Sacred Energy

A digambara Jain monk owns nothing at all, not even clothing, having relinquished every last possession including modesty's usual coverings

One branch of Jain monasticism takes renunciation of property to its most literal possible conclusion, extending it even to the clothing that almost every other tradition still permits.

The Digambara, or "sky-clad," tradition within Jainism holds that its fully initiated male monks should own no possessions whatsoever, including clothing, on the doctrinal reasoning that any remaining attachment — even to modesty's usual covering — is still an attachment, and total liberation requires releasing every last one. This distinguishes Digambara practice sharply from the other major Jain tradition, Svetambara ("white-clad"), whose monastics do wear simple white robes and hold that complete nakedness is not required for spiritual advancement. The Digambara position developed as part of a broader historical split within Jainism, and it remains a genuine point of doctrinal difference between the two traditions rather than a matter of regional custom alone. For Digambara monks, nakedness is not read as immodesty but as the furthest visible expression of a renunciation that has already, internally, given up everything else.

The Digambara-Svetambara split, one of Jainism's oldest and most significant doctrinal divisions, involves disagreements over scripture and the possibility of liberation for women as well as over monastic nakedness.

Written about in

• What celibate traditions say about money and property

  One branch of Jain monasticism carries this to its end and keeps nothing whatsoever, including clothing, which almost every other tradition still allows.