Before the division into Digambara and Śvetāmbara, the Jain community followed a single, unified path taught by Mahavira and earlier Tirthankaras. The core of this path included:

• Belief in the 24 Tirthankaras and the goal of liberation (moksha).
• The threefold path of right faith, right knowledge, and right conduct (the triple jewel guiding practice).
• The basic ethical vows for everyone: non-violence (ahimsa), truth (satya), non-stealing (asteya), celibacy or restraint (brahmacharya), and non-possessiveness (aparigraha). Monks and nuns observed stricter forms of these vows; lay Jains followed a gentler version.
• Reverence for the sacred scriptures and Jain teachings that were transmitted through the monastic order.
• A shared framework of Jain ethics, cosmology, and rituals, with a common aim of purifying the soul and attaining kevala-jnana (omniscient knowledge).

The split into Digambara and Śvetāmbara occurred later, and since then each tradition has developed its own scriptural canons, renunciatory norms, and practices. There are differences in details between the traditions about the origin of the division and the specific scriptures, but the essential Jain Dharma—ahimsa, truth, non-attachment, and the path to liberation—remains the same for both.