Philosophies of India

SR No.: 007309
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Heinrich Zimmer, Joseph Campbell
Publisher: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd
Publication Year: 1953
Total Pages: 709
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 34 MB

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JAINISM soever, not even that of the Buddha, that of the path of the doctrine, or that of the goal to be attained.
Jainism, on the other hand, is naïvely materialistic in its direct and simple view of the universe, the hosts of monads that fill matter as its elementary living molecules, and the problem of gaining release. The crystal of the life-monad, according to this system of archaic positivismn, is actually (i.c., physically) stained and darkened by the various colors of the karmic influx; and this, moreover, has been its condition since immemorial times. To bring the monad to its proper state, cvery door through which new karmic substance might enter into it must be tightly closed and kept that way, so that the process of the automatic "influx of the six colorings" (ūsrava) will be blocked. To close the gates means to abstain from action, action of every sort. The beclouding matter already present within will then slowly dwindle, transforming itself automatically into the natural events of the biological life-process.81 The present karmic seeds will grow and yield their inevitable fruits in the form of sufferings and physical experiences, and so the discoloration will gradually disappear. Then at last, if no fresh particles are permitted to enter, the translucent purity of the lifc-monad will be automatically attained.
The Jaina monk does not permit himself to respond in any manner whatsoever to the events that afflict his person or take place within his ken. He subjects his physique and psyche to a terrific training in ascetic aloofness, and actually becomes unassailably indifferent to pleasure and pain, and to all objects, whether desirable, repugnant, or even dangerous. An incessant cleansing process is kept in operation, a severe and difficult physical and mental discipline of interior concentration, which burns up with its heat (tapas) the karmic seeds already present. Thus the life-monad gradually clears, and attains its intrinsic crystal clarity, while the actor obdurately refuses to participate 81 Cf. supra, pp. 248-249.
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