When comparing histories of Sakaymuni Buddha, founder of Buddhism, and Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara and the founder of Jainism, there are many similarities in their life and journey to enlightenment. Based on the sacred scriptures of Jainism and the early collection of Buddhist writings, this article will discuss the differences in their approach to remove karma and the way to reach Nirvana.The Jains consider karma as bondage to prevent living beings from attaining liberation. According to Jain doctrine, the aim of cultivating oneself is to remove and avoid karma attached to the soul. To get rid of all the karma, Jains advocate ascetic practices by observing right conducts: by acting correctly, one could avoid karma; by practicing ascetic, karma sticking to the soul could be completely cleared up. The soul who has achieved liberation could attain the highest stage of knowledge, called Kevalin. A Kevalin is detached from all desires and free from all karma.Jain ideas place emphasis on the karma caused by the activity of body. With compassion and empathy as spiritual goals, Jains are always vigilant in avoiding harm to any living beings under any circumstances, to prevent inflow of new karma by accident. They believe an act of killing attracts more karma. In line with this faith, Jains do not attach importance to diet. They are even forbidden to take meat and certain vegetables. Sallekhana, death through samadhi, is considered as the final victory. Realized by fasting to die with samadhi, it is described as a state of deep absorption in meditation at the time of death in which mind becomes very still. In Jian tradition, this is not regarded as an act of suicide which involves passion.The theory of karma is also a fundamental doctrine in Buddhism. The way for Buddhists to stop new karma is using introspection as a technique to understand the stream of consciousness which is associated with one's physique and mental activities via the five aggregates and six organs.Through introspection, it is possible to realize that the "self ' is not permanently invariable. The illusion of a permanent and substantial existence of "self ' is created by the functions through the aggregates, which are also "impermanent" and "conditioned." According to Buddhism, what is important is to observe our mind stream and prevent it polluted by greed, hatred and ignorance, the cause of human suffering. Those who have witnessed all the rising and falling of mental process with yathabhutananadassana would not generate any further karma.The state of Nirvana, parinibbana, is the ultimate aim of all Buddhist practices, occurring upon the death and also passing through several stages of samadhi. While the time is coming, one should go through nine levels of meditative attainment, and enter his parinibbana from the fourth jhana withequanimity, mindfulness and purity (upekkha-sati-parisuddhi). To sum up, although the practices and goals of Jainism and Buddhism have similarities-both emphasize meditation, the observance of certain moral precepts and are in pursuit of final liberation, even their spiritual leaders came from similar backgrounds, there exist differences between these two religions in their philosophy. In Jainism, the path to liberation is influenced by their concept of karma, especially the kaya-kamma, karma
