Jain's Creation Story

Jainism and Buddhism both originate from the Indus Valley Civilization, with Mahavira and the Buddha living in the time frame of 500 BCE. "Jainism's major teach for this age is Mahavira or Mahavir (The Great Hero). He was a contemporary of the Buddha and died approximately 527 BCE."(4) Much like the Buddha, Mahavira was also a prince of the Kshatrya clan. While we do have more information about Mahavira, "there are few factual details of the Buddha's life," as his teachings were likely not written down until several hundred years later.

In Buddhism, they do not teach nor do they believe that there is an all-powerful God that created the universe. They look to Buddha, the religion’s founder, for a model of how to behave. In the Buddhist view, the universe is infinite in both time and space and the universe is created and destroyed over and over again in a process we call natural evolution.

     Jainism earliest descriptions were thought of being a self centered search for personal salvation without having a personal God. Jains do not believe in one creator or God. Heinrich Zimmer, an expert on Indian Philosophy, states, ?Jainism is Tran theistic- it does not deny existence of God but that it goes beyond them.? (A 352) Others see it?s as a search for personal growth and a sense of higher personal ethics. Jainism is founded on the goal of overcoming the temporary cycle of earthly life in addition to be released from an endless cycle of existence. Human destiny was the center of Jain teaching. They were to rely on themselves to seek that which will save them from the domination of matter, this being moral elevation. Above all, Jainism is a religion of love and compassion, with an eternal universe. They have made significant contributions in logic, art, and architecture, grammar, mathematics, literature, philosophy, astronomy, and astrology.

It was one night, which changed my life, and my outlook on religion. It was the time of “Diwali” a Jain festival, where all my family and friends had gathered to celebrate the auspicious event. However, I refused to join with my ignorant and disrespectful attitude due to my belief of being a Christian. The ongoing celebrations, the youthful atmosphere, the joyful laughter, the harmonious chanting and the colorful sights had enticed my attention towards the Jain proceedings. I began to wonder, am I obliged to Christianity or am I obliged to Jainism? That very same night after undertaking processes of critical thinking and self-realization, I realized I was never obliged to any religion, I am allowed to be a Jain and still enjoy Christian rituals, or I am allowed to be a Christian and enjoy Jain festivals. The very simplistic nature of religion is that, no one forces you to be part of a certain religion; you can follow what you like at any point of your life.

Jain followers were expected to follow certain actions during their everyday life. These included Ahimsa (no violence - mental, physical or verbal), Satya (speaking the truth), Asteya (not stealing from others), Brahma-charya (remaining faithful to one spouse only), and Aparigraha (detach from ownership of places and materialistic things) (Robinson, 2010).

He made a famous speech that is known as the "I have a Dream" speech. That speech was an inspiration to millions of African-American people. Martin Luther King Jr. led a protest against segregated buses. It started when an older lady named Rosa Parks, who is now famous for not giving up her seat, was arrested. Martin Luther King Jr. was a very powerful speaker. Power “is the leader’s potential influence over followers” (Lussier & Achua, 2015). Martin wanted to make a change. He was an effective leader. He knew how to lead protests, and how to get people involved. He is the main reason for the equal rights between races that we have today.

The Jain religion originated more than twenty-five hundred years ago, around the 6th century BC, on the Indian sub-continent about the same time as Buddhism.2 There are several shared beliefs between Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, such as nonviolence(ahimsa), reincarnation, and karma.The essence behind the development of Jainism was to have a path to reunite and purify oneself in order to free oneself from the cycle of karma, which in turn allows one to enter into a state of eternal liberation from rebirth (kevala). The only way a person can attain kevala is through very intentional and thorough practice of nonviolence.2 Per Jains, everything is alive in some sense, from rocks to trees, all matter has a pulse,

Concepts found in Jainism have no real origin, but have been attributed with its closest founder Nataputta Vardamana, later to be known by his followers as Mahavira, is credited with taking ideas from Hinduism separating into this new religion. Jainism emphasizes the Hindu belief of: ahimsa (non-injury to life) and moksha (release from the endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth through asceticism (Lewis, 2009, pp. 123-124). These beliefs are incorporated into their lives and have profound effects in the public lives of Jains. The belief system of Jainism rejected the caste system and knowledge of the Vedas which was a primary belief of Hinduism. The teachings of Jainism do not focus on various Gods, worship, or sacrifice; but a

Jains have five incredibly important aspects that they follow. The first is ahimsa, non-harm, not only to themselves but to everyone and their environment. Next, Jains believe in telling the truth; they don't believe in over exaggerating or lying because it can cause pain to someone (which brakes ahimsa).

or disbelieve entirely in the idea of any form of deity as being the creator of all things. Jainist

Firstly, Buddhism denies Atman or eternal Self in terms of creation and it differs from other religions in regards of the connection between the creation of the world and a role of Self in it. "The Rig Veda" in Hymn # 10.90 describes the creation of the world, of everything in the world as Vedic sacrifice of Cosmic Man - giant, primeval man who was cut off by pieces, and was a material source for everything. The entire world came from the Cosmic Man and the world could not exist without him. It means that cosmic man is the Universe, the Galaxy and he is the Absolute, the Cosmos, he is Brahman or everything. Cosmic man is the beginning of Monism or Oneness, the philosophical school where "there is only one existing thing, and there is nothing that is

Religion is a system of belief in spiritual beings and practices observed by a group of people, institutions, churches, codes related to sacred things (Horton, 1960). The world has numerous religions with different set of beliefs and perspective. Majority of these religions are centuries old and have a wide following in different parts of the world depending on their origin. Jainism is one of these oldest religions in the world that have survived to date with a huge following in Asia especially in the Indian subcontinent (Roy, 1984). The religion has undergone numerous transformations with the most recent based on the influence of the western religion and colonization in the southern Asia region where it was mainly practiced. With Jainism being in the Dharmic family of Religions, it is known that the Jainism religion is focus on the believing that we are reincarnated over and over again, making not just progress in each life, but proceeding with making each life more “perfect” and never going backwards, until once reaching that form of perfection. In which, in Jainism is known as, “Siddha”. Jains believe in making progress, through much effort to learn and mature throughout their lifetimes. Regarding in having an extremely high tolerance for learning, their libraries are known to being one of the oldest within India and have the highest rate in literacy in any of the other Indian religions.

Jainism and Buddhism both originate from the Indus Valley Civilization, with Mahavira and the Buddha living in the time frame of 500 BCE. "Jainism's major teach for this age is Mahavira or Mahavir (The Great Hero). He was a contemporary of the Buddha and died approximately 527 BCE."(4) Much like the Buddha, Mahavira was also a prince of the Kshatrya clan. While we do have more information about Mahavira, "there are few factual details of the Buddha's life,"(2) as his teachings were likely not written down until several hundred years later.

the atomism of Jiva against the heterodox discipline propounded by Jainism in ‘Chit Prakran’ of shastrarth prakran nibandha (ि.दी. वन. शभ.प्र.कभररकभ.53) and elsewhere. Bhagwad Gita states man who is of a doubting nature perishes (संशयात्मा विनश्यवि-4/40 ) . Here doubt means lacking faith and not lacking curiosity or questions which on the contrary tend to enhance the virtue of a learner. Similarly, when scriptures state something

Over sophomore year, for the first time Jainism was briefly mentioned; however, the small textbook paragraph never displayed any truth, but instead formed wrong perceptions. Therefore, I took the chance of sharing Jainism through presentations for students in the following