Author Archive
Jain Dharma Questions & Answers
YJA was recently contacted by a student at Warner Pacific College who was researching Jainism for a world religions class. The student ask if YJA would be interested in participating in a Question / Answer email exchange regarding Jain Dharma.
Since I was the first to get the email, I volunteered, but our Rajiv Jain (Co-Chair), Jainy Savla (Education Chair) and Amit Jain (Project Manger) will be taking a crack at the questions too!
Note: I’d like to state that I’m not a Jain scholar nor do I speak on behalf of YJA or the Jain community. I’m just a simple kid sharing my thoughts.
1. What are the reasons in which you chose to practice Jainism? Were you raised this way? Did you choose this path for yourself? If so, what led you to your decision?
At the age of 16 I was in a place in my life where I started to look for meaning at a higher level. Although I came from a loving, providing and spiritual family, I still need to understand, for myself, what “life” was about. I was asking myself the same question that all developing minds ask themselves, “Why am I here?” “What does this all mean?” “Is there a God?” “If there is a God what is my relationship to him?”
In that search for meaning, I started to read about all sorts of religions and philosophies. One of the common themes I started to pick up on in my readings was the theme of “enlightenment through inner dialogue.” The understanding that without self-inquiry, there is no lasting happiness.
The teachings of Jain Dharma stood out significantly because Jain Dharma wasn’t a religion. It was a way of life that revolved around the laws of the universe. I didn’t need to “do” anything to become a “Jain” and in fact the word “Jain” simply means student of the “Jina” or “Enlightened One”. Therefore being a Jain simply means that you are a studier of any individual who has achieved awakening.
Although my mom came from a Jain background, she was not taught much about the true teachings growing up. Her limited experiences were centered about rituals and the culture of being Jain. Like going to the temple and reciting prayers that she didn’t understand. When I started to learn about Jain Dharma though, I was fortunate to have discovered it from a “purer source”.
Once I got the base of understanding and teaching, I went from being depressed about life to being excited about the possibility that there was more to life than what I saw on the surface. But it was just belief that was making me feel this way, there was an inner truth inside of me that was activated once I started to read about Jain Dharma. I felt excited that I was in control of my life and through action and meditation I could show up stronger in my career, relationships, education and family life.
2. Please tell us a bit about Dharma? What personal significance does it have for you? Is it sacred? How so?
Dharma has no direct translation in the English language. Some of the words/phrases used to describe it are teaching, deep purpose, spiritual path, and the overall underlying order of the universe.
A great way to understand the significance of Jain Dharma is to see it in relation to culture. The Jain Culture is the culture of how to dress, who to marry, what ritual to perform, what to eat, what jobs to hold and other social norms. The Jain Culture is constantly changing and evolving, but is always temporary - reflective of each generation.
Jain Dharma, on the other hand, is the deep and person experience of stillness and Ahimsa. It is the experience of going within through self-reflection to understand where your karmas and conditioning are coming from and how to slowly let go of them. Jain Dharma is the deepest truth.
While Jain Culture is a public experience, Jain Dharma is a private experience. Jain Culture is relative and Jain Dharma is absolute. Many people, including Jains, forget about this and often confuse being “religious” as following the social norms. The great teachers though, try to remind us that the truest form of Dharma is within.
3. Do you have a center of focus within your religion or something you consider sacred? If so, what or whom is it and why is it important to you?
The focus and sacredness of Jain Dharma is not a person, lord nor higher power. It is the daily practice of Ahimsa, translated as Non-Violence.
On the surface, most people understand Non-Violence as “not physically hurting someone or something”. But there is a much deeper practice of it. Ahimsa is also the practice and understanding that the number one person we hurt everyday is ourself - specifically with our thoughts. Everyday we have so many negative thoughts that our “ego” creates to perpetuate the cycle of Maya (translated as delusion). Sure, some thoughts are good, but overall, most thoughts people have are thoughts of worry, confusion, drama, and depression. The severity may vary from person to person, but the underlying tone of “what will happen to me” is usually present.
The deeper practice of Ahimsa is the practice of understand why the human mind is caught up with drama and how we can go beyond it. This personal drama, responsible for 99% of personal suffering, is what eventually leads to greater acts of violence. The only way we could ever hurt another human being or animal is if we’ve first hurt ourselves. Ahimsa is about “first stop hurting yourself” and then not only will you not hurt others, but life, in the absence of drama, will become an amazingly beautiful experience.
4. Do you believe in the afterlife? If so, what is it like/what occurs?
Jains believe in the natural law of Karma. Karma effects how all energy manifests. Our human bodies are just a shell, a type of energy, with a soul “inside” of them. Based on the karma attached to our soul, our energy manifests in different forms - human forms, animal forms and so on. Based on our ability to shed karma our souls have the potential to either be reincarnated or be liberated. Jains call this liberation Moksha and it is dependent on our souls being able to still of all of the ego’s passions and false identities.
When the soul has attained Moksha, it is free from the cycle of birth, death, space and time. The soul does not enter any sort of heaven, in the traditional sense, but simply transcends the current experience of life as we know it.
5. When a loved one dies, what burial rituals take place? What do you believe happens to a person once they pass away?
The burial rights that take place are a series of rituals know as “pujas”. The body itself is cremated and often the ashes are scattered in a river, if possible a holly river in India.
See above about someone’s passing
6. How do we know what is right according to Jainism?
There is no right and wrong in a relative sense. For example, war is neither right nor wrong according to Jain Dharma. Rather, war is an unfortunate reality that has its own consequences. It causes deep suffering for all and can only be waged by unconsciousness. But Jains won’t call it wrong, because to call something wrong is to make it an enemy. And when you make something and enemy, you don’t understand its roots, how it got started and what to do to change it. Making something an enemy often means that you are willing to do what ever it takes to rid of it. Even if that means violence to end violence.
When you understand something though, and see it as a reality, you can go deeper and search for the root causes. This is the Jain principal know as “anekantavada’. Anekantavada means that everything has multiple perspectives and no one perspective is “totally right” or “totally wrong”. Anekantavada is also about honor and respecting perspectives in an effort to understand something that you may not see or recognize.
In an absolute sense, there are certain laws of the universe that are “right” or true. For example, gravity is a law that governs this Earth. Like it or not, it is there. Is gravity right or wrong? It is neither - it just is. Similarly, there are laws that Jains recognize that govern the universe we live in, such as Karma.
7. Does Jainism have more in common with Buddhism or Hinduism? How so?
Most modern Jains are culturally Hindu. They celebrate many of the same holidays as Hindus and have similar weddings and rituals. Jains are only 2% of the population of India, a majority Hindu country, so their culture is very influenced by the Hindu culture.
Spiritually, Jains, depending on who you talk to, tend to have more in common with Buddhist. Although, Buddhist do not recognize the soul and a few other things that Jains recognize, both practices recognize that there is no creator and no supremer governing being.
8. Regarding the ritual in Jainism, “death of the wise” (panadita-marana): What your personal thoughts on the subject. Also, I was wondering if you knew if it was a ritual that people not only do in India but possibly do in the United States as well?
Pandita-marana was more popular in the past than it is now, but I still occasionally hear of individuals who under-take it. As you noted, it is more common in India than in the USA. Partly because the population of Jains in the USA is 100,000 and the population of Jains in India is 15 to 30 million. But also because the times are different now and the elderly community, as a whole, are more encourage to use medicine to extend life. People also have more chronic diseases these days, so dying of old age is far less common. Many more people today are dying without feeling that their time has come.
My personal feelings on the topic: Many individuals outside of eastern traditions tend to look on this practice as suicide. However, it is not suicide. The goal of suicide is to end your life. The goal of pandita marana is to come to peace with your departure from this planet and die on your own terms, rather then on the terms of external forces. In many eastern traditions, including Jain Dharma, the last few days of ones life is very important because of the recognition of rebirth / reincarnation. Individuals use this opportunity to face their ego’s fear of death and instead of running from the inevitable, they face is straight on by slowly lowering their intake and fasting. It is almost like facing the fear of death and realizing that it doesn’t exist. The opposite of death is not life, but birth. We are born and we die, but we are always life. Life has no opposite.
In the Jain traditions, this is one of the most honorable things a person can do and it is very well respected by the community. As honorable as it is though, I imagine that the practice will slowly fade away, as it already has, as medicine, drugs and bad health become more popular.
When my time of departure comes, I hope to be in a place where I can face the fear of death straight on and choose to go on my own terms.
Kimmie Weeks, 2007 Brick Award Winner
I, and the entire YJA Board, would like to congratulate friend, mentor and change agent Kimmie Weeks for winning this year’s 2007 Brick Award for Global Change.
Kimmie is the founder of Youth Action International. YAI works with children in war torn countries in Africa, providing them with infrastructure and medical attention to help them create a new possibility.
I was fortunate to have been befriended by Kimmie in high school just after he was forced to flee his war torn nation of Liberia. At the young age of seventeen Kimmie experienced the effects of war first hand when his government tried to assassinate him for a report he issued on its involvement in the training of child soldiers. Kimmie was give political asylum in the United States and has been on a powerful mission since - to make sure future generations live a better life.
Kimmie’s commitment, amongst a tough journey, has been very strong. For this reason his work has impacted and will continue to impact many lives around the world.
Congratulations Kimmie! You are a true inspiration.
Related
- Kimmie Weeks in Uganda
- Kimmie Weeks on Facebook
An experience in receiving
You’ll notice something very interesting when reading your dinner bill Karma Kitchen. There isn’t one!
Karma Kitchen, inspired by the folks at Seva Cafe, is more than just a dinning experience - it is an experiment in giving.
Via KitchenKarma.org
When you dine at Karma Kitchen, you don’t pay for your meal. Run mostly by volunteers, our meals are cooked and served with love, and offered to the guest as a genuine gift; to complete the full circle of giving and to sustain this experiment, we leave it to the guest to pay it forward, expressing their goodness in whatever way they wish.
One of the lovely volunteers/servers behind Karma Kitchen is none other than Nipun Mehta. Nipun is a two time YJA/Jaina Keynote speaker in addition to being the founder of Charity Focus.
Nipun recently blogged about the very powerful but modest opening day at Karma Kitchen. Here is something he shared that pretty much sums up the larger purpose behind Karma Kitchen in a nutshell:
As a young couple was leaving, I asked them, “So how would you describe this evening to a friend?” Spontaneously, Josh responded, “It was an experience in receiving. You know, in our culture, we don’t know how to receive and that’s probably the reason why we don’t give enough. When you have an authentic experience in receiving, you naturally have gratitude and you will inevitably pay-it-forward.”
Simply beautiful.
YJA & YJI - East Meets West
I’m happy to announce that Young Jains of America and Young Jains India held a monumental meeting this Jan 2007 in Mumbai, India to further their joint efforts. YJA & YJI have started planning their first join project and will start releasing news updates as planning progresses.
From left to right: Paresh Jain, Dhrumil Purohit (YJA), Manish Kasliwal, Yogesh Jain, Sachin Jain
Jain 2.0
Today marks day two of the YJA’s biannual Executive Board meeting. Currently, as seen above, most of our board members are attending the meeting live in person at Raju’s house in Baltimore, Maryland USA. A few of our fellow board members joined via teleconference and lastly I, Dhrumil, was fortunate enough to join the team via video chat, (gotta love Apple).
Technology + Ahimsa with some heavy Passion mixed in. Gotta love it.
Above: Ashil, Ajay, Archit, Jainy, Amit, Meghi, Paras, Rajiv, Vinita, Priya and Dhru
Cleanliness / Godliness
I recently had the pleasure of accompanying Pujyashri Rakeshbhai Jhaveri and 700 of his closest student on a Yatra to some holiest Jain landmarks in India. We visited everything from Mahavir’s Jalmandir to the very beautiful Shikharji, (where 20 of the 24 Tirthankaras attained Moksha
To say the least, I was quite amazed at the beauty of these sites. Not only are Jain temples are renowned for their brilliant architecture, but also their cleanliness.
And boy were these temple clean… on the inside that is. Now on the outside, that’s a different story, (outside meaning everything outside of the actual main temple itself). Man, the outside and adjacent area of these temples wasn’t just “not clean”, but it was actually really dirty. Trash, bottles, food packaging… you name it and it was there just chillin on the floor. In my head I’m thinking, “These are the Holiest sites for Jains, how did this happen?” I’m also thinking, “If I was just an average tourist, would I really want to recommend this location to my friends?”
I had quite a long conversation regarding the state of these holy sites with my mentor, Nitin Talsania, who was also present on the trip. According to his understanding, a lot of these sites have been managed by the same groups for many years. And after a while, these groups have gotten complacent and stuck in their ways.
Now you maybe thinking, “Hey, this is India. Everything is dirty!” While that is true, to an extant, if you compare many of the Jain sites we toured to a few Buddhist locations there was quite a different, (I’ll post the temple names as soon as I find out their names). Not all the Buddhist temples were clean as can be, but overall they were in much better shape then the Jain temples.
Recently in the America there has been quite an effort amongst the Jain Leaders Forum to talk about the “marketability” of Jain Dharma. The conversation mostly entails making Jainism talking points such that it is easier to talk about both to Jains and non-Jains alike. An area that hasn’t been talked about too much is the marketability of some of our holiest sites.
With a meeting coming up soon, this post may be a great conversation starter to see how Jains in North America can bring the stillness, peace and cleanliness back to these beautiful locations.
Jalmandir in Pawapuri
Via India9.com
Jalmandir is a white marble temple located at Pawapuri in Patna District of Bihar. It is situated in the middle of a tank with lotuses. The temple is dedicated to Lord Mahavir, the last and 24th Tirthankar of the Jain religion.
There is a long bridge (over 40 ft long and 4 ft in width) inside the tank for reaching the temple. The surroundings of the temple are furnished by a well-kept garden.
Legend has it that the tank was formed as a result of the mass removal of sand from around the funeral pyre of Lord Mahavir, in order to meet the demand for his ashes.
About Jain Diaries
Jain Diaries is a blog by YJA about Peace, Compassion, and having a good time. Written and edited by youth just like you. Enjoy!