Jaina Canon

Jaina Canon is the body of general rules, principles, standards, laws etc that are considered binding on the followers of Jainism. It is also known as Jain Agamas, a collection of sacred texts of Jainism that forms the foundation of Jainism. These are believed to have been transmitted orally for centuries before being codified, the canon was finalized at the Council of Vallabhi. There are differences between the canons accepted by the Svetambara and Digambara sects, with the Svetambara canon being a collection of 45 works, and the authenticity of the Svetambara canon being disputed by the Digambaras. Here are some of the selected sacred text.

Wisdom & Quotes

• So , monks, resist the wiles of women,

Avoid their friendship and company.
the little pleasure you get from them
will only lead you into trouble
- Sutrakritanga

• There’s no knowledge without right faith,

No conduct is possible without knowledge,
Without conduct, there’s no liberation,
And without liberation, no deliverance.
- Mahavira, Uttaradhyayana Sutra)

• All unenlightened persons produce sufferings. Having become deluded, they produce and reproduce sufferings, in this endless world.

- Mahavira (Uttaradhyayana Sura)

• That with the help of which we can know the truth, control the restless mind, and purify the soul, is called knowledge.

- Mahavira (Mulachara)

• That which subdues passions, leads to beatitude and fosters friendliness is called knowledge.

- Mahavira (Mulachara)

• My soul characterised by knowledge and faith is alone eternal. All other phases of my existence to which I am attached are external occurrences that are transitory.

- Mahavira (Niyamasara)

• Righteousness consists in complete self-absorption and in giving up all kinds of passions including attachment. It is the only means of transcending the mundane existence. The Jinas have said so.

- Bhava-pahuda

• Don’t kill any living beings. Don’t try to rule them.

- Mahavira (Acaranga)

• The essence of all knowledge consists in not committing violence. The doctrine of ahimsa is nothing but the observance of equality i.e. the realization that just as I do not like misery, others also do not like it. (Knowing this, one should not kill anybody).

- Mahavira (Sutrakrtanga)

• To kill any living being amounts to killing one self. Compassion to others is compassion to one’s own self. Therefore one should avoid violence like poison and thorn (that cause pain).

- Mahavira (Bhagavati Aradhana)

• Don’t be proud if you gain. Nor be sorry if you lose.

- Mahavira (Acaranga)

• Only the one who has transcended fear can experience equanimity.

- Mahavira (Sutrakrtanga)

• Let me renounce the bondage of attachment and hatred, pride and meekness, curiosity, fear, sorrow, indulgence and abhorrence (in order to accomplish equanimity).

- Mahavira (Mulachara)

• One who remains equanimous in the midst of pleasures and pains is a sramana, being in the state of pure consciousness.

- Mahavira (Pravachansara)

• O Self ! Practice Truth, and nothing but Truth. Enlightened by the light of Truth, the wise transcends death.

- Mahavira (Acaranga)

• Truth alone is the essence in the world.

- Mahavira (Prasnavyakarna)

• A truthful man is treated as reliable as the mother, as venerable as the guru (preceptor) and as beloved as the one who commands knowledge.

- Mahavira (Mulachara)

• Truthfulness indeed is tapa (penance).

In truthfulness do reside self-restraint and all other virtues.
Just as the fish can live only in the sea,
so can all other virtues reside in Truthfulness alone.
- Mahavira (Bhagavati Aradhana)

• One should not speak unless asked to do so.

He should not disturb others in conversation.
He should not back-bite and indulge in fraudulent untruth.
- Mahavira (Dasavaikalika)

• One should not utter displeasing words that arouse ill feelings in others.

One should not indulge in speech conducive to the evil.
- Mahavira (Dasavaikalika

• Discipline of speech consists in refraining from telling lies and in observing silence.

- Mahavira (Mulachara)

• As gold does not cease to be gold even if it is heated in the fire; an enlightened man does not cease to be enlightened on being tortured by the effects of karma.

- Mahavira (Samayasara)

• On the aggravation of one’s greed, a person fails to distinguish between what should be done and what should not be done. He is dare-devil who can commit any offence even at the cost of his own life.

- Mahavira (Bhagavati Aradhana)

• A thief feels neither pity nor shame, nor does he possess discipline and faith.

There is no evil that he cannot do for wealth.
- Mahavira (Bhagavat Aradhana)

• By practicing celibacy one can fulfil all other vows – chastity, tapas (penance), vinaya (humility), sayyama (self-restraint), forgiveness, self-protection and detachment.

- Mahavira (Prasnavyakarana)

• The sun scorches only during the day,

but cupid scorches in the day as well as in the night.
One can protect oneself from the sun, but cannot from cupid.
- Mahavira (Bhagavti Aradhana)

• The more you get, the more you want.

The greed increases with the gain.
- Mahavira (Uttaradhyayana)

• Greed even for a piece of straw,

not to speak of precious things, produces sin.
A greedless person, even if he wears a crown, cannot commit sin.
- Mahavira (Bhagavati Aradhana)

• External renunciation is meaningless

if the soul remains fettered by internal shackles.
- Mahavira (Bhava-pahuda)

• The five senses of the awakened always remain inactive.

The five senses of the unawakened always remain active.
By means of the active five one acquires bondage while by
means of the inactive five the bondage is severed.
- Mahavira (Isibhasiyam)

• Keep yourself always awake.

One who keeps awake increases his wisdom.
He who falls asleep in wretched. Blessed is he who keeps awake.
- Mahavira (Brhatkalpa-bhasya)

• Birth is attended by death, youth by decay and fortune by misfortune.

Thus everything in this world is momentary.
- Mahavira (Kartikeyanupreksa)

• The courageous as well as the cowardly must die.

When death is inevitable for both,
why should not one welcome death smilingly and with fortitude?
- Mahavira (Mulachara)

• Both the righteous and unrighteous must die.

When death is inevitable for both,
why should not one embrace death while maintaining good conduct?
- Mahavira (Mulachara)

• There is nothing as fearful as death, and there is no suffering as great as birth.

Be free from the fear of both birth and death,
by doing away with attachment to the body.
- Mahavira (Mulachara)

• Do not be in dread of the dreadful, the illness,

the disease, the old age, and even the death or any other object of fear.
- Mahavira (Prasnavyakarana)

• One who entertains fear finds himself lonely (and helpless).

- Mahavira (Prasnavyakarana)

• As a tortoise withdraws his limbs within his own body,

even so does the valiant withdraw his mind within himself from all sins.
He also withdraws his hands, legs, mind, sense-organs, sinful moods,
evil words, pride, and deceitfulness. This indeed is the valor of the valiant.
- Mahavira (Sutrakrtanga)

• Only that man can take a right decision,

whose soul is not tormented by the afflictions of attachment and aversion.
- Mahavira (Isibhasiyam)

• Above, below and in front, people indulge in violent activities

against living beings individually and collectively in many ways;
discerning this, a wise man neither himself inflicts violence on these bodies,
nor induces others to do so, nor approved of their doing so.
- Mahavira (Acharanga Sutra)

• What man really seeks is not perfection which is in the future,

but fulfillment which is ever in the present.

• One must seek in the depths of one’s consciousness

the vitalizing centre of one’s being,
the fundamental origin of all one’s developments.

• If you dig into yourself, you will discover

how much of yourself is an amalgam of egoism and conventionality.

• He who becomes the master of himself

can become master over all that is related to himself.
Self-mastery implies self-knowledge and
that self-sufficiency which is only in love.

• Our wishes are often the progeny of our weaknesses;

our fancies the creation of our wishes;
and those fancies, when they become adjusted to the frame of our minds,
are all too apt to be mistaken for facts.

• Each must discover the heavenliness,

the expanding universe of his own being.

• Know for yourself the way along which you should go

– do not depend upon others.

• I am no more – and no less – than a law of Life’s expression.

Ajivikas

Nearby pages
Jainas, Jainism, Jaintia, Jaintia Hills District, Jaipur