Article: Jainism in scientific terms

Jain svastika
Image by Malaia / Stannered © public domain

The ‘Four Noble Truths’ of Jain dharma explained in this article are reminiscent of the ‘Four Noble Truths‘ of Buddhism. There are several well-known ways of synthesising Jain principles. These commonly take the form of numbered qualities or definitions. Since some of them are probably thousands of years old, the aim of providing a symbolic representation of key ideas is very traditional. The more contemporary method of the four noble truths can be linked to two of the conventional symbolic summaries.

The four noble truths are connected to the ‘three jewels‘ – ratna-traya – of the Jains, which consist of:

1. right faith – samyak-darśana
2. right knowledge – samyak-jñāna
3. right conduct – samyak-cāritra.

The table makes clear the relationship between the four noble truths and the three gems.

Belief in these four truths taken together represents ‘right faith’.

In deva-pūjā – a worship ceremony in a temple – a composite svastika is used, which has three layers. This can also be thought of as equivalent to the four noble truths. The symbol’s four arms represent the cycle of birth and rebirth going into the four different states of existence – gati. The four dots in between the arms symbolise the four parts of the Jain community – monks and nuns, lay men and lay women. Together with the cycle of birth and rebirth, these make up the first layer, which is the third truth. The second layer is the three dots representing the three jewels, which comprise the four truths as a whole. The top layer is a crescent disc with a dot. This represents liberation – mokṣa – which is covered in the first and last truths.

Note that there are other symbolic summaries in the Jain faith. For example, the siddha-cakra – ‘circles of Jinas’ – is made up of the nine dignitaries – Nava-pada. The highest beings or concepts of Jainism, these are:

• five supreme beings
• four essentials – the three jewels plus ‘right austerity‘.

These four essentials or fundamentals are similar to the eightfold path of Buddhism.

Śvetāmbara nuns meditate
Image by Claude Renault © CC BY 2.0

Although knowledge is crucial to spiritual progress, Jain philosophy stresses that a lack of certainty is not to be feared. Instead, it should be welcomed in some respects as uncertainty contributes, paradoxically, to greater understanding. The field of Jain logic contains the two important ideas of:

• ‘doctrine of qualified assertion’ – syād-vāda
• ‘truth from many viewpoints’ – anekānta-vāda.

The concept of syād-vāda means that only what is known at a particular time and place, involving those specific circumstances, can be stated with any degree of certainty. It asserts that there are many aspects of reality, which no one person can know. Examples can be found in chapter nine of Mardia 1990/2007. The notion of syād-vāda stresses that nothing is absolute. Karl Popper, one of the greatest logicians of the last century, also emphasised principles of non-absolutism in science.

Secondly, Jain logic recommends elements of relativism in thinking, in the holistic principle of anekānta-vāda. This notion may be translated as ‘truth from many viewpoints’. The concept of anekānta-vāda holds that the same thing can be seen from many various standpoints and thus appears different to each viewer. Each distinct view may contain a glimpse of the truth. The truth of reality cannot be understood from a single point of view. See chapter nine of Mardia 1990/2007 for examples. In fact, relativism in thinking and open-mindedness is needed for a true Jain.

Thus the label ‘Jainism’ is a misnomer for what can be termed ‘Jain-ness‘ or the ‘Jain spirit’.