Editing Jainism (section)

===Asceticism and monasticism===
{{Main|Asceticism|Jain monasticism}}
{{multiple image
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| image1            = Ellora, cave 33, Digambar Jain guru (9841591645).jpg
| caption1          = Digambara sadhu (monk)
| image2            = Acharya Vijayavallabhasuri.jpg
| caption2          = Śvētāmbara-Deravasi sadhu (monk)
| caption3          = Śvētāmbara-Sthanakwasi sadhu (monk)
| image3            = Jain Sthanakvasi monk.jpg
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{{multiple image |total_width=275
| image1 = Jain 1.jpg
| caption1 = A Śvētāmbara sadhvi (nun)(early 20th-century)
| image2 = Viramati Mataji.jpg
| caption2 = A Digambara sadhvi (nun)
}}
Of the major Indian religions, Jainism has had the strongest ascetic tradition.{{sfn|Cort|2001a|pp=118–122}}{{sfn|Qvarnström|2003|p=113}}{{sfn|Qvarnström|2003|pp=169–174, 178–198 with footnotes}} Ascetic life may include nakedness, symbolizing non-possession even of clothes, fasting, body mortification, and penance, to burn away past karma and stop producing new karma, both of which are believed essential for reaching ''siddha'' and ''moksha'' ("liberation from rebirths" and "salvation").{{sfn|Cort|2001a|pp=118–122}}{{sfn|Qvarnström|2003|pp=205–212 with footnotes}}{{sfn|Balcerowicz|2015|pp=144–150}}

Jain texts like ''Tattvartha Sūtra'' and ''[[Uttaradhyayana|Uttaradhyayana Sūtra]]'' discuss austerities in detail. Six outer and six inner practices are oft-repeated in later Jain texts.{{sfn|Cort|2001a|pp=120–21}} Outer austerities include complete fasting, eating limited amounts, eating restricted items, abstaining from tasty foods, mortifying the flesh, and guarding the flesh (avoiding anything that is a source of temptation).{{sfn|Cort|2001a|pp=120–122}} Inner austerities include expiation, confession, respecting and assisting [[mendicants]], studying, meditation, and ignoring bodily wants in order to abandon the body.{{sfn|Cort|2001a|pp=120–122}} Lists of internal and external austerities vary with the text and tradition.{{sfn|Qvarnström|2003|p=182 with footnote 3}}{{sfn|Johnson|1995|pp=196–197}} Asceticism is viewed as a means to control desires, and to purify the ''jiva'' (soul).{{sfn|Qvarnström|2003|pp=169–174, 178–198 with footnotes}} The ''tirthankaras'' such as the Mahāvīra (Vardhamana) set an example by performing severe austerities for twelve years.{{sfn|Cort|2001a|pp=121–122}}{{sfn|Shanti Lal Jain|1998|p=51}}{{sfn|Balcerowicz|2015|pp=15–18, 41–43}}

Monastic organization, ''sangh'', has a four-fold order consisting of ''sadhu'' (male ascetics, ''muni''), ''sadhvi'' (female ascetics, ''aryika''), ''[[Śrāvaka (Jainism)|śrāvaka]]'' (laymen), and ''śrāvikā'' (laywomen). The latter two support the ascetics and their monastic organizations called ''gacch'' or ''samuday'', in autonomous regional Jain congregations.{{sfn|Cort|2001a|pp=48–49}}{{sfn|Balcerowicz|2009|p=17}}{{sfn|Natubhai Shah|2004|pp=2–3}} Jain monastic rules have encouraged the use of mouth cover, as well as the ''Dandasan'' – a long stick with woolen threads – to gently remove ants and insects that may come in their path.{{sfn|Vijay K. Jain|2013|p=197}}{{sfn|Dundas|2002|pp=152, 163–164}}{{sfn|Jaini|1998|p=190}}