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1070
THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
(1) It is founded by thưise who have actually attained Liberation, not by mystics vaguely impressed with truth, whose writings cannot lay claim to precision and lucidity of thought, however much we may admire them for their cryptic unintelligibility, or poetic excellence;
(2) it is a self-sufficient and complete explanation of all the departments of religion, neither fragmentary nor disjointed, like other creeds, which depend on extraneous light for their interpretation ;
(3) it is the only scientific Path of Salvation, which in other religions lies buried beneath an amount of obscurity almost impossible for any ordinary man to remove;
(4) it is the oldest religion, being founded by the first 'Conqueror ' in the present cycle;
(5) it is free from the entanglements, pit-falls and snares of mythology, wbich only lead to wrangling and feuds; and
(6) it is helpful to all living beings alike.
Of these six distinctive features of Jainism, the fifth deserves a word of explantion, since it is fully characteristic of the Digambara sect alone. The other sect, known as the Svetâmbara, is, to some extent, inclined towards mythology. The literal significance of the words Digambara (naked) and Svetambara (veiled or robed) itself suffices to explain their differences, which, however, are too insignificant to be dealt with in detail.
It is not necessary to comment any further upon these features of distinction after what has been established in the previous pages ; suffice it to say that they are the true characteristics of perfection of knowledge and method.
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