Ahimsā paramo dharmah

1. Ahimsā paramo dharmah Non-violence is the highest form of religious conduct

2. Vardhamana Mahavira Jina – or “Victor” Therefore his followers are called “Jains”

3. Tírthańkaras • “Bridge Builders” The 24 Tirthankaras

4. There are 4 million Jains today in India, UK, Canada and US

5. Kaivalyaone’s own efforts are the only path to liberation A Famous Depiction of the Buddha practicing Austerities (i.e. fasting – a primary Jain ascetic practice)

6. By the 1st century CE, the community had split into two main groups • Digambara • "clad only in the four directions“, or naked • Found mostly in Southern India • Shvetāmbara • "white clad“ • Found mostly in Western and Northern India • By far, the majority

7. Disagreements between Digambaras and Shvetāmbaras • Digambaras • do not wear clothes because they believe clothes are like other possessions, increasing dependency and desire for material things, and desire for anything ultimately leads to sorrow. • believe that women cannot attain moksha in the same birth • Shvetāmbaras • wear white seamless clothes for practical reasons and believe there is nothing in Jain scripture that condemns wearing clothes. Sadhvis (nuns) of both sects wear white. • believe that women may certainly attain liberation and that Mallinatha, the 19th Tirthankara, was female.

8. Disagreements between Digambaras and Shvetāmbaras • Digambaras • Believe that Mahavira was not married • Believe that Mahavira renounced clothes • Engage in much stricter austerities • Shvetāmbaras • Believe the princely Mahavira was married and had a daughter • Believe that Mahavira was conceived by a brahmin couple, and the embryo was later moved to the womb of a Ksatriya woman

9. Jain Metaphysics The universe is divided in three worlds. We live in the central world. The underworld, occupied by demons and demigods, consists of colored layers with the darkest at the bottom. The earth's surface forms the middle world. Above the earth is the celestial world, with 16 layers for beings born in the kalpa heavens without Jain insight and the 14 layers for those with insight. On top of all this, beyond the heavens, is the crescent-shaped apex of the universe, a region permanently occupied by souls who are already liberated (not in this picture, unfortunately)

10. Jain Logic • Anekanta – ‘Multisidedness’the doctrine of non-absolutism • Every view is right in some respects • Syadvada – the doctrine of conditional statement • No view is right in every respect • The Seven Conditional Predications : • Relatively, a thing is existent. • Relatively, a thing is non-existent • Relatively, a thing is both existent and non-existent • Relatively, a thing is indescribable • Relatively, a thing is existent and is indescribable • Relatively, a thing is existent and is indescribable • Relatively, a thing is existent, nonexistent and indescribable.

11. Jain Practice • The three Jewels • Right insight • Right knowledge • Right conduct (the Five practices) • Non-violence • Truthfulness • Non-stealing • Sexual Purity • Non-possession

12. Opportunities for Women • Mahavira willingly ordained women • Thousands of women have become nuns • Unlike in Theravada Buddhism, where the ordaining of women has died out, Jains continue the practice to this very day

13. The three dots above the swastika represent the three jewels of Jainism: Samyak Darshan (Right Faith), Samyak Jnan (Right Knowledge), and Samyak Charitra (Right Conduct) Symbol for unity, the four directions combined, the bridge between monks/nuns and the laypeople and between women and men Mudra meaning peace and non-violence