The doctrines transmitted in Mahavira's name remain the foundation of Jain thought. At their centre is ahimsa, non-violence extended, more radically than in any neighbouring tradition, to every living being (jiva), including the minute lives of water, air, fire, earth and plants. From it follow the five great vows (mahavratas) of the ascetic: non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, celibacy and non-possession (aparigraha).
Two further teachings are distinctively his. Anekantavada, the doctrine of "non-onesidedness," holds that reality is many-sided and that any single statement captures only one standpoint upon it, expressed in the method of syadvada, the qualified "in some respect" that guards every assertion. And the Jain analysis of the soul and karma understands karma as a subtle material substance that adheres to the soul through action and passion, so that liberation is the shedding of that accumulated matter and the soul's rise to its own perfected nature. Mahavira is venerated not as a god or creator, Jainism has none, but as a perfected, liberated soul and supreme exemplar of the path.