Traces of Mysticism in Jainism (Study)
by Sadhvi Madhystha Prabha | 2021 | 103,765 words
This page relates 鈥業ntroduction (The Jain religion)鈥� 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 (The Jain religion)
Jaina religion predominantly has two sects, namely, Digambara and 艢惫别迟腻尘产补谤补.
艢惫别迟腻尘产补谤补 literature is popularly categorized by canonical and non-canonical literature, while Digambara sect considers that the canonical literature has been lost. Hence, as per Digambara tradition all available texts are merely non-canonical. This chapter will explore the key concepts related to mysticism that are found in the selected canonical i.e. 础峁単补 膧驳补尘补 and the 惭奴濒补 膧驳补尘补 as well as in selected non-canonical literature.
Canonical Literature
The canonical literatures examined in this thesis are: 膧肠腻谤腻峁単补, 厂奴迟谤补办峁泃腻峁単补, Sth膩n膩峁単a, Samav膩y膩峁単a, Bhagava墨, 闯帽腻迟腻诲丑补谤尘补办补迟丑腻, 鲍辫腻蝉补办补诲补艣腻, 痴颈辫腻办补-蝉奴迟谤补, Da艣膩vaik膩lika, 鲍迟迟补谤腻诲丑测补测补苍补 and Nand墨 S奴tra. Of these, the latter two sources belong to the 惭奴濒补 literature while the rest are 础峁単补 sources.
Non鈥揅anonical Literature
The study undertaken in non-canonical literature includes works of scholarly 膧肠腻谤测补蝉 like the text, 鈥�厂补尘补测补蝉腻谤补鈥� and 鈥�狈颈测补尘补蝉腻谤腻鈥檕蹿 膧肠腻谤测补 Kundakunda; works of 笔奴箩测补辫腻诲补, namely, 鈥�莫峁ａ弓辞辫补诲别艣补 and 鈥�厂补尘腻诲丑颈 艢补迟补办补鈥�; texts composed by 膧肠腻谤测补蝉 Yogindudeva, namely, 鈥�笔补谤补尘腻迟尘补 笔谤补办腻艣补鈥� and 鈥�驰辞驳补蝉腻谤补鈥�; as well as works authored by 膧肠腻谤测补, 驰补艣辞惫颈箩补测补, namely, 础诲丑测腻迟尘补蝉腻谤补.