Introduction To Jainism: History and Tīrthamkaras

History has no beginning; the future has no end.
My soul has neither the one nor the other.

For a proper understanding of Jainism in its wider context it is essential to have some insight into its history, and especially its age, as well its historic relationship with Buddhism and Hinduism.

The śramana tradition

The tradition of Indian religion can be divided into two main currents. One is based on the Vedas, the universal knowledge concerning cosmos and man, and the actions (rituals) humans are supposed to perform to remain in contact with the gods and the powers of nature. There are four Vedas: the Rigveda, the Sāmaveda, the Yajurveda and the Atharvaveda, each of which has four parts. Their core consists of hymns to the gods. The various parts also contain prayers, rituals, theology, philosophy and finally the Upanishads - of which there are at least 108 - which contain the deepest and most esoteric conclusion and summary of the Vedas. The Rigveda is the most fundamental Vedic text, and belongs to the oldest published literature in the world. Before the Vedic knowledge was written down it was transmitted orally from teacher to pupil and memorized. It is said that they were given to humankind by great sages and seers from the moment humanity began to develop a self-conscious mind - and that is, according to Hindu doctrines, millions of years ago.

The other tradition is the śramana (not to be confused with “shaman”) tradition. A śramana is someone who consciously pursues spiritual aims. To these the Jains and Buddhists, who both deny the authority of the Veda - at least the priestly interpretations and practices of it. Still, both traditions have deeply influenced and fertilized each other, and have partly achieved a synthesis, and they usually respect each other. The Vedas were brought by the Aryans, who are said to have come from the Northern part of ancient India - which stretched beyond the Himalayas - but the śramana tradition already existed in regions more to the South, which included present-day India.

The Hindus, on the other hand, do recognize the authority of the Vedas, but a number of fundamental concepts have been integrated which originally seem to stem from the śramana tradition. The concept of karma is one of them. In the Veda this term is used mainly in relation to ritual actions which are supposed to bring about certain effects, but not in the sense the concept of karma is used today: a universal “law” of cause and effect, on which the greater part of the ethics of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and modern Theosophy are based. Concepts such as “enlightenment” (moksha) and “renouncing of worldly affairs” (sannyāsa) also stem mainly from this tradition. Jainism, as said, belongs to the śramanistic mindstream. Again and again humanity has been taught by the Jinas - those who have conquered their passions and illusions and have acquired perfect knowledge and insight, and are no longer bound through karma to the cycle of existence. Some of them, who have built up the right karmas, again preached the dharma, the spiritual doctrine, code of conduct and cosmic law. They were moved by compassion for suffering humankind with the purpose of saving as many living beings from the mire of suffering as possible - or to put it more correctly: to teach them how to liberate themselves. Because each individual must accomplish that for himself. There is no god or savior who can do it for us; we can only do it through our own effort. Beings have the inherent power to liberate themselves, however big the karmic obstacles may be, with one exception.^[2] These extraordinary teachers, who show much similarity with the Buddhas of Buddhism, are called Tīrthamkaras (from tīrtha = passageway; sacred place (at the edge of a water) + kri = to do) in Jainism. It is interesting that one of the titles to which Buddha agreed during his life was “Tathāgata,” which means “he who has gone thus,” usually rendered as “he who has entered and crossed the water or river, left earthly existence behind and reached the other shore” - the symbol of liberation and spiritual life.

Cycles and teachers

Like Buddhism, Hinduism and modern Theosophy, Jainism teaches that history runs in progressive cycles: the same situation ever returns, but beings that go through these cycles have gone further in their development than last time.^[3] The cycles have, like circles, a “top” where we “abided” millions of years ago, where we will return after millions of years and where life consists of pure joy and unconcern. Along the downward half of the circle, which has been divided into six phases ^[4] of more or less happy existence, we first entered a period which was less joyful, but hardly knew suffering - until suffering and darkness were born, found balance, and existence finally became dominated by darkness and suffering. At the lowest point of the cycle darkness and misery will rule alone. This is because the soul makes its necessary pilgrimage through the most spiritual as well as the most coarsely material zones of the universe’s constitution to gain experience in all subdivisions of the manifested universe.

As we sink deeper and deeper into coarse matter, our insight into the spiritual nature of things becomes more unclear and fainter, and we start doing things which - according to karmic law - cause us more and more suffering and deeper ignorance. At the moment there is still a little bit of joy, but the real misery of this cycles still lies ahead of us according to Jainism. This darkest period, which will last 21,000 years, is however no more than the blink of an eye within the cycle as a whole, which lasts millions of years at least. There is always a possibility of choosing the path towards self-liberation, so that one is no longer subject to the sufferings of this cycle at all. When we have reached the deepest point, the upward cycle - or serpent as they call it –begins, until we finally live again in a world of great bliss. That we will not get stuck in darkness and ignorance forever is due to the fact that many as yet ungerminated karmic seeds of a more positive nature which have been sown by us in the past will also come into bloom. But if we have not managed to liberate ourselves before the joyful end of the cycle, the whole sequence of events starts all over again, according to the Jains.

Though we can only pursue our path individually and by our own effort, humankind has always been assisted throughout history, and this assistance has always had a close association with the phase in which the cycle finds itself. In the first psychological half of the downward cycle, no Tīrthamkaras had yet been born on earth. The first Tīrthamkara, known as the original Lord, Ādinātha, whose name was Rishabha, came just before the midpoint the downward half-cycle, when joy and suffering were almost in balance. A total of 24 Tīrthamkaras were to appear, as is the case in every downward half-cycle (as well as in the upward half-cycle). All of them taught the same spiritual doctrine, but they were also children of their time who played a role of major importance and gave an impulse to human culture. The last of the 24 Tīrthamkaras in our downward half-cycle was Mahāvīra, a historic personality living about 2500 years ago, and who was a senior contemporary of Buddha. In the meantime we have entered a period which is so dark from a spiritual point of view that the Tīrthamkaras and Buddhas can no longer live in a physical body among men. The Tīrthamkaras now abide in a world of perfect accomplishment ^[5] as siddhas, pure souls. Theosophy and Buddhism teach that the Buddhas in this dark period can only continue their compassionate work for humanity indirectly, until the next Buddha appears among humankind sometime in the future. The Buddhist Lankāvatara Sūtra also mentions 24 Buddhas. At other places 35 are mentioned. Modern theosophical literature says that the 24 Buddhas are the same as the 24 Tīrthamkaras, and that the other eleven belong to an earlier cycle.

About the first Tīrthamkara, and about the last three, literature has a great deal to say, including that of the Hindus and Buddhist, which venerates them as great individuals and describes about their historic influence - which proves that they were recognized by the entire human family in those days. I will say more about these four Tīrthamkaras later in this chapter.

Before the first Tīrthamkara, Rishabha, who was the son of the Manu called Nabhirāja, lived on earth, humankind had already gone through millions of years of development. The Tīrthamkaras taught the people how to choose the spiritual path by their own effort, but before that time this was not yet possible. Humankind was spiritual and happy, but rather like a child. Early humankind knew no worries and the people then living did not have to work. Nature provided food for them just as it does for animals, and there were trees which produced fruits for them to eat. People were living in the enviable situation of being at all aware of the enormous world with all its complexities and natural forces. So in many respects they must have lived like happy animals - but still they were humans who, just like children, are apt to develop all that grown-ups will manifest later in life. Their self-consciousness and understanding had already been awakened, but they still had to learn how to handle it.

Compassion in human evolution

Fortunately nature is and has always been compassionate. It assists its souls during their long pilgrimage of, and it was and is part of cyclic destiny that they will develop into fully fledged godlike humans. For that purpose they were taught by sages and teachers who were far ahead of average humanity. Civilization has evolved slowly but surely for millions of years. In each stage of human development people of superior knowledge and intelligence are born, who teach average humankind on every stage of cultural evolution, and help them to shape a stable, varied and goal-oriented social structure and culture. In fact they represent the blossom of collective humanity of that period. Such helpers were the “Einsteins” of their time and in a sense far ahead in their development compared to even the greatest scholars and personalities of our days, because we ourselves still belong, though millions of years later on average, to that same evolving humankind. These Kulankaras,^[6] as they are called in the Jain scriptures, appeared at moments of crucial importance, and were the beacons along the pilgrim’s path of humanity. It was the Kulankaras who built society. On the basis of the materials available we may sketch the following picture of the history of humankind on earth:

Primitive humanity still understood little about nature mentally, but they could perceive nature’s phenomena, and they had to become aware that they had a meaning - for things not understood can give rise to fear. Fear can only be destroyed by knowledge and understanding, and this is what the Kulankaras provided. The first Kulankara taught them that the sun and the moon where natural phenomena of which there was no reason to fear. The second Kulankara taught that planets as well - of the existence of which humanity have apparently become aware even that long ago– belong to the normal things of nature; and that there was no need to fear them or pray to them. Subsequent Kulankaras made sure that wild animals - once they had come into existence - were limited to particular habitats, and thus were less threatening to people. Later, people were inspired to live in separate communities, each of which had their own boundaries, but which co-existed peacefully. Perhaps this is how the tribal form of society was born, succeeding more nomadic periods. In the next stage smaller units were formed, notably families, and regulated attention and care for children were developed. A Kulankara appeared who taught the people to take care of their children. Humanity was told how to build ships and navigate on rivers, and to make and use household utensils. Later still the people were instructed to avoid incest and told that it would be better to marry outside one’s own family. Until then it was customary for brothers and sisters to form couples.

The last and seventh or fourteenth Kulankara ^[7] of this downward half-cycle was Nabhirāja, who taught how to distinguish between different kinds of fruits - healthy ones and poisonous ones. Does this mean that the people knew the difference instinctively until then? It was also he who instructed us how to make clay pots.

Nabhirāja must have been an extraordinary and influential personality. He was an example of spiritual wealth and beauty. He was an inspirer and supporter of artistic development. He was the “grandson” of Pratiśruti, who was also the first Manu,^[8] from the essence of which all other Manus sprang. Manus are those who open and close evolutionary cycles. Nabhirāja was (even though there had been a number of Manus in between) the son of the son of the original Manu who initiated collective humanity, which means that he represents the human development of a minor cycle within a larger cycle. Because he was the last one of a series of seven (or fourteen), he was also the one who closed a larger cycle, it seems.^[9] After this preceding phase of human evolution the Tīrthamkaras could appear on the scene and do their work. People had already learned to work for themselves, physically as well as mentally; the earth had become a “work planet.”^[10] From then on, humans could not only take care of themselves, physically as well as mentally, but also made the choice to pursue “good works,” which means purposely undertaking spiritual works and making an effort to liberate themselves from illusions.

The worldly Rishabha

Nabhirāja married Queen Marudevī, and they had a beautiful son who was as strong as a bull, and therefore they gave him the name of Rishabha.He had descended into his mother’s womb at an auspicious astrological time. He was also born under the same constellation. All important events in his life took place when the moon was in the same zodiacal sign.

This splendid baby was destined to become the first Tīrthamkara of our great cycle.^[11] Before he was born, his mother - just like the mother of the other Tīrthamkaras and the Buddha, and as also reported from other cultures around the world - had a number of noble, excellent, blessed, promising and happy Great Dreams,^[12]fourteen or sixteen in total.^[13] First she dreamt of a strong bull - and that is also the meaning of the name Rishabha;^[14] and then of an elephant, a lion, a lotus pond, and a divine vehicle (vimāna), of smokeless fire, etc. Of course all these dreams have a meaning. Apart from the dream types of Freud, Jung and Adler etc., which are the products of suppressed desires or are of an archetypal nature - Indian literature also distinguishes the prophetic dream, and the true dream. In addition, twenty Great Dreams are described in Indian literature,^[15] which are related to divine matters. To this class belong the dreams of Queen Marudevī and those of the physical mothers of other divine incarnations.

Rishabha consciously entered a physical womb with compassion and, due to the merit he had earned in earlier lives, incarnated to help humankind and all living beings. Out of compassion he even took birth without causing pain to mother. Before and after their birth they are compassionate by nature. Jain literature mentions that the divinity Indra knows when a powerful soul is coming to human life six months before such a soul enters into the womb of his mother-to-be. Nature and the environment change and become of extremely pleasant character. No poverty and no unhappiness prevail, and their birth brings fulfillment all around the region. They themselves are born in families where all worldly things have reached their highest fulfillment, i.e. in royal families. For the time being all suffering of the surrounding people disappears. Before he incarnated on earth he had lived 33 eons in a heavenly realm as a celestial being of very high nature. The birth of Tīrthamkaras is surrounded by miraculous events. The positions in time to which the Jains assign their Tīrthamkaras are expressed in astronomical numbers of sometimes quadrillions of years, which no doubt have a hidden meaning. But in any case, Rishabha lived more than 6½ million years ago. This seems at first glance absurd from a western point of view, but if we take into account that the teachings given here describe the entire development of human culture and cultural history of our own human race from its early youth, that figure appears is so very strange. The dominant scientific opinion in the West is that humans have been a species distinct from their physically nearest relatives for a few million years.

The subsequent Tīrthamkaras lived later of course, but succeeded each other ever more rapidly. The space between the 23rd and 24th was only 250 years. The 22nd lived more than 5000 years ago, and the 20th almost 870,000 years (according to the Hindu timescale of yugas).

Rishabha married two beautiful girls; one gave him 98 or 100 sons ^[16] and one daughter, the other one son and one daughter. His oldest son was Bharata, who later, when Rishabha withdrew from the world to lead a spiritual life, succeeded him as king. The actual name of the country which in the West we call India is Bhārata - as we can see on every postage stamp and banknote - the land of the great lineage that was initiated by Bharata, son of Rishabha.

Rishabha lived at a time of transition. Old traditions were already fading away and new values had not yet been established.^[17] The nomadic way of life had largely ceased to exist, but the family structure and a balanced social structure had not yet been fully established. The population slowly increased in numbers, and food and material resources which nature provided were running short. This resulted in an increasing desire to acquire and possess things, and with that the phenomenon we call crime was born. Therefore it became necessary to formulate social and political codes of conduct, and this resulted in a penal code. The Kulankara Nabhirāja had already introduced the state form and Rishabha was, at the people’s request, crowned as the first king. The capital of his kingdom is said to have been situated at Ayodhyā. Rishabha formulated a penal code for the wellbeing of his people. This was the beginning of legislation and jurisprudence. He initiated a fourfold system of punishment. The first effort to bring someone back to the right path was: to shout loudly at the wrongdoer: “Ha! Ma! Dhik!”; the second was limitation of freedom of movement; the third was imprisonment, and finally mental torture by outcasting or ignoring them. There was no physical torture. All this was only meant to induce criminals to make the choice to henceforth lead the right way of life. Capital punishment of course does not fit within this frame. The intention was to make a person to see the light, first by persuasion, and then possibly by means of pressure or punishment. These laws were introduced out of love and compassion for all beings. If these are absent, such laws - as we know too well from past and present practices - can lead to terrible escalations. A head without a heart brings only misery. Ideally any law enforcement should be in strict harmony with the workings of karma. Finally, in the event of larger-scale conflict the authorities were allowed to sow discord among the enemy. According to some, this scheme was only implemented under the reign of Bharata.

The next great task for Rishabha was to organize food supply, shelter and protection for the people. He therefore introduced agriculture, armed defense, and the use of fire to prepare food.

Education

He paid much attention to education. He introduced the institution of teaching and taught seventy-two arts to men and sixty-four to women. The first art was writing, the most important one was number theory and calculation, and the last art was that of the knowledge of omens. He also introduced a hundred professional skills and five professions. The main classification of the arts and sciences was:

1. the use of weapons
2. writing
3. agriculture
4. education
5. trade
6. art and architecture

In addition he taught certain specialties to his children. He taught economics to Bharata, astrology to Bāhubali, and to the others he taught social sciences, the art of dancing, esthetics, mathematics and alphabetic script - and this is said to have been the first alphabet in history. In terms of social status and legal rights men and women were equal.

It seems shocking that this greatest advocate of nonviolence and compassionate love of all ages actually brought the art of weaponry to humankind, though only for defensive, not offensive purposes. Would the world not have been served better by the completely pacifistic ideal of weaponlessness? Jains may say that all the worldly teaching of Rishabha were given by him before he became a monk, and that as a monk he had to suffer all the karmas of the first part of his life. But it must also be true that the psychology of humanity had already reached a point on the downward cycle where separateness, jealousy and enmity played a role, and that in that context warfare became unavoidable. This shows parallels with the description Plato gives of the ideal state, in which people occupy themselves with grilling acorns and live a life of contentment. But as soon as people start to want more than they need, scarcity emerges, along with, the necessity of agriculture, of territorial borders and therefore territorial defense. Rishabha too was of necessity a servant of the cyclic law of nature.

Rishabha was the first to describe the caste system, according to Jainism. Like Plato many millennia later, he already categorized human beings into groups or castes on the basis of their natural tendencies and skills. Kings, like himself, defenders of the country and protectors were called warriors (kshatra-dharis, i.e. umbrella-bearers,^[18] kshatriyas) - inner as well as outer warriors fighting for the victory of the true and the just were meant. Then there was the commercial sector, and that of the artisans and laborers.^[19] This division into castes was descriptive and was not determined by birth. That happened when the system became deformed, and this is how it is even practiced today in Hinduism - with so much misery as a result. Rishabha wanted an efficient division of labor based on the capabilities and accomplishments of the people, as this would lead to economic prosperity. He himself taught the use of weapons and the art of war. He was a real kshatriya. He traveled in person to all corners of his kingdom and encouraged the people to engage in trade and commercial activities, and thus the caste of traders, vaisyas, was established. He taught that everyone should devote himself to his or her task according to the qualities of his nature and in service to others. All these people together formed the caste of kśudras, now known as śudras. There was no superiority of one caste over the other. All were equal before the law and for society. According to the Jains the Brahmin cast was only established later.

Thus king Rishabha initiated changes in every field, and made sure that the people were living intelligent and happy lives. He was the first king of the hoary past and was a guide and source of inspiration for his people. He ruled in a just and charitable manner, never felt any evil in his heart for anyone, but, on the contrary, was motivated only by true love and compassion for all. According to the sources we have today, his age was an age of enlightenment, in which humanity was taught arts and sciences for the first time in history - and the benefits have been reaped by everyone on this earth, of all cultures and in all times, including our own. Rishabha led a just and stable government for a long period. Until today the professions he initiated have remained the permitted professions for Jains until today: that of the military, of writing, of the agriculturist, tradesman and artisan.

The spiritual Rishabha

But other things were waiting for him. Until then he had occupied himself with the material and moral well-being of humankind. But by nature he was spiritually inclined, and in his character he had always shown himself to be but little attached to worldly matters. His next assignment, due to his accumulated Tīrthamkara karma, was to work for the spiritual perfection of humankind. But to be able to fulfill his task, he himself had to undergo the most thorough spiritual training by withdrawing from the world and practicing ascetism, so that the unstained and omniscient ^[20] nature of his soul could finally express itself to its full, unlimited extent.

The story goes that, as had been the case with so many in history, something had to happen in the life to wake him up. In the Buddhist tradition the eyes of Prince Siddhārtha were opened to the needs of the world by his direct encounter with old age, disease and death, and Gandhi would probably never had become the liberator of his people if the South African authorities hadn’t thrown him ignominiously off a train for of not having a white skin. A similar event was to happen to King Rishabha.

One spring day many courtiers and citizens were attending court.. They were watching a performance by an excellent female dancer. Her name was Nilānjala, the “Blue-eyed Beauty.” The public was completely obsessed with her. Rishabha, too, was completely absorbed in watching the performance. Suddenly, in the middle of her dance activity the dancer collapsed, and her body disappeared from the stage. But immediately she was replaced by another dancer so that the public didn’t even notice what had happened, and the dance continued without interruption. But by his clairvoyant knowledge Rishabha saw through the trick, and suddenly became fully aware of the transitoriness of daily life. He understood the meaninglessness of the world and all its bustle. From then on he strongly desired to realize the reality of the spirit instead of being absorbed again and again in the unreal, transient, worldly life.

He decided to divest himself of all earthly things. He gave his kingdom to his oldest son Bharata and to his other sons, and decided to live the life of a śramana. Like all later Tīrthamkaras and also Prince Siddhārtha, he renounced all his jewels and other possessions as well as his head of hair. He sat down under an Aśoka tree and took the vow of complete renunciation of the world; and the same was done by 4000 followers. The hardships which befell them from that moment on were so heavy that only Rishabha himself was able to persevere. After a short period of ascetic practice and meditation the followers had all given up. Many of them began their own school, in which they emphasized a more moderate approach rather than the path of extreme ascetism. Thus 363 religions were born - and these are, it is said, all the religions the world has known since that time.

We could perhaps regard this as a formalized overestimation of themselves by the Jains, who want to see themselves as the origin as everything, and all other religious and philosophical currents as derivatives which have only sprouted from the failures of Rishabha‘s followers. In that case such a doctrine would only promote separateness, arrogance and conflict. The deeper meaning is that there once existed (and still exists - because we still live in the atmosphere of Rishabha’s influence) - a universal or esoteric religion-philosophy-science, which, according to the character and phase of evolution of the various peoples on earth has been translated into exoteric systems on order to continually reach out a helping hand to humanity and promote its cultural self-development, until humankind is ready to stand face to face with the ultimate, unveiled reality. That is why Rishabha and Manu embody ideas which, for all wise people of whatever name all over the earth, represent the original source of inspiration and highest example. One of Rishabha’s followers was his grandson Marichi, who then “failed,” but who after many rebirths in the eons to follow was finally born as Mahāvīra, who became the 24th Tīrthamkara - now only some 25 centuries ago.

Buddhas and Tīrthamkaras

There are many similarities between the stories about the Tīrthamkaras and the one about Siddhārtha who became Gautama Buddha. All were born as kshatra dharis (kshatriyas) of the highest order (princes) and they pursued a normal life until they were almost 30 years old, and a number of them married and had children. Then, when the right moment had come, they left their parental environment and withdrew into the forest for ascetic training, reaching ever higher realizations. Finally they sat under a tree and in deep meditation fought their last battle against illusion to arise as an omniscient Jina (conqueror) or Buddha (awakened one) in the early morning, thus achieving the highest enlightenment. Like Gautama Buddha, who lived so many ages later, Rishabha then waited some time before he started teaching. First they had to find pupils of such a high level of realization that they would be able to benefit from their teacher. They introduced or restored and disseminated the dharma (the doctrine). Dharma in Jainism also means “the inherent quality of the soul.” So the teachings of Jains and Buddhists show many similarities. But there are differences as well. One of these is the Jain emphasis on asceticism - which in the later stages takes very extreme forms - as a necessary condition to counter all obstructive karmas and to reach liberation and enlightenment. Prince Siddhārtha, too, who was to become the Buddha - who lived in the period when the śramana religion of the 23rd Tīrthamkara, Parśvanāth, Mahāvīra’s predecessor, was widely practiced - first took refuge in the śramana tradition: he abandoned his jewels and his head of hair, and practiced extreme forms of asceticism. He became a disciple of the Jain monk Pihitāsrava,^[21] and meditated and did penance in the forest together with other ascetics. But at a certain moment, when he had lost all the strength of his body and mind, he accepted a little bit of food, and concluded that this extreme asceticism would not bring him the desired result of bodhi (enlightened wisdom). He was no longer accompanied by his fellow ascetics, who now looked upon him as someone who had failed. Eventually he sat down under a bodhi tree and, after three days and nights, reached the highest enlightenment which is possible at present for a human in this cycle. In the beginning the Buddha was doubtful whether he would be able to find any disciples who would be able to understand his teachings. He went to a location in the Deer Park near Varanasi (Sarnath). There, according to the Buddhists, he met five ascetics, and they immediately recognized that he had indeed reached enlightenment and became his first disciples. The Buddhist view seems to conflict with that of the Jains. The Jains say that Gautama has indeed failed by accepting food. Nevertheless a comparable story (symbolically) is told about Rishabha. Long after his followers had given up the path of penance, Rishabha fasted for six months, and then walked daily for six months, and then, after a year of fasting, he entered - at an astrologically very auspicious moment - the city named Hastinapura, where he was received with much respect by a king called Shrenik. He offered Rishabha some sugarcane juice in the right way as it should be given to a monk, and he accepted; and this was the first food Rishabha as a monk took on his six-month long wanderings. After that he accepted it regularly once a day. Even in our time the day on which this happened is regarded as an auspicious day by Jains.

Rishabha continued his meditations and penances until he sat down under a tree. One early morning he achieved union with his highest Self, and the same moment was liberated of all the karmas which had still been attached to him until then. Now he was an enlightened one, a conqueror of all passions. The Kalpa Sūtra - of which only the Śvetambara version written in the 5th century AD is now available, but is ascribed to Badrabāhu Svāmī ^[22] who lived in the 4th century BC, before the split between Śvetambaras and Digambaras - describes Rishabha’s life from the moment he renounces the world as follows:

“On reaching the most excellent Aśoka tree, he ordered the palanquin to be placed beneath it. Then he descended from it. Then, with his own hand, he took off his wreaths, fineries and ornaments. Having taken them off, he pulled out his head of hair in four handfuls, and then took food without water only once in three days … The Arhat ^[23] Rishabha of Kośala gave up the care of his body for a thousand years and exposed it to hardships like an unfurled flag. During this period, whenever he encountered whatever hardship, he bore it in all respects, forgiving it, overlooking it, believing it to be no hardship, however severe, either caused by divine wrath, by men, animals or the forces of nature or any other adverse agents. Then Arhat Rishabha became homeless; circumspect in movement, circumspect in words, circumspect in desires … restrained in mind, restrained in words, restrained in physical activities; guarding his thoughts, guarding his words, guarding his physical activities, guarding his organs of sense, guarding his chastity; without anger, without pride, without attachment, desisted from everything, freed from compulsion; without ego, without possessions, with the tie of worldly bondage cut, free from any stain of worldliness.

“He became liberated by giving up suffering … unattached like the wind, pure at heart like the water in autumn, clean like a lotus leaf, with sense organs withdrawn like a tortoise, solitary like a rhino’s horn, free like the birds … Arhat Rishabha of Kośala had no more limitations as to objects, senses, space and time. … With equal feelings towards excreta and sandalwood, with equal attitude towards hay, jewels, clay and gold, indifferent to pleasure and pain, free from limitations in this world as well as in the next, without hankering for life or death, destined to overcome mundane life, born to terminate the bondage of karma - thus he spent his time. With supreme knowledge, supreme faith and supreme conduct … with extreme valor, highest uprightness, dexterity and patience, with utmost caution and utmost satisfaction, with the highest intelligence and highest truth, restraint and penance. Arhat Rishabha spent a thousand years in meditation of the Self on the road to liberation, which was the duly earned outcome of right conduct. Thereon … near the city of Purimātāla, in a park named Śatakamukha, under the shadow of an excellent Nyagrodha tree, taking food without water [but Digambaras deny this] once in four days … [at an auspicious lunar conjunction] … while in meditation, he became the master of omniscient knowledge and faith, infinite, unsurpassed, unobstructed, complete and full. Thus the Arhat Rishabha became the venerable, the victor, omniscient, all-knowing, all-observing; he knew all the categories of gods, men and non-divine beings in all worlds; he knew and saw the conditions of all living beings in all the worlds - where they come from, whither they go, where they stay, when they slip and where they are born; he knew and saw their ideas, the thoughts in their minds, their intake, their doings, their open deeds as well as their secret deeds. Being the most venerable, from whom nothing could be kept secret, he knew and saw in all respects the state of mind, words and deeds, of all living beings in all the worlds” (Kalpa Sūtra, verses 210-212).

Once he had reached enlightenment he decided to guide all living beings towards the spiritual path. He gave - as did the Buddha later - a “first sermon,” which was not an actual sermon, but a nonverbal communication which could only be understood by ganadharas (“spiritual intellectuals”), who translated it into understandable language for the others. This event was attended not only by humans, but also by celestial beings and animals, and the first “sermon” contained the essence of all his teachings. He said: “The aim of life is not indulgence in sense pleasures but self-denial and self-sacrifice for the wellbeing of others and the Self. Life is not for attachment but it is for detachment for the sake of self-realization. Don’t fall a victim to instincts and impulses. But make efforts towards the realization of the Self [full conscious awareness of what you really are]” (Kalghatgi p. 23). According to Digambaras he did not actually “say” anything at all, but in his selflessness he only murmured “OM,” bringing great ease and relaxation to those who attended him and inwardly understood his teaching. This sound could be perceived by humans as well as animals, but could not be exactly understood. Hence, ganadharas (chief disciples) came quickly to listen to him. They asked questions and he answered.

Rishabha founded four orders: that of male śramanas, female śramanis (monks and nuns) and a male and female lay order (śravakās and śravikās respectively).

The eternal religion

The Tīrthamkara Rishabha went from place of place proclaiming the eternal religion of nonviolence and nonattachment. He taught the seven fundamental metaphysical-ethical principles (tattvas):

1. living substance, i.e. jīva (soul)
2. non-living substance (matter, pudgala)
3. the influx of karmas
4. bondage
5. the stopping of the influx of karmas
6. the removal of accumulated karmas
7. the ultimate goal of existence: moksha/nirvāna

He also taught that the universe is eternal, that it was never created, and can never perish.

Here too we see strong similarities with Buddhism. In his very first sermon Buddha taught the essence of all things - the four noble truths:

1. There is suffering (compare: bondage in Jainism)
2. there is a cause of suffering (compare: attraction of karmas)
3. it is possible to remove that cause (compare: non-attraction and removal of karmas)
4. there is a path which leads to salvation

Both Jainism and Buddhism reject the idea of a creative God in the western sense. There is no “Being” which is above all that exists and which creates the universe; nor, as in Hinduism, a trinity, which creates, supports and destroys the universe. But Jainism and Buddhism recognize numerous heavenly beings. Jainism describes them in detail, and except for those in the higher heavens, who are all equal, as arranged in hierarchical orders, including divinities which are the rulers over and performers of natural forces. Together they are the natural forces and intelligentsia of nature. The divine is the core essence of every being wherever it finds itself in the universe, and every being can realize this core and essence, and by purification bring the qualities of the soul to full manifestation.

Rishabha also taught that the whole universe, with the exception of the living soul, consists of indivisible, smallest units (anu, i.e. atoms) and that all existing forms came into existence by combination of atoms. Most contemporary scientists of our days will endorse this idea. This notion, and Rishabha’s doctrine that the universe is divided into a dualism of life and not-life, seem to differ from the ideas found in Theosophy and Buddhism. Truth itself, though, is of course universal and is independent of and unstained by any religious or philosophical system. All the real essential meanings of all human verities will ultimately be reconcilable. There is but one Truth, but there are many paradoxes which can only be fully grasped by fully enlightened ones. Buddhism teaches that no separateness exists in the universe - duality will finally prove to be an illusion. Buddhism, like Advaita Hinduism, does not support an ultimate and irreducible duality in the universe. Apparent duality rises from the One showing itself to our mind from its spiritual and material sides, which are relative to each other. Both are infinite. How could there be room for two infinites? Both are the same in essence - how else could these two aspects work together so closely? How could matter attach itself to the Soul if both cannot recognize each other on the basis of their unique essence, answering to the same laws? My humble intelligence at least is unable to answer these questions satisfactorily. In our day, the spiritual teachings of Theosophy insist that such a thing as “non-living” or “non-life” does not exist. Every atom, every subatomic particle, including those of subtler, (for us and our mechanical instruments) imperceptible phases of matter, every unit of energy, every planet, solar system, galaxy, every entity whatsoever, is alive, and is composed of a core of life, called atom (anu), which means that all are centers of consciousness, atoms of consciousness, one with the All. But there is a difference between “dead” and “non-living.” Even infinitesimal subatomic “particles” are, according to Theosophical teachings, subject to the process of incarnation and excarnation of their souls, which thus always leave behind a dead vehicle.^[24] Though abstract entities such as space and time, motion and non-motion may be regarded as non-living - as Rishabha and the Jains did and do (even though such abstract entities can only be recognized by the grace of conscious entities) - my personal mind is unable to conceive of lifeless matter which even in its deepest essence differs from life.

“Then, on the exhaustion of his karma … sitting on the top of Mount Astapada, in the presence of 10,000 monks… in the early part of the day, in meditative posture, he passed away, went beyond the bounds of karma, was uplifted after having left the world, cut asunder the tie of birth-old age-death, and became perfect, enlightened and liberated, the concluder, and the terminator of all misery” (Kalpa Sūtra 227).

The other 23 Tīrthamkaras

At fixed times after Rishabha came the other 23 Tīrthamkaras,^[25]and each has virtually the same life history and tasks. Each of them ended his existence on earth definitely and for ever, and all did so in the same way. All of them preached and developed the same doctrine in agreement with the needs of humanity in its particular stage of development in their time. They appeared in the fourth phase (of the six) of the downward half-cycle, in which suffering became slowly dominant over joy - whereas Rishabha had come at the end of the third phase. In Hindu terms this period is comparable with the krita or satya yuga of our present cycle of human development. It was followed by ever darker eras, and finally by the present, darkest age known as kali yuga, which began with the death of the Hindu avatar Krishna. This event coincided with the 22nd Tīrthamkara, Arishtanemi (or Lord Nemi(nāth)). Shortly after the last Tīrthamkara, Mahāvīra, a few centuries before the birth of Christ, the fifth phase of the downward cycle began, in which suffering and decadence prevail but which is not yet the darkest phase.

Of the nineteen Tīrthamkaras who came after Rishabha, not much more is generally known than the period in which they lived, and where they were born. But more details can be found in the Jain Mahāpurāna. All of them have their own specific character, and we will find individual Jains as well as temples devoted to each of them, while in the same temples the others are usually represented by icons as well.

The Indus culture, known to us from archeological finds at Harappa, Mohenjo-daro and elsewhere in present-day Pakistan, scientifically dated as 5 - 7 thousand years before present, may have covered the period from the 21st to the 22nd Tīrthamkara. The name of the Tīrthamkara Arishtanemi (Nemināth) is mentioned in the Rigveda, which might suggest that the Vedas were written after Nemināth, and the Aryans (the noble ones) arrived around that period. But according to Dr. Jyoti Prasad Jain,^[26] the Vedic Aryans with their Brahmin culture entered the territories of what is now India and Pakistan in the period of the tenth Tīrthamkara, and this culture has since became more and more dominant. At the same time the term “Aryan” in Jainism does not refer to the above-mentioned Brahmin culture, but to all people in (at least the Indian part of) the world who follow religion (in contrast to the mlecchas, who don’t follow religion). In that sense an invasion of Aryans from the North would make no sense, and “Aryan” and “Dravid” (originally followers of the śramana (= Jain) tradition) would always have been coexisting concepts, and Aryans and Dravidians were both the original inhabitants of India.

From the 16th Tīrthamkara, Śantināth, on, Jainism is said to have existed uninterruptedly. Before him the periods in between were so large that religion was forgotten and had to be re-inspired from the beginning. The 20th, Munisuvrata, lived in the days of the Hindu avatara Rāma, i.e. at the end of the tretā yuga, over 870,000 years ago according to Hindu calculations. In those days Brahmanism and Jainism approached each other, it is said. This of course would not harmonize with the idea that the Vedic Aryans only entered India after the 21st Tīrthamkara. The Hindus have their famous epic about Rāma, the Rāmāyana, but the Jains have a less-known version of the epic, which they claim is the original one, on the basis of which the author (Valmiki) built the famous Hindu epic.

The 21st Tīrthamkara was Nami, and he is said to have influenced the writing of the Upanishads within the Vedic tradition. The 22nd Tīrthamkara was Nemi(nāth), as said. He was a cousin of Krishna, and thus lived just before the beginning of the kali yuga or dark age in which we live at present according to the Hindus, a little over 5100 years ago. It is said that Krishna had great respect for his cousin and his emphasis on non-violence, vegetarianism and opposition to animal sacrifice. Krishna once asked his cousin why he himself always failed to renounce the world as Nemi did. Nemi answered that this was not Krishna’s task at that time - but that in the future, during the next upward half-cycle, he would be one of the Tīrthamkaras. Nemi is highly regarded in both Hindu and Jain scriptures.

The last but one Tīrthamkara of our downward half-cycle was Parśvanāth. He was born in 877 BC in Varanasi and left the world to enter nirvana in 777 BC. He is always depicted with a hood formed by a seven (or more) headed serpent.^[27] He tried to purify asceticism from illegitimate practices such as self-torture. He acquired many followers,and his religion remained very influential during subsequent centuries. As said, Prince Siddhārtha, who later became the Buddha, was also strongly inspired and influenced by Parśvanāth’s tradition. For six years the future Buddha followed severe traditional śramanic ascetic practices in the forest. The last and most generally known Tīrthamkara was Vardhamāna Mahāvīra, said to have been born on March 30, 599 BC. He was an elder contemporary of Buddha, and they both lived in the same region of Bihar. There are no indications that they ever met personally, but in the Buddhist canon Mahāvīra is repeatedly mentioned, being referred to as Nirgrantha or Niggantha (= nude sage) Nātaputta. Much more is known about Mahāvīra, including his personal life, than of the earlier Tīrthamkaras. He has been a source of inspiration for 26 centuries, and will probably remain one for many to come, for Jains as well as others.^[28] This book is about his teachings and those of his predecessors.