THE CONTROLLED STRENGTH OF THE JINA

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS:

In addition to basic creation myths having to do with gods such as Shiva and Vishnu from the Brahmanical or Hindu traditions, there are also important cultural notions about space and time deriving from two other religious traditions of great importantance  in the history of India, the Jain and Buddhist traditions.  Jains and Buddhists did not accept the authority of the priesthood, the sacrificial-ritual  system, the literature (the Vedas) or the gods of the Brahmanical or Hindu traditions.

NARRATIVE/THEMATIC EXPOSITION:

As mentioned earlier in our brief summary of the religions of India, the Jain tradition is one of the oldest traditions in India and may go back as far as Indus Valley  times, that is, to the second millenium Before the Common Era (2000-1500 BCE), although the precise origins of the tradition are not yet fully known.  We first learn about the tradition from accounts of the life of one of the major "conquerors" (Jina-s) whose name was Vardhamana (meaning  "he who is bringing prosperity").  He was also known by the epithet, Mahavira or "great hero."  He lived probably  in the sixth and fifth centuries BCE and was a younger contemporary of Gautama, the founder of the Buddhist tradition.

The Jain tradition is one of extreme asceticism.  The "jiva" or "self" is literally imprisoned in the physical body and universe (the "ajiva" or "non-self" realm).  All activity or Karma is part of the physical stuff of "ajiva" or "non-self" and leads to ever greater bondage of the "jiva" or self. The follower of the Jain path, therefore, must stop the flow of karmic matter and must literally burn off karmic matter  that has already accrued.  The Jain adherent accomplishes this by means of extreme asceticism.  Those who are successful in burning off karmic matter and showing the way to salvation are called "crossing makers" or "Tirthankara-s."  They are also called "conquerors" or "Jina-s," hence the name "Jain" (meaning "belonging to the tradition of conquerors").  There have been a sequence of Tirthankara-s or Jina-s going back to ancient  times, and Vardhamana or Mahavira is the Tirthankara or Jina for our time or era.

In contrast  to the myths of Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma with their focus on the creation  or re-creation of the external cosmos of space and time, what is interesting about the Jain tradition is its focus on the interior "space" and "time"of   meditation or Yoga.
Disciplined meditation or Yoga, of course, is also part of the mythology of Shiva and Vishnu, and as we have noted, Shiva is often considered to be the Lord of Yoga.

ICONOGRAPHY:

Whereas in the cosmic dance of Lord Shiva, however, Yoga or disciplined meditation is found in the dispassionate face and the raised leg of an otherwise dynamic  dancing figure, in Jain representations  of Tirthankara-s  and Jina-s, the focus of the entire image is on the interior life of meditation.  The "controlled strength of the Jina," whether standing in the erect nude posture of the "crossing maker" or seated in the disciplined posture of meditation, is completely turned away from the dynamic activity of the world and its karmic transactions.  The Jina or conqueror has overcome ordinary space and time and is poised to enter a special spiritual condition in which the meditator has become an "isolated one" or a "kevalin," someone who has totally transcended ordinary existence.

INTERPRETATION:

 Unlike Shiva or Vishnu or Brahma, Mahavira and the other Tirthankara-s are ordinary mortals who have attained a special spiritual status through their ongoing Yogic efforts.  They are "spiritual virtuosos" who have become exemplars of how one ought to proceed in overcoming the stress and pain of ordinary existence.  This is an "a-theist" or "non-theist" tradition.  Although there may be many gods in the cosmos, the gods are not especially helpful in dealing with the suffering of ordinary life.  Even the Tirthankara-s or Jina-s cannot  bring ordinary mortals to spiritual salvation or release.  They can only show the way.

The Jain tradition will be discussed at greater length when the Indo-Shramanical period is introduced.  Suffice it to mention here that in later centuries, the Tirthankara-s  and Jina-s of the Jain tradition come to be venerated and nearly divinized in popular piety in much the same way as Buddha and bodhisattvas become divinized in later Buddhist traditions.