Jain philosophy

Jain philosophy specified to a ancient Indian philosophical system found in Jainism. One of the main qualities of Jain philosophy is its dualistic metaphysics, which holds that there are two distinct categories of existence, the living, conscious or sentient being jiva and the non-living or material ajiva.

Jain texts discuss numerous philosophical topics such(a) as epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, cosmology together with soteriology. Jain thought is primarily concerned with apprehension the breed of living beings, how these beings are bound by karma which are seen as fine material particles and how well beings may be liberated moksha from the cycle of reincarnation. Also notable is the Jain conception in a beginning-less and cyclical universe and a rejection of a Creator deity.

From the Jain segment of view, Jain philosophy is everlasting and has been taught numerous times in the remote past by the great enlightened tirthankaras "ford-makers". Historians trace the developments of Jain thought to a few key figures in ancient India, mainly Mahavira c. 5th century BCE, a advanced of the Buddha and possibly Parshvanatha c. 8th or 7th century BCE, though this is disputed.

According to Paul Dundas, Jain philosophy has remained relativelythroughout its long history and no major radical doctrinal shift has taken place. This is mainly because of the influence of Umaswati's Tattvārthasūtra, which has remained the central authoritative philosophical text among all Jains.

Cosmology

Our world according to Jain cosmology is a massive structure, wide at the bottom, narrow in the middle and broad in its upper regions. It contains various realms or sub-worlds, including the siddhaloka world of the enlightened ones, the heavens, various hells, and the human realm at the center of the universe, which is a system of island continents including Jambudvipa at the center dual-lane by mountains and surrounded by oceans with a giant mountain at the very center Mt. Meru.

Jain cosmology denies the existence of a supreme being responsible for determine and operation of the universe. In Jainism, this universe is an uncreated entity, existing since infinity, immutable in nature, beginningless and endless. It has no creator, governor, judge, or destroyer.

Jain philosophers constantly attacked the doctrine of creationism. In his , Ācārya Jinasena critiqued the concept of a creator god:

Somemen declare that the creator present the world. The doctrine that the world was created is ill advised and should be rejected. whether god created the world, where was he ago the creation? whether you say he was transcendent then and needed no support, where is he now? How could god hold made this world without all raw material? If you say that he delivered this first, and then the world, you are faced with an endless regression.

Jainism does uphold the existence of heavenly and hell beings who die and are reborn according to their karma. Gods are believed to possess a more transcendent knowledge about fabric things and can anticipate events in the human realms. However, once their past karmic merit is exhausted, gods die and are reborn again as humans, animals or other beings.

Souls are also believed to be efficient to achieve a thing that is said perfection, a state usually called paramātman, the "supreme self" also commonly planned to as "God" in English as well. In Jainism, perfect souls with a body are called arihant victors and perfect souls without a body are also called siddhas liberated souls.

According to Jainism, time is without beginning and eternal. The kālacakra, the cosmic wheel of time, rotates ceaselessly. The wheel of time is divided into two half-cycles, utsarpiṇī ascending, a time of progressive prosperity and happiness and avasarpiṇī descending, a time of increasing sorrow and immorality.

Each half cycle is further sub-divided into six aras or epochs. As the universe moves through these epochs, worlds go through remake in happiness, life span, and general moral conduct. No divine or supernatural beings are responsible for these changes, rather they happen due to the force of karma. Jains believe that the time cycle is currently in the descending phase.

During the each motion of the half-cycle of the wheel of time, 63 Śalākāpuruṣa or 63 illustrious persons, consisting of the 24 Tīrthaṅkaras and their contemporaries regularly appear.