FALL 2020 Jaindigest a Publication by the Federation of Jain Associations in North America
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FALL 2020 JainDigest A Publication by the Federation of Jain Associations in North America SAMOVASARAN: The Divine Preaching Hall of the Tirthankars Special Edition: Jain Education in North America JAIN educAtIoN edItIoN JAIN EDUCATION IN NORTH AMERICA Published by Federation of Jain Associations in North America (JAINA) JAINA Headquarters email: [email protected], Website: www.jaina.org Art and Design Jayana Shah On the Cover “Samavasarana” is the preaching hall from where the Tirthankaras give sermons. This is the beginning of education in Jain Philosophy. The logos of JAINA’s Academic Liaison Committee and International School of Jain Studies are shown because major efforts of setting up Jain academic studies in North America began with these organizations. University seals for those where an Endowed Chair has been established are shown. The seals of all other Universities featured in this magazine are shown on the back cover. The Jain Digest Editorial Team endeavors to publish all the materials that are submitted but reserves the right to reduce, revise, reject, or edit any article, letter, or abstract for clarity, space, or policy reasons. The views expressed in the articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Editorial Team. These articles are published with the authors names. The articles written or published by the Editorial Team are published as a joint contribution of the entire Editorial Team, and do not necessarily represent the views of JAINA 2 JAIN educAtIoN edItIoN CONTENTS Preface ............................................................................................................................................................5 Foreword by Prof. Padmanabh S. Jaini ............................................................................................. 6 Foreword by Dr. Jeffrey Kuan ............................................................................................................... 8 What's My Role? By Dr. Jasvant Modi .......................................................................................... 10 My Life's Mission By Mahesh Wadher ............................................................................................. 11 Section 1: Jain Academic Education History of Jain Academic Studies By Dr. Chris Chapple............................................................ 12 International School for Jain Studies (ISJS) By Dr. Shugan Jain .......................................... 18 Beginning of a Journey of Jain Studies in North America By Dr. Dipak Jain .....................32 JAINA Academic Liaison Committee By Dr. Sulekh Jain .........................................................34 Jain Academic Education - The Journey By Dr. Sulekh Jain ................................................35 Let Us Build a Royal Jain Bridge to Share Our Wisdom By Dr. Atul Shah ........................... 41 Future Step to Propagate Jain Principles By Dr. Sulekh Jain, Dr. Nitin Shah .....................42 Jain Education in Universities Academic Hierarchy in the Universities By Dr. Nitin Shah ...................................................... 43 Universities in North America with Jain Studies By Dr. Nitin Shah .......................................46 Jain Academic Center List By Dr. Sulekh Jain........................................................................... 48 Jain Academic Education - Donors Profiles By Dr. Nitin Shah ................................................ 57 How to Support Jain Academic Education By Dr. Sulekh Jain................................................ 61 Appeal to Jain Community By Dr. Sulekh Jain ...........................................................................63 University of California, Davis, CA By Dr. Lynna Dhanani .........................................................64 University of California, Irvine, CA By Dr. Brianne Donaldson ................................................65 University of California, Riverside, CA By Dr. Ana Bajzelj ...................................................... 67 University of California, Santa Barbara, CA By Dr. Shivani Bothra ....................................69 California State University, Long Beach, CA ........................................................................... 73 Florida International University, Miami, FL By Dr. Steven Vose .............................................74 University of North Texas, Denton, TX By Prof. George James ............................................. 76 California State University, Northridge, CA ................................................................................. 77 Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA By Dr. Chris Miller....................................... 78 Long Island University Post, NY By Dr. Shailendra Palvia ...................................................... 81 Claremont School of Theology, Claremont, CA By Sushama Parekh .................................82 California State University, Fullerton, CA By Dr. Andrew Bridges .................................... 86 3 JAIN educAtIoN edItIoN San Diego State University, San Diego, CA By Dr. Kokila Doshi .............................................87 Rice University, Houston, TX By Dr. Brianne Donaldson, Dr. Shivani Bothra .....................88 University of Toronto, ON, Canada By Christoph Emmrich and Dr. Sushil Jain ............ 90 University of Chicago, Chicago, IL By Dr. David Nirenberg ......................................................92 Ahimsa Center Journey By Dr. Tara Sethia .................................................................................95 Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, PA By Dr. Jeffery Long ..........................................98 Emory University, Atlanta, GA By Dr. Ellen Gough .................................................................. 100 University of Hawaii, Hilo, HI By Dr. Benjamin Zenk ............................................................... 102 University of Texas, Austin, TX By Dr. Claire Maes .................................................................. 103 Huron University College at Western, London, ON, Canada By Dr. Raj Jain .................. 109 Students Pursuing Ph.D. in Jain Studies By Venu Mehta, Anil Mundra .............................. 111 New Initiatives Recently Established Jain Academic Centers: Univ. of Connecticut, CST/Willamette, UCLA and Univ. of Toronto By Dr. Faquir Jain, Dr. Nitin Shah................................................................................................... 112 New Academic Centers under consideration ........................................................................... 114 International Summer School for Jain Studies in USA............................................................ 114 Symposium on Jainism and Mathematic .................................................................................... 115 Online Jain Studies Channel By Dr. Chris Miller, Dr. Chris Chapple ....................................... 16 Jaina Online University By Dilip Shah ..........................................................................................117 Learning about Jain Religion through Jain Art Dr. Narendra Parson, Minaxi Choksi ... 119 Section 2: Pathshala Education JAINA Education Committee ......................................................................................................... 122 History of Pathshala Education in North America By Dr. Pradip Shah, Sailes Jain ...... 123 Pathshala at Jain Center of Southern California By Sailes Jain.......................................... 125 Pathshala at Jain Society of Metropolitan Chicago By Dr. Pradip Shah ........................... 128 Jainism Blog By Pratiksha Shah ................................................................................................... 131 Jain Education Workshops By Sejal Shah ................................................................................. 133 Jain Academic Bowl By Shweta Daftary.................................................................................... 136 4 JAIN educAtIoN edItIoN Preface On behalf of JAINA’s Academic Liaison Committee and Jain Digest Committee, it gives me immense pleasure to bring you this special edition of Jain Digest focused on Jain Education in North America. I am grateful to everyone that has made this possible. It all started on March 3, 2020 when I received an article from Dr. Chris Chapple (Doshi Professor at Loyola Marymount University, LA) titled “Jain Philanthropic Support” for consideration in the next issue of Jain Digest. The article was 15 pages – too long to be considered for a normal 44-page magazine. But I liked the historic details that Chris had captured and thought about creating a special edition of Jain Digest which would have articles related to Jain Education only. Chris liked that idea. Coincidently, I received an email from Dr. Sulekh Jain on March 6, requesting a special issue on Jain Education and he also provided an outline of what the magazine should contain. The seed of this special edition was sown. We started putting the portions of the magazine together with Sulekh ji providing a lot of input. Beginning in June, we reached out to all the professors that were teaching courses in Jain studies in the universities in USA and Canada. They all responded enthusiastically and provided their articles. Their support and participation is very much appreciated. During the past five months, in addition to providing a lot of the information related