Nigrantha

Nigrantha (Tib. གཅེར་བུ་པ་, wyl. gcer bu pa) - A non-buddhist school of ancient India. The Nigranthas, or Jainas are followers of Ṛshabha Jina. They assert that all objects of knowledge are included in nine categories:

1. Life
2. Contamination (Tib. ཟག་པ་, zag pa)
3. Restraint
4. Wearing down
5. Bond
6. Action (karma)
7. Sin
8. Merit
9. Liberation

Liberation, they say, is attained through ascetism, such as going naked, not speaking, the five fires (in the four directions and the sun above), and so on, until past karma is exhausted. With no new karma created, one is reborn at the top of the world, in a white realm, shaped like an upside down umbrella.