Background
- Vardhaman Mahavir established the formal religion of Jainism;
- he was born in 540 BC at KUNDAGRAM in vaishali, Bihar
- Father: Siddarth; belonged to Kshatriya Clan.
- Mother: Thrishala: belonged to Licchavi kingdom.
- Before Mahvir 23 Thirthankars were there who gave basic ideological framework to Jainism
- Jaina derived from word JINA means conquer. the title of jina given only to Vardhaman Mahavir
- vardhaman mahavir achieved Kaivalya when he was around the age of 42.
- After preaching for several years he died in 468 BC at Rajgir, Bihar.
- by the end of 4 century BC there was severe famine in Magadh area. CGM decided to shift to a safer place to avoid severity of the climatic condition. He decided to migrate to Shravana Belagola. Here under the influence of Bhadrabahu he accepted Jainism and observed SALLEKHANA (gradual starvation, now aka. Sandhara)
Basic Ideological Framework
- Do not commit violence
- Don't speak lie
- Don't Steal
- Don't acquire property
- observe countenance (Brahmacharya)
Note: different names for Liberation
- Hinduism: Moksha
- Buddism: Nirvana
- Jainism: Kaivalya
Jain council
1st Jainist council
- 299 BC @ Pataliputra, it was patronised by Bindusara and presided by STHULABHADRA
- 14 PURVA's were compiled which are the holy text of Jainism.
2nd Jainist Council
- 512 AD @ Vallabhi in Gujarat. it was patronised by Chalukya rulers of Gujarat and presided by jain monk DEVARDHI KSHEMA SHRAMANA.
- few more books were compiled : Anga, Upanga, Chendabsutras, Malsutras, Prakirnas
- In this council there was a formal division of Jains in to 2 sects
- Digambars: orthodox followers who adhered to original teachings of Mahavir. they remains naked as such they were called as sky clads.
- Shwetambars: they were liberal followers and they started to wear white cloths as such they were known as white clads.
Similarity and Difference b/w Buddhism & Jainism
Similarity
- Both were the branches of Shramana Tradition
- Both were against the orthodox Brahmanism
- Both got originated and flourished in eastern part of India
- in respect to basic philosophical concept buddhism and jainism were indebted to SAMKHYA philosophy.
- both rejected the authority of vedas and efficacy of vedic rites.
- both equally believes that world is full of misery and the objective of religion is to deliver the soul from the miseries of this world..
- by eliminating rebirth according to Buddhism
- Jains didn't believed in rebirth concept.
- both upheld the ascetic life, moral and ethical codes.
- buddha was agnostic towards existence of god and jainism they also don't believe in god.
- both believe Non-violence as means of evolution
- both were having largest number of followers from Mercantile class.
- both preached their doctrines in the language of people i.e, Pali & Prakrit.
- both do have concept of THRIRATNAs
- Buddhism: Buddh, Dhamma, Sangha
- Jainism: Right Knowledge, Right faith, Right conduct (KFC)
- both the religion were PLURALISTIC in nature. i.e, one can follow the doctrines of many religion simultaneously.
Differences
- Jainism was ancient creed which existed before the advent of Mahavir. But buddhism was entirely a new creed and it had no existence before buddha.
- Jainas ascribe soul to both JIVA(living being) or AJIVA (non living being). In buddhism they dont believe in the concept of Permanent soul
- in Hinduism they use to believe in permenant soul.
- in buddhism transfer of soul is demonstrated through BURNING CANDLE
- the jainas practiced extreme form of non-violence they don't tolerate the killing of Insect, Germs, Plant etc. Though buddhist believed in Ahimsa, but they don't observed it in extreme jain manner.
- in jaina extreme path like Sallekhana or Santhara is prescribed. While in buddhism they don't prescribed such extreme penance but they asked to observe middle path.
- note: is followed in India's Panchsheel.
- Why buddhism disappeared from the region where it got originated (India) but Jainism continued to be there though in a small community?.
- Buddha said to his cousin if women are allowed to enter Sangha, the buddhism which is going to be there for 1000 yrs will vanish in less than 200 years with the entry of the women in Sangha the monks become corrupt and started to leave luxurious live and obfuscating (exact opposite) the teachings of buddha wich lead to disintegration.
- Hinduism reformed itself and they stopped animal sacrifices and they also removed the condition on loan and interest which further attracted the trader class towards hinduism. Guptha rulers also initiated propogation of Hindu religious ideas through various text and literature like puranas. The Bhagawat worship became very popular and Gautham Buddha was marked as 9th incarnation of vishnu which lead to assumilation of buddhism into Hinduism.
- Though both jainism and buddhism opposed caste system but the opposition of buddhism was much stark towards caste system, which irrated the feelings of common hindu populace. Mean while in jainism they started to employ brahmin priest inside their temple. And also they didn't displayed missionary like buddhism.
- that's how jainism was able to survive in it's own mother country and that not happened with buddhism
Similarity and difference b/w Moksha and Nirvana
Similarity
- liberation from suffering
- salvation is through penance and meditation (Yoga vidya sadhana)
Moksha
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Nirvana
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It is the ultimate merger with it's own creator.(Bramhalin)
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No such concept of merger with god.
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After attaining moksh one die.
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After attaining nirvana one is still alive.
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Note: Heinotheistic => peoples of a polytheistic religion like hinduism, now following 1 god among them and deny existence of other god. eg: Radhaswami movement, Veerashaivamovement
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