Traces of Mysticism in Jainism (Study)
by Sadhvi Madhystha Prabha | 2021 | 103,765 words
This page relates ‘Introduction to Mysticism� of the study on the concept of Mysticism in Jainism exploring key concepts such as Jaina metaphysics and Jain ethics. The present research is divided into six chapters, beginning with an introduction to mysticism, examining its characteristics from both Western and Eastern perspectives. Subsequent chapters delve into the mystical aspects of Brahmanic and Shramanic literature, analyzing texts from the Shvetambara and Digambara traditions to unearth traces of Jain mysticism.
1. Introduction to Mysticism
Man among developed species, has been given a very high status in almost all religions. It’s his privilege to pose problems; to inquire and to arrive at solutions. His intrinsic feature of inquisitiveness and inquiry about his surroundings and self-potentiality in regard to the nature of his own self, in regard to someone other than he and his surroundings have led him to discover and understand the great universe with its eternal nature. In short, this realization and the knowledge about the world and its mystery about self and its real, eternal and infinite nature, the ultimate truth and subtle aspect of the transcendental reality have brought forth the concept of mysticism.
Mysticism is an approach to experience truth and reality. It is the journey of soul to divinity. It has acquired great importance, as a vital factor in religion and as a fundamental element is philosophy and as an effective answer to spirituality. The range of mysticism is from weakness to strength, from powerless to power, from darkness to light, from selfless to selflessness, from uncertainty to certainty, from nothingness to everything, from temporal to eternal and from finite to infinite.
The concept of mysticism constitutes nature of mysticism, its definition and types, mystical experience, mystic and mystic way, mysticism and its relation to other branches of science and its origin, growth and development. Mysticism having many faces of discussion in beginning we shall ponder upon what is the nature of mysticism and how it has been defined by different scholars.