Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s7.t8.7

v1.c7.s7.t8.7

Jainism was divided into two sects of Digambar and Śvētāmbara in about 1^st century CE. The monks of Digambaras practiced naked or “sky-clad”, while those of Svetambara were always white-clad. Some Buddhist literature referred to Digambar as “a school of naked practitioners”. It put an inordinate emphasis on ascetic practices and required its practitioners to strictly abide by its “no private wealth” rule, going so far as to count one’s clothes as “wealth” and demand their removal too. The earliest representative figure of the Digambar sect is Bhadrabahu.