Śvetāmbara (Św.) Jain tradition on purity (śuddhi)

• Core idea: Purity in Jainism is not just outward ritualism but a state of mind and conduct that supports nonviolence (ahiṁsā) and spiritual progress. It includes both external cleanliness and inner integrity.

• External purity (śauca, cleanliness)

- Daily life: regular cleanliness, tidy surroundings, and humane treatment of all beings help reduce harm and cultivate a calm mind. - Religious duties: careful observance of rites, proper conduct during worship and study, and respectful handling of sacred texts and places. - Food and drink: mindful eating, avoiding products that involve harm to living beings, and gratitude for sustenance.

• Internal purity (cittaśuddhi, mental purity)

- Intentions: sincerity, non-attachment, compassion, and truthful living. - Virtuous conduct: practicing austerities, self-control, honest speech, and restraint from causing harm. - Detachment: gradually reducing desires and ego to align with the Jain path of liberation.

• Practical expressions in Śvetāmbara practice

- Monastic discipline: Śvetāmbara monks and nuns emphasize disciplined behavior, ritual purity, and disciplined study, with rules tailored to their lineage and ordination. - Laity: householders cultivate purity through ahimsa in thought, word, and deed, care for Jain images and scriptures, and observance of annual fasting or vows. - Purity as a means, not an end: purity supports right knowledge, right faith, and right conduct—the three jewels that lead to liberation.

• Key note on differences with Digambaras

- Digambaras emphasize renunciation and often a more austere, sometimes nude ascetic ideal for monks; Śvetāmbara monks wear white clothes and emphasize certain ritual and doctrinal practices around purity that reflect their own monastic code. - Both traditions prize purity as essential for spiritual progress, but their outward expressions and rules for purity differ in line with their respective monastic codes.

If you’d like, I can give concise points on purity as taught in a specific Śvetāmbara text or school (for example, a particular discipline or a set of vows), or outline how purity is discussed in contrast with Digambara practices.