Svetambara Monks

Digambara Monks

Another Jainism Symbol

Inside of a Jain Temple

Outside of a Jain Temple

Introduction

Throughout my life I have always known what Hinduism and Buddhism are, but I have never learned about their cousin religion Jainism. They are all branches of Shramana. The main differences between them are Jains believe that peace is the most important. Buddhists believe that riding yourself of material things is the most important. And Hinduism is a sacrificial religion. Jainism is one of the oldest and most peaceful religions there is today. Even though it originated in India many other parts of the world have noticed this wonderful religion. And there are many aspects to this religion.

Main Principles

First of all Jainism encourages spiritual development by enriching your own personal wisdom and self-control through vows. They have the Triple Gems of Jainism, which is the right vision or view, right knowledge, and right conduct, all tree of these things provide the path for attaining liberation from the cycles of birth and death. When the soul gets rid of all of their karmic bonds completely you get divine consciousness. Those who have attained moksha, which means liberation, salvation, or emancipation from the soul, and those people siddhas, and those still attached to their karmas are called samsarin. Jains do not believe in a creator that could be responsible for the manifestation, creation, or maintenance of this universe. They also believe that the universe maintains itself by the laws of nature. They believe that life exists in various forms in different parts of the universe including earth. Jainism has a lot of classifications which range from humans to air particles. The main this is though that all living organisms have soul and therefore need be interacted with peacefully and that to reach enlightenment they have to be free from all karma through thought, speech, and action. Jains are also really strong on consequences of physical and mental stuff. They really hate anger, big egos, deceit, and greed. (Singhvi). They are very interesting and unique group of people with their own culture different from Buddhism and Hinduism.