On 15th April, JAINpedia held a series of events at the British Library to celebrate Mahavir Jayanti, the festival marking the birth of Mahavira, the founder of present-day Jainism.  The day’s events included storytelling sessions by highly acclaimed story-teller Seema Anand, a dance recital in the Bharat Natyam dance form, performed by founders of the Prakruti Dance School, and art workshops run by artist Sophie Dave.

The day was a considerable success, with over 500 people, Jains and non-Jains, turning out to participate.  The classical dance recital filled the foyer of the British Library, with many passers by stopping to watch the whole performance, which involved four dances.  The storytelling and art workshops attracted a large audience of parents and children, enabling younger and older generations to learn more about Jainism.

These events tied in with the ongoing exhibition of Jain manuscripts in the Sir John Ritblat Gallery in the British Library, which also had an influx of visitors throughout the day.  JAINpedia volunteers were on hand giving people free guided tours of the exhibits.  Many who took the tours had several probing questions about Jain culture and teachings, and left wanting to find out more about Jainism in their own time.

I was one of the many volunteers helping out with the running of the events, for example counting the visitor numbers or directing people to the displays.  I also had a go at giving some of the tours, which was a fairly daunting experience.  I had been briefed on the manuscripts when I visited the display the weekend before, so knew the content, but this didn’t make having to explain it to others in plain English much easier.  This was especially difficult since many Jain stories are filled with metaphors, and it is often the morals and ethics behind the stories that are important, rather than the somewhat fantastical stories themselves.  Getting other people’s insights into the meaning behind these Jain texts is one of the reasons I am looking forward to the eventual launch of the JAINpedia website.

There was also a need to tailor the explanations to the audience.  For some visitors, seeing the Jain manuscripts was the first encounter they had with Jainism, so the tour had to start with the basic principles of Jainism, such as Ahimsa (non-violence).  By contrast, one of the families I gave a tour to were already very knowledgeable about Jainism, so for them I tried to concentrate on the historical and cultural significance of the manuscripts (e.g. the fact they are written on handmade paper) rather than the religious significance.

Volunteering for JAINpedia has nonetheless been very fulfilling.  Once I gave my first tour, I realised just how much I had learnt about Jainism through my brief involvement with the project.  Also, given the epic scale of the undertaking – a five-year project to digitize 5,000 images – I feel quite lucky to have been around at the right time and place to take part.  I know that JAINpedia are still looking for new volunteers, so would thoroughly recommend volunteering, especially to people like me that started out with a superficial understanding of Jain heritage and culture.

Those of you who have been following the JAINpedia project will know that there are simultaneous exhibitions of Jain manuscripts currently going on in the Victoria & Albert Museum and the British Library.  The collection in the British Library is, in my view, the far richer of the two because it covers a greater time period (c.13th to c.15th) and has a wider range of exhibits in terms of art style and content – it is the largest collection of Jain artefacts outside of the Indian sub-continent.

The British Library display was originally due to end on 30th April 2011, but fortunately this has been extended to run until 30th June 2011, so there is still a chance to see it.  Why not even take a trip to the British Library over the upcoming Bank Holiday weekends?

By Jayesh Navin Shah

JAINpedia volunteer

Note:Anyone wishing to volunteer for the JAINpedia Project should contact the Project Manager, Bansri Mehta via email at bansri.mehta@jainpedia.org

Report on the meeting in her own words is as follows:

“On Friday 17th September, I was honoured to be invited to St Mary’s University College in Twickenham for an interfaith session, as part of Pope Benedict XVI’s state visit to the UK.  Ashokbhai Shah of Oshwal was also in attendance representing the Jain community.

1. To get a formal recognition as Jains
2. Temporary Job opportunities

It is UK Government’s policy that if a religion has more than 10,000 followers in the country, that religion will be formally recognised as a minority religion. Once this recognition has been given, needs for the followers of that religion will be officially recognised and listed as requirements at hospitals, schools, workplace and even the prisons, in fact anywhere where religion is involved.

There are over 35,000 Jains in the UK but somehow they are shy to identify themselves as Jains. Census figures showed the lain population as just over 7,000. This is really embarrassing. This time round, the Jains have to pull together and make sure all their friends, family members and acquaintances complete the census form and identify themselves as Jains.

The question will be the form of ticking a box like the one shown below:

Do not tick any of the boxes except the bottom one marked  “Any other religion, write in ” and then write in the small boxes JAIN.

Because we did not do this during the last census, we lost out on being recognised as a minority religion. This time we have to make sure we cross the specified number – 10,000 which is not really that large when we consider our population size.

The second opportunity is for temporary jobs which will become available through the local councils. There are over 30,000 temporary jobs on offer through out the country – most jobs will start from December 2010 onwards. Full details of the census can be obtained at:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/census/index.html

and details of the job opportunities at:

www.censusjobs.co.uk

The Institute did send out a large number of circulars prior to the last census to create an awareness but that campaign was not very successful. This time, the Institute will work through the various Jain organisations in the country to get their members to first complete the census form and secondly to fill in correct details on our religion.

‘The Strand’ on the Jain Manuscripts and paintings display is now available on BBC iPlayer.
The Strand website is: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p002vsn3  
The broadcast itself of Tuesday 22 June is availale at :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0084t6r .

This page includes a brief write-up of the Jain Manuscripts display and two images. The interview is Chapter 3 of the programme, which can be selected at the bottom of the page. The url is:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0084t6r#p008hq5c

This is your event and your support is vital for its success.

Activities on offer include Jain lectures and workshops with renowned national and international speakers, a professionally produced Jain dance drama, children’s activities, Navpad poojan and a Palitana bhavyatra.

There will be delicious vegan lunch and dinner and free parking on site and activities will take place throughout Harrow Leisure Centre.

Cycles, Causality, Ecology and Evolution in Various Traditions and their Impact on Modern Biology

by: Dr Rudi Jansma

Recently a two volume theosophical study was released in which fundamental concepts concerning our views of nature are discussed on a deep level from the philosophical backgrounds of various cultures the world over, ancient and modern. In these books special reference has been made to Jainism (ca. 200 pages), with emphasis on karma doctrine and cosmology.  Jain doctrines are compared with a number of other important thought streams in the world, including modern biological science, native American thinking, theosophy and relevant aspects of Hinduism and Buddhism.

To develop our understanding of and approach to nature and life in general for the centuries to come, it is of utmost importance not only to rely on the findings of the cultures which currently seem to dominate the world, but to understand better the total heritage of human thought from ancient times to present.

We live in a time when humanity itself has become an ecological and evolutionary problem for the earth rather than a participating friend. At the same time we live in a unique epoch where many cultures of past and present come together, intermingle and fructify each other.

The concepts of cycles in nature, causality, hierarchical relationships, ecology and evolution are discussed from the view point of a select number of higher cultures which have determined our views and attitudes. This work is a selected presentation of important expressions concerning these concepts, their contrast with general occidental scientific thinking, and speculation about what may be the outcome of the blending of global thought.

The study has been carried out with full respect for all human thinking, and the values and achievements of the great minds of all traditions. It is the conviction of the author that, running through the garland of multicolored beads which make up the totality of human evolution is the thread called truth, and that, despite the differences in approach and on the outer level, truth is what everyone is yearning for.

(This book is a joint publication of Motilal Banarsidass Pvt Ltd (Delhi) and Prakrit Bharati Academy (Jaipur)

About the author:

Dr Rudi Jansma originally from The Netherlands and now lives in Rajasthan, India. He studied neo-tropical vegetation science and nature preservation. He worked for various environmental groups concerned with tropical ecosystems. He also studied philosophy and Sanskrit. He did intensive studies in Theosophy and Eastern and other non-occidental thought systems leading to a Ph D.  He hopes and expects that the knowledge and ethics of these and other cultures will significantly contribute to the global culture of the coming ages.

Vatican has since then taken to sending greetings to major Jain organisations elsewhere as well to build wider relations.

 Letter of greetings for the celebration of Mahavir Jayanti this year has been signed by the President and the Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Inter Religious Dialogue, the Office of His Holiness the Pope.

In the letter, they talk about renewing the bonds friendship between Christians and Jains and to  collaborate to promote harmony amongst different peoples and with nature.

They also talk about the profound relationship of humans and nature and our joint responsibility to preserve the ecology. They also state that the integral development of individuals and humanity as a whole  is possible only in an environment when there is respect and revence for life. Exactly what Bhagwan Mahavir had said  ’parasparopagraho jivanam’  aover 2,600 years ago. It is a great sign of acceptance of jain thinking.

Download a copy of the letter.

The Institute of Jainology is looking to employ a full time Manager for supporting its £800K investment in the   development of JAINpedia a unique on line resource for Jainism using contextualised Jain scriptures – see http://blog.jainpedia.org/?p=3#more-3 and http://www.jainology.org/2009/12/23/progress-on-jainpedia-project

The role includes supporting the management of relationships with leading organisations including Kings College London, V&A Museum, British Library and Universities in Europe and India. Activities will include supporting the implementation of outreach and educational services, volunteer support and liaison, and technical liaison as part of the JAINPedia rollout.

The role would suit a highly adaptable self starter who is excellent at managing relationships and a strong sense of quality in delivery and experience of community/voluntary work. Strong IT and communication skills are essential. Experience of a South Asian language would be of advantage.

Person Specification:(Abbrv:  E=Essential   D=Desirable )

• Educated to degree level or equivalent (D)
• Articulate in written and spoken English (E)
• Experience of working in the arts/heritage sector (D)
• Ability to speak one South Asian community language (D)
• Ability to work as part of a disparate team and take accountability for delivery (E)
• Ability to multi-task, deal with ambiguity and prioritise conflicting issues (E)
• Demonstrate the ability to be a self starter and to work effectively under pressure (E)
• Strong communication skills and the ability to liaise with people at all levels (E)
• Experience of working in a community/diverse environments (D)
• Excellent IT skills (E)
• Experience of managing disparate groups/volunteers (D)

Purpose of Role :

• To offer  support in the devolvement of JAINpedia a unique on line resource using contextualised Jain scriptures
• To offer support in  the management of relationships with leading organisations including Kings College, V&A Museum,  British Library, Welcome Trust along with Universities in Europe and India
• To offer  support in  the implementation of outreach and educational services, volunteer support and liaison, and technical liaison as part of the JAINpedia rollout
• To manage the develop content of the Jain Spirit Newsletter
• To Support Kings College in building the JAINpedia online resource

Main Responsibilities:

• To work in conjunction with  project staff on the implementation of sustaining relationships with partner holdings
• To work alongside Museum Consultant in offering communication and  support in all areas regarding museum/heritage exhibitions, events and related strategies
• To work with Project Consultants/staff in offering administrative support as and when required
• To liaise with venues and partners regarding booking of Travelling Exhibition and manage technical,  insurance and transport issues connect to this
• To offer support in the overall management in developing the JAINpedia website
• To prepare reports, spreadsheets as well other related documents connected to all areas of the project
• To travel to places of worship and community organisations across the as well as outreach visits to Jain communities across the UK
• To help manage all JAINpedia Volunteers

Remuneration would be in the range of 18-22K, on a self employed basis, and the post would be based in Borehamwood. Travel in the UK would be required and own car is preferable. For more details or sending CV please email  to usha.shah@jainpedia.org . Applications must be received by 30th April 2010.

TALK of securing a “common space” in Singapore’s multi-religious society has focused largely on maintaining a secular public sphere.

The ongoing interfaith exhibition at Suntec City is a timely reminder that pluralism plays a part in promoting religious harmony, too. On display at the exhibition, organized by the Inter-Religious Organization and China’s State Administration of Religious Affairs, are more than 1,000 items of religious significance from 10 different religions, notably including lesser-known faiths like Jainism, Zoroastrianism and the Baha’i Faith, which in Singapore number altogether only about 3,000 followers.

The week-long exhibition, flush with explanatory notes, books, CDs as well as lectures and talks, enables visitors to better understand the fundamental tenets of each religion.

This transnational, interfaith endeavour is a public symbol of what has been ongoing in private circles all around Singapore in recent years. Activities organised by the various neighbourhoods’ Inter-Religious Confidence Circles, and interfaith youth forums, give opportunities for faith groups to exchange alternative views, and share with each other the different religious values that shape their lives.
Such exhibitions and cool-headed discussions on religion are crucial in a time when faith-based tensions in the world are hotter than ever.
Whether in Baghdad, Bombay or Belfast, from the recent Swiss ban on minarets, to the Ford Hood killings in the United States, community conflict is more often fuelled by religious misconceptions, rather than disagreement on where the line should be drawn between secular and religious society.
For example, since the 9/11 attacks, Islam, whose name means “peace” or “submission”, has been hijacked by religious extremists to  cultivate public perception that Muslims are all suicidal, bomb-carrying fanatics.
To combat such misguided representations,  discussions on pluralism, and the need to maintain a public space for all religions — such as the one in Hall 603 of Suntec City, where on the opening night of the religious exhibit, leaders of all 10 faiths in the IRO stood together on stage to offer the world a prayer of peace.
Such a show of non-exclusive solidarity is an example of what United States’ president Barack Obama’s faith advisor Eboo Patel said in an interview last month that “religion in the 21st century has to be about building a bridge of cooperation, not a bomb of destruction”. In Singapore, such a bridge may be drawn not as a detour from our public sphere, but as a meeting point for all religions to work together.

In a small country like Singapore, where people of all religions live together cheek by jowl, it is particularly important that we have a clear, unbiased understanding of the religious lives of our neighbours. We should know, at least, what the holy books central to each religion are, and what they say about their beliefs and the significance of their religious practices. In times of increased religiosity, such efforts will also circumvent acts of intolerance as politicians warn of followers retreating into their respective religious communities. In making the effort to understand the beliefs that underpin our neighbours’ rituals, we may find more  commonalities than differences between us. And that is a surer way in Singapore — and around the world — to promote peaceful co-existence and religious harmony.

The 2009 China-Singapore Religious and Cultural Exhibition was held at the Suntec City Convention Centre.  

 PHOTO GALLERY
(Photos of the Jain Booth)

November 13, 2009
New York Times | Art Reviews | ‘Victorious Ones,’ ‘Peaceful Conquerors’

Compassionate Masters of the Universe

By HOLLAND COTTER

First, do no harm. That’s the bottom-line rule of Jainism, one of the three major homegrown religions in India. To believers, all living things, from whales to humans to flu bugs, have souls and, karmically speaking, all souls are equal. If you go thrashing and stomping your way through the average day, as most of us do, you’re bound to be injuring something. And if you injure something, you injure everything, including yourself. This is how karma works. So it pays to move with care.

Mohandas Gandhi, who used nonviolence as a political tool, learned a lot from the Jains. But in the West we still know little about them and even less about their art — brilliant little narrative paintings, sculptures of sleek nude saviors — which we tend to misidentify as Buddhist. Not that there’s much around to see. The last major American survey was at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1994, and it never came to the East Coast. Scant Jain material is on regular view in New York museums.

This fall, however, brings two Jain shows to New York: “Victorious Ones: Jain Images of Perfection” at the Rubin Museum of Art and “Peaceful Conquerors: Jain Manuscript Painting” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Neither show is as spectacular as the Los Angeles exhibition, although the Rubin Museum one approaches it. Together they provide an in-depth survey of a great art tradition and a complex faith that has nearly five million followers in India.

And I do mean complex. For all its clear-cut ethical thinking, Jainism has a highly contradictory view of the world. On the one hand, it envisions the cosmos as a precision machine, with balanced realms of heaven and hell sandwiching a thin slice of earth, and time measured out in regular and recurrent epochs of bloom and decay.

Yet creatures living in those epochs experience tremendous uncertainty. This is particularly true in periods of disintegration, one of which, by Jain reckoning, we are in now, with no end yet in sight. Violence will continue to grow. Beast will turn on beast. Hell will outweigh heaven. Is there any sound reality to rely on?

There is, in the form of the transcendent beings known as jinas, or victors, for whom Jainism is named. They appear, 24 in all, in every epoch. The enemy they’ve conquered, through eons of self-discipline, is themselves, or rather human passions: fear, aggression, love, what have you. As a result they’ve reached the end of the karmic line, where bloom and decay end, and truth — unvarying, imponderable, and probably as plain as the nose on your face — waits.

The Jina nearest to our own time was named Mahavira. An older contemporary of the Buddha, he lived in northern India in the sixth century B.C. His life is the subject of several exquisite manuscript paintings at the Met, selected from the museum’s permanent collection by John Guy, the curator of South and Southeast Asian art.

The story these works tell begins with a prenatal mix-up: the future Jina, though expected to be of royal birth, has been conceived by a nonroyal Brahman couple. The error is soon finessed by the miraculous transfer of the foetus to the womb of a Jain queen, an event depicted with wide-eyed, almost comical verve in a tiny 15th-century manuscript painting from western India, long a Jain stronghold.

In other illustrations we see the infant Mahavira born, bathed and coddled. Then, in a flash forward, he’s a bejewelled young sovereign being carried in procession to the edge of a forest. There he strips off his princely gear, plucks out his hair by the roots and, naked or near naked, sets out on a final earthly journey. In a culminating image he stands on the moon, a kind of superman, preaching truth to the cosmos.

By this point he exists outside our sphere, as all jinas do. He’s superhuman, beyond access, deaf to our appeals. Still, the paintings of his life, even this one of him on the moon, look almost warm to the touch, with their jazzy color combos of crimson, gold and ultramarine ground and their naturalistic details: transparent fabrics, pretty flowers and wasp-waisted bodies striking Ruth St. Denis poses.

There are more such paintings in the Rubin Museum show, and other kinds too: half-abstract geometric designs; elaborately plotted cosmograms; and pilgrimage road maps teeming with minute human and animal figures that move, like ants through the earth, toward gilded jinas glowing in shrines.

These images depicted are, presumably sculptures, and sculpture is, for me, the high point of Jain art. You’ll find a handful of superb examples at the Met, including the big marble jina, snow white and ultra serene, that has become a kind of mascot for the South Asian galleries. But the Rubin show has many more: nearly three dozen carved and cast figures, from hand size to life size. Dating from the 5th to the 17th century, they add up to a primer of sculptural types.

The types seem, at a glance, fairly limited. Most sculptures made for temples or home altars were of single male figures seated in yogic meditation or standing attentively upright, legs straight, sapling-smooth arms hanging down at their sides, hands shaped like big, bizarre flowers and empty. Some of the jinas wear sheer robes; others are nude, in which case they are associated with the Jain sect called Digambara, or sky-clad, meaning dressed in nothing but air.

Digambara ascetics and teachers — though not ordinary worshipers — completely renounce possessions, including clothing. They are, you might say, career nudists, living out an extreme version of the injunction to exist as no-impact presences in the material world. As if in a defiant gesture of total disarmament, they render themselves as unprotected as the most vulnerable of organisms.

Nudity has an ethical downside: women are barred from practicing it and are spiritually considered second-class citizens. But visually it is the feature that most clearly distinguishes Jain from much other South Asian art, including Buddhist, with which it is often confused. The misidentification is understandable. Over the centuries the two faiths coexisted as more or less friendly rivals. The same artists made images for both; and those images shared period and regional styles.

The main differences are doctrinal. While the religions share the primary goal of helping individuals escape the trauma of repeated births and deaths, they take varying approaches to it: measured and moderate in the case of Buddhism, severe and self-punishing in the case of certain Jain practice. Also, Buddhists didn’t believe in the existence of eternal souls, but Jains do, which gives their commitment to nonviolence — called ahimsa — a particularly ardent edge.

This is not to suggest that Jains were, or are, a population of renunciates. Historically adept at integrating into society, successful as merchants and traders, they often aligned themselves with the highest sources of political power and led luxurious lives. The jinas represented ideals of moral perfection, admirable, but basically inimitable. Thanks to art, you could see them — adamant in their simplicity, at once present and absent, almost innocent of charm — but you knew you could not be them.

What you can be is fully human and, in the karmic scheme of things, with so many souls in so many forms streaming through eternity, that’s an achievement in itself, or possibly just the luck of the draw. In any case, it comes with pleasures — spicy, sprightly paintings among them — and with obligations: first, to make peace with both absolutism and uncertainty; next to see all your fellow creatures for the companion souls they are; and last, which is also first in that circling Jain plan, to do no harm, no harm.

“Victorious Ones: Jain Images of Perfection” runs through Feb. 15 at the Rubin Museum of Art, 150 West 17th Street, Manhattan; (212) 620-5000; rmanyc.org. “Peaceful Conquerors: Jain Manuscript Painting” runs through March 28 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; (212) 535-7710, metmuseum.org.

 Courtesy: New York Tmes