Book Launch of 'Pure Soul: The Jaina Spiritual Traditions’

The Centre of Jaina Studies invites you to its book launch of ‘Pure Soul: The Jaina Spiritual Traditions’.

Pure Soul: The Jaina Spiritual Traditions, Edited by Peter Flügel, Heleen De Jonckheere, Renate Söhnen-Thieme. London: Centre of Jaina Studies, 2023. ISBN: 9781399946865, bookshop@soas.ac.uk

The volume accompanies the current exhibition at the Brunei Gallery which focuses on the concept of the pure soul in the various traditions of Jainism. The volume brings together articles by different scholars in the field of Jaina Studies to examine the complexity in perspectives and practices concerning the pure soul, which is the principal focus of the Jaina tradition.

Book summary

According to Jaina philosophy, the soul, ātman or jīva, is free from all the ties that keep a living being in this life and in a cycle of future lives. Its essential nature is pure consciousness. The experience of the self as different from the body is a key step on the path towards its salvation. Liberation, mokṣa or nirvāṇa, involves the removal of existing karmic ties and the avoidance of new karma.

Over its more than two millennia-long history the Jaina tradition developed different methods of working towards this goal. While practising non-violence and non-attachment is central to all Jainas, many methods focus on knowledge as a mental process, but also as an experience. Jainas should understand the nature of reality, the cosmos, or the difference between what we perceive in this world and what is absolutely true. They contemplate this knowledge through texts, sometimes by worshipping an image, by singing, by meditating, and by a variety of other methods.

The companion volume to the 2023 SOAS exhibition ‘Pure Soul: The Jaina Spiritual Traditions’ explores this variety of methods as well as their underlying philosophies. It contains articles that shed a new light on topics from the long history of Jainism as well as exciting emerging scholarship. 

Book launch programme

5:00pm–5:30pm: Introduction to ‘Pure Soul’ by the editors and contributors.

Speakers: 

• Peter Flügel (SOAS) 
• Heleen De Jonckheere (SOAS)
• Renate Söhnen-Thieme (SOAS)
• Nick Barnard (V&A)
• Samani Pratibha Pragya (Jain Vishva Bharati Institute & SOAS)
• Ashik Shah (London)

5:30pm–6:00pm: Responses

Speakers: 

• Marie-Hélène Gorisse (University of Birmingham)
• Michael Willis (Royal Asiatic Society)
• Jim Mallinson (SOAS)

The Book Launch will also give you the opportunity to visit the exhibition with specialists on site.

Please join us on 22 June 2023 in BG01, Brunei Gallery, SOAS.