Monastic practices

Jainism is an ancient Indian religion that is believed to have originated in the Indus Valley Civilisation. Its main principles are ahimsa (non-violence), anekantavada (non-absolutism), and aparigraha (non-possessiveness). Practitioners, called Jains, take five main vows that include ahimsa and aparigraha, as well as satya (being truthful); asteya (no stealing), and brahmacharya (chastity).

Monks and nuns must absolutely obey these vows. Modern-day Jainism is divided into two major schools, or sects: Digambara and Svetambara. The Svetambara, meaning ‘white clad’, practise the wearing of white clothes while the monks of the ‘sky clad’, Digambara, do not wear clothes at all, which some other Jains ­disagree with.

Apart from the wearing of clothes or not, the monks of these sects are involved in practices to which they have to adhere. Shvetambara monks are allowed to retain a few possessions such as a robe, an alms bowl, a whisk broom, and a mukhavastrika (a piece of cloth held over the mouth to protect against the ingestion of small insects), which are presented by a senior monk at the time of initiation.

After initiation, a monk must adhere to the “great vows” (mahavratas) to avoid injuring any life form, lying, stealing, having sexual intercourse, or accepting personal possessions. In addition, drinking water must first be boiled to ensure that there are no life forms in it, and monks are expected to withstand the challenges imposed by the weather, geographic terrain, travel, or physical abuse.

Digambara monks take the same ‘great vows’ as the Shvetambara, but they regard their interpretation of the Jain monastic vocation as more in accord with the ancient model than that followed by the Shvetambaras. Thus, their interpretation of the vow of non-possession is much more intense.

The veterans are always naked, while lower-ranked monks wear a loincloth. They own one piece of cloth not more than one and a half yards long. Peacock-feather dusters are used to sweep the ground where they walk to avoid injuring any life form. Water is drunk from a gourd while they beg for their only daily meal with their cupped palms as an alms bowl.

All Jain monks (renunciants) must put into practice three guptis (care in thought, speech, and action) and the five samitis (types of vigilance over conduct). Six ‘obligatory actions’ (avashyaka) are essential to regular monastic ritual practised daily and at important times of the ritual calendar. They are equanimity (samayika, a form of contemplative activity, which, in theory, operates throughout the monk’s entire career); praise of the Tirthankaras; obedience to the Tirthankaras, teachers, and scriptures; confession; resolution to avoid sinful activities; and ‘abandonment of the body’ (standing or sitting in a meditative posture).

These practices are considered severe, and the length of time they are carried out, and their severity are carefully regulated. Their spiritual development, capacity to withstand the austerities, and their ability to understand how they help further their spiritual progress are taken into account.

It gets even more rigorous with the act of sallekhana, in which they lie on one side of a bed of thorny grass and stop moving and eating. This act of ritual starvation is viewed as the ultimate act of self-control and triumph over the passions, rather than simply as suicide. Though it is widely done in ancient and medieval times, it is much less common today.

Both the Shvetambaras and Digambaras permit the initiation of nuns, and among the Shvetambaras, nuns outnumber monks by a ratio of approximately three to one. However, the monks enjoy a much more elite status than the nuns. The nuns are obligated by convention and textual stipulation to comply with the authority of the monks although these nuns are often women of great learning and spiritual achievements.

In Digambara Jainism, nuns, who wear robes, accept the possibility of being reborn as men before they can advance significantly on the path of the ascetic, a person who leads an austerely simple life, especially one who abstains from the normal pleasures of life or denies himself/herself material satisfaction.