ABSTRACT
Drawing upon both anthropological descriptions and primary Jain textual sources (particularly the Jñānasāra of the seventeenth century Śvetāmbara Jain master, Yaśovijaya), this chapter focuses on the particulars of how Jain worship and ritual are conducted, as well as on how these activities are conceptualized in the Jain tradition. The thesis will be that Jain ritual involves a twofold process of simultaneous enacting, or “externalizing,” of spiritual aspirations, as well as an internalizing of the spiritual ideals embodied in ritual actions and implements (such as the mūrti, or image, that is employed in iconic Jain traditions). In the ritual space, the distinction between “inner” and “outer” worlds is obliterated, and the practitioner experiences a communion with the ideal represented by the enlightened Jinas.
