Daniela Cortez

Cortez 1

Comparative Religions/Block D
Comparative Religions Paper Overview
October 6, 2015
Living Life with no Harm
Throughout the world, there are many types of religions people believe in. In India, there
are four major religions most of there citizens believe in such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism,
and Jainism. Hinduism is very different from other religions because it is the dominant religion
of India. Buddhism is the religion that believes in the teachings from Gautama Buddha. In
contrast to Buddhism and Hinduism, Sikhism is one of the youngest religions that was founded
about 500 years ago. Meanwhile, Jainism is considered to be one of the most ancient religions
that teaches its people to live harmless lives. They believe that everything is equal in the universe
and that it should be treated and valued with respect. In order to protect their own life, they must
also protect the lives of other people.
Jains believe that the universe is infinite. Throughout the 6th century BCE, a religious
change began to grow within the Jainism faith because of a boy named Vardhamana, also known
as Mahavira. He was someone who gained full enlightenment and became the hero and leader of
Jainism. Jains see the world as a river of suffering and misery and ford-finders find a way to
cross it: they do not build the bridge, they simply get across it and the the rest have to follow the
path. (Violatti). Mahavira stated that animals, humans, and gods have a soul. Everything had a
meaning in life, but is separated into different categories. Each thing had to at least one of the
five sense which included hearing, taste, smell, touch, and sight to be considered living. As long
as the person or thing could feel some type of pain, then they were considered a living being.

Because of this, no Jain is allowed to harm anything or anyone. Jains become vegetarian because
of this. They believe in non-violence which is known as Ahimsa. To be utterly harmless, not
only to oneself and others, but to all forms of life, from the largest mammals to the smallest
bacteria. (BBC). Mahavira would allow mosquitos to suck on his skin and dogs bite him
because he didnt want to hurt them. All Jains believe that everything has a life regardless of who
they believe in, their skin color, or even species.
Many outsiders confuse on who really is the founder of Jainism. Most believe that
Mahavira was the founder, but Jainism does not have a founder. The closest thing to their
founder are Tirthankaras, a ford-finder. A Tirthankara is someone who has reached the highest
spiritual goal, and can be either a man or woman. It is someone that is reincarnated not from
God, but from someone else who comes down every once in a while to teach others how to
achieve the highest spiritual goal. A tirthankara appears in the world to teach the way to
moksha, or liberation. (BBC). Tirthankara is a person who has been through the cycle of death
and is reborn in order to provide its followers the knowledge on how to reach the highest point of
spirituality once they die. An extraordinary human being who has conquered the attachments
and aversions that stand in the way of liberation from worldly bondage. (Babb 6). Mahavira is
the most recent tirthankara. He was born a prince in 599 BCE into the warrior caste because his
father was King Siddhartha and his mother was Queen Trishala. He spent most of his life
meditating and fasting, that people started referring to him as the great hero. After his last fasting
period, he reached the end of liberation from all rebirth. As of today, Jains have not yet received
someone in disguise of Mahavira, but still believe in his teachings.
In contrast to many other religions, Jainism has a set of five different vows their
followers need to follow. These vows include non-violence, truth-speaking, no attachment to

world like things, no stealing, and no sexual immortality. Following these vows will help them
reach nirvana. In Jainism, nirvana is a state in which the soul, released from samsara, has four
attributes: infinite knowledge, infinite perception, infinite energy and infinite bliss. (Violatti).
Although, there are two forms of the five vows, Mahavrata and Anuvrata. The five vows are
followed by the monks and nuns of Jainism, Mahavrata. Meanwhile, Jain lay people follow
lesser vows which has a less restriction to things which is known as Anuvrata, the lay Jain code.
The lay Jain people follow twelve vows which includes the five Anuvratas, the there Gunavrates,
and the four Siksavratas. The five Anuvratas vows means that Jains believe in non-violence,
truthfulness, chastity, no possession of material goods, and no stealing. The there Gunavrates
limit the area of antiquity, the use of resources, and avoidance of pointless sins. The four
Siksavratas vows limit the duration of activity vow, ascetics vow, meditation vow, and the
charity vow. Each Jain shows their truthfulness to the religion by following at least one of these
vows.
In addition, Mahavira believed in karma which determined the life after death. Jainism
believes in an infinite number of eternal souls, caught in this eternal cycle of agony and misery.
(Violatti). Depending on if that person had good or bad karma, determined if they would end up
in Nirvana or just be forgotten about. Having cruel thoughts, or doing cruel actions, for example
thinking about eating meat or owning material goods attracted bad karma. Meanwhile, doing
kind things and obeying the vows would make you a step closer to reaching nirvana. The
accumulation of karma depends upon the action performed through body, speech or mind.
(Urubshurow 276). Whatever Jains did in their life before death, dictated what would happen to
them. In any case of there being a thought or performance of any type of violence, it would
attract karma and sticks to it.

Fasting also became a very common practice in the Jainism faith. In India, there is a time
called the monsoon period, which is the time for fasting. Many Jains fast during this time as well
as holy days and festivals. This type of practice is commonly seen done by women rather then
the men. The purpose for there fasting is because of penance. Purifies body and mind, and
reminds the practitioner of Mahavira's emphasis on renunciation and asceticism. (BBC). Jains
are not only required not to eat, but they must stop wanting to eat. They believe in four different
types of fasting, complete fasting, partial fasting, virtue sankshepa, and rasa parityaga. Each type
of fasting is very similar in the way that they must stop eating. Although, Jain monks and nuns
are expected to fast longer than others. For example, some monks fast for more than six months,
but some others have fasted for an entire year.
Jainism has presented itself as a very different type of religion compared to the couple of
thousands that there are in the world today. In Jainism, people are expected to be vegetarian and
believe in non-violence. They believe in Anima which Jains believe is a radical non-violence to
all living things. They try and avoid anything that pertains to hurting any human or living thing
in the world. It stood out to me that they are not allowed to attach themselves to material goods
or own any excessive items. They believe that everything is an illusion, so it would affect you
emotionally if you attach yourself to things when one day it can easily be taken away. I disagree
with there belief about being too attached to material things because I dont think its true. Most
people buy things because they like it. For example, people buy material goods such as clothing
and shoes and end up selling them without any emotional attachment toward them. Jain people
think differently and believe that these material goods will take an emotional toll on people if
they are ever taken away.
Many Jains believe that becoming a vegetarian is the right thing because they think

killing living things is bad. But I think different. Being a catholic is very different from being a
Jain. In the catholic society, we are not forbidden to not kill living things unlike Jains. I am not
saying that the Catholic church allows us to kill other human beings, but they do allow us to kill
living things such as animals in order to survive. Killing animals such as chickens, pigs, cows,
and many others for us to survive is not a bad thing. Jains believe in not killing anything that can
feel pain, but I believe differently.

Cortez 6
Work Cited:
Babb, Lawrence A. Absent Lord: Ascetics and Kings in a Jain Ritual Culture. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1996. Print.
Cristian Violatti. Jainism, Ancient History Encyclopedia. Last modified February 03, 2013.
http://www.ancient.eu /jainism/.
"Religions: Jainism." BBC News. BBC, 2009. Web. 20 Sept. 2015. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/
religion/religions/jainism/history/mahavira.shtml>.
Urubshurow, Victoria Kennick. Introducing World Religions. New York: Routledge, 2008. Print.