PHIL 320 Handout 4: Jainism II Faith, Knowledge, and Conduct

I. Knowledge: Jain Epistemology – the natural state of the soul is pure omniscience, which is obscured by our ignorance and passion. The soul is karmically defiled by the body and limited by sense experience and reason.

A. Limiting Perspectives – the blind men and the elephant. Our knowledge is likewise limited by perspective. [Knowledge depends on viewpoint.]

B. Conditional Predication – The Jains devised a 7-fold schema for analyzing a claim about any particular object (see p. 37). This reveals that human knowledge is necessarily incomplete. [Knowledge is conditional].

C. Awakening Vision – A momentary flash of insight, a taste of the soul’s purity, bliss, and omniscience. It includes the insight of the community of all sentient beings inspiring compassion. This also encourages faith.

II. Faith: The awakening vision inspires a confidence in the teachings of the Jinas. While faith exhibits a trust in the Jain way, it remains critical. There is no blind faith in persons or scriptures. Faith is always based on the flash of insight provided in the awakening vision. Faith is guided by both experience and reason.

III. Conduct

A. The Five Vows (The Primary Virtues)

1. Nonharm

2. Truthfulness

3. Nonstealing

4. Sexual Purity

5. Nongrasping

B. The Secondary Vows

1. Curtail travel

2. No drinking of unfiltered water, eating of certain foods, and restrictions on methods of food preparation.

3. No brooding, giving harmful advice, or watching unedifying events or performances.

4. Regular fasting.

5. Regular meditation.

6. Almsgiving.

7. Temporarily restrict activities to a given location.

8. Commit to holy death through meditation and fasting.

IV. Fourteen Stages of Purification.

A. Stage One: The beginning of the path in which the soul is still asleep, under karmic bondage, passionate, and confused.

B. Stage Two: A bit of faith/insight, which dissipates, the motivates the practitioner to press on for further awareness.

C. Stage Three: Faith is stronger, but doubts remain. Still the soul recognizes its own ignorance and the passions that lead to the sufferings of the body and mind.

D. Stage Four: This is the stage of “awakening vision” (see II, above). It is, again, a momentary insight that is due to the suppression, rather than the elimination of karmic bondage. The soul will then slide back to stage two until greater purification can be achieved.

E. Stage Five: The soul can now control passions. At this point one takes the Five Vows (see III A above).

F. Stage Six: Greater restraint of the passions is achieved.

G. Stage Seven: Self restraint perfected and anger is overcome. Also, with meditative powers increased, one’s awareness permits the restraint of actions that lead to greater karmic bondage. If at stages 4-7, one reexperiences a temporary enlightenment, one enters the eighth stage.

H. Stage Eight: A deeper enlightenment great spiritual progress is achieved. Through meditation, pride is overcome, harmful karma diminished, and the power of beneficial karma attained.

I. Stage Nine: Greater purification is achieved; deceit is overcome.

J. Stage Ten: “Complete self-restraint with flickering greed.” Most greed is eliminated, but not yet the “greed” to possess a body.

K. Stage Eleven: Even subtle greed is partially eliminated.

L. Stage Twelve: Greed to possess a body is totally eliminated.

M. Stage Thirteen: The knowledge, bliss, and energy of the soul. Omniscience is attained (or restored?). But there is still the karmic presence of the body (and speech and mind).

N. Stage Fourteen: The moment before death, moksha is achieved.