Jainism Vs Buddhism Research Paper

Compare and contrast Jainism and Buddhism

Jainism is an Indian belief system that was founded in India in the 6th century BC by Jina Vardhamana Mahavira. Buddhism is a belief system originated in India in the late 6th century BC by Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha. Although the two ancient religions were both originated from India, there are many differences between them such as their perspective towards non-violence. Despite that both Jains and Buddhists refine non-violence (Ahimsa), Jainism has developed it to an extraordinary degree where it is even a part of the Jain diet. Many Jains tries to prevent any chance of hurting or killing living beings including plants, insects, and microorganisms. A Jain monk Bharata Pramod Sudhaji have stated: “ Truth and non-violence are as

As a result, it is evident that in Jainism, Ahimsa is very important and is very strictly followed. Unlike Jainism, Buddhism does not refine non-violence to such an extraordinary extent. In Buddhism, vegetarianism is not required for every Buddhist including monks. In the Theravada monastic tradition, it is stated that a monk should eat whatever is given to him. This illustrates that Buddhists does not follow the non-violence rule as strictly as Jains. Another difference between Jainism and Buddhism is their perspective on the liberation of women. Although the Svetambaras (one of the two main branch of Jainism) believes that both men and women can achieve liberation, the Digambara Jains does not believe in that. For them, it is believed that women are only capable of the spiritual process if they reborn as men. It is believed that women are harmful because they kill microorganisms during menstruation. Due to this, women have to be reborn as men to be able to achieve liberation. Nevertheless, in Buddhism, both men and women can achieve liberation. In the Buddhist Pali text record, it is recorded that the Buddha has stated: “A woman has the ability