Jainism and Unification Thought

Summary

Suzuko Ohira attempts to appraise Jainism through the lens of Unification Thought, a system propounded by Rev. Sun Myung Moon in works such as the Divine Principle and Explaining Unification Thought. She notes that globalization and modern communications have created a ‘global village’ that invites a new paradigm capable of integrating diverse religious heritages. Although Jains constitute less than half a percent of India’s population, they participate actively in international inter‑religious dialogues, indicating a wider mission in human history. Ohira introduces the Unification view of history, which sees human events as God’s providential effort to restore fallen man. After the failure of Adam and Eve, history proceeds through stages symbolized by the positions of servant, adopted son and true son, culminating in the Completed Testament age with the coming of the Messiah. She distinguishes between a central history of the chosen people and a peripheral history of the rest of humanity and outlines laws of creation (correlativity, give‑and‑take, completion through three stages, number six, responsibility) and laws of restoration (indemnity, separation, the number four, false before true, horizontal restoration of the vertical and synchronous periods). Against this backdrop she reviews Jainism. She situates Mahāvīra and other Śramaṇa teachers in the axial era of the sixth–fifth centuries BCE alongside Greek philosophers and Chinese sages, suggesting—according to Unification theory—that God raised such leaders to prepare humanity for Christ. Jain doctrines of karma and rebirth, the practice of asceticism and the ethic of ahiṃsā are explored. Ohira observes that Jains explain suffering through karmic particles and advocate liberation through rigorous self‑discipline rather than divine grace. While Unificationists claim that man must be restored by attending the Messiah, Jainism emphasises self‑effort and the equality of all living beings. The article contrasts these positions yet notes similarities, such as the shared ideal of sacrificing the flesh to perfect the spirit. Ohira ultimately posits that Jainism occupies the ‘servant of servants’ level in providential history and calls for further comparative research to integrate Jain ethical insights into a broader unification of human thought.