Jain Dharma
Love from India
YJA makes dharma cool and gets love from India:
Hi Dhrumil,
I just happened to visit yr site, and was overwhelmed by the fact that u people try to be in touch with Jainism and follow our religion as much as possible.. I even down loaded the Tirthankars bhagwan’s snaps.In Bombay and India, many people call them selves modern and don’t follow our Dharma, they look down on people who are religious.
In today’s world u can be most modern and advanced in yr thoughts, lifestyles and at the same time one should be proud of their Dharma and follow it.
Thanks & Bye.Deep
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.
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!