Divinity Atlas

Sacred Correspondences
Articles

Aparigraha as the Fifth Great Vow

Citation Formats

General Reference

APA Style

BibTeX

Learn More
Aparigraha as the Fifth Great Vow

Aparigraha closes the sequence of five mahavratas, and Jain philosophy is explicit that the vow targets attachment, murchha, rather than ownership as a bare legal or physical fact, on the reasoning that a person can retain minimal possessions without the grasping the vow forbids, while another can own nothing at all and still be inwardly consumed by longing for what they lack, so the deeper discipline concerns the inner state rather than the count of objects.

The vow is also where Jainism's two principal monastic lineages visibly diverge in practice: Digambara, sky clad, monks hold that complete non possession extends even to clothing, going entirely without it as the fullest expression of the vow, while Svetambara, white clad, monks and nuns wear simple unstitched white robes, understanding the same underlying renunciation to permit a minimal covering, a difference in practice that reflects centuries old doctrinal disagreement between the two traditions rather than a dispute either side treats as merely cosmetic.

Padmanabh Jaini's study of the two lineages traces the split, along with the connected question of whether a woman can attain liberation without first being reborn male, to interpretive differences reaching back at least to the early centuries CE, making aparigraha one of the mahavratas whose practical observance has shaped Jain sectarian identity most visibly across history.

Cross-Tradition Connections

Article On

Sources
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.

View At A Past Year

The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.