Contemplative Studies & Jainism

This volume is one of the first wide-ranging academic surveys of the major types and categories of Jain praxis. It covers a breadth of scholarly viewpoints that reflect both the variegation in terms of spiritual practices within the Jain traditions as well as the Jain hermeneutical perspectives, which are employed in understanding its rich diversity.

The volume illustrates a complex and nuanced understanding of the multifaceted category of Jain religious thought and practice. It offers a rare intrareligious dialogue within Jain traditions and at the same time, significantly broadens and enriches the field of Contemplative Studies to include an ancient, ascetic, non-theistic tradition. Meditation, yoga, ritual, prayer are common to all Indic spiritual traditions. By investigating these diverse, yet overlapping, categories one might obtain a sophisticated understanding of religious traditions that originally emerged in South Asia. Essays in this book demonstrate how these forms of praxis in Jainism, and the philosophies that anchor those practices, are interrelated, and when brought into dialogue, help to foster new tools for understanding a complex and variegated tradition such as Jain Dharma.

This book will be useful to scholars and researchers of religious and theological studies, contemplative studies, Jain studies, Hindu studies, consciousness studies, Yoga studies, Indian philosophy and religion, sociology of religion, philosophy of religion, comparative religion, and South Asian studies, as well as general readers interested in the topic.

"This excellent book gives a detailed yet accessible exposition of daily practices like prayer, worship, rituals, and contemplations practiced by the Jain laity.  It contains a fascinating scholarly discourse on how Jains recite the qualities of Jinas and pray to be able to achieve the same through their self-effort with restraint and nonviolence while maintaining a peaceful and happy worldly existence as human beings. Another important contribution given herein are some points about important comparative Jain practices with those of Hindus. I highly encourage readers to enjoy this subject presented herein with a first-rate scholarly discussion."

?Dr. Shugan C. Jain, President of the International School for Jain Studies (ISJS)

"Jainism is one of the main traditions of philosophy and religion that emerges from India. However, unlike Hinduism and Buddhism, which also emerge from India, Jainism is not as well known. With respect to contemplative studies, it is also not well known in terms of the unique and interesting contributions it makes. Thus, Bohanec, Bilimoria and Sherma's determining Prayer, Worship, Ritual, and Contemplation in Jain Worlds provides a much needed contribution to scholarly literature as well as general knowledge. The authors in this work are true scholars doing important work and helping others see the core aspects of Jainism." 

? Professor Anand Jayprakash Vaidya, Department of Philosophy, San Jose State University

"This volume is a much-needed Jain contribution to the field of Contemplative Studies. The authors present diverse topics in a balanced way, both in terms of textual studies, but also in terms of cataloguing important lived experiences of practitioners while notably underscoring issues regarding gender. This is an indispensable work for both general readers and scholars alike who are interested in Jain practices and contemplative states that includes pan-Indic yoga and bhakti practices, but that also goes beyond quietude to include prayer and worship, and underscores how the distinctive Jain ethos of non-violence (ahi?s?) has profound phenomenological implications."

?Dr. Venu Mehta, Bhagwan Chandraprabhu Postdoctoral Fellow in Jain Studies, Assistant Professor of Comparative Religions, Claremont School of Theology

"Contemplative studies are an emerging field whose developments stimulate a significant paradigm shift in the academia today. It therefore gives me great joy to see that thanks to Bohanec, Bilimoria and Sherma's determining Prayer, Worship, Ritual, and Contemplation in Jain Worlds, Jain studies embark on this journey from its early stages, attended by the world leading experts on contemplation and mindfulness in the Jain tradition from a ritualistic, philosophical, literary, social, and first-person stance perspective."

?Dr. Marie-Hél?ne Gorisse, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, School of Philosophy, Theology and Religion; University of Birmingham