vent. Good book though 8/10, 9/10 with rice).
COMMENTS
  • There's got to be a better way
    QUESTION (John D.): How could Wisdom Quarterly turn their backs on the truth and follow some other dharma teacher?
  • ANSWER (Ashley W.): Well, it was either Mahavira and Jainism or Apollonius of Tyana the wandering sage of Saint Issa/Jesus' time and Mysticism. No one voted for Judaism, even the Ultra-Orthodox kind or the mystical Kabbalah, and Shamanism, which did get a lot of votes, is just so amorphous. We don't need more Occult mumbo-jumbo or Seeking but an actual path.
  • QUESTION (Jane D.): Why not become Unitarian Universalists or Quakers? They're really liberal and open minded
  • ANSWER (Ashley W.): It's true. There is no shortage of options. We also considered Vaishnavism Yoga, Celtic Nature Worship/Witchcraft/Paganism, the Flying Spaghetti Monster religion, Esoterica in general, Theosophy in specific, and our ever-present default option Animism, our fallback Atheism (or better still Dharmic Atheism), and our on-the-fence Syncretism or Agnosticism. But we love India (Bharat) and think that's the heart of the planet's spirituality.
  • QUESTION (Reese Tarded): Have you thought about your future and God's plan for your salvation? I'd like to talk to you about eternity and the love waiting for you if you just accept this short little creed.
  • ANSWER (Ashley W.): Take a hike, Reese.
  • QUESTION (Reese Tarded): Are you saying Wisdom Quarterly is NOT converting to Jainism or anything else?
  • ANSWER (Ashley W.): Yes, yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. Happy April Fools' Day. I still think we should have gone with the wandering sage Apollonius of Tyana personally; then it might have been more obvious we were being facetious. But Jainism is nice and Mahavira, if it weren't for the Buddha, would have been the greatest teacher of his day.
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Why have you scrolled this far down? No one reads down here. #India #Jain #Jainism #IndianHistory #Jains #VPN #NordVPN Music by Epidemic Sound: epidemicsound.com/creator. All images are taken from Creative Commons or used in accordance with fair use. If an image has been used without proper attribution, please contact by email or on twitter, and that will instantly bed resolved.
  • Cogito (video), Aug. 31, 2019; Editors, Wisdom Quarterly: American Jain Journal, April 1, 2024
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