Questions of the Day: 6-7

6) In which book is Jain philosophy is described?

Ans: There are 45 Agams as per Swetanbar Murtipujak traditions whcih explains Jain philosophy & theory.

In addition there are many books that provide deatils of Jain philosophy, but " The Tattvartha Sutra" by Umaswami is said to be the most sacred book.As a minimum every jain should have this book in their home & must read & understand it..

7) When & how did the division of Swetambar & digambar sects happened?

Ans: In 367 BCE, about 160 yrs after the Nirvana of Bhagwan Mahaveer, Acharya Bhadrabahu was the head of the Jain order.

That time a famine occured for 12 yrs ( This is a historical fact confirmed by many historian).., Acharya Bhadrabahu had predicted this long time back & realised that it will be very difficult for the monks to strictly follow the "Five Mahavrats" .Therefore he, along with his 12000 disciples migrated to South India & settle there to strictly follow the five mahavrats..

In the meanwhile, the remaining monks were led by Acharya Stulibhadra & he relaxed some of the rules for the monks for their survival during this famine.

This incident was the primary reason for the separation of Digambars & Swetambars sects.

However the real separation seems to have occured during the time of Acharya Vajrasen in about 160 AD..

Futher both the sects Digambars & Swetambars were divided into 3 sub sects each..

But the best part inspite of these splits is that : All the sects have remarkable similarity in their philosophy..its just a few minor areas of disagreements , the split exist.."