Jainism Views of the Afterlife
Jainism is often compared and even confused with Buddhism. Western scholars in the early nineteenth century often confused the two. Certainly there are similarities. The Buddha and Mahavira were near contemporaries and both reacted against the over-rigid orthodoxy of the scholars of their time. The teachings of both are preserved not in the classical Sanskrit but in the colloquial languages in which they preached. Each laid down a course of training leading to ultimate salvation, moksa or nirvana. Both emphasized non-violence and strongly condemned the killing of living creatures. In both Buddhism and Jainism the order of monks and nuns is important.
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In reality, the differences between Jainism and Buddhism are considerable, particularly in the areas of the afterlife. Mahavira, it must be remembered, was bringing new vigor into a religion already ancient in his day. The Buddha was the founder of a new religion. The course of spiritual training of the Jains lays much more emphasis on austerity and rigorous self-discipline than the 'middle way' between ease and austerity in Buddhism. The great philosophers of Jainism have evolved a view of the universe as material and permanent, in strong contrast to the Buddhist view that everything is illusory and transient. Illusory and transient even is the individual soul: to the Buddhist nirvana or moksa means the merging or extinction of individuality in an undifferentiated final state, whilst to the Jain it is a liberation of the soul into an individual state of total knowledge and bliss.
World-Class Religions and their views:
- Atheism
- Christian
- Catholic
- Judaism
- Islam
- Buddhist
- Zoroastrianism
- Hinduism
- Shinto
- Confucianism
- Jainism
- Taoism
- Sikhism
- Bahá'í
