Jinasena

Jinasena (जिनसेन) was one of the several famous Jain Acharyas of the Digambar tradition. He authored Jain texts like Harivamsa Purana (783 AD) and Mahapurana (9th century).

Biography

Acharya Jinasena was the disciple of Virasena and he completed his teacher's famous commentary Dhavala on Kashayaprabhrita. Mahapurana includes Ādi purāṇa and Uttarapurana, the project was completed by his pupil Gunabhadra.

Mahapurana is the source of the famous quote:

Some foolish men declare that Creator made the world. The doctrine that the world was created is ill-advised, and should be rejected. If god created the world, where was he before creation? If you say he was transcendent then, and needed no support, where is he now?

No single being had the skill to make the world - for how can an immaterial god create that which is material? How could god have made the world without any raw material? If you say he made this first, and then the world, you are face with an endless regression. If you declare that the raw material arose naturally you fall into another fallacy, for the whole universe might thus have been its own creator, and have risen equally naturally. If god created the world by an act of will, without any raw material, then it is just his will made nothing else and who will believe this silly stuff?

Nihal Jinasena

Deshamanya Dr. Tissaweera Nihal Jinasena (born on 13 July 1940) is a Sri Lankan industrialist and sportsman. He is currently the Chairman of Lalin Michael Jinasena & Co. as well as Chairman of Loadstar(PVT) Limited, which is the largest export company in Sri Lanka.

Early Life and Family

Born to T. S. Jinasena and his wife Lily in Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, Nihal Jinasena was the oldest in the family with three brothers and educated at St. Thomas College, Mount Lavinia. He went on to study at Loughborough University in the UK, gaining a BE in Mechanical Engineering in 1962. There he was President of the Student Union, a rare distinction for any student and the first Sri Lankan to be elected. In 2000, he received an Honorary Doctorate in Technology from Loughbourg University.

He is married to Sheryll Jinasena and has one son, Lalin Michael. His main residence is in Ekala, Sri Lanka.

Career

After graduation, Nihal Jinasena took up a position at Girling Ltd as a Senior Development Engineer. In 1965, he returned to Sri Lanka to revive the family engineering company, C Jinasena & Co. In the same year, his father T.S. Jinasena, turned his company over to his four sons and Dr. Nihal became managing director, a position he held until the group's division in 2009. The company was driven by Dr. Nihal and his three brothers – like the grandfather and the father before them – on the lines of profits and service to humanity. "Our single principle is, every employee must feel that he is a part owner of the company, his ideas of how it should be run are taken into account and he shares in the rewards and profits the company earns", says Dr. Nihal about his Company.