Pratikramana - Asking Forgiveness
Regularly seeking forgiveness for any harm caused, intentional or unintentional.
Jains practice Pratikramana, a ritual of reflection and seeking forgiveness for harm caused during daily activities. This keeps practitioners mindful and humble about inevitable transgressions.
I forgive all living beings, may all living beings forgive me.
Pratikramana maintains continuous awareness of one's impact on other beings.
Pratikramana
Written about in
- What Jainism says about compassion and forgiveness
A regular review in which you ask forgiveness for harm done, including harm you did not intend. It builds the habit of assuming you caused some.
- What Jainism says about forgiveness
The opening line is reciprocal in a single breath: I forgive all living beings, may all living beings forgive me. Granting and asking are not separate acts in Jain practice, and there is no version of the formula in which you only perform half.