The Doctrine of the Jainas, Described after the Old Sources c5.61

c5.61

§10. On the foregoing pages it has been said already that research started from the similarity observed between Mahāvīra’s and the Buddha’s teaching, those two coeval features which both result in a monk’s life, touching each other in many respects and agreeing in considering Right Knowledge to be the means of how to get rid of the endless chain of rebirth. There is, however, a difference (among others) between them in that the Buddha does not share the high opinion of ascetic practices which, in Mahāvīra’s belief, are essential for reaching the ultimate goal. Further differences will be found in metaphysics. But here the partner of the comparison¹ is not so much Buddhism as the Sāṃkhya. In the Sāṃkhya the development of the world starts from matter that is imperishable and infinite as to quality going on in a determined sequel defined by means of Brahman terms. The Jains, being far from the Brahman way of thinking, do not acknowledge such a sequel, since, in their eyes, the world is eternal, though they agree with the Sāṃkhya in considering matter as being capable of developing in whatever direction. Moreover, logic compels them, as does the Sāṃkhya, to consider as important the transition (pariṇāma) from the one status to the next. And third, both are in harmony as to the original conception of the soul. “The Jainas call jīva all souls, the Sāṃkhya those that exist in the concrete world. Thus it seems that “soul” has been abstracted from “living being”, that is to say, from a popular view.” The same idea appears in the conception that the soul is as large as the body, a conception which is apparent with the Jainas, while it is at least inferable from the original Sāṃkhya and Yoga. Both Jainism and Sāṃkhya pretend a plurality of bodies. It seems that this conception replaced the primitive idea of a plurality of souls at a time when the doctrine of the One Ātman could not be neglected any longer. This applies to the doctrine of Karman and of reincarnation following from the former and which, by the by, is a primitive idea as well. Both Karman and reincarnation are the fundaments of the Sāṃkhya system as well as of that of the Jains. The very fact that both these systems, as they now stand, are so very unlike to each other contributes to their common features being extremely significant, and this explains itself by their having embodied elements of common-sense view (Volksglauben). The time when this happened can be calculated thanks to non-Jinist testimonials of spiritual development as well as to chronology. Both agree in going back as far as the 8th century B.C.