About two weeks ago Sara and I went to see a member of the Jain Center of British Columbia. His name is A.K. Jain, and he runs a shop called Jain Jewellers, which is where we met to discuss Jainism.
First off there are, in fact, restrictions against garlic and onions, mainly because of their offensive smell. In fact anything that has fermented is not allowed to be consumed in Jainism- mostly because of the offensive odor. This makes sense for a religion coming out of India- large quantaties of people and hot weather would only enhance the more unpleasant aspects of these foods. Despite this heavily contextualized rule of behaviour, it appears that we will continue to do without.
Mr. Jain was very accomodating, leaving us occasionally and apologetically to handle customers that came into the store, those searching for last minute gifts for their Valentines. He had an easy and comfortable smile, and as he insisted on giving his cutomers generous discounts, and wrapping their purchases, I got the impression that this was a man who took to heart the principles of ahimsa and aparigraha.
The Jain Center of BC has a somewhat misleading name, as there exists no physical center. It is actually a community of around sixty Jain families, living in the Lower Mainland, with members who practice and take part in the religion to varying degrees. They meet during important holy days, such as Diwali or Mahavira’s birthday, at a Hindu temple in Burnaby.
He began with a basic introduction to Jainism, making sure we were all on the same page, and filling in gaps in what we understood of the Jain philosophy.
“We do not believe in God,” he said, “but we do believe in being able to achieve Godly things.” Through knowing yourself, through devotion to your soul, and by suppressing your material desires, you can reach a state (through moksha) of omniscience that the western religions would describe as belonging to God alone. Jains do not believe in any creator god, for why would you worhsip something external, when you have all the potential for being a god within yourself?
This is why Mr. Jain said that the karmic philosophy is surperior to that of a ‘creator’ philosophy. Karmic philosophy helps us by showing how to be greater than what we are. Within Jainism there are no priests, no spiritual bureaucracy between them and enlightenment. All that is required are scripture and the individual Jain that wishes to attain something more than this life. Jainism is focused on the individual, in personal reflection of the sacred texts and of the central vows.
In contrast, Mr. Jain said, the creator philosophy focuses on an outside, impersonal diety that is philosophically problematic and unhelpful in our daily lives. Jains pray not to an external God, but through their tirthankars toward themselves. They acknowledge that the spiritual teachers that lead up the the foundation of Jainism, the tirthankars, reached a state of perfect personhood, and that they were no different from us. The potential resides within each of us to be the same as them, and so by acknowledging their achievement, they hope to get the strength and inspiration to lead the same example. Jainism urges you to pray to yourself, to opther like you in order to help yourself, rather than praying to a God that you cannot see or rely on.
Aside from these philosophical points, he gave us some much needed insight into the pracitcal aspects of Jainism. For example, there are some days of the year which are set aside for very strict diet. As Jains see ajiva in all living things, and thus have respect for all forms of life, they abstain from eating anything but grain, in order to give a breif respite to the vegetables they usually subsist on.
Around 52% of the Indian economy is made up of Jains. They are very businesslike as they must avoid any profession that involves killing or cruelty to animals. Many Jains become treasury ministers because of their vow of satya, assuring that they will always, ideally, be truthful.
There is also an apparently shady and bloody history between Jainism and Hinduism. As they both grew within India, Jainism was seen by the priest class of Hinduism as a potential threat. Jainism posits no hierarchy, priest class, or any need for a religious external authority other than the self. In contrast with the powerful brahmins of Hinduism, this philosophy could easily have usurped their position at the head of the community. Thus the Jains were persecuted and were forced to go underground. Many of their traditions and holy days were absorbed into the Hindu faith, according to Mr. Jain, even Diwali.
Our curiousity was mainly about how to treat the five vows. We understood them in and of themselves, but there seem to be some gray areas that we were unsure of. For example, if Jains believe in both non-violence and being truthful, how does this relate to joking and humor. Jokes tend to be either untruthful or unintentionally hurtful, so would Jains be adverse to this kind of humor? Mr. Jain answered our concerns in one word- degrees.
As I noted, there are no priests/priestesses, monks/nuns, etc. within Jainism. The only difference seems to be between the laity and what Mr. Jain called saints. Saints are those Jains that adhere strictly and fully to the religion of Jainism. These are the ones who will be dressed constantly in white (or in nothing at all), who will strain their water, sweep their paths, and wear masks outdoors. They choose to be so zealous because they wish to attain moksha, and be free of their karma, and strict adherence to the five vows of Jainism is their way to accomplish this. The laity however, though respecting and practicing Jainism, either do not wish to attain moksha, or are unable to.
The laity have a homelife, they have responsibilities and cannot easily seperate themselves from their society in order to hunt moksha. Instead, they realize the importance of the five vows, but do not adhere to them strictly. They do not try to be saints, they simply try to spread good karma so that when they die, their souls will be lifted into one of the levels of heaven. The level depends on your karma, and your time there will be limited, though presumably blissful. After this time, again depending on your karma, yor soul will be relocated into another body. The only freedom from this is to become a saint and attain moksha. As long as you are being a good person, you are being a good Jain, and no one is expecting you to be perfect if you do not wish to be a saint.
I think both Sara and I were breathing a bit easier after this meeting. We were all being hard on ourselves for not adhereing to all our religious duties. But it became apparent after our conversation with Mr. Jain that unless we were shooting to be perfect saints, we weren’t doing too badly. We had more questions to ask of him, but we simply ran out of time and couldn’t cover them all.
I hope to meet with him again in the future, probably after this month has concluded. He recommended a very promising book on Jainism that I was too poor at the time to afford. If you are curious I encourage you to check it out.