Śramaṇa
Monastic orders / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A śramaṇa (Sanskrit: श्रमण, [ɕrɐmɐɳɐ]) or samaṇa (Pali: 𑀲𑀫𑀡; Chinese: 沙門 shāmén; Vietnamese: sa môn) is a person "who labours, toils, or exerts themselves for some higher or religious purpose"[1][2] or "seeker, one who performs acts of austerity, ascetic".[3].[4][5][6] The Śramaṇa tradition includes primarily Jainism,[7] Buddhism,[8] and others such as the Ājīvika.[9][10]
The śramaṇa religions became popular in the same circles of mendicants from greater Magadha that led to the development of spiritual practices,[11] as well as the popular concepts in all major Indian religions such as saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death) and moksha (liberation from that cycle).[12][note 1]
The Śramaṇic traditions have a diverse range of beliefs, ranging from accepting or denying the concept of soul, fatalism to free will, idealization of extreme asceticism to that of family life, renunciation, strict ahimsa (non-violence) and vegetarianism to permissibility of violence and meat-eating.[13][14]