The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c18.41

v1.c18.41

But although the relations between the Jains and Buddhists were by no means friendly, we must probably not attach too much importance to the controversies between them or to the number of converts said to have been gained by one sect at the expense of the other. Between two contemporary religious communities working side by side in the same region and often coming into contact there must have occurred skirmishes; but the whole doctrine and mode of life adopted by the Buddhists was too widely different from that of the Jains to give occasion for more than somewhat temporary relations. We cannot here enter upon any full investigation of the doctrine of Mahāvīra. It must suffice here to point out that it represents, probably, in its fundamental tenets one of the oldest modes of thought known to us, the idea that all nature, even that which seems to be most inanimate, possesses life and the capability of reanimation; and this doctrine the Jains have, with inflexible conservatism, kept until modern times. This has nothing in common with the philosophy of Buddha. There is, in reality, no resemblance between the two systems except in regard to such matters as are the commonplaces of all Hindu philosophy. Even for those superficial believers who looked more to the exterior appearance and mode of life than to the doctrine and faith, the two sects presented an aspect so completely different that one could not easily be confused with the other.