Daily spirituality

Daily spiritual practices

Jains try to carry out certain spiritual acts every day. These are:

• prayer
• honouring the tirthankaras
• paying respect to monks
• repenting for sins
• self-control through sitting meditation for 48 minutes
• going without something pleasurable

Daily routine for image-worshipping lay Jains

What follows is an outline of the spiritual routine of a particularly observant lay Jain - most Jains won't carry out all of this, although they will try to include as much as possible.

• Morning prayers - before dawn
  • Panca Namaskara Sutra:
    I bow to the enlightened souls
    I bow to the liberated souls
    I bow to religious leaders
    I bow to religious teachers
    I bow to all the monks in the world
  • Pratikramana - repentance for harm done during the night.
• temple visit for worship and hearing teaching
• care for others
• greetings and donations to monks and nuns
• care for people in need
• prayer before lunch
• eat last meal of day before darkness falls
• temple visit for worship (these visits are often replaced by ceremonies in the home)
• Pratikramana - repentance for harm done during the day
• reading of scriptures

At some point in the day, lay Jains try to fit in a 48 minute period of self-study and static meditation.

Find out more

• Jainism - Worship
• Jainism - Temples