The Uttaradhyayana Sutra is the most prominent scripture of the Jain tradition. It is commonly believed by Jains to be the final sermon of Bhagavan Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara. "Its intention," explains Hermann, "is to instruct a young monk in his principal duties, to commend an as...

The Uttaradhyayana Sutra is the most prominent scripture of the Jain tradition. It is commonly believed by Jains to be the final sermon of Bhagavan Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara. "Its intention," explains Hermann, "is to instruct a young monk in his principal duties, to commend an ascetic life by precepts and examples, [and] to warn him against the dangers in his spiritual career." Or, as another translator has aptly observed, it is "a coordinated scripture of behavioral and spiritual life," and is as the very Sun of Jainism. As the Bhagavad-Gita stands in the Vedanta tradition, or as the Dhammapada stands in Buddhism, so does the Uttaradhyayana Sutra stand in Jainism.