Acharyas: Spiritual leaders

Achaurya: Non-stealing

Adharma: The medium of rest that creates the condition of rest

Agamas: A collection of scriptures revered by the svetambara sect consisting of the angas and the kalpa sutra

Ahimsa: Nonviolence, to prevent new karma from accumulating

Ajiva: Without soul

Akasha: Space

Anekanta: Refers to doctrine about metaphysical truths that states that the ultimate truth and reality is complex and has multiple aspects

Anga Bahy/Upangas: Scripture of the svetambara sect, meaning outside the limbs

Angas: Scripture of the svetambara sect, meaning the limbs, thought to be lost by the digambara sect

Aparigraha: Non-possession

Ardhamagadhi: A Middle Indian language used in Jain texts

Arihantas: Liberated beings

Asrava: Inflow of karma

Beginnings of Jainism: Not known, but possibly rooted in indigenous Indic culture before Aryan and Vedic age

Brahmacharya: Sexual purity

Candragupta Maurya: The founder of the Maurya Empire in ancient India who supported the Jain tradition

Caturmas: A holy period of four months from July to October, in which travel is curtailed and fasting is frequent

Cause of Passions: Previously accumulated karma, which ripens and gives rise to attachment, which leads to the passions

Danas: Charity

Devapuja: Worship of tirthankaras

Dharma: The medium of motion that creates the condition for motion

Digambaras: Sky-clad sect of Jainism which focus on total nudity as clothing is seen as a form of attachment and therefore, women cannot reach moksha

Digha Nikaya: Long discourses of the Buddha

Dipavali: A festival marking the anniversary of Mahavira's liberation, which is celebrated at the same time as the Hindu festival of the same name

Five Auspicious Events in Mahavira's Life: Conception of Mahavira, birth, renunciation, enlightenment, and final release

Five Great Vows: Ahimsa, achaurya, brahmacharya, satya, and aparigraha

Five Types of Ajiva: Dharma, adharma, pudgala, akasha, and kala

Five-Sense Jivas: Humans, with all five senses of touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing

Four-Sense Jivas: Flies, senses are touch, taste, smell, and sight

Guru-Upasti: Veneration of teachers

Hagiography: The writing of the lives of saints

Jains: Followers of the Jina

Jinas: Tirthankaras

Jiva: Soul, which is completely individual, eternal and weighed down by karma, thus preventing its ascent to realms of bliss after death

Kala: Time

Kalpa Sutra: Scripture revered by the svetambara sect, which contains the life stories of the tirthankaras

Kashayas: Four passions

Kevala-Jnana: Omniscience

Krodha: Anger

Lobha: Greed

Loka: World/universe, which is without beginning or end and contains of the siddhashila of liberated jivas, the upper world of heavenly beings, the middle world of humans and animals, and the lower world of hellish beings

Maha-Vratas: Five great vows

Mahamastabhiseka: Grand head anointing

Mahavira: The twenty-fourth and last Tirthankara, who became a follower of Parsva and renounced all his wealth, property and family to become an ascetic and achieved Kevala-Jnana

Malli: The nineteenth female tirthankara

Mana: Pride

Maya: Deceit

Moksha: Liberation, release from the cycle of rebirths

Murti: Image

Namaskara Mantra: Hymn to the twenty-four Jinas, which destroys all sinful karma and of all holies is the most holy

Nigoda: One-sense jivas, microscopic organisms

One-Sense Jivas: Microscopic organisms and plants, only sense is touch

Paap: Bad karma particles

Panca Kalyanaka: Five auspicious events

Pandita-Marana: Someone who is not afraid of death and who accepts it willingly and at ease

Parsva: The twenty-third Tirthankara

Pratikramana: A ritual during which Jains repent for their sins and non-meritorious activities committed knowingly or inadvertently during their daily life through thought, speech or action

Pudgala: Matter

Puja: Act of worship

Punya: Good karma particles

Rsabha: The first tirthankara of our current time cycle, also called Adinath

Sallekhana: Fasting unto death, ideal form of death undertaken by both ascetics and laypeople, not considered suicide

Samvara: Blockage of karma

Samyak Caritra: Right conduct, opposite of passions

Samyak Darshana: Right faith, opposite of delusion

Samyak Jnana: Right knowledge, opposite of false views

Samyama: Restraint

Satya: Truthfulness

Shravanabelagola: An ancient pilgrimage centre and rock statue of Bahubali located in Karnataka, India, which is said to be the largest monolithic statue in the world

Siddh-Loka: Abode of the liberated soul

Siddhanta: Jain scriptures compiled during 1000 years between death of Mahavira and Valabhi Council in 5th C, CE

Siddhas: Liberated souls/jivas

Siddhashila: A place one goes after obtaining moksha

Six Practices of Jaina Laypeople: Devapuja, guru-upasti, svadhyaya, samyama, tapas on holy days, and dana

Sramana: Ascetic, wanderer

Svadhyaya: Study of scriptures

Svetambaras: White-clad sect of Jainism which wear distinctive white garb, women are capable of moksha

Swastika: A symbol in Jainism, with each arm symbolizing the four states of existence: heavenly beings, human beings, hellish beings, and the subhuman (plants and animals)

Tapas: Heat, asceticism, to eliminate the old karma

The Eight Substances of Puja: Camphor, flowers, rice, incense, light, sweets, fruit, and water

The Four Passions: Krodha, lobha, mana, and maya

The Four States the Soul May Live in: Heaven, human, animal, and hell

The Puja of Eight Substances: A worship involving eight substances that takes place in the morning and involves initial clockwise circumambulation of the image three times, image bathed and anointed, and offerings of food substances

The Three Jewels of Jain Practice: Samyak darshana, samyak jnana, and samyak caritra

Three-Sense Jivas: Ants, senses are touch, taste, and smell

Tirthankara: A saviour who has succeeded in crossing over life's stream of rebirths and has made a path for others to follow through meditation and self-realization, each was born at a time when humanity needed a new vision of religion, also known as a Jina

Two Aspects of the Path to Moksha: Ahimsa and tapas

Two-Sense Jivas: Worms, senses are touch and taste

Upadhyayas: Spiritual teachers

Upangas: Scripture of the svetambara sect, meaning "subsidiary texts"

Vardhamana: The given name of Mahavira

Yaksa/Yaksi: Celestial being

Lecture Notes

The beginnings of Jain traditions are not known, but possibly rooted in indigenous Indic culture before Aryan and Vedic age

Jainism and Indus Valley Civilization: Harappan seals depict ascetics in lotus posture

Jainism is not part of early Vedic traditions, but central to early Jaina writings (i.e. Samsara)

Historical context of Mahavira: Upanishads (Shramana and Brahmans), Buddhism (Digha Nikaya: Long discourses of the Buddha)

Mahavira is the 24th and last Tirthankara, born around 599 BCE in Kundagrama near present-day Patna

Five special events in Mahavira's life: conception, birth, renunciation, enlightenment, and final release

At age 30, Mahavira renounced all his wealth, property, wife, family, pleasures and became an ascetic

Achieved kevala-jnana (omniscience) and recognized as Tirthankara in his lifetime

There are 24 Tirthankaras in Jainism, each born at a time when humanity needed a new vision of religion

Jains are followers of the Jinas, also known as Tirthankaras, who have conquered inner passions like desire and hatred.

The Shramana revolution was a movement in ancient India

It was a response to the Brahmanic and Vedic traditions

The word "shramana" means "one who labors"

Shramanas were ascetics who rejected the social hierarchy and caste system

They pursued spiritual liberation through rigorous self-discipline, including fasting and meditation

Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, was a shramana

The Buddha and his followers were also part of this movement

The shramana revolution challenged the dominance of the Brahmanic and Vedic traditions and contributed to the development of new religious and philosophical ideas in ancient India.

Jain Flag

• Siddh-Loka: Abode of the liberated soul

• Three dots: Represent the three jewels of Jainism: right knowledge, right faith, and right conduct

• Swastika: A symbol in Jainism, with each arm symbolizing the four states of existence: heavenly beings, human beings, hellish beings, and the subhuman (plants and animals)

• Hand: Symbolizes ahimsa, or non-violence

• Script: Promotes the idea of mutual assistance and peaceful coexistence of all beings.

Jainism founded by Vardhamana Mahavira in Patna, India around 599 BCE

Mahavira was elder contemporary of Buddha Shakyamuni, renounced household life at age 30, and achieved kevala-jnana after severe asceticism

Tirthankaras are builders of the ford, and 24 appear in every age. Mahavira is the 24th and last Tirthankara in this age in this universe

Jina means conqueror or spiritual victor who has conquered inner passions like desire and hatred

Karma is regarded as a physical, material substance that adheres/bonds to jiva based on their actions (mental, verbal, physical)

Jivas can be embodied in moving or non-moving life forms, and there are one, two, three, four, and five senses jivas

Jain universe contains abodes of liberated jivas, heavenly beings, humans and animals, and hellish beings

Three Jewels of Jain practice are right faith, right knowledge, and right conduct

Five great vows/practices are non-hurting, non-stealing, sexual purity, truthfulness, and non-possession

Truthfulness closely related to ahimsa and honesty is characteristic of Jain business people

Sexual purity involves no sexual activities or thoughts outside of marriage for laypeople and none at all for ascetics

Non-attachment is more than simple non-possession and involves getting rid of thoughts and attitudes that give rise to desire.

The Puja of 8 substances:

• An important Jaina ritual of worship

• Involves offering of eight substances to the images of Tirthankaras

• The substances include water, rice, flowers, incense, lamp, food, sandalwood paste, and fruit

24 Jinas symbols:

• Depicted in images and artwork

• Include things like a throne, a parasol, a bull, a lion, a lotus, and more

• Each symbol represents a different aspect of the Jina's enlightenment or teaching

6 practices of Jaina laypeople:

• Meditation to achieve balance and passionless experience of the pure soul

• Worship of idols of Tirthankaras to experience their qualities

• Bowing down to gurus to gain humility

• Regular discipline of thought and self-examination

• Reciting mantras

• Seeking forgiveness from living beings they have harmed, rather than from a divine being

Jainism has two main sectarian divisions: Digambaras and Svetambaras.

Mahavira's original precepts for male disciples included nudity as a form of ascetic practice, but the southwestern Jaina monastics changed this doctrine to permit clothing and allow women to achieve liberation.

Digambaras, the "sky-clad" sect, follow Mahavira's example of total nudity as a form of ascetic practice.

Svetambaras, the "white-clad" sect, wear distinctive white clothes and are open to doctrinal change, including the introduction of image veneration.

Jain practices include meditation, idol worship, prostration, and reciting mantras.

Sallekhana is a unique ritual among world religions, where one fasts unto death as a form of restraint from all forms of violence to living beings.

Jain puja involves washing the image, offering sandalwood, flowers, and fruit, and reciting prayers of forgiveness.

Shravanabelagola in Karnataka, India, is an ancient Jain pilgrimage center with a 17-meter-high monolithic statue of Bahubali, said to be the largest in the world.