Jainism
JAINISM. Jainism is a South Asian religious tradition which takes its name from those (Sanskrit, Jaina; English, "Jain") who follow the teachings and example of authoritative teachers called Jina (conqueror). These teachers are also called "makers of the ford" (Sanskrit, tīrthaṃkara), signifying their construction of a community of monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen that provides the means to cross the ocean of rebirth. Jain tradition holds that twenty-four Jinas appear in succession throughout regular temporal movements in the course of eternity and communicate the unchanging doctrine of correct knowledge (samyagjñāna), correct faith (samyagdarśana), and correct behavior (samyagcāritra).
As a soteriology, Jainism teaches that enlightenment in the form of omniscience and subsequent freedom from rebirth can be attained by progressive renunciatory withdrawal—manifesting itself most markedly as nonviolence (ahiṃsā)—from physical and sensory interaction with the surrounding world, which is constituted at all levels by embodied life monads.
According to the census of 1991, there are about 3.35 million Jains living in India, while an estimated 100,000 are domiciled abroad, largely in Africa, Britain, and North America.
Beginnings
The historical origins of Jainism can be located in the teachings of Pārśva and Mahāvīra, who are traditionally regarded as the twenty-third and twenty-fourth Jinas of the present time-cycle.
