A
A is for Ahimsa
Ahimsa means non-violence.
When there are no stop lights, a
policeman tells us when to stop. He does
this by holding up his hand, this tells us to stop. In the same way the hand in the picture tells
us to stop and think about what we are going to do, talk to other people, or
think. We can hurt someone by any of
these actions. We need to stop and think before doing anything. This way, we will be able to observe the
principles of Ahimsa better. We get either good or bad karmas* by the things we
do, the words we say, and the way we think.
The wheel in the hand tells us that if we don't watch all of these things,
then our soul** will never be free from this cycle of life and death.
So Ahimsa reminds us to stop and
think before we do anything, and to be sure that what we do, say, or think
doesn't get us in trouble.
* look under K
** your true inner self; the part
of you that never dies
B
B is for Bowing down
Bowing down means paying respect.
We bow down to Siddha* and
Arihant Bhagwans. We also bow down to
Acharyas**, Upadhyayas**, and all Monks and Nuns***. By bowing down, we show our respect to them
and we admire their success. We also bow
down to our parents, grandparents, and our teachers because we want to show our
respect for them. And thank them for what they have done for us. In this picture, a man is bowing down. When we bow down, our ego disappears and we
become more humble. When we are humble, we don't get angry or jealous, but we
become calm.
So remember, respect others by
Bowing down.
* look under I
** look under N
*** look under S
C
C is for Charity
Charity means sharing and caring.
Charity is when we give something
to others without expecting anything in return. In the picture, the boy is
happily giving food to the Monk*. When
we offer charity or after we do charity, we should stay happy and should not
regret what we did. When we give with happiness and don't feel bad, we get good
karmas**. When we give and then feel
that we shouldn't have given, we get bad karmas.
So, remember to give Charity and
enjoy doing it.
* look under S
** look under K
D
D is for Donation
Donation means share what you
have with less fortunate* people.
We get wealth in return for all
the good things we did. When we have
wealth we shouldn't forget that there are a lot of people who are not as lucky
as we are and they sometimes don't have what they need. So we should use some of our wealth to help
these people. We can give money,
clothes, vegetarian food, books, and things like that. We should also use our wealth to help people
learn more about religion. In this
picture, the King is giving jewels and money.
We should be proud because we are
rich, but instead we should feel happy that we can help others.
So remember that we should share
our wealth with others by giving Donation.
* lucky
E
E is for Evening prayer
Prayer means to remember those
who are virtuous* and remind ourselves
to be like them.
Prayer can be done in the morning
and in the evening. The most important
prayer in Jainism is the Navkar Mantra**.
In the picture, the boy is doing prayer in the evening. We should say the Navkar Mantra at least five
times in the morning and five times in the evening before going to bed. Another prayer we do in the evening is called
Pratikraman. We say this prayer to
remember all the bad things we've done during day and apologize for them and
promise ourselves to be more careful.
Prayers purify our soul, and we
should always do them in the morning and the Evening.
*
those who freed themselves from the birth and death cycle
** look under N
F
F is for Forgiveness
Forgiveness means pardoning
someone who may have done something bad to you.
In Jainism, just as Ahimsa* is
the main goal, forgiveness is the main action.
We will find a lot of people who have done, said, or thought something
bad about us. But no matter how they
hurt us, we should forgive them. We
should always think that may be we did something bad to them first, and now
they're getting back at us. No matter
what, we should stay calm and not get angry, and we shouldn't try to get
even. In the picture, Lord Mahavira** is
forgiving Chandkaushik, the snake, even though he bit Mahavira. This shows that if Mahavira can forgive, we,
his followers, should also forgive those who hurt us. Forgiving helps our soul whereas anger will
only pull us down.
Just as Ahimsa is part of our
life, forgiveness should also be part of our actions.
* look under A
** look under M
G
G is for Gautamswami
Gautamswami was Lord Mahavir's*
first disciple.
Gautamswami was the most
well-known Brahmin** during the time of
Lord Mahavira. He was also very
egoistic. He thought that no one was smarter than him. He thought he knew everything. One day, he saw some angels coming into the
town. He told everyone, "See how
great I am. Even heavenly angels come to
see me." But the angels didn't come
to him. They went passed him without
stopping. Gautam was surprised and asked
someone where they went. The town's
people said that the angels went to pay their respect to Lord Mahavira, who had
come to town. They said that Lord
Mahavira knew everything and that everyone was going there to pay respect. Gautamswami became mad and shouted, "He
is nothing compared to what I am! No one
is smarter than me in this world! I will
go to him and show you."
When Gautam came to Lord Mahavira
and saw his nice personality, Gautam felt something different that he never
felt before. Then, Lord Mahavira told
him what was going through his mind.
Gautam couldn't take anymore. He
knew that Mahavira was more powerful than he was. He lost his ego. Gautam bowed down to him and became his first
student.
We owe a lot to Gautamswami. Even though he knew almost all the answers to
all the questions in the world, he still asked Lord Mahavira questions so that
other people could learn about them.
They are a part of our Agams Sootras, the original books. If people like Gautamswami can give up their
ego, so can we.
* look under M
** a very wise person who wanders
a lot
H
H is for Help
Help means aiding somebody when
he is in trouble.
We should be helpful to anyone
who needs support. We shouldn't leave
anyone out. Even though Jainism says
that you should help those who are good.
It also says that, out of thoughtfulness, you should help everyone. We don't just help people, but we should also
help animals, birds, etc. We can help in
many different ways like giving money, clothes, food, medicine, and books, etc. We can also help by making a
person feel better if they are sad. If
someone comes for help and we have only a little, we should still give some of
that. In the picture, a house holder is
helping a sick monk*.
We must make it a habit to help others.
* look under S
I
I is for Immortal
Immortal means no death.
All souls are immortal. But,
while karmas* are still attached to the souls, the souls occupy various types of bodies, like
the humans, the animals, the birds, the plants, etc. The body and the soul are
different things. When all the attached karmas are destroyed the soul is
liberated from the body permanently and reaches to the top of universe, called
Siddh Shila and stays there forever. These souls then are called Siddhas.
Our goal should be to liberate our
immortal soul from the jail of body.
* look under K
J
J is for Jai-Jinendra
Jai-Jinendra means "Praise
to the Jinas*."
Just like we say,
"Hi!!" or , "Hello!!" or, "Namaste", when we meet
others, we should also greet them by saying, "Jai-Jinendra". This helps us in a lot of ways. We are honoring the virtuous**. It also tells others that you are Jain. It reminds us of where we came from and of
our goals of being one of these Jinas.
In the picture, the boy is saying, "Jai-Jinendra", to his parents.
Every morning and before you go
to bed, you should say, "Jai-Jinendra", with respect to your parents,
sisters, brothers, and grandparents. You
should say, "Jai-Jinendra", with respect to your guests. You should also say,
"Jai-Jinendra", to your teachers, other students at Jain
Pathshala***, and other Jains who you may see at the Jain Center or any other
place.
Remember always greet others by
saying "Jai-Jinendra".
* someone who does not have any
anger, ego, deceit and greed
** those who have freed
themselves from the cycle of birth and death
*** look under P
K
K is for Karma
Karma is the end result of what
we do.
Every moment, we are doing
something physically, verbally or mentally.
We should remember that while we do things, we always get karmas. There are two kinds of karmas: good and bad.
When we do good things, like helping or sharing, we get good
karmas. But when we do something bad,
like getting mad, screaming, or cheating, we get bad karmas.
In the picture, the person is
paying respect to the monk, and the students are paying respect to the teacher,
so they are getting good karmas. In the
bottom picture the man is shooting a lion, and is getting bad karmas. Both of the karmas give results. If you get bad karmas, then you will have to
suffer. Your life could be sad and very
hard. But if you get good karmas, your
life will be comfortable and happy.
Be sure to do good things that
will help your soul. Be careful of what
you do and how you do it, because you are always gathering Karmas.
L
L is for Leshya (Aura)
Leshya is what you think.
There were six friends going to a
big city. On the way, they got lost in
the forest. They were hungry and
thirsty, but they couldn't find anything.
Then one of them noticed a fruit tree.
They ran to it.
The first friend wanted to chop
down the whole tree and get the fruit.
The second friend thought that they should just chop off a big
branch. The third friend said that they only needed to chop off
a small branch. The fourth one thought
that they didn't need to chop off a branch,
they should just get big bunch of fruit.
The fifth friend asked why they should waste any fruit. He wanted to pick what they needed so there
would be no waste. The sixth one asked
why they should climb the tree, when there were many good fruits on the ground.
See how differently the six
friends thought? The first one wanted to
destroy the whole tree while the sixth one didn't want to hurt the tree at
all. You can see how differently people
can think. The way the sixth man thought
was the best way to think and the way the first man thought was the worst
way. There are six leshyas that
described the way the people in the story thought. The first leshya is the worst one. It's called the Black (Krishna) leshya. The second one is called the Blue (Neel)
leshya and the third leshya is called the Brown (Kapot) leshya. The fourth one is called the Red (Tejo)
leshya and the fifth leshya is called the Yellow (Padma) leshya. Last, the sixth leshya, the best one, is
called the White (Shukla) leshya.
We should always think like the
sixth man did. We should learn to be loke the white Leshya and be happy by
keeping our needs as small as they can be and should not be wasteful. Our body
is always surronded by invisible aura reflecting our inner thoughts.
M
M is for Mahavira
Mahavira was our last and 24th
Tirthankar*.
Lord Mahavira was born in 599
B.C. in Kshatriyakund. His father was
King Siddhartha and his mother was Queen Trishala**. Soon the people in King Siddhartha's kingdom
began noticing that business and farming were starting to get better. They told the King and Queen. The King thought that the reason was because of the baby the Queen was going
to have. When the baby was born, they
named him "Vardhaman" which means prosperous.
As he grew, Prince Vardhaman
showed bravery while he was playing with
his friends. One time a snake came to
where they were playing, everyone got
scared except Prince Vardhaman who was still calm. He gently caught the snake, and took it away.
Another time, they were playing hide-and-go-seek. Whoever was caught would have to give a piggy
ride to the winner. A strange boy came there and asked if he could play with
them. Soon, Prince Vardhaman caught him,
and the boy gave the Prince a piggy ride.
Suddenly the child started to grow taller and taller and he began to
look scary. The rest of the kids got
scared and ran away. Some of them climbed up a tree, and some of them ran to
tell their parents. While all of this
was going on, Prince Vardhaman was enjoying the ride. When he realized that the child wasn't a
child anymore, but a big monster, the Prince hit the monster's head with
fist. The monster couldn't take the pain
and gave up. He asked the Prince for
forgiveness*** and the Prince forgave him.
The Monster named Prince Vardhaman "Mahavira, meaning strong
one" from that time on.
Two years after his parents died,
Mahavira became a monk****. He went
through a lot of pain and performed a lot of meditation***** before he finally became a Kevali (a person
with infinite knowledge) and the 24th Tirthankar. He re-formed the Jain Sangh into Monks
(sadhus), nuns (sadhvis), household men (house holders), and household women
(shravikas). For thirty years he showed
people the path to freedom, and finally his soul freed on the last day of the
month of Aso.
We should try to be like
Mahavira.
* one who establishes the Jain
Sangh
** look under Q
*** look under F
**** look under S
***** deep prayer
N
N is for Navkar Mantra
Navkar Mantra is the most
important prayer in Jainism.
When we say the Navkar Mantra, we
are paying our respect to the Arihant Bhagwans, the Siddha Bhagwans, the Acharyas, the Upadhyayas, the Monks, and
the Nuns*. Persons like us, who are
spiritualy uplifted, can become Arihant Bhagwans in their last life after they
have destroyed the four ghati (heavy) karmas which affect the condition of the
soul. They have infinite knowledge and
don't have any attachment to anything. They don't hate anything either. They will get rid of the other four karmas
called aghati (lighter) karmas before they die. Then they will become Siddha
Bhagwans. They are first in the Navkar
Mantra, even though their souls aren't free because they show us the path to
freedom. Since they are our teachers, we
pay respect to them first. Those souls
who don't have any karmas and don't have to go through the cycle of birth and
death anymore are called Siddha
Bhagwans. Next we pay respect to
Acharyas. They are the heads of all monks
and live a very pure and perfect life.
Then we pay respect to
Upadhyayas. They have learned the sacred
scriptures and are now teaching them to the monks, nuns and all of us. Lastly, we pay respect to all the monks and
nuns who have accepted to live under strict code of conduct and trying to
uplift their souls..
We should always recite the
Navkar Mantra to pay homage to these great souls.
* look under S
O
O is for Om
Om is used during meditation.*
Om is a holy word used in the
beginning of many prayers. Om is also
used to set a tune for meditation. We
also think that Om is like the Navkar Mantra**.
By paying attention to one word,
Om, we are paying respect to Arihants, Siddhas, Acharyas, Upadhyayas, and Monks
and Nuns.
* deep prayer
** look under N
P
P is for Pathshala
Pathshala is the place where we
learn about our religion.
We need a place to go to learn
about our religion. A pathshala is that
place. Almost all Jain centers in North America have pathshalas. A pathshala is held at least once a month.
Children should go to the
pathshala so they can learn more about religion, since there are no other
places to learn religion. Parents should
make sure that their children get a chance to go there.
So remember to go to your
pathshala to learn more about religion.
Q
Q is for Queen Trishala
Queen Trishala had fourteen or
sixteen dreams after Lord Mahavir's* soul entered her womb.
Queen Trishala had fourteen (some
believe sixteen) dreams * when she was pregnant. All the dreams symbolized good
qualities of her child. Queen Trishala was very happy to have such a wonderful
child. That child was Lord Mahavira**. He showed us the path to freedom from
the cycle of birth and death.
Queen Trishala was a very good
woman.
* refer to book on sixteen dreams
** look under M
R
R is for Rosary
Rosary is used for meditation*.
Usually, we say the Navakar
Mantra** in the morning and in the evening.
Some people say it three to five times, and some people say it one
hundred and eight times. It would be hard to count one hundred and eight times
and meditate at the same time. This is
why we use a rosary (mala). One hundred
and eight beads in the rosary represent total of one hundred and eight
attributes of Arihants (12), Siddhas (8),
Acharyas (36), Upadhyayas (25) ,
and Monks and Nuns (27). Some canons
indicate that 108 beads in rosary represent gradual removal of 108 types of
passions (kashayas). So in a way we are reminding ourselves that when would
we get these one hundred and eight
attributes ourselves.
To say the Navkar Mantra we
should sit in the same quiet place everyday.
We should forget everything else and concentrate on the five great souls
in the Navakar Mantra. It can destroy
our karmas*** and bring good thoughts into our minds.
This can be done by using a
Rosary.
* to pray deeply
** look under N
*** look under K
S
S is for Sadhu
Sadhu (monk) and Sadhvi (nun) are
religious leaders, who have given up routine life and have taken the five great
vows* to purify their soul from karmas.
The sadhu and sadhvi are person
like us but they have voluntarily left the worldly life and have accepted five
great vows as a code of conduct to uplift the soul. The sadhu and sadhvi stay
in upashraya. They do not cook for themselves and do not eat any food that is
cooked for them. They take only accepted food from various houses. They give up attachment for their parents and
relatives. The monks and nuns keep a few clothes and a few bowls to collect
food, rajohan, muhapati, morpichhi, and kamandal, etc., but they do not keep money, jewelry, or own
things like house or car. They do not keep anything more than what they need.
They walk bare foot so that they can
watch for bugs or insects. The monks do not touch or sit with ladies or girls
and nuns do not touch or sit with man or boys. They do not stay in one place
for more than a few days at a time, except in rainy season. Svetambar monks and
nuns wear white clothes while Digambar monks do not wear any clothes. Digambar
nuns wear white clothes.
They observe total Ahimsa,
non-violence. They tell the truth, observe the celibacy, and do not believe in
possessions. They follow strict code of conduct, study scripture, perform
meditation, and austerity to free their souls from the cycle of birth and death.
They go through a austerities to get rid of their karmas. They teach people about religion. Upadhyayas are the monks who teach normal
monks and nuns about the scriptures.
Acharyas are the heads of all the monks and nuns and look after the Jain
Sangh, that is made up of monks, nuns, male and female house holders.
We should always respect the
Sadhus and Sadhvis because of all the strict discipline they follow and for all
that they teach us.
* look under V
** your inner self; the part of
you that never dies
*** harshness
T
T is for Temple
Temple is the place for prayer.
Temples are the places where
Jains have the idols of Jina Bhagwans. They go there and worship the
statues. All Jains don't worship
statues. The main reason we worship is
so we can pay respect to the souls that have reached salvation. This also reminds
us that we should be like them. Just
praying and not taking any actions to free our soul won't work. We need to
learn to discipline ourselves. So that we can control our desires and karmas.
We should be silent in the
temple. We should keep it very clean.
The temple is the best place to
go to worship.
U
U is for Upashraya
Upashraya is a place where monks*
and nuns* stay.
An upashraya is a very simple
place with a big hall and a few rooms. It does not have air conditioner or any
fans but has many windows. An Upashraya does not have any furniture except a
few wooden paats for sadhus to sit and sleep. The place where the sadhus and
the nuns stay is called an upashraya. Usually monks or nuns do not stay more
than a few days at one place except during rainy season. Then they don't travel and stay in these places for four
months. The monks and nuns do not stay
together in the same upashraya at the same time. But same upashraya can be used
by either sadhus or sadhvis at different times.
An upashraya is also used by
householders (house holders and shravikas) to study or perform samayika and
other religious activities.
The monks or nuns deliver their
religious lectures in upashraya.
* look under S
V
V is for Vow
Vow means a promise.
To take a vow means to make a
promise to yourself to do certain things in certain ways. The vows help us
discipline ourselves. The vows are very important to help reduce bad karmas and
accumulate good karmas. There are various types of vows like chovihar, ektana,
upvas, samayik etc. The different vows can be for different times, for example
a samayika is for 48 minutes while a chovihar is from sunset to sunrise next
day. The monks* and nuns* take five
great vows, not to 1) do any violence (himsa), 2) lie, 3) steal, 4) be
unchaste, and 5) be possessive for the rest of life. Same way some house
holders and shravikas take 12 minor vows for a few years to rest of life.
The vows once taken should be
followed very carefully.
* look under S
W
W is for Worship
Worship means to pray.
We should always look up to those
who have done better than us. Jains
worship Siddha Bhagwans* who have freed themselves from the cycles of birth and
death. When we worship, we have to
remind ourselves that Siddha Bhagwans are great and that we want to be like
them. This doesn't happen right away,
but while we worship, we can make some rules for ourselves or we may take some
vows. This helps us to be like Siddha
Bhagwans.
The worship is done by prayers,
meditation, fasting etc. The worship can be done in the temple, upashraya, Jain
centers, or even at home.
We should worship with our full
heart and mind and not just for show.
* look under I
X
X is for Xylography
Xylography means art of making
engravings on woods.
Xylography is the art of carvings
on the woods. This art has been speciality in the state of Gujarat in India.
There are wood carvings of Jina idols, auspecious symboles (eight), security
deities (yakshas), etc., in the door and
window frames and domes and arches of houses of Jains. The house temples and other temples are found
with exquisite wood carvings since fourteenth century. The circular carvings above any hall
represents the endless world. The Jinas remind us to move above this cyclic
world of miseries.
Xylography art is seen in the
temples.
Y
Y is for Yoga.
Yoga is what you do.
In Jainism, we believe that we do
yoga in three different ways. We perform
yoga, by physical, verbal or mental means. That means that we're doing yoga all
the time. Whenever we do something, we
get karma*. So in Jainism, when we are
doing yoga, we are actually getting karma.
We should control our yoga. We can do this by meditating or paying
attention to what we do. It is easy to
control physical yoga, but it is harder to control verbal yoga and mental yoga
is the most difficult to control. So be
careful when you want to do something, and be sure you are not doing, saying or
thinking anything bad.
In Jainism, yoga and meditation
are two different things.
*look under K
Z
Z for Zebra
Zebra is a five sensed living
being.
This universe consists of two
different kinds of things: living and
non living. A living things have a
soul* in them. They can learn, breathe, and get hurt, and so on. Things that are not living don't have
souls. They can't learn, breathe, get
hurt, and so on.
Living beings are grouped in two
ways: whether they can move or not or by
the number of senses they have. They
can have up to five senses. These five
senses are touch, taste, smell, seeing,
and hearing. Some things can have less
than five senses. The zebra, in the
picture, has five senses, just like
us. All humans have five senses. Some people may not have all five senses
fully developed when they are born. For
example, a person may be blind or deaf.
Still, this doesn't mean that a person has only four senses. It's just that one sense isn't working.
Higher the number of senses a
living being has, the better it is.
Humans are the best out of all the living beings, since we can control what we do and can
experience hardship to get rid of karmas**.
That's why if you want to be free you should be a human.
Zebra represent living beings.
* your inner self; the part of
you that never dies
** look under K
Note : Above post is taken from an unknown document.
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