El jainismo

Historia, sociedad, filosofía y práctica

Agustín Pániker

About the book:

Jainism

History, Society, Philosophy and Practice

Jainism is one of the great religious traditions produced by Indian civilization. Yet, this fascinating religion is practically unknown outside South Asia.

Agustín Pániker has written the first monograph in Spanish dedicated to this age-old tradition. Contrary to what some may think, Jainism is no “poor cousin” of Buddhism, nor a strange atheist sect inside Hinduism. Jainism is a millenary tradition endowed with incalculable power, richness and depth, possessing its own very pronounced characteristics. Jainism is, par excellence, the religion of non-violence (ahiµså), an ideal which later all Indian religions appropriated, and which was universalized by Gandhi in the 20th Century. Like Buddhism, Jainism is a religion without a God, an atheism which opens to what is truly divine in the innermost being of every living creature in the Cosmos. And it is a religion without absolutes (anekantavada), a particular form of philosophical pluralism of an impressive modernity.
In tune with the dynamics and the development of Jainism, the author presents its principal aspects: its cosmology, its origins, its mythology, its transformations, its perception of history, its most relevant personalities, its main religious groups, its present situation, the texts, the philosophies, institutions, mores and soteriology, its aims and purposes, its Ethics, its rituals and sacraments, its social, cultural and political interactions, its iconography, its connections to other traditions, its sacred geography, and so on; without ever falling into the extremes of academicism or superficiality.

Jainism, furthermore, is presented as a starting point so that readers already familiar with Indian Religions may discover new ways of perceiving the world. This timely book is both an educational introduction and an invitation to study Indian traditions: their philosophy, art, ways of life, ways of joining the world, ways of withdrawing from it, institutions, society... in other words, the spiritual dimension specific to India and to Jain tradition in particular.

About the author:

Agustín Pániker is a publisher and writer. He is the author too of Indika, una descolonización intelectual (Indika, an intelectual decolonisation) and Los sikhs (The Sikhs).