Deck 9: Jaina Traditions

Question 1

The Jaina ritual of sallekhana involves which of the following?

A) Meditating for long periods of time
B) Sweeping the path before walking
C) Fasting unto death
D) Carefully cleaning statues of Mahavira
E) Straining all water to avoid killing small insects

Answer 1

C

Question 2

According to the Jaina tradition, the path to happiness, truth, and self-realization is the path of which of the following?

A) Total dependence on God
B) Total opposition to worldly power
C) Action
D) Aggression
E) Restraint

Answer 2

E

Question 3

The Jaina community is well known for which of the following?

A) Its worldly success
B) Its strong social identity
C) Its business acumen
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Answer 3

D

Question 4

What does the term "Jina" mean?

A) Ascetic
B) Sage
C) Victor or conqueror
D) Warrior
E) Poet

Question 5

What is another name for Jinas, the highest expressions of the Jaina ideal?

A) Chakravartins
B) Tirthankaras
C) Bodhisattvas
D) Gurus
E) Sadhus

Question 6

Who was Mahavira?

A) The first Jina
B) The tenth Jina
C) The twenty-fourth Jina
D) The forty-eighth Jina
E) The twenty-third Jina

Question 7

The idea of the chakravartin in Jaina tradition refers to which of the following?

A) The "bridge-builder" across samsara
B) The ideal benevolent ruler
C) The soul belonging to all living things
D) A non-believer
E) A great spiritual teacher

Question 8

Which of the following best describes the Arhat or perfected being in Jaina tradition?

A) The perfect warrior
B) Entirely detached from worldly concerns
C) Divine, as a god
D) Benevolent emperor
E) World conqueror

Question 9

What does "ahimsa paramo dharma" express as the supreme path in the Jaina tradition?

A) Clear-mindedness
B) Worldly success
C) Power
D) Non-violence
E) Happiness

Question 10

What is the estimated number of Jainas worldwide?

A) 5 to 8 million
B) 20 million
C) 15 to 25 million
D) 1 to 2 million
E) 10 to 15 million

Question 11

In the Jaina tradition, what does the term jiva refer to?

A) Eternal soul that each life form possesses
B) Acts of violence that keep us trapped in samsara
C) Deities that live in other realms
D) Supreme reality of the universe
E) Rules of conduct that all Jainas must follow

Question 12

According to Jaina teaching, acts of harm, even unintentional, result in which of the following?

A) Reincarnation outside the human realm
B) One hundred extra lifetimes before liberation
C) Punishment in hell
D) Karmic bondage
E) Greater inability to understand the teachings of the Jinas

Question 13

What does the Jaina Acaranga Sutra ("Scripture of Correct Conduct") focus on?

A) The interconnectedness of all things
B) Proper sexual conduct
C) The rules of ethical leadership in government
D) The sallekhana ritual
E) The requirement of non-violent action

Question 14

What term do Jainas use to refer to the momentary awakening of the conscious mind catching a glimpse of the pure soul, the starting point of Jainism?

A) Ajiva
B) Samyak darshan
C) Tirthankara
D) Samsara
E) Ahimsa paramo dharma

Question 15

What is the English meaning of samyak darshan?

A) Right action
B) Impure thought
C) Right faith
D) Misguided intuition
E) Peaceful heart

Question 16

What are the two main Jaina sects?

A) Ahimsa and Rsabha
B) Digambara and Mahavira
C) Agama and Caturvidhyasangha
D) Digambara and Svetambara
E) Theravada and Mahayana

Question 17

What does the name of the Jaina sect Svetambara literally mean?

A) Sky-clad
B) Final life
C) White-clad
D) Non-harmer
E) Ascetic

Question 18

What does the name of the Jaina sect Digambara literally mean?

A) White-clad
B) Final life
C) Ascetic
D) Sky-clad
E) Non-harmer

Question 19

What issues have divided Jainas?

A) The worship of images or idols
B) Whether harm can be done to "pests"
C) The use of "living beings" such as flowers, water, and fire in worship
D) Both A and C
E) All of the above

Question 20

Jainism arrived on the historical scene as part of the same shramana movement that gave rise to what other religion?

A) Islam
B) Sikhism
C) Hinduism
D) Zoroastrianism
E) Buddhism

Question 21

What is the meaning of the term shramana?

A) Pleasure-renouncing
B) World-renouncing
C) Disciple
D) Asceticism
E) Life-renouncing

Question 22

Whom do Jainas revere as the most recent of the Jinas in this time cycle, sometimes considered the "founder" of present Jainism?

A) Neminath
B) Rsabha
C) Mahavira
D) Buddha
E) Parsavanath

Question 23

What does the Jina Mahavira's name literally mean?

A) Great Hero
B) Saint
C) Stream-crosser
D) Ford-builder
E) Great Conqueror

Question 24

What prenatal myth is associated with the Jina Mahavira?

A) He miraculously prematurely emerged from the womb, only to re-enter it later.
B) His presence in the womb caused his mother to levitate.
C) Animals from all over India attended his mother before birth.
D) He began teaching even inside the womb.
E) His embryo was miraculously transferred from a brahmin woman's womb to that of Queen Trisala.

Question 25

According to Jaina tradition, how many Jinas appear in every time cycle of generation and degeneration?

A) 24
B) 12
C) 5
D) 48
E) 2

Question 26

According to Jaina teaching, when was the cosmos created?

A) No specific time, but when God willed it so
B) 6 million years ago
C) 42 billion years ago
D) 13.7 billion years ago
E) It is timeless and has no point of origin

Question 27

According to Jaina tradition, Jaina teachings are only accessible to what form(s) of life?

A) Animals
B) Deities
C) Humans
D) Both B and C
E) All of the above

Question 28

What is the four-fold community (sangha) of Jainism made up of?

A) Monks, nuns, laymen, laywomen
B) Men, women, animals, microscopic life forms
C) Priests, warriors/rulers, merchants, servants
D) Senior monks, junior monks, senior nuns, junior nuns
E) Kings, ministers, householders, children

Question 29

What was the proportion of women in the early Jaina community?

A) Roughly equal numbers of women and men
B) Virtually all women
C) More women than men
D) More men than women
E) Virtually no women

Question 30

What do many sources suggest was the original turning point in the fourth century

A) One group moving to the south and developing in isolation
B) Disagreement over who Mahavira suggested as his successor
C) Dispute over whether or not women should be admitted into the community
C)E. split between the two Jaina groups?
D) Warfare over control of the community's land

Question 31

Why did the Digambara Jaina sect hold that women are ineligible for full membership in the community?

A) They menstruate.
B) They were thought to be less rational than men.
C) Mahavira was a man.
D) They were thought to be incapable of detaching themselves from worldly desires.
E) It is impossible for them to go naked.

Question 32

What was unusual or different about the nineteenth Jina (Mallinath), according to Svetambara tradition?

A) It was an animal.
B) She was female.
C) He never manifested in human form, only as a voice heard by disciples.
D) He died as a child.
E) He never left the world.

Question 33

The teachings and sacred literature of the present time cycle are believed to have been first propounded by which Jina?

A) Mallinath
B) Neminath
C) Mahavira
D) Rsabha
E) Parsavanath

Question 34

What is the name of the Jaina canon?

A) Bhagavad Gita
B) Tripitaka
C) Ahimsa
D) Agama
E) Dravya

Question 35

What second-century text is cherished by both the Svetambara and Digambara Jainas?

A) The Lotus Sutra
B) The Nataktrayi
C) The Tattvartha Sutra
D) The Angabahya
E) The Satkhandagama

Question 36

According to Jaina cosmology, the entire universe is made up of what two broad categories of substances?

A) Samyak caritra and samyak darshan
B) Jiva and ajiva
C) Ajiva and pudgala
D) Samsara and moksha
E) Punya and paap

Question 37

According to the Jaina tradition, what is the most fundamental existential problem that prevents the soul from achieving a state of bliss?

A) We do not have a living Jina to teach us.
B) Humans have "fallen" from a state of perfection.
C) Humans are born in a state of sin.
D) We are incapable of restraining our cravings in the degenerate cycle of time.
E) Jiva and ajiva are thoroughly enmeshed.

Question 38

According to the Jaina tradition, what are the names of the two types of karmic particles, auspicious and inauspicious?

A) Jiva and ajiva
B) Punya and paap
C) Puja and samayika
D) Samsara and moksha
E) Kala and dharma

Question 39

What are some possible explanations as to why the Jainas resisted the influence of Hindu devotionalism in the medieval period far more successfully than the Buddhists?

A) The strong support of Jaina ascetics by Jaina householders.
B) Willingness to resist with force when necessary.
C) The decentralized nature of Jaina groups.
D) Both A and C
E) All of the above

Question 40

What are the "Three Jewels" of the Jaina tradition?

A) Jivas, ascetics, laypeople
B) Karma, moksha, Jiva
C) Correct practice, correct intuition, correct knowledge
D) Rsabha, Parsavanath, Mahavira
E) Buddha, Dharma, Sangha

Question 41

What is the main purpose of Jaina practice?

A) To constantly accumulate as much good karma as possible
B) To gain the favour of the gods
C) To withdraw from society completely to avoid pollution
D) To memorize as much as possible the scriptures
E) To purify the soul by impeding the accumulation of new karma and burning off old karma

Question 42

What are the five mahavratas ("great vows") taken by all Jaina ascetics?

A) Non-harm, truthfulness, non-stealing, celibacy, non-attachment
B) Prayer, meditation, fasting, celibacy, vegetarianism
C) Right effort, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right concentration
D) Truthfulness, non-stealing, non-attachment, non-killing, meditation
E) Non-harm, non-stealing, celibacy, non-attachment, meditation

Question 43

Which of the following is NOT an obligation on Jaina ascetics, in addition to the five mahavratas?

A) Repentance
B) Equanimity (samayika)
C) Eating only what they kill themselves
D) Homage to teacher
E) Praise to the Jinas

Question 44

For 48 minutes a day, Jaina devotees practice which of the following?

A) Praying at the foot of a statue of a Jina
B) Chanting
C) Samayika meditation or reflection
D) Missionary work in the neighbourhood
E) Sallekhana

Question 45

Which term refers to the "small (or lesser ) vows" that govern Jaina lay life?

A) Anuvratas
B) Tirthankaras
C) Mahavratas
D) Jivas
E) Shramanas

Question 46

What is the name of the central prayer in Jainism?

A) Om
B) Namokar Mantra
C) Sakra Stava
D) Pratikramana
E) Nembutsu

Question 47

What do Jainas commemorate in the festival of Divali (Deepavali)?

A) The harvest
B) The liberation (moksha) of Mahavira
C) The end of the rainy season and period of sustained interaction between the same group of householders and renouncers
D) The birth of Mahavira
E) The defeat of the evil king/demon Ravana

Question 48

What are the Five Auspicious Events (Panch Kalyanaka), to which almost all Jaina cultural expressions are tied?

A) Birth, naming, initiation into adulthood, parenthood, and death
B) The births of each of the final five Jinas of this time cycle
C) Mahavira's birth, renunciation, first lesson, final lesson, and liberation
D) Prayer, meditation, fasting, temple-building, and almsgiving
E) Conception, birth, renunciation, omniscience, and moksha in the lives of the Jinas

Question 49

Since the time of Mahavira, the majority group to respond to the call of Jainism?

A) Men from age 20-30
B) Poor men and women
C) Elites
D) Women
E) Men from age 30-50

Question 50

The ideas of womanhood and female piety in Jainism are which of the following?

A) Modesty, patience and chastity
B) Prudence, wisdom and meekness
C) Humility, courage and calmness
D) Tolerance, hospitality and fragility
E) Weakness, submissiveness and instability

Question 51

What most highly esteemed path in Jainism is made available to women?

A) Chastity
B) Modesty
C) Humility
D) Mysticism
E) Renunciation

Question 52

In the Jaina tradition, who was Chandabala?

A) Female mystic
B) Female poet
C) Female warrior
D) Female renouncer
E) Female musician

Question 53

There is said to have been how many female disciples under the tutelage of Chandabala?

A) 12
B) 36
C) 2,400
D) 12,000
E) 36,000

Question 54

Through whose efforts does the institution of Jaina mendicancy exist?

A) Lay men
B) Monks
C) Lay women
D) The acharyas
E) Nuns

Question 55

What has been the central contemporary issue for Jainas in India?

A) High levels of poverty and illiteracy amongst the Jaina community
B) Defining Jaina identity as distinct from Hinduism, and Jainism as a world religion
C) The drastically decreasing numbers of Jainas
D) Systematic persecution by the Hindu majority
E) Forming a separate, independent state governed by Jainas

Question 56

Most Jainas believe in a Creator God.

Question 57

All Jaina ascetics are required to undertake the sallekhana ritual, fasting to death.

Question 58

For Jainas, the highest possible value is ahimsa (non-violence).

Question 59

The most recent Jaina Tirthankaras is Mahavira.

Question 60

According to Jaina teaching, only human beings possess an eternal soul (jiva).

Question 61

The permanent state of Enlightenment achieved by Jaina devotees is known as samyak darshan.

Question 62

One of the main differences between the Svetambara and Digambara Jainas concerns the spiritual capacity of women.

Question 63

Jainism emerged out of the same time period and context in India that gave rise to Sikhism.

Question 64

The followers of Mahavira rejected brahminical orthodoxy.

Question 65

Mahavira was born into the shudra (servant) caste.

Question 66

According to Jaina tradition, there are 36 Jinas per cycle of generation and degeneration.

Question 67

According to Jainism, the eternal message of liberation is only accessible to human beings, in the realms of action, in certain time periods.

Question 68

Nuns significantly outnumbered monks in the early Jaina sangha.

Question 69

According to Jaina tradition, Svetambara monastics go naked as a sign of complete non-attachment to worldly things.

Question 70

Svetambara Jainas believe that one of the Jinas in the most recent cycle was female.

Question 71

Jaina sacred literature is believed to have been composed by Mahavira.

Question 72

Learned mendicants in Jainism are known as acharyas.

Question 73

Svetambaras and Digambaras fundamentally disagree on the nature of the soul.

Question 74

Substance without consciousness, in Jaina cosmology, is called ajiva.

Question 75

Jainas believe that all forms of karma, good and bad, must be purged.

Question 76

All Jaina groups reject the worship of idols.

Question 77

According to the Jaina tradition, suffering is caused by misperception of the true nature of reality, and can be dispelled through clearer thinking.

Question 78

The five "great vows" undertaken by Jaina ascetics are called the anuvratas.

Question 79

Jaina monks and nuns cannot accept food that has been prepared expressly for them.

Question 80

Jaina ascetics must not walk on grass.