How Jains Know What They Know A Lay Jain Curriculum

Here's a comprehensive summary of John E. Cort's "How Jains Know What They Know: A Lay Jain Curriculum," based on the provided text:

The essay, authored by John E. Cort, explores an alternative pathway to understanding Jainism, one that focuses on what a lay Jain needs to know to practice and comprehend their faith, rather than relying solely on academic or scriptural canons typically presented to outsiders. Cort's work is inspired by a list of texts provided by the respected Jain monk-intellectual Muni Jambūvijayjī to Kendall W. Folkert, who was researching the Svetāmbara Jain scriptural canon from a performative perspective.

Cort contrasts this "Canon-near" approach with "Canons-far," where the latter focuses on intrinsic textual authority, while the former prioritizes authority derived from religious practice and contextualized understanding. He notes that the list provided by Muni Jambūvijayjī is not what one might expect from introductory accounts of Jainism, such as the 11 Svetāmbara angas. Instead, it comprises medieval textbooks designed for the systematic study of Jain doctrines and practices in their developed forms.

The curriculum outlined by Muni Jambūvijayjī includes the following categories:

• Pañca Pratikramana (Five Pratikramanas): This is central to Jain ritual practice. Pratikramana refers to a ritual of dissociation from karmic actions to minimize karmic bondage. It is performed daily by mendicants and annually by laity during Paryusana. The term also encompasses the six avasyakas (daily obligatory rituals). These texts are essentially manuals for daily religious ritual, containing rearranged canonical excerpts, devotional poetry, and chants, often in Prakrit transliterated into vernacular scripts with explanations. They also include liturgies for other ascetic practices like paccakkhāna (vows and fasting), guruvandana (veneration of mendicants), caityavandana (veneration of Jina images), samāyika (meditative equanimity), and posadha (temporary mendicancy).

• Nine Smaranas (Nine Remembrances): These are Prakrit and Sanskrit hymns that praise the Jinas and core Jain teachings. The first is the universal Navakara Mantra (Namokkara Mangala). The other eight are longer hymns, some with a Tantric flavor, which invoke specific Jinas to actualize salvific and world-enhancing virtues. Notable examples include the Uvasaggaharam Stotra, Santikaram Stotra, Tijayapahutta Stotra, Namiūna Stotra (also Bhayahara Stotra), Ajitaśānti Stotra, Bhaktamara Stotra, and Kalyanamandira Stotra. These hymns are often recited daily and are attributed to various significant figures in Jain history, often with the purpose of averting troubles or ailments. Some additional hymns, like the Atmarakṣa Navakara Mantra and Laghu Śänti Stava, are also mentioned, highlighting the intertwining of devotion (bhakti) and Tantric power for worldly wellbeing.

• Four Prakaranas: These are medieval Prakrit textbooks that provide foundational Jain teachings on metaphysics, ontology, and cosmology, serving as introductory texts for these subjects.

  • Jīvavicāra by Santisuri: Details Jain ontology, categorizing the various forms unenlightened souls can embody.
  • Navatattva: An overview of the nine fundamental Jain verities (tattva), including soul (jiva), non-soul (ajiva), karma influx (asrava), bondage (bandha), merit (punya), demerit (papa), blockage (samvara), shedding (nirjarā), and liberation (mokṣa).
  • Dandaka (also Vicārachattīsiyāsutta): Details the physical and mental qualities of beings in the 24 possible life forms (dandaka).
  • Sangrahani by Haribhadrasuri: Introduces Jain geography and cosmology, discussing the features of the universe. These texts collectively provide a detailed picture of the Jain physical universe, crucial for understanding the moral universe and its practices.

• Tribhāsyas by Devendrasuri: Prakrit commentaries by Devendrasuri (founder of the Tapā Gaccha) on three essential avasyakas: Caityavandana (veneration of Jinas), Guruvandana (veneration of mendicant gurus), and Paccakkhāna (intention to perform austerities and details of ascetic practice). These texts are central to the Tapā Gaccha intellectual tradition.

• Six Karmagranthas: These are textbooks on Jain karma theory, largely by Devendrasuri, offering detailed, though often dense, explanations of karma doctrine.

• Two Brhadsangrahanis: Further cosmological texts, with one by Maladhārī Candrasūri being more widely read and available.

• Two Brhadksetrasamāsas: Additional cosmological texts, one by Jinabhadragani Ksamāśramana.

• Tattvārthādhigamasutra by Umāsvāti: The most famous text on the list, considered essential. It's a systematic presentation of Jain doctrine in Sanskrit, covering correct faith, knowledge, conduct, cosmology, ontology, karmic bondage, and liberation. It acts as a summary of Jain basics, requiring commentaries for understanding.

Cort concludes by emphasizing that this curriculum equips a lay Jain with correct faith (samyagdarśana) and intellectual understanding (samyagjñāna) necessary for orthoprax religious life (samyakcāritra). He reiterates that this is a Svetāmbara Mūrtipūjak curriculum and would differ for other Jain sects. While many of these texts are more suited for mendicants or lay pandits, they represent what a committed layperson would turn to for intellectual foundations. Cort criticizes the scholarly tendency to focus on "original" texts, arguing that to understand "how Jains know what they know," scholars must consider what Jains actually read, rather than solely relying on academic canons. The essay is dedicated to the memory of Kendall W. Folkert.