Jain sacred literature is traditionally viewed through the lenses of the two major sects, Śvetāmbara and Digambara, each preserving a distinct but overlapping vision of the path of self-purification. For Śvetāmbaras, the core scriptures are the Āgamas, regarded as preserving the sermons of the Tīrthaṅkaras, especially Mahāvīra. Within these, the Aṅga Āgamas such as the Ācārāṅga Sūtra and Sūtrakṛtāṅga set out the foundations of monastic conduct, non-violence, and the critique of false views, while texts like the Uttarādhyayana Sūtra present dialogues on renunciation, impermanence, and spiritual progress. Supplementary collections—Upāṅgas, Cheda-sūtras, Mūla-sūtras, and others—elaborate rules for monks and nuns, penances for transgressions, and basic instruction for novices. Works such as the Kalpa-sūtra add biographical narratives of the Tīrthaṅkaras and specific regulations for the monsoon retreat, blending historical memory, ethical exhortation, and ritual guidance.

Digambara tradition, holding that the original Āgamas were lost or corrupted, turns instead to later but highly revered works that systematize doctrine and practice. The Ṣaṭkhaṇḍāgama offers a detailed exposition of karma theory and the classification of souls, while the Kaṣāyapāhuda analyzes the passions—anger, pride, deceit, and greed—that bind karma and obstruct liberation. Texts such as Samayasāra, attributed to Kundakunda, focus on the nature of the soul and the inner path to self-realization, emphasizing the distinction between the pure self and its karmically conditioned states. Across these writings, there is a marked stress on rigorous asceticism and inward purification as the decisive means to break the cycle of bondage.

Standing somewhat between the sects is the Tattvārtha Sūtra, a concise Sanskrit compendium of doctrine accepted in principle by both Śvetāmbara and Digambara communities, though interpreted in different ways. It gathers and orders central Jain teachings: the basic categories of reality (jīva and ajīva), the mechanics of karmic influx and bondage, and the processes of stopping and shedding karma that culminate in mokṣa. Throughout the canons and later treatises, a common thread runs: the supremacy of ahimsā extended to all forms of life, the Three Jewels of right faith, right knowledge, and right conduct, and the discipline of non-attachment, truthfulness, celibacy, and careful restraint in every action. These texts, taken together, do not merely inform; they shape a way of seeing in which reality is many-sided, conduct is minutely regulated, and liberation is envisioned as the gradual, exacting purification of the soul from all karmic defilement.