Monks and nuns

Monks and nuns are frequently referred to as mendicants or ascetics. Jain mendicants are people who have completed the official initiation ceremony called dīkṣā and live according to monastic rules. They renounce ordinary life, receive the monastic equipment in keeping with the monastic order to which they will belong and after that lead a life observing the ‘five great vows’ – mahā-vrata.

Organised in hierarchies, mendicants also follow the rules of their sect and monastic order. Mendicants belong to one of the two main sects of Śvetāmbara and Digambara. They have strict rules regulating their behaviour and monastic equipment.

In contrast to the Christian concept of monks and nuns, Jain ascetics have a wandering lifestyle most of the time and have daily contact with lay people. This chiefly takes the form of the ritual of seeking alms.

There is a range of terms for Jain mendicants, with the Digambaras and Śvetāmbaras normally using slightly different words for the same concepts. An ordinary monk is known as a muni or sādhu while an ordinary nun is an āryikā for Digambaras and is usually called a sādhvī by Śvetāmbaras.

Monks and nuns form two elements of the traditional fourfold community of Jainism, along with lay men and lay women. The proportion of mendicants to lay people is very small. Nuns always outnumber monks in traditional statistics for the communities founded by the Jinas, at least among Śvetāmbaras. For example, according to the Kalpa-sūtra, the fourfold community which the 24th Jina Mahāvīra established was made up of 14,000 monks, 36,000 nuns, 159,000 lay men and 318,000 lay women. There are fewer nuns than monks among the Digambaras.

History of Jaina Monachism from Inscriptions and Literature

Shantaram Bhalchandra Deo

The Jains

Paul Dundas

Escaping the World: Women Renouncers among Jains

Manisha Sethi

Historical Dictionary of Jainism

Kristi L. Wiley

Terāpanthin monks and nuns

This YouTube video shows Śvetāmbara Terāpanthin monks and nuns walking down a street in New Delhi in July 2009. Clad in white and wearing the mouth cloth – muṃhpatti – they walk barefoot, carrying their monastic equipment in bags and bundles. They are accompanied by lay Jains, many of the women dressed in orange, which is a holy colour in India. Among the monks is Ācārya Mahāprajña, the tenth ācārya or leader of the sect, who died in May 2010.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzZ_SHDSrAI

Two Śvetāmbara Terāpanthin samaṇī nuns

This YouTube video dating from 2009 shows two Śvetāmbara Terāpanthin samaṇīs tallking about their religious background and beliefs. They hold folded cloths in front of their mouths while they speak. Normally Śvetāmbara Terāpanthin monks and nuns wear a mouthcloth – muṃhpatti – permanently over their mouths, hanging from strings over the ears. Samaṇīs have important roles in teaching the Jain diaspora.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWQDmhVE9to

Five Great Monastic Vows

Pravin K. Shah writes about the Five Great Vows taken by Jain monks and nuns. The information is provided by the Jainism Literature Center, associated with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University.

http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~pluralsm/affiliates/jainism/jainedu/5greatvows.htm

Introduction to Jainism – part 1

This extract from a BBC documentary called The Frontiers of Peace introduces the ancient Indian religion of Jainism. A Śvetāmbara monk explains some of the main principles of Jainism, especially non-violence. The programme mentions the influence of Jains in India and on the work of Mahātma Gandhi. This 2010 YouTube video is the first of four parts. See the next part at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHMQRmRKh_U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPscKFV5yKU

Introduction to Jainism – part 2

This extract from a BBC documentary called The Frontiers of Peace explores the relationship between Jain traditions and modernity. A Jain lay man tells how he reconciles his faith with his industrial business interests. A Śvetāmbara monk explains the significance of his monastic broom – known as a rajoharaṇa or oghā – including the eight auspicious symbols wrapped around the handle. A nun leads lay followers in the rite of confession – pratikramaṇa. A young woman creates auspicious symbols in rice as an offering as she talks about her decision to become a nun. This 2010 YouTube video is the second of four parts. See the next part at: www.youtube.com/watch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHMQRmRKh_U

Introduction to Jainism – part 3

This extract from a BBC documentary on Jainism called The Frontiers of Peace explores the concept of renunciation. The video follows a young woman’s decision to become a nun and a rich lay man’s faith. The ritual of keśa-loca is filmed, in which monks and nuns pull out their hair. The lay man is shown making the auspicious symbols of the svastika, three dots representing the ‘three jewels’ of right insight, right knowledge and right conduct and the horizontal crescent of the siddha-śilā, where liberated souls live. This 2010 YouTube video is the third of four parts. See the next part at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=670KFhISeUk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a96nz4DvRRE

Introduction to Jainism – part 4

This extract from a BBC documentary called The Frontiers of Peace explores the mendicant element of the traditional fourfold community. A man talks about his decision to stop being a Jain monk and return to the householder life, while a young woman fulfils her wish to becomes a nun. This 2010 YouTube video is the last of four parts. See the first part at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPscKFV5yKU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=670KFhISeUk&NR=1

Digambara monk takes alms from lay women

This video on YouTube shows a Digambara monk eating alms offered by lay women. The women gather round and put spoonfuls of food into his cupped hands. He moves his thumbs quickly through it to ensure it is pure enough to eat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUl-pjZF_TU

Śruta-pañcamī – part 2

The procession of holy texts in the annual Digambara festival of knowledge – Śruta-pañcamī – is the main subject of this YouTube video. As the centre of festivities, the sacred books are decorated with flower garlands. They are placed on a model elephant, protected from the sun by a canopy and fanned with fly-whisks, all symbols of royalty. The Jain flag is waved in front. Lay Jains, many dressed in orange – the colour of spirituality in India – take part in the noisy procession. Some carry the metal sculptures of the 12 dreams of a Jina’s birth. A nude monk, holding his peacock-feather broom, and white-clad nuns also participate. The procession ends with a display of holy books, the reflection of which is ritually anointed, and a rite of worship in which the auspicious symbol of the svastika can be clearly seen.

This three-part YouTube video records the festival at Mudalur, Tamil Nadu in India, held over 28th and 29th May 2009. This is the second part and you can watch the last part at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR21K-vcp5U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-I9AYjIcAc

Nemi decides to renounce

This illustrated page from a 15th-century manuscript of the Kalpa-sūtra is provided by the National Gallery of Australia. At the beginning of the section dealing with the 22nd Jina, Ariṣṭanemi, also called Nemi, the painting shows the famous episode of Prince Nemi’s decision to renounce worldly life just before his wedding. He is so appalled by the distress of the animals due to be killed for his wedding feast that he decides to become a monk.

https://searchthecollection.nga.gov.au/object/147981?keyword=147981&includeParts

Digambara nuns pluck out their hair

In the keśa-loca rite, part of the renunciation ceremony of dīkṣā, new monks and nuns pull out their hair, which indicates indifference to worldly concerns, including pain. Ashes are smeared on the roots of the hair, making it easier to pluck out and reducing pain. In the Digambara sects, keśa-loca is a public ceremony. This rite took place among Digambara nuns, as shown by the peacock-feather broom – piñchī – one of them holds in this YouTube video. The dīkṣā was conferred by the nun Gaṇinī Āryikā Viśuddhamati mātājī in Kota, Rajasthan, a few years ago, though the precise date is unknown. The language used is Hindi, with Sanskrit and Prakrit for recitations from the scriptures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W2ZA4S_srA&NR=1

Śvetāmbara initation candidates in the crowd

As part of the renunciation ceremony to become a monk or nun – dīkṣā – the initiation candidates pass through a joyful crowd, who throw sandalwood powder over them. The initiates have already shaven and plucked out their hair and wear the white monastic robe of Śvetāmbara mendicants. This undated ceremony on YouTube takes place in Gujarat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7KAt5_6HUw

Jain mantras

This 2007 animation from YouTube features a Digambara monk singing the fundamental Jain sacred formulas. The second is the Namaskāra-mantra, also called the Navkār-mantra or Namokār-mantra. A very old mantra in Prakrit, it can be sung to various melodies. It is chanted daily to the ‘five types of beings worthy of worship’ or Supreme Beings’:

enlightened teachers – Arhats or Jinas
liberated souls – siddhas
mendicant leaders – ācāryas
teachers – upādhyāyas
mendicants – sādhus.

Then comes a short mantra about the emptiness of the world of rebirths and the celebration of the ‘four auspicious things’ or ‘four refuges’:

Arhat
siddha
monks
law – dharma.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-b17i_iTiA

Hymn to Naminātha

This 2007 hymn on YouTube is a Sanskrit stotra to the 21st Jina, Naminātha or Lord Nami. The sound is accompanied by pictures of statues of Jinas and monks of various Jain sects. The plain statues of nude Jinas with closed eyes and the naked monks belong to Digambara sects. The white-robed mendicants are Śvetāmbara Mūrtipūjakas. The monks and nuns with mouth-cloths attached to their ears are from either the Terāpanthin or Sthānaka-vāsīn Śvetāmbara sects.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ITs9VuKiEU

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