Jain thought is one of the oldest continuous philosophical traditions of India. It offers a detailed account of the soul, of karma and of the path to liberation, and an ethic built on non-violence, truthfulness and restraint. Its literature is equally rich, composed over many centuries in Prakrit and in Sanskrit.
This course introduces the central ideas and then reads them in the texts themselves. Sūtras and verses are taken word by word, so that you learn what a term means in its original setting. The teacher's training in both Sanskrit and Jain philosophy allows language and meaning to be taught together.