Dr. Christopher Key Chapple
Jaina Convention
Federation of Jain Associations In North America
Engaging The Jain Soul
 Dr. Christopher Chapple Dr. Christopher Chapple is the Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles. He served as Asst. Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies of World Religions and taught Sanskrit, Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He has published several books including 'Karma and Creativity' and 'Nonviolence to Animals, earth and self in Asian Traditions’. |
The Jain tradition challenges many traditional categories and conceptions regarding the nature of the soul. First, it exhibits a radical pluralism. Innumerable souls take seeming countless forms. Second, it suggests a radical egalitarianism. Each soul has endured countless births in a variety of different forms of life. Each human knows innately how it feels to be an animal, how to be a member of the other gender, how to feel empathy even with the earth itself. Third, this tradition evokes a rugged individualism. Each of the Tirthankaras forged a life of privation through which they gained great spiritual strength, serving as a model for later practitioners.
If we examine the three soul qualities of Jainism: pluralism, egalitarianism, and individualism, we confront a religious system quite markedly different from those that emphasize monism (such as Brahmanical Hinduism) or monotheism (Judaism and Islam) or trinitarianism (Christianity) or even harmony (Confucianism and Taoism). Furthermore, unlike Buddhism, Jainism affirms the existence of a soul. How then, can one develop an interpretation or hermeneutical approach to Jainism so that it can make sense in terms of dialogue with other religious traditions?
American psychology, as articulated by William James in his Varieties of Religious Experience (1902), has been characterized as both pragmatic and spiritual. Though he wrote during the career of Freud and Jung, James did not emphasize the role of sexuality or the importance of symbol. His narrative of the "sick soul" serves as a paradigm for coming to grips with the ups and downs of life through religious narrative. James tells the story of mystics such as George Fox who through their personal struggle developed new religious communities. James speaks of the role of conversion in moving the individual from the unremarkable to the spiritual, just as years later Philip Kapleau narrates the transformative power of satori in the lives of Zen Buddhists. For Jains, this would be readily recognizable in the experience of awakening [samyak drsti) wherein concerns of the humdrum world disappear, liberating one into an extended moment of pure energy, consciousness, and bliss. For James, as for the Jains, this can result in an utterly new approach to life, a restructuring of priorities. This process might also be recognizable to those familiar with Alcoholics Anonymous, which draws from William James, Carl Jung, and the ideas of Indian philosophy. In all these systems, a momentary pause in the normal state of affairs can create great opportunities for change.
A person inspired by a transformative spiritual experience is likely to change his or her everyday personal behavior. For the awakened Jain, a strong resolve might arise to become more mindful not to create harm in thought, word, or deed. For the Buddhist, there might be a deep resolve to continue the practice of meditation that resulted in a moment of enlightenment. For George Fox, the founder of Quakerism, speaking truth, gathering people in silence, and enduring long bouts in prison for his beliefs come about after his experience of the inner light. An alcoholic, having seen the harm caused by drinking, seeks others to support his or her sobriety. Each of these individuals will most likely take great care not to offend others, to apologize for wrong-doings, and to ask for forgiveness. The Jain tradition of Paryusan includes contacting all one's friends and relatives asking pardon for any wrong committed, intentionally or unintentionally.
A renewed sense of connectivity with others arises as one enters into the spiritual journey. For Jains, this requires care in all inter-personal and animal relationships, to be enacted through adherence to the vows of nonviolence, truthfulness, not stealing, sexual restraint, and nonpossession. Quakers seek counsel from one another when making decisions and adhere to nonviolent pacifism. Their resolve to end slavery and their work for the liberation of women changed the course of history. Buddhists emphasize the importance of community (sangha) and of individual effort and responsibility. Similarly, an important part of the recovery system followed by members of Alcoholics Anonymous entails daily contact by phone with a friend in recovery, weekly meetings, and diligence in making amends for past bad behavior.
Gathering people in silence, and enduring long bouts in prison for his beliefs came about after his experience of the inner light. An alcoholic, having seen the harm caused by drinking, seeks others to support his or her sobriety. Each of these individuals will most likely take great care not to offend others, to apologize for wrong-doings, and to ask for forgiveness. The Jain tradition of Paryusan includes contacting all one's friends and relatives asking pardon for any wrong committed, intentionally or unintentionally.
A renewed sense of connectivity with others arises as one enters into the spiritual journey. For Jains, this requires care in all inter-personal and animal relationships, to be enacted through adherence to the vows of nonviolence, truthfulness, not stealing, sexual restraint, and nonpossession. Quakers seek counsel from one another when making decisions and adhere to nonviolent pacifism. Their resolve to end slavery and their work for the liberation of women changed the course of history. Buddhists emphasize the importance of community (sangha) and of individual effort and responsibility. Similarly, an important part of the recovery system followed by members of Alcoholics Anonymous entails daily contact by phone with a friend in recovery, weekly meetings, and diligence in making amends for past bad behavior.
The sense of community and personal responsibility in these traditions leads to the development of not only a normative ethics that may be universally applied, but it also leads in many cases to the cultivation of a personal ethics in keeping with one's individual tastes and inclinations. All these systems would agree to the principle of the Golden Rule: treat others, as you would like to be treated. In Jainism and in Buddhism, this concept of "others" extends beyond the human realm to animals and in the case of Jainism to plants and insects. Non-violence requires a careful consideration of how one's actions affect not only the human order. In traditional Jainism, Vegetarianism, periodic fasting, vows of stability (limiting the extent of one's travel), and in some instances the donning of a face mask and the use of broom to sweep one's path constitute adaptive ethical responses that exceed what would normally be expected under the general requirements of normative ethics. Particularly for laypersons, the application of the Jain ethical code requires imagination and creativity. Jains in the pharmaceutical industry, for instance, have developed animal-friendly testing to minimize harm and suffering. Many Jains in America, aware of the peril to the well-being of animals caused by factory farming, have eschewed dairy products that otherwise would be consumed in more cow-friendly India. The list of ethical issues to be considered in Jainism includes topics not generally taken into account when thinking about the "good life" in Europe and America.
Jainism's unique cosmology gives cause for Jains to think deeply about their role in such environmental issues as industrial pollution and global warming. Jains state that the waters and the air contain life, in addition to the living creatures that dwell therein. Hence, pollution deemed harmful in either element must be mitigated, not only for the sake of human health, but also for the sake of the life that thrives in air and water. Similarly, global warming will not only cause great disruption for humans but will displace and perhaps decimate countless species, the most famous at present being the polar bear. Given human complicity and causality in regard to climate change, Jains would have a double incentive for taking action: protection of humans and protection of other life forms.
Carl Jung suggested that we live in a world of symbols, that the task of being human involves a quest in search of the imago dei, the image of God within us. Jung developed a system of analysis that uses dreams and symbols to bring the human being to a state of individuation, a balance point where the recesses of the unconscious become known to consciousness, allowing a person to move into the world from a place of self-understanding. In Jainism, the contents of the unconscious might be regarded as karma, and the path of analysis for a Jain would entail assessing and correcting the accretions of karma. The ethical life of a Jain might be seen as similar to the path of the Jungian hero who seeks self-understanding for the betterment of not only oneself but of the world at large. To know one's motivations gives one power over one's actions. Jainism suggests that by applying nonviolent principles when making decisions, large or small, one imitates and takes on the attitude of the great religious sages.
The Jain definition of soul puts life in the recesses of the earth, in the waters of lakes and oceans, in the very air itself. In order to preserve the well-being of our own soul, Jainism suggests that steps must be taken to protect the lives of all beings. With disregard and perhaps intentional harm, karma accrues that deprives the human being of energy, of happiness, even consciousness itself. By respecting life in its human and non-human forms, the soul embarks on a steady course of self-purification that benefits all beings.