Common Salient Features between Jainism and Buddhism

Summary

B.H. Kapadia begins by challenging the old Western view that Jainism is an offshoot of Buddhism and explains that both Jainism and Buddhism are independent religions that reject Vedic authority and a creator god. The paper emphasises that Mahāvīra and the Buddha were contemporaries from Kṣatriya families who renounced worldly life after fulfilling their duties, preached in the dialects of Magadha (Ardhamāgadhī for Mahāvīra, Pāli for Buddha) and founded monastic orders for monks and nuns. Both traditions stress the five ethical vows of non‑violence, truthfulness, non‑stealing, chastity and non‑possessiveness and encourage lay followers to observe them partially. Kapadia surveys Western and Indian scholars who have studied Jain and Buddhist texts and notes that debates between followers were often cordial and that some adherents switched allegiance. He highlights that both religions arose in eastern India within the broader Śramaṇa movement and share social attitudes such as a critical stance toward caste and an emphasis on equality, ahimsa, compassion and humanitarian service. The article compares the lives of the founders: both were born to mothers who saw auspicious dreams; each married and had a child before renouncing; both undertook severe asceticism; and each organised a community of disciples. However Mahāvīra remodelled the earlier Jñātaputra/Nirgrantha tradition by adding the vow of chastity and insisted on nudity for male mendicants, whereas the Buddha adopted the Middle Path, permitted monks to wear robes and eat alms and reluctantly admitted women to the order. The author also points out doctrinal differences: Buddhism denies a permanent self and teaches dependent origination, while Jainism teaches a pluralistic reality (anekāntavāda) and an eternal soul that accrues karma. Despite their differences, both communities produced vast canonical literatures, influenced Indian art and philosophy, and contributed to moral ideals such as universal brotherhood, tolerance and high ethical conduct. Kapadia concludes that these shared features led some scholars to assume that Jainism was a branch of Buddhism, but thorough study of the original sources shows that the two heterodox faiths evolved independently.