Buddhism and Jainism

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The Buddha: founder of Buddhism
The Buddha: founder of Buddhism
Mahāvīra: 24th Tirthankar of Jainism
Mahāvīra: 24th Tirthankar of Jainism

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Buddhism and Jainism are two Indian religions that developed in Magadha (Bihar) and continue to thrive in the modern age. The Buddha and Mahavira are generally accepted as contemporaries.[1][2] Jainism and Buddhism share many features, terminology and ethical principles, but emphasize them differently.[2] Both are śramaṇa ascetic traditions that believe it is possible to attain liberation from the cycle of rebirths and deaths (samsara) through spiritual and ethical disciplines.Template:Sfn They differ in some core doctrines such as those on asceticism, Middle Way versus Anekantavada, and self versus non-self (jiva, atta, anatta).[2][3]

History

Jainism is an ancient religion whose own historiography centres on its 24 guides or Tirthankaras. Of the 24, the last two tirthankaras – are generally accepted as historical persons, with the 23rd Tirthankara pre-dating the Buddha and the Mahavira by probably some 250 years.Template:Sfn Buddhists believe Gautama Buddha, the historical buddha, rediscovered the long forgotten dharma around the 5th century BCE, and began to teach it again. In Buddhism there were previous buddhas, too, 24 in total as described in the Buddhavamsa, the 14th book of the Khuddaka Nikāya.[4][5][6][7] Buddhists also believe that Gautama Buddha had many previous rebirths as described in the Jataka Tales.[8]

Buddhist scriptures record that during Prince Siddhartha's ascetic life (before attaining enlightenment) he undertook many fasts, penances and austerities, the descriptions of which are elsewhere found only in the Jain traditionScript error: No such module "Unsubst".. In the Majjhima Nikaya, the Buddha shares his experience:[9]

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Thus far, Sāriputta, did I go in my penance? I went without clothes. I licked the food from my hands. I took no food that was brought or meant especially for me. I accepted no invitation to a meal.

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The Jain text of Kalpasutra confirms Mahavira's asceticism, whose life is a source of guidance on many of the ascetic practices in Jainism.[10] Such asceticism has been a hallmark of mendicant life in Jainism.Template:Sfn The Buddha tried it, but abandoned what he called the "extreme ascetic methods", teaching the Middle Way instead.Template:Sfn

Jainism in Buddhist texts

Pāli Canon

The Pāli Canon does not record that Mahavira and Gautama Buddha ever met, though instances of Mahavira's disciples questioning Gautama Buddha are to be found in various sutras. For instance, in the Majjhima Nikāya (MN 56), Upāli —one of Gautama Buddha's foremost disciples— is said to have been a disciple of the Mahavira who became a disciple of the Buddha after losing a debate with him.[11]

The Buddhists have always maintained that by the time the Buddha and Mahavira were alive, Jainism was already an entrenched faith and culture in the region. According to the Pāli Canon, Gautama was aware of Mahavira's existence as well as the communities of Jain monastics.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Buddhist texts refer to the Mahavira as Nigaṇṭha Jñātaputta.Template:Sfn Nigaṇṭha means "without knot, tie, or string" and Jñātaputta (son of Natas), referred to his clan of origin Jñāta or Naya (Prakrit).Template:Sfn

The five vows (non-violence, truth, non-attachment, non-thieving, celibacy/chastity) propounded by the 23rd Jain Tirthankara, Pārśva (877–777 BCE),Template:Sfn may have been the template for the Five Precepts of Buddhism. Additionally, the Buddhist Aṅguttaranikāya scripture quotes the independent philosopher Purana Kassapa, a sixth-century BCE founder of a now-extinct order, as listing the "Nirgranthas" as one of the six major classifications of humanity.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Divyavadana

The ancient text Divyavadana (Ashokavadana is one of its sections) mention that in one instance, a non-Buddhist in Pundravardhana drew a picture showing the Buddha bowing at the feet of Mahavira. On complaint from a Buddhist devotee, Ashoka, the Maurya Emperor, issued an order to arrest him, and subsequently, another order to kill all the Ājīvikas in Pundravardhana. Around 18,000 Ājīvikas were executed as a result of this order.[12] Sometime later, another ascetic in Pataliputra drew a similar picture. Ashoka burnt him and his entire family alive in their house.[13] He also announced an award of one dinara (silver coin) to anyone who brought him the head of a Jain. According to Ashokavadana, as a result of this order, his own brother, Vitashoka, was mistaken for a heretic and killed by a cowherd. Their ministers advised that "this is an example of the suffering that is being inflicted even on those who are free from desire" and that he "should guarantee the security of all beings". After this, Ashoka stopped giving orders for executions.[12]

According to K. T. S. Sarao and Benimadhab Barua, stories of persecutions of rival sects by Ashoka appear to be a clear fabrication arising out of sectarian propaganda.[13][14][15]

Buddhist texts in Jain libraries

According to Padmanabh Jaini, Vasudhara Dharani, a Buddhist work was among the Jainas of Gujarat in 1960s, and a manuscript was copied in 1638 CE.[16] The Dharani was recited by non-Jain Brahmin priests in private Jain homes.

Shared terminology

The shared terms include Sangha, Shramana (monk), Shravaka (Householder in Jainism, Buddha's disciple in Buddhism), Jina (Tirthankara in Jainism, Buddha in Buddhism), Chaitya, Stupa, Pudgala (Matter in Jainism, soul in Buddhism) etc. Early Jainism used stupas, although the practice mostly (but not completely) was abandoned later.[17]

Similarities

In Jainism, the way of liberation is the ford (tirtha), and Tirthankaras "those making the ford" (from samsara to moksha) are supreme teachers.Template:Sfn The same concept is found in Buddhism, which says that through enlightenment (bodhi) an individual crosses the river of samsara to attain liberation. Both religions deny the existence of a creator god.Template:Sfn Buddhism and Jainism evince a shared belief in the existence of geographical regions beyond the parameters of Bharatavarsha, access to which could not be gained by ordinary human beings.Template:Sfn

Karakandu, a Pratyekabuddha in both Jainism and Buddhism, is a rare personality that is shared between Jainism and Buddhism.[18] The Jain text Isibhasiyam mentions Vajjiyaputra, Mahakashyap and Sariputra among the rishis.[19]

The Jain community (or Jain sangha) consists of monastics, munis (male ascetics) and aryikas (female ascetics) and householders, śhrāvaks (laymen) and śrāvakīs (laywomen). Buddhism has a similar organization: the community consists of renunciate bhikkhus and bhikkhunis and male and female laypersons, or Upāsaka and Upāsikā, who take vows for lay life.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Jain and Buddhist iconography can be similar. In north India, the sitting Jain and Buddhist images are in padmasana, whereas in South India both Jain and Buddhist images are in ardha-padmasana (also termed virasana in Sri Lanka). However the Jain images are always samadhi mudra, whereas the Buddha images can also be in bhumi-sparsha, dharam-chakra-pravartana and other mudras. The standing Jain images are always in khadgasana or kayotsarga asana.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Differences

Jainism has refined the non-violence (Ahimsa) doctrine to an extraordinary degree where it is an integral part of the Jain culture.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Jain vegetarianism, for example, is driven by the principle of not harming any animals and both lay and mendicants are predominantly vegetarian.Template:Sfn In Buddhism, Mahayana monks in China, Japan (see Shojin-ryori), Korea and Vietnam are vegetarian; however, vegetarianism is not required for lay Buddhists. In the Theravāda tradition as well as prohibiting human, elephant, horse, dog, snake, lion, tiger and anything uncooked; the Buddha is quoted in their monastic rules as saying that any animal that is suspected of being killed intentionally for them should be avoided.[20]

Although both Buddhists and Jain had orders of nuns, Buddhist Pali texts record the Buddha saying that a woman has the ability to obtain nirvana in the dharma and Vinaya.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". According to Digambara Jains, women are capable of spiritual progress but must be reborn as a man in order to attain final spiritual liberation, this being because Jain nuns cannot be nude and so still have some attachments. The religious texts of the Śvētāmbaras mention that liberation is attainable by both men and women.[21]

Jains believe in the existence of an eternal Jiva (soul),Template:Sfn whereas Buddhism denies the concept of soul (jiva) or self (atman), proposing the concept of no-self (anatta) instead.[22][23]

The Anekantavada doctrine is another key difference between Jainism and Buddhism. The Buddha taught the Middle Way, rejecting extremes of the answer "it is" or "it is not" to metaphysical questions. The Mahavira, in contrast, accepted both "it is" and "it is not", with "perhaps" qualification and with reconciliation.Template:Sfn

Jainism discourages monks and nuns from staying in one place for long, except for 4 months in the rainy season (chaturmas). Thus, most Jain monks and nuns keep wandering, staying in a place for only a few days. Some Theravada Buddhist monks also observe vassa rules, but often they stay in one monastery.[2]

See also

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References

Citations

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  1. ↑ Dundas, Paul (2003). Jainism and Buddhism, in Buswell, Robert E. ed. Encyclopedia of Buddhism, New York: Macmillan Reference Lib. Template:ISBN; p. 383
  2. ↑ a b c d Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ [a] Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
    [b] Script error: No such module "citation/CS1"., Quote: "...anatta is the doctrine of non-self, and is an extreme empiricist doctrine that holds that the notion of an unchanging permanent self is a fiction and has no reality. According to Buddhist doctrine, the individual person consists of five skandhas or heaps—the body, feelings, perceptions, impulses and consciousness. The belief in a self or soul, over these five skandhas, is illusory and the cause of suffering."
    [c] Script error: No such module "citation/CS1"., Quote: "...Buddha's teaching that beings have no soul, no abiding essence. This 'no-soul doctrine' (anatta-vada) he expounded in his second sermon."
  4. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  6. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ Jataka Template:Webarchive, Encyclopœdia Britannica.
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". Note: ISBN refers to the UK:Routledge (2001) reprint of original text published in 1884
  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  12. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  14. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  15. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  16. ↑ Vasudhara dharani A Buddhist work in use among the Jainas of Gujarat, Padmanabh S Jaini, Mahavir Jain_Vidyalay Suvarna_Mahotsav Granth Part 1, 2002, p. 30-45.
  17. ↑ Buddhism in the Shadow of Brahmanism, Johannes Bronkhorst, Brill, 2011, p. 132
  18. ↑ [Ascetic Figures Before and in Early Buddhism: The Emergence of Gautama as the Buddha, Issue 30 of Religion and reason, ISSN 0080-0848, Martin G. Wiltshire, Walter de Gruyter, 1990p. 112]
  19. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  20. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  21. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  22. ↑ John C. Plott et al (2000), Global History of Philosophy: The Axial Age, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, Template:ISBN, page 63, Quote: "The Buddhist schools reject any Ātman concept. As we have already observed, this is the basic and ineradicable distinction between Hinduism and Buddhism".
  23. ↑ [a] Anatta Template:Webarchive, Encyclopædia Britannica (2013), Quote: "Anatta in Buddhism, the doctrine that there is in humans no permanent, underlying soul. The concept of anatta, or anatman, is a departure from the Hindu belief in atman (“the self”).";
    [b] Steven Collins (1994), Religion and Practical Reason (Editors: Frank Reynolds, David Tracy), State Univ of New York Press, Template:ISBN, page 64; Quote: "Central to Buddhist soteriology is the doctrine of not-self (Pali: anattā, Sanskrit: anātman, the opposed doctrine of ātman is central to Brahmanical thought). Put very briefly, this is the [Buddhist] doctrine that human beings have no soul, no self, no unchanging essence.";
    [c] Katie Javanaud (2013), Is The Buddhist ‘No-Self’ Doctrine Compatible With Pursuing Nirvana? Template:Webarchive, Philosophy Now;
    [d] David Loy (1982), Enlightenment in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta: Are Nirvana and Moksha the Same?, International Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 23, Issue 1, pages 65–74;
    [e] KN Jayatilleke (2010), Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge, Template:ISBN, pages 246–249, from note 385 onwards;
    [f] Bruno Nagel (2000), Roy Perrett (editor), Philosophy of Religion: Indian Philosophy, Routledge, Template:ISBN, page 33

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Works cited

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Further reading

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