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meganbmooreBefore stumbling across this book during WisCon, I had really only heard of Jainism in passing, and basically knew nothing about it, but thought this anthology sounded interesting. I still don’t know much about Jainism beyond some basics I looked up, but it was interesting.
The stories, originally written by Jain monks, are largely about men achieving enlightenment through piousness, celibacy, and non-violence. The stories are loosely grouped thematically, and tend to have recurring scenes in the themes. For example, the first few stories have variations of this scene:
Man: I shall be a monk!
Family: No, you shall marry and have babies!
Man: But I shall be tempted from the true path by sinful things!
Woman: This is me, just kinda existing and not really having a say in this. But I exist, so am naturally a temptation that cannot be resisted.
Man: *gives into temptation*
Woman: *gets pregnant*
Man: Well, you’ll have a son and won’t be lonely, so I’m off to be a monk!
Woman: Still having no say here. Oh, labor.
Man: Ah, the joyous life of piety!
Woman: Just so you know, I’m either going to be enlightened and become a nun, or be angry and bitter and raise the kid to hate you, and the Suffer Greatly for that.
There’s an enormous emphasis not only on celibacy, but also on rejecting any sexual desire at all. In one of the stories, a husband and wife convert to Jainism and don’t see each other for years. When they do, he remembers having sex with her and gets nostalgic for it. She realizes that her presence has caused him to stray, and so she starves herself to death to save him, and he feels bad about that and so starves himself to death. Then they both get reborn, and she becomes one of the women above. In another story an evil woman (I think a demoness, actually, but I don’t remember the story title to look it up) wants to get revenge on a monk and so, when he returns to civilization after a month fasting in the forest, she makes him notice an attractive woman (who then proves her virtue by hiding him so no one will see it) and so is temporarily victorious over him.
Most of the stories involve marriage in one way or another. Sometimes both spouses convert to Jainism, sometimes a wife’s virtue makes her husband convert, and sometimes the wife objects to the conversion, or tries to tempt her husband away. These wives tend to die, get reborn as tigers, and eat their sons. Men also get rewarded for non-violence when they don’t defend themselves from being eaten/ripped apart by animals, and men get reborn as animals, and vice versa, depending on their actions.
I’m not entirely certain about the translation-Granoff admits to simplifying the translation to make it more accessible for people unfamiliar with Jain literature (which makes sense, though I tend to prefer dense with tons of footnotes myself) but I get the feeling that some things were altered from their original meaning for accessibility, and some terms and descriptions made me think specifically of medieval Catholicism. But it was readable and interesting, and definitely a good impulse buy.
The stories, originally written by Jain monks, are largely about men achieving enlightenment through piousness, celibacy, and non-violence. The stories are loosely grouped thematically, and tend to have recurring scenes in the themes. For example, the first few stories have variations of this scene:
Man: I shall be a monk!
Family: No, you shall marry and have babies!
Man: But I shall be tempted from the true path by sinful things!
Woman: This is me, just kinda existing and not really having a say in this. But I exist, so am naturally a temptation that cannot be resisted.
Man: *gives into temptation*
Woman: *gets pregnant*
Man: Well, you’ll have a son and won’t be lonely, so I’m off to be a monk!
Woman: Still having no say here. Oh, labor.
Man: Ah, the joyous life of piety!
Woman: Just so you know, I’m either going to be enlightened and become a nun, or be angry and bitter and raise the kid to hate you, and the Suffer Greatly for that.
There’s an enormous emphasis not only on celibacy, but also on rejecting any sexual desire at all. In one of the stories, a husband and wife convert to Jainism and don’t see each other for years. When they do, he remembers having sex with her and gets nostalgic for it. She realizes that her presence has caused him to stray, and so she starves herself to death to save him, and he feels bad about that and so starves himself to death. Then they both get reborn, and she becomes one of the women above. In another story an evil woman (I think a demoness, actually, but I don’t remember the story title to look it up) wants to get revenge on a monk and so, when he returns to civilization after a month fasting in the forest, she makes him notice an attractive woman (who then proves her virtue by hiding him so no one will see it) and so is temporarily victorious over him.
Most of the stories involve marriage in one way or another. Sometimes both spouses convert to Jainism, sometimes a wife’s virtue makes her husband convert, and sometimes the wife objects to the conversion, or tries to tempt her husband away. These wives tend to die, get reborn as tigers, and eat their sons. Men also get rewarded for non-violence when they don’t defend themselves from being eaten/ripped apart by animals, and men get reborn as animals, and vice versa, depending on their actions.
I’m not entirely certain about the translation-Granoff admits to simplifying the translation to make it more accessible for people unfamiliar with Jain literature (which makes sense, though I tend to prefer dense with tons of footnotes myself) but I get the feeling that some things were altered from their original meaning for accessibility, and some terms and descriptions made me think specifically of medieval Catholicism. But it was readable and interesting, and definitely a good impulse buy.