One of the three heterodox darshanas or branches of Hinduism. Jainism traces its origins to Vardhamana, a successor to twenty-three previous ‘fordmakers’, or teachers who enabled the faithful to cross the stream leading to release from the cycle of existence. Its practice demands a monastic life of extreme austerity; for example, one sect is the Digambara or ‘sky-clad’, perhaps identical with the gymnosophists (Gk., naked + wisdom) reported by the companions of Alexander on his conquest of Northern India, who practise nudism. The Buddha practised Jain asceticism before realizing that it did not in itself contain the key to the radiant release from the cares of the world that he was seeking.
Philosophy dictionary. Academic. 2011.