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Chapter 4 Jainism
Learning Objectives
4.1 Explain the Jain belief about the Tirthankaras.
4.3 Describe the key Jain spiritual practices.
4.4 Summarize the Jain diaspora.
Chapter Overview
The Tirthankaras and ascetic orders
Freeing the soul: the ethical pillars
Karma
Teaching Story: The Story of Bahubali
Ahimsa
Religion in Practice: Jain Purification
Aparigraha
Anekantwad
Spiritual practices
The Jain Symbol
Key Points
Introduction
Teaching Note: While the majority of religious Indians continue to follow Hindu
paths, Jainism is also a religion native to Mother India. Chapter 4 explores this
non-Vedic tradition with the following goals: to describe Jainism and its
distinctiveness from Hinduism and to explain three major animating principles of
Jain belief: ahimsa, aparigraha, and anekantwad.
Jainism has approximately 4.5 million adherents and is not based on the Vedas.
Hinduism and Buddhism has been influenced by Jainism.
4.1 The Tirthankaras and ascetic orders
Buddha (and like the Buddha, a prince of the Kshatriya clan who renounced his
position and wealth) in the sixth century BCE.
Mahavira is the twenty-fourth of the Tirthankaras,
by Jains to be great teachers.
Hindu and Buddhist texts refer to Jainism as a tradition that began long before
Mahavira. Jainism, a non-Vedic Indian tradition, does not officially acknowledge
the caste system.
As an ascetic path, Jainism is practiced in its fullest by monks and nuns.
The text points out that one sect, the Digambaras, wear no clothes to
demonstrate their innocence and their lack of attachment to material goods (even
clothing).
The Shvetambaras, by way of contrast, believe that wearing white robes is an
acceptable
While the Digambaras maintain that one must be born a male to attain liberation,
the Shvetambaras believe that both males and females are capable of it, and this
branch of Jainism supports a substantial order of nuns.
Teaching Note: An interesting exercise for students of world religions is to
imagine that they are Jain nuns or monks. What are some of the hazards they must
avoid to practice nonviolence? When one considers that microorganisms permeate
4.2 Freeing the soul: the ethical pillars
Jainism expresses belief in jiva
which has the capacity to save itself.
Like Hinduism, Jainism maintains belief in samsara, the cycle of death and
rebirth (reincarnation) until liberation is achieved.
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Karma
Jains believe that the universe is without beginning and that there is no divine
creator or destroyer. Our own actions can save us.
While Jainism shares the concept of karma with both Hinduism and Buddhism,
Ahimsa
According to the Jain understanding of ahimsa, or nonviolence, all life in all
innocent animals.
Jains believe the killing of these creatures brings much karma on the worker.
Even agriculture causes harm to insects and organisms.
Many Jains thus take up occupations that they consider harmless, such as
banking, education, law, or publishing.
Aparigraha
Aparigraha, or nonattachment to both things and people, is a central Jain idea, the
cultivation of which kindles the way to inner peace.
It is notable that Jainism teaches that this non-acquisitiveness is not only the way
Anekantwad
Anekantwad
Jains believe that it is important to resist anger, to remain open-minded and to
avoid judgmentalism. In other words, Jains must be sensitive to the truth that the
issues can be seen from many different angles. Because truth has many facets, the
enlightened person is responsive to the subtleties of existence.
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4.3 Spiritual practices
Jainism is an ascetic path.
Jain monks and nuns are celibate, practice physical penance and fasting, and have
few possessions.
Sometimes they carry their asceticism to extremes (for example, eschewing
bathing in the interest of not harming water-bodies or refusing to fan themselves
in the interest of not disturbing creatures in the air).
Jain laypeople, too, seek to lead simple lives.
Many Jains in India are very successful in their professions and follow the dictate
of nonpossessiveness through philanthropy.
Lay Jains are divided into those who worship at temples and those who do not.
The temples contain images of the Tirthankaras, all of which look alike because
the perfect soul is nonparticularized.
Festivals and pilgrimages
Jain holy days are typically celebrated with meditation, renunciation, fasting,
scriptural study, and hymns.
Like Hindus, Jains celebrate Divali, but Jains celebrate with a three-day fast and
an entire night reciting hymns and meditating on Mahavir. A subsequent day may
include cleaning and worshiping books in religious libraries.
The most important Jain festival is Paryushan Mahaparva, an annual festival of
4.4 World Jainism
For most of its history, Jainism survived as a minority religion within India;
since the twentieth century, it has been carried outside India by several teachers.
o Jains still have an attachment to India.
o Extreme asceticism is no longer practiced in favor of environmentalism,
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faiths to cultivate strong moral standards.
Key Terms
ahimsa Digambara samsara
anekantwad Jina Shvetambara
Review Questions
1. Taking into account samsara, caste, karma, kevala, jiva, and jina, describe the Jain
Discussion Questions
1. How might someone put the principle of ahimsa into practice in your own society?
3. What are some similarities and differences between Jainism and Buddhism that the
author addressed in this chapter?
Class Activities/Assignments
1. Ask students to make a list of their activities from the time they rise in the morning
through lunch. Once the list is finished, ask them to review it from the perspective of a
devout Jain. Which activities would have to be altered or abandoned during this time
period?
Recommended Films
The Frontiers of Peace: Jainism in India, BBC-TV, 1986. 40 minutes. An
introduction to Jainism filmed in Ahmedabad, India. Available for purchase from
the Center for South Asia, University of Wisconsin-Madison,
Additional Class Discussion/Essay Questions
1. Relate the story of the blind people who are asked to describe an elephant, and explain
how the story may be used to illustrate Jain ideals.
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2. Describe some of the typical practices of Jain laypeople, and explain how these