Detailed Review

Journal of Dharma Studies https://doi.org/10.1007/s42240-020-00070-2 BOOK REVIEW Parveen Jain: An Introduction to Jain Philosophy Christopher Patrick Miller1 # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 For a variety of reasons that I hope this book review will demonstrate, Parveen Jain’s recently published An Introduction to Jain Philosophy will appeal to practicing Jains, those interested in learning about Jainism, scholar-practitioners, and the academic community at large. What follows is a summary of the content of this new monograph as well as its potential impact for these various stakeholders. Like many authors who belong to a particular lineage or tradition, Jain begins his work with a tribute to his Jain spiritual teacher, Acharya Sushil Kumar (1926–1994). In 1942, Kumar (then Sardar Singh) was initiated as a Jain monk under the tutelage of Muni Chhote Lal after receiving visions from Muni Roop Chand, a long-deceased Jain ascetic, who had prompted him to do so. After receiving initiation, readers learn, Kumar became absorbed in Jain scripture, practiced yoga and meditation, and earned a number of academic degrees. He then traveled through India by foot for a number of years to teach and eventually gained fame for traveling outside of India by plane to teach Jain Dharma in the USA in 1975. In doing so, Kumar subverted long-standing restrictions on Jain ascetic travel from within the Jain community (Jain xv–xx). From a broader historical perspective, we can also see that Kumar was actually following a decade-long pattern that began following the 1965 Hart-Celler Act which had reformed US immigration policy in such a manner so as to allow Indians—and most notably for our purposes here gurus and spiritual teachers—to migrate to America. Though he was breaking traditional Jain rules concerning excessive movement and travel, Kumar was also, in my estimation and following Padmanabh S. Jaini, an important part of Jainism’s “cautious integration” (1979, 287) with globalized society. The difference for Acharya Sushil Kumar, however, is that rather than cautiously integrate with the local customs of South Asian religious traditions, he was instead integrating Jainism on a global scaleasotherssuchashisJain contemporary Acharya Tulsi had also endeavored. I have briefly summarized the contributions of Acharya Sushil Kumar here not only because Parveen Jain has also done so in his book but also due to the fact that Jain has drawn “inspiration from [Kumar’s] lifelong work and the thoughtful interpretations of * Christopher Patrick Miller [email protected] 1 Bhagwan Mallinath Assistant Professor of Jainism and Yoga Studies, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA, USA Journal of Dharma Studies [Kumar’s] teachings” while writing An Introduction to Jain Philosophy (Jain xx). I found Jain’s admission here to be quite revealing, as it signals the broader relevance of his book. That is to say, what we are in fact receiving in this publication is a living oral tradition of Jain philosophy and praxis via the life teachings of Acharya Sushil Kumar, passed on through his longtime devotee, Parveen Jain. As I see it, this has three important implications. First, for Jain practitioners and other spiritually inclined individuals, Jain has provided an encyclopedic storehouse of spiritual teachings drawing from Jain mythology, cosmol- ogy, metaphysics, philosophy, yoga, and meditation. In this regard, I would especially recommend this book to those individuals seeking to further their basic knowledge of Jainism, or to members of the Jain community who would like to know more about specific interpretations of Jain teachings according to the lineage of Acharya Sushil Kumar. Secondly, for scholars, this book provides a treasure chest of fresh data for understanding one particular way that Jainism, as a religious practice, has been translated into contemporary global society. Finally, for scholar-practitioners, as well as those who, at a minimum, are not necessarily Jains by birth but nevertheless continually seek to adopt the Jain way of life, An Introduction to Jain Philosophy provides inspiring Jain theological formulations we can turn to as we teach, and earnestly live (however clumsily!), Jain principles. Following his biography and tribute to Acharya Sushil Kumar (as well as a brief forward and prologue by Dr. Rita Sherma and Dr. Jeffery Long, respectively), Jain outlines the scope and goals of his book in the preface to the main contents. Importantly, the preface also further reveals the book’s three major implications I have already mentioned (i.e., its relevance for Jains, scholars, and scholar practitioners). Jain is responding, as he says at the start of the preface, to the request from young Jains to have “a book in English that provides an easy-to-understand overview of the Jain doctrine” (xxvii). Jain sets out to accomplish this task with “three important elements” (Ibid.) in mind for his book: 1. “... the discourse should have a Western context which resonates with global readers.” 2. “... the content should focus on the philosophy of the Jain tradition without emphasizing sectarian or ritualistic practices.” 3. “... the book should provide an overview rather than writings on specific research topics which appeal more to the academic community or advanced readers” (Ibid.). From the outset here, we can already see how Jain’s monograph can be useful on all of the three levels I mentioned before. That is to say, as an overview at the introductory level, the volume has been intentionally composed for Jain practitioners or those interested in learning about Jainism’s universal truths. From a scholarly standpoint, Jain’s intentions to fit a universal Jain philosophy within a Western/global context as well as to avoid discussions of sectarianism and ritual reflect broader patterns found in diasporic religious communities seeking to gain cultural traction in the Protestant West. Such universalizing tendencies hark back to both Swami Vivekananda, and, perhaps more notably here, Virchand Gandhi’s universalizing discourse at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in 1893. It thus appears that while Jain’s book is explicitly not a research project that would appeal to the academic community, his approach and the content of his publication hold great value for the academic community as scholars continue to track the globalization of Jainism. It almost goes without saying, then, that for scholar-practitioners Jain’srich Journal of Dharma Studies discourse potentially serves simultaneously as inspiring universalistic theology as well as valuable research data. Following Jain’s preface, the remainder of the table of contents reveals an ambitious and comprehensive project consisted of 15 chapters. The volume also includes an appendix discussing the meaning and importance of various Jain mantras (e.g., namokāra mahāmantra), a helpful glossary of terms, and a useful index for finding specific discussions concerning Jain terms and concepts (and note that Sanskrit—rather than Prakrit or another vernacular language—is used throughout the book and the index to refer to these terms and concepts). For the remainder of this review, I will focus upon chapter 9, “Jain Yoga: Meditation and Union with Divinity,” as it is not only a topic of great personal interest pertaining to my own research but also because the chapter’s structure and overall approach reflect the structure and approach taken throughout the book as a whole (Ibid., 155–156). In other words, what we find in Jain’s chapter concerning Jain yoga and meditation are elements that will appeal to practicing Jains, the academic community, and scholar-practitioners alike. Chapter 9 begins with an introduction to “Yoga in Dhārmic Traditions” followedbythe “Evolution of Yoga Practices”, and finally a lengthy discussion on “Yoga and Jain Dharma” (Ibid.). Jain includes here a brief survey of other yoga traditions as well as a systematic overview of Haribhadra’s five yogas with a special emphasis on adhyātma- yoga.Healsoenumeratesaneight-limbedJainyoga system intended to mirror Patanjali’s eight-limbed system and describes Jain elemental dhāraṇa practices, both likely gleaned from Hemacandra and Shubhacandra, respectively (though both authors are not, unfortu- nately, cited explicitly, which would have provided curious readers a pathway to learn more about these writers and their respective yogas). Meditation (dhyāna) is given special emphasis in Jainism, and similarities between Jain yoga and haṭha-yoga are provided (though again, without reference to specific Jain texts, which would have been helpful) (Ibid., 161–180). I wondered as I read through this part of the chapter whether or not Jain may have been referring to Acharya Mahaprajna’s rather recent development of Jain prekṣa-dhyāna meditation and yoga in the 1970s, rather than to an actual medieval Jain haṭha-yoga tradition. That being said, the chapter provides a systematic overview of some of the core principles of the various Jain yogas that will be beneficial for readers interested in an introduction to the subject. From a scholarly perspective, while reading chapter 9, I was immediately struck when I read the following on the first page: “The word yoga originated from the verbal root yuj, which means ‘to join or merge.’ Therefore, the means by which a seeker merges with consciousness is called yoga” (155). Such a definition of yoga would not be uncommon in neo-Vedāntic circles or even in your ordinary transnational postural yoga teacher

Load more