From the standpoint of Jain Dharma, these are actually two very different projects:

1. Teaching as a Jain while meeting secular students

A Jain teacher who shares dharma with secular or mixed-background students is, ideally, doing something like this: - Staying rooted in Samyak Darshan–Jñān–Chāritra (right faith, right knowledge, right conduct) as the frame. - Being very transparent: “What I am teaching comes from Jain Agam / Jain acharyas. I am adapting language, not changing the core.” - Adjusting examples and vocabulary to suit modern or secular people, but not: - Diluting core principles like ahiṁsā, aparigraha, anekāntavād, and karma. - Pretending it’s “just psychology” or “just wellness” when it is actually a path aimed at moksha. From a Jain view, this is spiritually honest if: - The source is clearly acknowledged. - The goal is not hidden (at least made available: “This practice ultimately points to liberation from karma, not only stress-reduction.”).

1. Using Buddhist secular teaching as your vehicle

If you are coming from a Buddhist-secular background and asking, “Can this be spiritually honest?” then from a Jain perspective, honesty requires at least:

- Clarity of identity: “I am teaching in a (neo-)Buddhist/secular framework. Some parts overlap with Jain ideas (like karma, non-harm, meditation), but I am not presenting this as Jain Dharma.” - No mislabeling of views: Jain Dharma is very precise about dravyas, jīva–ajīva, karma as real pudgal, moksha, and Tirthankars. If those are not accepted or are reinterpreted in a purely psychological or symbolic way, then: - It may be valuable as a human practice. - But it is not Jain Dharma in the traditional sense. - Respectful boundaries: A Jain teacher should not claim: “Jainism and secular Buddhism are essentially the same.” A spiritually honest Buddhist/secular teacher, from a Jain view, would say: - “Jainism has its own robust path; I am not teaching that. I’m teaching a different tradition that happens to share some parallels.”

1. What Jain Dharma would call “spiritually honest” here

- You are honest about: - What tradition you stand in. - What you believe about karma, rebirth, and liberation. - What the practice is ultimately for (just well-being? or also liberation?). - You do not use Jain (or Buddhist) authority while quietly removing the parts that are inconvenient for modern ears, without saying you removed them.

So, in Jain terms:

• If you are a Jain teacher meeting secular students:

Keep the heart of Jain Dharma intact, explain it in accessible language, and be open that this is a liberation path, even if students only start with small steps (like anuvratas, basic meditation, or non-violence in diet).

• If you are a Buddhist/secular teacher considering Jain parallels:

You can be very respectful and even deeply appreciative of Jain insights, but it stays spiritually honest when you do not present Jain Dharma through a Buddhist-secular filter as if that is Jainism itself.

I cannot know which of the two you personally are doing, but Jain Dharma would say: Whichever role you choose, name it clearly, don’t blur the sources, and don’t hide the ultimate aim of the path you are drawing from. That clarity itself is a form of ahiṁsā in speech and thought.