Prof. Dr. Lawrence A. Babb
I have provided the foregoing brief sketch of Jain doctrine in order to introduce what seems to me to be the central analytical problem presented by Jainism to the student of religious culture. At Jainism's highest levels, by which I mean Jainism as embodied in its most important sacred writings, we are dealing with a soteriology, not a way of life. The question is, how can such a soteriology be woven into a way of life? This question is given special force and interest because of this tradition's extreme emphasis on nonviolence and asceticism.
It is clear that faithful adherence to Jainism's highest ethic, which is nonviolence, necessarily means a radical attenuation of interactions with the world, and in this sense nonviolence and asceticism can be seen as two sides of the same coin.[1]] In the last analysis, all actions - eating, movement, whatever - inevitably result in harm to other beings. The behavior of men and women who are not Jains creates the most damage. The meat eaters of this world, the fighters of wars, the butchers, the choppers of trees, and so on leave a vast trail of carnage wherever they go. Observant lay Jains create havoc, but less havoc. Restrictions apply to them - restrictions of diet, occupation, and other kinds too. As a result, they, at least, confine the harm they do to the smaller and less highly organized forms of life, as will be seen in Chapter One. Jain ascetics create the least harm of all. Theirs is a manner of life maximally governed and restricted - or, to put it in the obverse, minimally free. The many rules and regulations that govern their lives ensure that minimal harm is done to other beings, even the most microscopic.
Given all this, it is clear that from the standpoint of Jain teachings the more restrictions to which conduct is subject the better. Moreover, it is also clear that to the degree that such restrictions are applied, the individual's sphere of activity becomes limited and his or her aperture of interaction with the world and other beings becomes closed. At the ideal limit of the application of this principle we find a complete cessation of all activity and of interactions with matter and other beings. This is in fact what liberation is. Liberated beings are entirely devoid of attachments and aversions (that is, they are what Jains call vitrag) and exist in a state of total isolation. In their turn, those who seek liberation - that is, those who are followers of the Jinas - should try to approximate this state of affairs as best they can, given the many existing limitations of their power to do so.
What place can there be for such a radically world-rejecting vision of the world in the lives of ordinary men and women? This is the crucial question in the study of Jainism as a cultural entity as opposed to a strategy for attaining liberation. For any radically world-rejecting religious tradition to succeed in the midst of the world's endeavors - that is, for it to exist as a reproducible social institution - there must be points of connection between the central values it affirms and the ends pursued by adherents who make their way in the world. Ascetics require the support and protection of those who are not ascetics, and this means that nonascetics must somehow be brought into the ambit of a wider tradition that encompasses the religious interests of those who do and those who do not renounce the world. In the particular case of Jainism, the tradition's highest values define a way of life suitable only for a mendicant elite - the monks and nuns - but at the same time this elite cannot exist without the support of lay communities. One of the most striking features of Jainism, as we shall see, is that the monastic elite is utterly dependent on the laity. Therefore, a Jain tradition in the fullest sense, as opposed to a mere soteriology, cannot be for mendicants alone; it must bring ascetics and their followers into a system of belief and practice that serves the religious interests of both. How can such a religious system "work" when asceticism is so central a value?
This book addresses this general problem.[2] It does so, however, within a special frame of reference. Our attention will be directed mainly to ritual, and especially to rituals of worship.[3] The advantage of this approach is that rites of worship provide a lens through which the very large question of worldly and otherworldly values in Jainism can be brought into a precise and manageable focus. It should not be imagined, moreover, that ritual is a peripheral aspect of the Jain traditions with which we shall be concerned. Rites of worship define one of the principal venues within which lay Jains of the image-worshiping groups actually come into contact with their religion. This being so, a focus on such ritual is one good way (certainly not the only way) to understand Jainism as a living tradition.
At the level of ritual the Svetambar Murtipujak tradition's commitment to otherworldly values is manifested in the form of a particular ritual pattern, namely, the veneration of ascetics. Above all else, as we shall learn, Jains worship ascetics. But to be committed to the worship of ascetics is to confront an inherent contradiction. The greater the ascetic's asceticism, the more worthy of worship he or she becomes. But the greater the asceticism, the less accessible is he or she to interaction with worshipers. The logic of the situation drives ineluctably toward the paradox that the most worshipable of beings is inaccessible to worship by, or to any other form of interaction with, beings remaining in the world. This is the problem of reconciling worldly and otherworldly values in Jainism as it is manifested in the ritual sphere.
As noted already, the Tirthankars are the supreme embodiment of Jain ideals. Because of this, they are the principal objects of worship in Jainism. But precisely because they exemplify the tradition's highest values-ascetic values - in the highest degree, they are, in the world of ritual logic, inaccessible to worship. Hence, the question with which this book began: What does it mean to worship entities of this sort? How, to expand on the question, does one deal with them in ritual? What can one gain by doing so? And what implications does worshiping such beings have for the worshiper's relations with the world? These are the questions addressed in the chapters to follow.
As we shall see, this approach is not as narrow as it might appear to be at first. It will lead us to the most general issues concerning the religious and also the social identities of lay Jains. Moreover, it will propel us beyond the boundaries of Jainism to questions concerning Jainism's place in the Indic religious world.
