Last
fall, the nation’s first interreligious university, Claremont Lincoln
University, located forty miles east of Los Angeles, California, saw its
opening convocation, at which it celebrated a new partnership with the Jain
community. This fall, on October 8,
2012, only one year since the beginning of the Jain Studies program, Claremont
Lincoln University celebrated the inauguration of a new Center for Jain
Studies, dedicated to furthering the work of Jain wisdom in today’s world. In the course of just one year, the Jain
Studies program at Claremont Lincoln has become not only the most active program
at the University, but also the most active Jain Studies graduate program in the
nation--already administering over a dozen programs, including hosting an
annual international Jain conference; offering graduate-level Jain dharma courses
each year; bringing expert Jain scholars to the area for special lectures and
events; hosting an annual Ahimsa Day celebration; and coordinating a summer
Jain dharma study abroad program in India for local and national scholars.
With this
much Jain activity happening on campus, the University sought to deepen
collaborations with its Jain partners even further and, with philanthropic
support from the Jain community, launched a Center that will serve as the hub
for the many Jain Studies projects flowering out of this intimate partnership.
The
Center’s inaugural ceremony on October 8th was held at Mudd Theater
at Claremont School of Theology just before the national panel discussion of
the Parliament of the World’s Religions, in which the Jain tradition was
represented by former President of JAINA, and one of the senior advisors for
the Jain Studies program at Claremont Lincoln, Dr. Sulekh Jain.
In the
celebratory ceremony Professor of Jain Studies, Ms. Brianne Donaldson, who has
served as the Dharma Traditions Coordinator for the past year, administering
the majority of the Jain projects and activities, recounted the beginnings of
the Jain Studies program and its many accomplishments so far. The new Center Coordinator, Ms. Lidiya Potapenko,
followed, speaking on the central importance of ahimsa (or non-violence) in Jain dharma, and announced that the
Center’s mission was to put compassion and non-violence to work in the world
around us. Dr. Nitin Shah (Loma Linda University), past President of the Jain
Center of Southern California and one of the main donors behind the opening of
the new Center, spoke on the importance of education in the current world. The opening celebration also featured a short
cultural program of music, dance, and theater performances by Anjal, Priyash,
Vaishali, and Mahesh Jain—members of Claremont Lincoln’s local Jain partnership
organization, the Jain Center of Southern California (JCSC) in Buena Park.
The new
Center for Jain Studies is dedicated to facilitating and promoting open
discourse, innovative scholarship, creative expression, and the practical
application of Jain teachings in today’s world.
In all of its projects, the Center will especially encourage connections
between Jain dharma and other wisdom traditions, and will raise awareness of
the larger interconnected ecological environment in which we live. To find out more about the new Center for
Jain Studies at Claremont Lincoln University, please visit jain.claremontlincoln.org.
