Hard Questions📜 Knowledge base
Why do some Jain monks not wear any clothes?
Jain Curious team
Top answer
Those are Digambara monks. 'Digambara' means 'sky-clad'. For them, full renunciation means giving up every possession, and clothing is a possession: you have to wash it, protect it, and feel shame or pride about it. Giving it up is seen as the final step of aparigraha (non-possession), with nothing sexual about it. The other main tradition, Svetambara ('white-clad'), holds that simple white robes are fully compatible with liberation. Digambara nuns wear white saris. It's legal in India, and Digambara monks walk from town to town that way, which can be startling to people who don't know the tradition.