| abstract
| - Mahāvīra and Buddha were contemporaries, there are no mentions of the two teachers meeting, but there are mentions of Mahavira's disciples questioning Buddha in various Suttas. The Buddhists have always maintained that by the time Buddha and Mahavira were alive, Jainism was already an entrenched faith and culture in the region. Buddhist scriptures record philosophical dialogues between the wandering seeker Siddarttha Gotama (Buddha) and Udaka Ramaputta, and the first of several teachers that young Siddattha Gotama studied with before his enlightenment. Buddhist scriptures attest that some of the first Buddhists were in fact Jains (Nirgranthas as they were then called, meaning "the unbonded ones") who "converted", but were encouraged by Buddha to maintain their Jain identity and practises such as giving alms to Jain monks and nuns. Buddhists recorded that Mahavira preached the "fourfold restraint" of the Nirgrantha tradition—a clear reference to the teachings of Mahavira's predecessor Lord Parshva (877-777 BC), traditionally the 23rd Tirthankara of Jainism -- who propounded the four vows of Ahinsa (Ahimsa), Satya (truth), Aparigraha (non-possessiveness), and Asteya (non-stealing), which may have been the template for the Five Precepts of Buddhism. Additionally, the Buddhist Anguttara Nikaya scripture quotes the independent philosopher Purana Kashyapa (the sixth century BC founder of a now extinct order) as listing the Nirgranthas as one of the six major classifications of humanity. The Pali texts mention the Buddha referring to the liberation of Mahavira (referred to as Niggantha Nataputta) at Pava.
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