Jainism
जैन धर्म
Also written: jainism · mahavira · tirthankara · anekantavada · syadvada · digambara svetambara · जैन
Jainism traces itself through twenty-four Tīrthaṅkaras — 'ford-makers' — of whom Mahāvīra, a contemporary of the Buddha, is the last, and Pārśvanātha before him is historically attested. Ṛṣabhadeva, the first, appears in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa as well, which is one measure of how intertwined the traditions are.
Its distinctive metaphysics
- The jīva — the soul — is eternal, individual, and intrinsically omniscient; it is obscured rather than created.
- Karma is not merely a moral residue but a subtle material substance that adheres to the soul and weighs it down.
- Liberation is therefore a matter of stopping the influx of karma (saṁvara) and shedding what has accumulated (nirjarā), by austerity.
- There is no creator god. The universe is eternal and uncreated, operating by its own laws.
The five vows
| Vow | Content |
|---|---|
| Ahiṁsā | Non-injury, extended to the smallest life; the most rigorous formulation in any tradition |
| Satya | Truth |
| Asteya | Non-stealing |
| Brahmacarya | Chastity |
| Aparigraha | Non-attachment; for the Digambara monk, the renunciation of even clothing |
Anekāntavāda — many-sidedness
Jainism's most original contribution to philosophy: reality has infinite aspects, and any single statement captures only one. Its illustration is the blind men and the elephant — each report is accurate and each is partial. From this follows syādvāda, the doctrine of conditioned assertion: every proposition is prefaced with 'in some respect'. It is a formal epistemology of intellectual humility, and it is unique.
The tributaries — traditions born from the same ground
Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, the Nātha and Siddha lines, the bhakti sants and the modern reform movements: what…
Buddhism
The Buddha's teaching, the four noble truths and the eightfold path, anātman and dependent origination, the sc…
Sikhism
Guru Nānak and the ten Gurus, Ik Onkar, the Guru Granth Sahib as living scripture, the three pillars of practi…
The Nātha sampradāya and haṭha yoga
Matsyendranātha and Gorakhnātha, the nine Nāthas and eighty-four Siddhas, the body as the vehicle of liberatio…
The bhakti movement and the sants
A thousand years of reform from inside: the Ālvārs and Nāyanmārs, Basavaṇṇa, Kabīr, Ravidās, Mīrā, Nāmdev, Tuk…
Modern movements and teachers
Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj, Ramakrishna Mission, and the teachers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries who …
Last revised 2026-08-16. Corrections are welcome — see how this site is written.