Important Concepts in Jainism with Different to Hinduism

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I will start with defining jiva, and gunasthana, siddhashila, karma, aparigraha, anekantwad consecutively. Jiva refers to higher consciousness or soul. Jiva could be found in living organism: human, animal, fish, or plant. The body and the jiva are separate entities. After living things death, their “body” could decay but not jiva. The jiva is the immortal essence, reborn into a different “body” to live another life, until it achieves liberation or moksha.

Gunasthana is development of jiva through 14 stages before it reach liberation. The stages of development could be decreasing sinfulness or increasing purity. The 14 stages are: 1) mithyatva; 2) sasvadana; 3) Mishra; 4) avirata-samyaktva; 5) desha-virati; 6) pramatta-virati; 7) apramatta-virati;8) apurva-karana; 9) anivritti-karana; 10) sukshma-samparaya; 11) kshina-mohata; 12) antarayopashanti; 13) sayogakaivalya; and 14) ayogakaivalya.

Siddhashila is the highest place (apex) of the Jainism cosmology. At the 14th stage of gunasthana, the jiva is perfectly liberated from the being. This kind of jiva is called siddha.Siddha is considered as supreme jiva to reside at the top of the universe, forever freed from the chain of rebirths. Like in Hinduism, liberated jiva will reach moksha. I have described moksha in assignment#2, in which moksha refers to liberation from limitation of time, space, and matter through realization of the immortal absolute.

Karma in Jainism is little bit different compared to Hinduism. I defined karma in Hinduisn as previously that karma means action, and the consequences of action. Every act we make, every thought, and every desire we have shape our future experiences. Our life is what we make it to be, and we ourselves are shaped by what we have done. We not only reap in this life of the good and evil, which we have sown; but we also reap the result of our actions after we die physically. Jainism also believes that every act we make will influence our future life. Moreover, Jainism considers karma as a subtle matter or minute particles present throughout the universe. Karma sticks to the jiva or attracted to the jiva as a result of our actions, words, and thoughts.

Aparigraha and anekantwad together with ahimsa are three basic principles that Jains adopt to avoid accumulating karma. Aparigraha is non-attachment to things and people. Jains believe that possessions are an obstacle to liberation. The more a person possesses in worldly wealth the more he may be unhappy. Desire to accumulate things is likely cause person is to commit sin, both physically and mentally. The concept of aparigraha could narrow the gap between rich and poor in the society. In our modern day, aparigraha is an ecologically sound doctrine to save our environment from over exploited by greedy human beings to fulfil their un-limited need.

Anekantwador anekantavada refers to non-absolutism. The anekantwad doctrine leads Jains to be open minded, in which Jains to accept that any thought or expression could be expressed in more than one-way. This does not mean that Jains must agree to any other views rather not insisting on own views as the one only truth. A good example would be if someone were to ask a blind person to describe an elephant. Their descriptions are partially true. Thus, to accept different views from different people is the way to avoid conflicts and to live in harmony.

In the end, Jiva is soul in living things.Jiva could carry karma. The karma in Jainism is a subtle matter or minute particles present throughout the universe, around from one life to the next until be removed or liberated. There are 14 stages of Jivas to achieve liberation (moksha). The 14 stages jiva is called gunasthana. The stages of development could be decreasing sinfulness or increasing purity. Karma is not only stick or attract to the jiva, but also could accumulate in the jiva. To avoid accumulating karma, Jains adopt three basic principles. Two of three basic principles are Aparigraha and anekantwad. The anekantwad doctrine leads Jains to be open minded as the way to avoid conflicts and to live in harmony. The Aparigraha is non-attachment to things and people. Jains believe that possessions are an obstacle to liberation, thus Jains should limit their possessions. Then, if jiva is perfectly liberated, it could enter siddhashila, the highest place (apex) of Jainism cosmology..