Tag: history

The three jewels of Jainism are also known as three gems and three refuges. They are different from the three jewels of Buddhism. They constitute the core practice of Jainism. They are:

1. Right to faith: This doesn't mean believing what you're told, but means seeing things properly, and avoiding preconceptions and superstitions that get in the way of seeing clearly.
2. Right knowledge: This means having an accurate and sufficient knowledge of the real universe.
3. Right conduct: This means living your life according to Jain ethical rules, to avoid doing harm to living things and freeing yourself from attachment and other impure attitudes and thoughts.

Jainism was the  religion developed in India along side Buddhism around the sixth century BCE against the teachings of orthodox Brahmanism. It teaches that the way to liberation and bliss is to live lives of harmlessness and renunciation. It is a religion of self-help which believes that liberation is achieved by eliminating all karma from the soul.

Mahavira was born at Vaishali. He was the 24th and last Tirthankara of Jainism. He was the son of king Siddharth of kundagrama and Queen Trishala. 

Besides Hinduism untouchability was observed in Jainism. The people who are born in lower castes they are considered as impure and untouchable. By the upper-class people, they are restricted to enter in the same temples, drink water from wells, and also not allowed to eat from the same stalls etc. In this way, they are discriminated from the mainstream.

Mahavira was of the opinion that man creates  his own destiny through his deeds. According to him, a person is born in a higher or in a lower Varna in consequence of the sins or the virtues acquired by him in the previous birth.

Becoming an ascetic at the age of 30, Vardhaman Mahavira practised the most rigorous asceticism for the next twelve years. In the thirteenth year, at the age of 42. he attained "Kaivalya" i.e. the supreme knowledge and final deliverance from the bonds of pleasure and pain. Hence, he was called "Kevalin". He sat under a sal tree on the bank of river Riju Palik or Riju Kaa in Jambhika near Vaishali for the attainment of Kaivalya.  

Jainism was divided into two sects: Shvetambaras or those who put on white dress, and Digambaras or those who keep themselves naked.

Jainism is based on 5 ideals : Ahimsa, Satya, Asteya, Aparigraha and Brahmacharya. It is believed that only the fifth doctrine was added by Mahavira: other four were taken over by him from previous teachers. Jainism gives utmost importance to Ahimsa or non-injury to living beings.

Vardhamana Mahavira was believed to be born in 540 B.C. near Vaishali, in north Bihar. His father Siddartha was the head of the Jnatrika clan and his mother Trishala was the sister of the Lichchhavi chief Chetaka, whose daughter Chellana was wedded to king Bimbisara of Magadha. Thus Mahavira's family was connected with the royal family of Magadha.

In order to spread the teachings of Jainism, Mahavira organised an order of his followers which admitted both men and women. Lord Mahavir was the twenty-fourth and last Tirthankara. According to Jain philosophy, all Tirthankaras were human beings but they attained a state of perfection or enlightenment through meditation and self-realization.