Jainisim - 15 Mints Seminar Notes

 Jainisim - 15 Mints Seminar Notes

Jainism is an old ancient Indian religion known as Jain Dharma.

There are three main pillars of Jainism:   

• Ahimsa (non - violence)
• Anekantavada  (non - absolutism) 
• Aparigraha (non - attachment)
  

They even have five main vows:              

• Ahimsa (non-violence)    
  
• Satya (truth)
  
• Asteya (not stealing)
  
• Brahmacharya (sexual continence)
  
• Aparigraha (non - possessiveness)
  

• Jains do not believe in god or Gods in the way that many other religions to do but they believe in divine beings who are worthy of devotion.
  
• The Holy Book of Jainism called as Agamas and their language they spoke is Jain Prakrit.
  
• Jainism was established by Mahavira about 500 BC in India during the same of Buddhism.
  

Life of Mahavira

• Mahavira was born in 6th century in to the royal jain family.    
• He is also known as Vardhaman.
  
• He was born in India in Bhiar.  
• His father was Siddhartha and mother was Tirshala. They were lay devotees of Parshvanatha
  

• He left his home at the age of 30 and to pursuit spiritual awaking to become ascetic. His symbol was Lion beneath him. 
• His iconography found in North India and is dated from the 2nd century. 
• And also he practiced intense meditation and severe austerities for twelve and a half years, after which he attained Kevala Gyan (omniscience).
  
•  He preached for 30 years and attained Moksha. Mahavira, who preached Jainism in ancient India, was an older contemporary of Gautama Buddha.
  
• And he was the 24th Tirthankara of Jainism. He was the spiritual successor of the 23 rd Tirthankara Parshvanatha.
  

Teachings and Principles of Mahavira

Mahavira thought about his Five Vows:  

• Ahimsa (non-violence)    
  
• Satya (truth)
  
• Asteya (not stealing)
  
• Brahmacharya (sexual continence)
  
• Aparigraha (non-possessiveness)
  

These principles have affected Jain culture in many ways, such as leading to a predominantly vegetarian lifestyle.

Jaina Philosophy

• The main features of Jain philosophy is its dualistic metaphysics, which holds that there are two distinct categories of existence, the living, conscious or sentient being (Jiva) and the non-living or material (Ajiva). 
• Jain talks about the connective part of (Karma) and (Moksha) for the living cycle.
  

Jain Council 

There are several jain council mentioned in jain text (Jain Agamas), but there are three councils held in three places.

• The first council was held at Pataliputra.
  
• The second councils were probably held simultaneously at Mathura and Vallabhi.
  
• The third council was held at Vallabhi
  

Three Gems of Jainism

• Right Faith
  
• Right Knowledge
  
• Right Conduct
  

Jainism Literature

• The oldest Jain literature is in Shauraseni and the Jain Prakrit.
  

Impact of Jainism

• Jainism helped in the growth of charitable institutions, the kings created many caves for the dwelling of the sages of different castes. 
• They also distributed foods and clothes to the people.
  

Jain Architecture

• Jain architecture is an offshoot of Hindu and Buddhist styles. 
• In the initial years, many Jain temples were made adjoining the Buddhist temples following the Buddhist rock-cut style. 
• Initially these temples were mainly carved out of rock faces and the use of bricks was almost negligible. 
• Rashtrakutas king dynasty patronized Jainism.
  

 

Presented By,

Sabeha

Tnpsc Student

Magme School Of Banking