Main points
Every living being has a soul.
Every soul is potentially divine with innate infinite knowledge, infinite perception, infinite power, and infinite bliss.
Therefore, regard every living being as yourself and harm no one. In other words, have benevolence for all living beings.
Every soul is born as a celestial, human, sub-human or hellish being according to its own karma's.
Every soul is the architect of its own life, here or hereafter.
When a soul is freed from karma's, it becomes god-consciousness (infinite knowledge, infinite perception, infinite power, and infinite bliss) and liberated.
Right View, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct (triple gems of Jainism) provide the way to this realization.
Non-violence (Ahimsa) is the basis of right View, the condition of right Knowledge and the kernel of right Conduct.
Control your senses.
Limit your possessions and lead a pure life that is useful to yourself and others. Owning an object by itself is not possessiveness; however attachment to it is possessiveness.
Enjoy the company of the holy and better qualified, be merciful to those afflicted and tolerate the perversely inclined.
Four things are difficult to attain by a soul: human birth, knowledge of the law, faith in it and the pursuit of the right path.
It is important not to waste human life in evil ways. Instead, strive to rise on the ladder of spiritual evolution.
Yes. George Bernard Shaw wrote a friend while visiting India. In the letter Shaw said "I always thought I was an atheist but I have discovered I do have a religion: Jain Buddhism."
Yes. And I don't believe they consider themselves to be Hindu, though they share the same roots. Some think that Buddha was a Jain before he had his mystical experience.
Yes, of course Jainism is considered a religion. It's a formed set of beliefs that one or more people follow that depends on some "supplemental" forces to get through the day, such as prayer, God, meditation, or ritual. Jainism fits the bill.
Jainism is a religion, founded by a sage named Mahavir in about the 6Th century BC. It preceded Buddhism, which also was introduced in the 6Th century originally as a reformation of Buddhism. Jainism (like Buddhism) does not believe in a supreme deity and also believes in the idea of ahems (nonviolence) to an extreme degree (Jain monastics wear special clothes and have certain practices to prevent them from accidental killing things like insects). Like certain forms of Hinduism (Samkhya philosophy which is older than Vedanta philosophy)--but not Buddhism, it believes in individual, eternal souls and various other beliefs that were well detailed by a previous responder to this question.
Jainism, a religion founded in the 6Th century BC as a revolt against Hinduism; emphasizes asceticism and immortality and transmigration of the soul; denies existence of a perfect or supreme being. (Dictionary definition) This writer would consider it a cult.
is jainism considered a religion?
