Jainism Outside India
Jains have long been merchants and traveled outside India—to East
Africa, Europe, and now to the United States. However, because orthodox
Jain monks and nuns do not travel by vehicle and because they do not eat
or stay at the residences of lay persons, the movement of Jain
religious leadership outside India is virtually nonexistent. Even in the
late twentieth century there are very few Jain sadhus and sadhvis who
travel abroad, and those who have done so have met with criticism from
more orthodox members of the community. Strictly speaking, only those
who have not yet taken the full and final monastic vows are permitted
travel abroad. Thus, in North America the interdependent relationship
between renouncers and lay people that has been the sturdy backbone of
Jain tradition for so long has been thrown out of balance. One response
to this situation has been the creation among the Shvetambar Terapanthis
of a distinctive order of monks and nuns, called samans and samanis,
who are specially designated to serve the expatriate Jain community.
While new patterns of Jain life and religious leadership are being
generated in Jain communities outside India, the ancient teachings are
being reaffirmed. The central ethos of nonviolence has been articulated
afresh throughout the world by Jains who see its important implications
for today’s many political conflicts and increasing environmental
devastation. Jainism is seen by Jains today as containing highly
rational and universal teachings applicable to many of the problems of
modern life. While some of the distinctive character of the Indian Jain
community may be lost in transit to America, the universality of Jain
teachings on the sanctity of all life and the relativity of all
truth-claims seems to have been rediscovered and reaffirmed. Jains
emphasize today that their views support and nourish not just the Jain,
or even human, community, but the larger community of all living things.
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