Today's video is sponsored by NordVPN. More on that later. Jainism. Some call it the world's most peaceful religion. Its monks are famous worldwide for their strict adherence to non-violence, going as far as to sweep the floor as they walk in order to avoid stepping on life forms, covering their mouths as to not swallow or breathe hot air on living creatures, and following a strict vegetarian diet that not only bans all meat, fish and eggs, but also potatoes.
So what is Jainism? Why is it considered the world's most peaceful religion? And why is this monk butt naked? Well, let's find out.
So this is the official symbol of Jainism. Yes, that is a swastika. We'll get to that eventually. Adopted in the 1970s, it represents the main beliefs of Jainism. I'm not going to explain what it means right now.
Rather, we'll fill this symbol in as we go along. A Jain is someone who accepts the teachings of the Tartankaras. Jainism comes from the word Jina. The Sanskrit word Jina means spiritual victor while Tartankara means maker of a fort. Tartankaras are the most important people in Jainism.
They have removed all of their attachments to the world and during their lifetimes have managed to break free from the cycle of rebirth and death that Jains believe keeps souls alive. trapped on earth. They then built a metaphorical fort across the river of rebirth so that others can follow them to liberation. In non-Jain histories, a guy called Mahavira tends to get labelled as the founder of Jainism, in the same way that Jesus does in Christianity.
For Jains, though, Mahavira, who predated the Buddha by a few decades, is just one in a long line of 24 Tirtankaras. Well, technically there have actually been an infinite number of Tirtankaras, but we just don't have time for that. Jains believe that they all preach the same eternal truths anyway. Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism all grew up together in ancient India.
The world that these three religious Buddis evolved in during the 6th and 5th centuries BCE was dominated by two ideas. The first of these is Samsara. When we die, our souls move to a new body and we are trapped in an endless cycle of death and rebirth.
Which is super not fun. The second idea was Karma. That actions, good or bad, affect your future rebirths. Right, so Jainism is quite complicated and the best way for us to understand it is to break it down into its 8 core ideas.
Number 1. The Three Jewels The Tartankaras preached that the path of freeing your soul was the three jewels. Those three jewels are. Right Faith Right faith is accepting the seven truths or tatvas of Jainism.
Ooh a list inside of another list. How exciting. Number 1. 1 Jiva all living things have an immortal, perfect soul 2 Ajiva non-living things have no soul 3 Ajrava doing actions drags karma to your soul 4 Bandha karma can stick to your soul 5 Samvara you can stop the influx of karma 6 Nirhara you can separate karma from your soul 7 Moksha separating karma from your soul 8 frees it from the cycle of rebirth and death.
The second jewel is right knowledge. Right faith is believing those seven truths. Right knowledge is truly understanding them.
You can do this by listening to Jain monks and reading Jain scriptures. And the last jewel is right behaviour. Right behaviour is using your faith and your knowledge to live a life that is good and does not harm others. You can do this by following the five great vows of Jainism, the Mahavaratas. I know, another list inside of a list.
Jane's like lists. A lot. The Mahaviratas are 1. Ahimsa 2. Satya 3. Asteya 4. Brahmakarya 5. Aparigraha Not being weighed down by possessions or unnecessary attachments to people, places or things.
These three jewels are seen as the only path to Moksha, freeing your soul. They are so important that they were incorporated into the official Jane symbol as those three dots there. Ahimsa is by far the most important of these vows and is strictly followed by all Janes.
So let's take a look at that. 2. Ahimsa Some Jain temples have an inscription above their doors, usually in Sanskrit but sometimes in English, that reads, Non-violence is the highest religion. Jains believe that if you want to achieve Moksha you need to stop harming other life forms. Jains believe that every living thing has a soul and can therefore feel pain and suffering.
Animal and even human rights are a fairly recent concept but Jains have granted something similar. All life, even microbes, for thousands of years. Ahimsa is the hand in the middle of the Jain symbol and the text there at the bottom reads, All life is bound together by mutual support and interdependence. 3. Anicantavala Life is complicated.
In order to understand it a little better, Jains came up with a many-pointed doctrine known as Anicantavala. No single viewpoint can be the only truth. Instead, the full truth must be built out of a bunch of different viewpoints.
There is a famous story in Jainism that helps get this point across. Five blind men go up to an elephant and each touch one part and attempt to describe what the creature looks like. The guy at the trunk says this thing must be as thick as a tree trunk.
While the guy at the tail says no, actually it's probably more like a rope. The guy at the belly claims it's a wall clearly. The other guy at the leg disagrees saying it's a pillar. And the last guy grabbing the ears thinks they're all fools because it's clearly a fan. The story then goes on to say that a nearby wise old man told them that they were all right, but only partially, and that all their points together could describe the whole elephant.
That wise old man? Albert Einstein. After explaining the elephant to the blind men, the wise old man bestowed more knowledge upon them.
He said, to never miss a Cogito video, make sure to click the subscribe button and ring the notification bell. And the blind men nodded, for they knew that this was great wisdom. Some modern Jains often see aniketanthavada as a part of ahimsa, as tolerance of other worldviews.
Especially when it comes to other religions. Number 4. Samsara and Moksha Samsara, the endless cycle of death and rebirth. For Jains, rebirth is not a good thing. Even a good rebirth, as say a prince or a potato, is sad. Because no matter how good your life is.
All happiness is temporary because it all ends in death. Yeah, it's a bummer. And there's only one cure for this.
Moksha. If you achieve moksha, then your soul will escape the cycle and go on to live at the top of the universe in infinite bliss. This can only be done by completely removing karma from your soul. Number 5. Karma. The term karma means action.
But this action has consequences. Jains believe that your karma affects your life. how you will be reborn in your next life. But good or bad karma is irrelevant to Jains because it's the fact that karma keeps rebirth going that they see as the main problem. Jains have a rather unique view of karma.
They see it as a physical substance. Jains believe that karma is kind of like atoms that cover the entire universe. When you do any action it attracts these good or bad karma atoms to your soul.
Then later in life or possibly in another life. they release their good or bad effects. Once they've done that, they fall off your soul. Passions such as hate, anger, greed or lust will act as a glue that makes even more atoms stick to you and so will make the consequences even more powerful.
Imagine your soul as a cloth and karma as dust. Passionate actions make the cloth wet and so the dust sticks to it easier. Karma is what keeps you stuck in the samsara cycle.
Karma physically binds your soul to this earth. But wait, there's more! You can escape this by burning away all the karma attached to your soul.
The best way to do this is by becoming a Jain monk or nun. 6. Monks and nuns The Jain monk and nun life is based around the five Mahaviratas, the great vows we saw earlier. The first of the Mahaviratas is Ahimsa.
For regular Jains, Ahimsa means trying to avoid harming other forms of life. For a monk or nun though, this is turned up to 11. and includes even microscopic life. Along with being strict vegetarians, they can't eat raw food, eat at night, or eat any food they haven't thoroughly inspected in case they accidentally consume other lifeforms.
They can't cook, so they have to go around to Jain households daily and beg for food. It is considered a very holy act for those regular Jains to donate food to them. They also carry small brooms to brush away tiny lifeforms in their way so they don't crush them. They cannot ride in vehicles because of the damage they cause and they can't bathe because of the harm it could potentially do to waterborne life.
Some Jey monks even wear mouth guards to avoid inhaling airborne life or harming it with their hot breath. The second Mahavirata is not to lie and the third is not to steal. Those two are kind of simple.
I hope even non-Jey's are sticking to those ones. The fourth Mahavirata is the complete renunciation of sexual relations. Because, how do I say this?
Strict Jains believe that people pollen contains vast numbers of living things, most of which will die soon after the act is complete. They also believe that having a romantic relationship is a form of attachment, kind of like the Night's Watch. I probably should have just said that.
Can we delete the people pollen part? The fifth and final Mahavirata is that of non-possession. Jain monks and nuns carry nothing but a few necessary items like their brooms and move every day in order to avoid attachment to one place. For Jains this is the best possible life because of how non-violent it is. It is the best way to achieve moksha and regular Jains hold the monks and nuns in very high regard.
Due to the monks and nuns dependence on the Jain community, the relationship between the two is extremely close and personal. Interestingly The earliest nuns in history are probably found in Jainism. They can be traced back to the times of Mahavira and Jainism is quite unique in the fact that nuns outnumber monks by a huge margin. Regular Jains The vast majority of Jains are not monks or nuns. Many accept that their time to be a monk or a nun will come in a future life.
They follow the five small vows, the Anuvaratha, which is like a diet version of the five great vows. These aren't strict rules. Regular Jains should try to avoid violence and violent jobs. They shouldn't lie, they shouldn't steal or cheat people in business, they shouldn't be too frisky and should remain loyal to their husband or wife and should do their best to unburden themselves of their wealth, ideally through charity. Jains are an extremely charitable community, but rather than their cash donations going to monks or nuns, they are spent on temples, health clinics, schools, libraries or animal shelters.
Regular Janes also practice strict vegetarianism. Eggs are counted as meat, they don't harm any insects so honey is out as well. Anything fermented is considered to have lifeforms in it, so alcohol is also out the window.
Root vegetables like potatoes, onions and garlic, literally my entire diet, are cancelled because you need to rip the entire plant out of the ground to eat them, thus causing destruction. Due to these vows, Janes have gravitated towards careers in things such as business and law. And today, Janes are amongst the wealthiest and most educated groups in India.
8. Loka The Jain universe or Loka is made up of three parts. The wide top part is the heavenly realm, the waist is the earth, the wide bottom part is hell. At the tippy tippy top of the universe is the Siddha Loka where the souls of those that have achieved Moksha go and enjoy infinite bliss. That's where all the Tartankaras are chilling.
Oh, and look at that, we've got more of our Jain symbol thingy filled in. Jain hell is a very Dante's Inferno. There are seven layers.
The deeper you go, the worse it gets. You stay in hell until all of your bad karma is burned away and you get to be reborn on earth again. Now, hell in Jainism isn't really a punishment like it is in other religions.
Rather, it's seen as a natural consequence of bad karma. The zone above the waste is the realm of the gods. This realm is like super fun. There's no suffering, everyone is happy, there's unlimited refills, probably a trampoline. The people that are reborn here are the ones with really good karma.
But But just like in hell, this isn't really a reward. You are reborn here due to the natural laws of karma. Even the gods eventually die and karma still binds their souls in Samsara. So even the gods will eventually be reborn on earth and will need to try and achieve Moksha. This is why some Jains say that bad karma is a chain of iron and good karma is a chain of gold.
But both are chains. All souls can be reborn in the Loka as any of the four types. Plant or animal, human, hell being or god.
Which is what the swastika and the jain symbol represents. Each of the four potential rebirths. Would you look at that? Looks like we just filled in the whole symbol. The swastika also represents the cycle of death and rebirth.
All jain temples and holy books must contain the swastika. It is an ancient and beloved symbol in India for many different religions. The Nazis kind of made things a bit awkward in that regard. Every living thing, from a grape to a god, has the ability to be reborn as a human and achieve moksha.
So, those are the 8 main concepts of Jainism. But it does leave us with some questions. You may be wondering, is there a Jain god?
What do they pray to? What's the dealio, Mr. Video Man? Well, the Jain concept of god is very unique.
They don't believe in a creator of the universe, instead they believe it has simply always been here. The liberated souls at the top of the loka are beyond all wants and desires, so they see no reason to interfere on earth. Jains worship them in order to be more like them rather than to ask them to help out in life. Some Jains worship the gods in the upper heavenly realms and since Jains are surrounded by Hindus they tend to worship the same gods as them. But in the Jain worldview those gods in heaven are imperfect.
and are still trapped in Samsara just like them. What about the different religious sects? Does Jainism have those? Of course.
Just like every other religion. The two main sects are the Digambara and Svetambaras. Now you may be thinking, ugh, to yourself right now. What boring theological reason could there be for this split? Is it an argument about how to make holy bread or who should have been the main religious guy after another guy?
Nope. This one's about naked dudes. The main theological divide between the Digambara and the Svetambaras is whether or not monks should wear clothes. The Digambaras, the sky-clad, claim that in order to be completely non-attached to the world, monks should also renounce clothing.
This had the consequence of saying that women could not achieve moksha because they couldn't be naked in public, which was kind of just assumed. The Svetambaras, the white-clad, disagree and argue that a person can be unattached to clothes mentally but still wear them. So women can achieve Moksha just like men. There are a few more differences between them such as which Jains scriptures they accept, but the main one is the clothing.
Jains have been highly influential in India for thousands of years, shaping its vegetarian friendly diet and lending the concept of Ahimsa to Gandhi's independence movement. As knowledge of the Jains becomes more common outside of India, it confronts many people with difficult concepts. People tend to assume that the world exists for human consumption, to fulfil human desires.
But for Jains, the world is something to give up, where humans are not dominant over other lifeforms but part of an intricate web where animals and plants are more than just things to consume. In the last century, Jainism has found itself in a strange position. Their ancient philosophy has garnered the eye of the modern world as the ideas of non-violence, strict vegetarianism and what could be called an environmentalist outlook are strikingly relevant in a world coming to terms with the fact that it may be.
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So those are the basics of Jainism. It isn't even close to covering everything when videos simply can't do it. Religions are just too diverse, too deep and mean too many different things to different people. But learning even the basics of anything that millions of people deeply care about gives us an insight into our fellow humans worldview and I hope you enjoyed it. You can find all of the sources used in the description.
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