The Gift of Jaina (Poem)
Summary
Leona Smith Kremser’s devotional poem unfolds the ‘gift’ Jaina offers to all beings: the Three Jewels of right belief, knowledge, and conduct. Verses contrast worldly delusion with the clarity won through ethical self‑discipline (vrata) and non‑injury, and celebrate the timeless teaching of the twenty‑four Tīrthaṅkaras. The rhetoric is invitational rather than sectarian; it addresses the soul directly, urging free choice toward compassion and responsibility. The imagery ranges from incense and flowers to cycles of time and karmic burdens, culminating in a refrain that liberation is achieved through conduct that embodies right knowledge and belief. As a prelude to the issue’s prose studies, the poem functions as an affective primer, aligning readers’ attention to Jain ethical sensibility: clarity, restraint, and care for sentient life. Its plain diction and musical cadence make it suitable for recitation, bridging scholarship and practice by reminding that knowledge is incomplete without transformation of conduct.
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Conclusion
A lyrical meditation on the Three Jewels that invites readers into Jain ethics as lived discipline rather than mere doctrine.