Philosophical Foundations Of Jainism (An Introduction)

The search for origin of 'Bhāratīya Vidyā', ancient India's tradition of knowledge and learning, takes one to the age, which is much earlier than the period, believed by some scholars as the dividing line between Pre- Āryan and Post- Āryan periods of Indian history. However, when we look at the literature and the other sources of history of the Post-Āryan period, it can be placed into two categories—(a) Śramaṇa and (b) Brāhmaṇa. Although the former has gone through substantial evolutionary phases over the past two millenium or so, what we see today of the Śramaṇa tradition belongs to two streams—Jainism and Buddhism. Buddhism travelled to distant parts of the world and so it is known world over. But the Jain tradition, though it also extended to areas across India, as we know today, yet basically it confined itself to the land of Bhārata, where it continued to be practised as a living tradition throughout. So, not much is known about Jain tradition in larger parts of the world. The message and Icons of Lord Ṛṣabha and Mahāvīra, the Jain Tirthaṅkaras are not so familier to the people world over as they are of Buddha.

The philosophical tradition of Jainism has a lot to offer to the world. Concepts like Anekānta, Ahiṃsā, Aparigraha etc. could be of great help in containing the problems, that the humanity is facing today. Some scholars have done valuable research on Jain literature and philosophy and there seems to be a renewed interest in this area of study in recent times. This work is an attempt to present a broad outline of the subject to the wider sections of readership interested in Jain religion and philosophy.

Ācārya Mahāprajña
Taranagar (Rajasthan)
Dated: 02.02.2002