Customs and Practices

Jains are vegetarians and not only that they don’t eat the roots of plants because that kills the plant. Instead they only eat the leafs, fruit, and seed of the plant. And also root vegetables contain infinite microorganisms called nigodas. Jain monks and nuns practice very strict asceticism and try to make their current birth their last, and ending their cycle of transmigration. Monks and nuns walk barefoot and sweep the ground in front of them to avoid killing insects and other tiny beings. Even though all life is sacred, human life is the most sacred one. Thus it is vital not to upset any human either. Pratikarman is the practice of confession and repentance. It’s when they look back on all the bad thoughts during the day and trying not to make those mistakes again (BBC). This helps Jains to get away from criticizing other people and develop and self analysis and self improvement.

            Jains practice samayika which means equanimity in sanskirt. During this they stay calm and undisturbed for at least forty eight minutes. Another thing they use often to stay calm is meditation. The twelve contemplats for meditation are impermanence, protection, worldly existence, solitude of the soul, separateness of the soul, impureness of the body, influx of karma, stoppage of influx of karma, karma shedding, universe, difficulties in developing triple jems of Jainism, and difficulties of practicing Jain Dharma. Jains encourage to refer to these thoughts with peace love and friendship to all, appreciation respect and delight for others, compassion to souls who are suffering, and equanimity and tolerance in dealing with someone’s else’s thoughts, words, or actions. There are also four different types of fasting.  There’s complete fasting and that’s when you give up all food and drink for a period of time. There’s partial fasting in which you eating less than you need to avoid hunger. There’s vruti sankshepa where you limit the number of food items eaten. And finally there’s rasa parityaga and that’s giving up favorite foods. Fasting is said to keep the demands of the body under check (Sutaria).

Paryushana Parva Festival in 2011

Worships and Rituals

Every day they say the prayer navakar mantra and it can be said at any time of the day. When they recite this prayer the person whose saying it bows in respect to liberated souls who are still in human form. All it pretty much is a simple gesture for deep respect for those more spiritually advanced. It also reminds people the ultimate goal to reach nirvana or moksha. They worship the jinas, arihants, and tirthankars, who have conquered their inner passions and attained divine consciousness and study the scriptures of these liberated people. The main purpose of prayer and worship is to break the barriers of the worldly attachments and desires, so as to assist in the liberation of the soul. Before they pray they cleanse their bodies by washing themselves and the clothes are very clean and simple. There are also two types of prayers, dravya puja which is offerings and material objects, and bhav puja which is deep feeling and meditation (Malaiya). They take their prayers very seriously.

            One of the most important festivals for Jains is the Paryushana. Its origins were the monks stayed in one place the whole entire rainy season. In fact Paryushana literally means, “Staying of monks in one place”. Most people pronounce it “chaturmaasa” because the rainy season is about four months. But for the average folks it only lasts about seventy days. It’s kind of like a season so they have festivals within it. Digambaras have the festivals for 10 days, and the svetambara have it for eight days. They have several special little traditions that they do.Pratikarmana is the renewal meditation, and it means turning back. It is a form of meditation that one reflects on his/her own spiritual journey and renews their faith. Then they really focus on their ten components (Malaiya), which is like Christianity’s Ten Commandments. The ten components are forbearance, gentleness, uprightness, purity, truth, restraint, austerity, renunciation, lack of possession, and chastity. And at the end of the festival they request forgiveness (Malaiya). They still have their morals of what you can and can not do.

Where Jainism is Mostly Today

History

The history of Jainism goes very deep into human history.Jainism arose in the 7^th century BC in India. Jains believe that Jainism has no one founder and that it always existed and that it always will exist, but sometimes is forgotten by humans. It is predominately in India but also there are reasonable populations in America, Canada, and Belgium. The first jain leader that was reliably documented was the twenty- third tirthankar Parshvanatha. But Mahavira the 24^th and last tirthankar is usually said to be the founder (Religion Facts). He was born in Circa 550 BCE. He commited Salekhana, which is fasting to death (Robinson).  Jains started to split up into two different sects. In the third century B.C. and in the beginning of the first century B.C. in Christianity (jaindharmonline). Jainism as you can see, as a very old religion, maybe one of the oldest ones.

Denominations

Like Christianity, Jainism also has different denominations. There are two types of Jainism, Digambara meaning sky clad. And within this denomination there are different sects. Digambara’s belive that woman cannot achieve enlightenment without being reborn into a man. They believe this because woman cannot live a truly pure life, because they have to wear clothes because it is impractical for them to live naked. Digambara’s believed that Jinas have no bodily functions, live without food, and do not act in the world. Digambara’s munks live completely naked. This is because they believe that the life of a true monk has no worldly possessions, and by demonstrating indifference to earthly emotions such as shame. Digambara monks are not allowed any possessions, not even begging bowls they just have to use their hands. Digambara images of Tirthankaras have downcast eyes, and their pictures are very plain (BBC). Digambaras are very raw and try to strive to be the purest.

            The other denomination is Svetambara which means white clad. Svetambara monks can own few possessions unlike Digambara monks. They can have simple white clothing, a begging bowl, a brush to remove insects from their path, and books and writing materials. Svetambra’s images have prominate staring eyes. Svetambra’s images are also richly decorated. Svetambra’s worship is a lot more complex though. Nuns of both groups are clothed and they both belive that the same details of the life of Mahavira, rituals, and which texts to read. Also in svetambra woman are allowed to reach enlightenment (BBC). Personally Svetambara sounds like the sect. I would be in because it is more open minded.

Conclusion

Jainism is probably the most peaceful religion that I know or heard of. Before this project I didn’t even know what Jainism was. Now that I know about it I realize the people of Jainism are very nice people. It has changed my view on religions as a whole. For one the only religions that I really heard about were Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Its opened my eyes so much to see where people in different parts of the world see. I would like to meet a Jainism monk and get to know someone of Jainism beliefs. This has also really made me want to go to India and live the life of a Jain.

Works Cited

BBC. BBC Jainism /sects. London: BBC, 11 Sept. 2009.

Robinson, B.C. "Jainism." Jainism. Religion Tolerance, 30 Oct. 2010. Web. <religiontolerance.org/jainism>.

Malaiya, Yashwant K. "The Paryushana Parva." The Paryushana Parva. Colarado State. Web. 22 May 2012. <http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/paryushan.html>.

BBC. "BBC-Religions-Jainism:History." History of Jainism. BBC, 09 Oct. 2009. Web. 22 May 2011. <bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/jainism/history>.

Sutaria, Hansa and Vinod. "Home | Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences." Home | Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Harvard.edu. Web. 23 May 2012. <http://www.fas.harvard.edu/>.

BBC. "BBC-Religions-Jainism: Fasting and Rituals." Fasting and Rituals. BBC, 09 Oct. 2009. Web. <bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/jainism>.

Singhvi, Sushilas. "Jainism at a Glance." Jainism Study. Jain Study Circle. Web. <jainstudy.org>.

Sangave, Vilas Dr. "Principles of Jainism." The Jain Path of Ahmisa. Jain World. Web. <jainworld.com/jainbooks>.