An Indian Jain Painting on Cloth of Loka Purusha
Jainism is an ancient Indian religion with deeply held pacifist beliefs and customs that uphold the equal treatment of humans, animals and plant-life, all of which are believed to contain a living soul.
The Jain universe is divided into three basic realms, which together form the composite "Cosmic Man," or Lokapurusha, The torso and head of the Cosmic Man contain a series of ten or twelve heavenly realms where the inhabitants experience lives of pleasure. The legs represent a series of seven hells, which contain the majority of souls and offer an endless variety of torments. But the smallest part of the universe, represented by the disk at the Lokapurusha's waist, is the most important. This middle world, which is rotated in this diagram to show its details, is the mere sliver of the cosmos where humans can live and where the great Jain teachers can be born. Here the mixture of pleasure and pain, of good and bad, provides the perfect environment for religious practice and ethical awareness, ultimately making it the only realm where spiritual liberation is possible. When this occurs, the perfected soul floats to the top of the universe and eternally resides in the crescent-shaped realm above the heavens, shown at the forehead of the Lokapurusha.
Mid 20th Century.
59x95cm
Jainism is an ancient Indian religion with deeply held pacifist beliefs and customs that uphold the equal treatment of humans, animals and plant-life, all of which are believed to contain a living soul.
The Jain universe is divided into three basic realms, which together form the composite "Cosmic Man," or Lokapurusha, The torso and head of the Cosmic Man contain a series of ten or twelve heavenly realms where the inhabitants experience lives of pleasure. The legs represent a series of seven hells, which contain the majority of souls and offer an endless variety of torments. But the smallest part of the universe, represented by the disk at the Lokapurusha's waist, is the most important. This middle world, which is rotated in this diagram to show its details, is the mere sliver of the cosmos where humans can live and where the great Jain teachers can be born. Here the mixture of pleasure and pain, of good and bad, provides the perfect environment for religious practice and ethical awareness, ultimately making it the only realm where spiritual liberation is possible. When this occurs, the perfected soul floats to the top of the universe and eternally resides in the crescent-shaped realm above the heavens, shown at the forehead of the Lokapurusha.
Mid 20th Century.
59x95cm
Jainism is an ancient Indian religion with deeply held pacifist beliefs and customs that uphold the equal treatment of humans, animals and plant-life, all of which are believed to contain a living soul.
The Jain universe is divided into three basic realms, which together form the composite "Cosmic Man," or Lokapurusha, The torso and head of the Cosmic Man contain a series of ten or twelve heavenly realms where the inhabitants experience lives of pleasure. The legs represent a series of seven hells, which contain the majority of souls and offer an endless variety of torments. But the smallest part of the universe, represented by the disk at the Lokapurusha's waist, is the most important. This middle world, which is rotated in this diagram to show its details, is the mere sliver of the cosmos where humans can live and where the great Jain teachers can be born. Here the mixture of pleasure and pain, of good and bad, provides the perfect environment for religious practice and ethical awareness, ultimately making it the only realm where spiritual liberation is possible. When this occurs, the perfected soul floats to the top of the universe and eternally resides in the crescent-shaped realm above the heavens, shown at the forehead of the Lokapurusha.
Mid 20th Century.
59x95cm