It gives us immense pleasure to inform
that Shri Digamber Jain Samaj, Bangkok has completed the transfer of ownership of
a 3 storey townhouse property on 19th July 2007 in the name of
“Digambar Jain Foundation” (DJF) at house # 143/3, near K. Building Apartment,
Soi Putha Osoth, off Maha Set Road, Suriwong, Bangkok.
It is indeed a memorable event and a
milestone for the growth of Jainism in Thailand and for all Digambar Jains
living here for past several years.
The Jin Bimb (statue)
and prayer hall are located on the 2nd Floor. Ground floor contains
store, shower and WC area. 3rd Floor is an open hall for Swadhyay. The
space is adequate for the current size
of Digamber Jain community.
Even though,
Digamber and Shwetamber, both sects are followers of same Tirthankers and Jain
philosophy and have jointly observed all major Jain festivals in the past and
will continue to do so in future as well, it was felt during past 2-3 years by
Digamber Jain community in Thailand to have their own Jin Mandir (Temple) owing
to the fact that Digamber Jin Bimb is Vitraagi (without any adoration) and the
method of worshipping and Pujan vidhi is also different from other sects.
There are over 500
Jain families living in Thailand, mostly in Bangkok, for past several years. Out
of them, about 100 are Digamber Jain families and the rest are Shwetamber families. Shwetambers also have their
Derasar in the vicinity, built few years ago. Majority of the Jains are in
the Gems and Jewelry business.
In April 2004,
current President of All India Digamber Jain Mahasabha, Shri Nirmal Kumar Ji
Sethi, had visited Bangkok and had inspired us to construct a temple for the
Digamber Jains.
On 5th
and 6th September of previous year (2006), on the auspicious
occasion of Das Lakshan (Ten Virtues: Kshama (Forebearance/Forgiveness), Mardav
(Humility), Arjav (Honesty), Satya (Truthfuness), Shouch (Purity of thought),
Sanyam (Restraint), Tap (Austarity), Tyaag (Renunciation), Aakinchan (Lack of
possesiveness), Brahmacharya (Chastity)) Maha Parv, Digamber Jain
community took out a very gracious procession from Jinalay located at 11th
Floor of Bangkok Gems and Jewelry Tower to the recently acquired Digamber Jain
Mandir with vidhivat pratisthapana of Shri 1008 Mahavir Swami’s panchdhatu Jin
Bimb in the new Mandir. It was a truly historical event and we all Jains are proud
to have our own “Shri 1008 Mahavir Digamber Jain Mandir”.
This year also DJF
invited a very knowledgeable Shri Bharatbhai and 2 Musicians from India and
celerated Das Lakshan Maha Parv from 16th to 25th
September, 2007 with full devotion.
DJF is
also proud to send 3 Thai post graduate scholars (2 in year 2006 and
1 in year 2007) to India to participate in a 2 months' intensive summer
course organised by International Summer School for Jain Studies (ISSJS) to
study the Philosophy of Jain religion. These scholars will help DJF in
propagating Lord Mahavir’s teachings to local people.
Some
useful Jain Links:
Given below are
websites with a large number of articles and books compiled using extensive
effort:
http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/jainhlinks.html
For further
information, please do not hesitate to write to us at: djfbangkok@hotmail.com
On behalf of DJF,
Bangkok Executive Committee
Pramod M. Jain