RG ST 3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Mahapajapati Gotami, Bodhi, Converting Vegetarians
Document Summary
Jains do not believe in a supreme being who creates or runs the universe. Rather, world operates according to its own laws in vast cycles of time. Each cycle has a period of evolution and degeneration without beginning or end. The eternal universe is real (not illusion) compromised of space, motion, rest, time, matter and soul. The real world is all too real, and you want to be free because reality consists of suffering. Ultimate goal of jainism is to separate soul (jiva) from inert matter (ajiva) to be free from samsara. Space contains infinite souls whose essential nature is consciousness, bliss, & energy, but they are enmeshed in matter. If you are to have your spirit removed from your physical body, then you would experience the purest forms of consciousness, bliss, and energy. We engage in karma because of desires. Existence is an embodied state accompanied by desire, leading to more karma and more rebirth.
