The United States Jain diaspora includes approximately 100,000 to 150,000 individuals. In 2019, the Pew Research Center estimated the population as being around 92,000, with Indian Americans totaling 4.6 million and 2% identifying as Jain (if matching 2012 figures). This number is likely an undercount (Vekemans 2022, 18), given the fact that 10% of Indian Americans in this particular study identified as “unaffiliated,” a percentage that assumedly includes individuals from Jain backgrounds.

 

According to the Migration Policy Institute, 81% of Indian Americans are between the ages of 18–64, with a median age of 40. If these numbers hold for the Jain population, then the great majority of Jains in the U.S. are under 64 with many being significantly younger. The age of this population should not be overlooked, for while the following statistics pertain to all US-born Asians, rather than only US-born Indians (or US-born Indian Jains), Pew (2019) reports:

 

As of 2019, the Asian population in the U.S. had a median age of 34, slightly lower than the nation’s overall median of 38. But the median age of U.S.-born Asians was just 19—compared with 36 among all U.S.-born people . . . Nearly six-in-ten U.S.-born Asians (58%) were members of Generation Z in 2019, which means they were 22 or younger at the time.

 

The youthful demographic of Jains in the U.S. presents significant implications for religious affiliation. Young people in the United States and across the globe are increasingly less religious than older generations (here for information on teens). In the United States, approximately 40% of all Americans born since 1981 are nonreligious, or are at least “unaffiliated” with respect to religion. Notably, Pew (2012) cautions that “‘unaffiliated’ does not necessarily mean ‘non-religious’ . . . But Asian Americans who are unaffiliated tend to report lower levels of interest in religion than unaffiliated Americans as a whole.”

 

The question of what exactly makes one “religious” is far too dense to tackle here, yet belief certainly constitutes a critical facet of religiosity (accompanied by behavior and belonging, among other characteristics). While many unaffiliated Americans, as well as some affiliated young Americans, continue to attend religious events and perform occasional religious rituals, they are less likely to accept the unique truth claims of a specific religion. For example, Pew (2012) reported that only 10% of unaffiliated Asian Americans believe that the Bible is the “word of God”—compared to 32% of unaffiliated non-Asian Americans—while 68% regard it as a human product. Also, while 26% of unaffiliated Asian Americans express beliefs in reincarnation and liberation, this percentage is nearly identical to unaffiliated non-Asian Americans (25%), indicating a trend toward a personal, selective, and autonomous relationship to religious doctrines.

 

The data suggests that unaffiliated and/or early adults are more likely to reject rather than accept traditional truth claims of religious texts and teachers. Only 4% of all unaffiliated respondents consider religion “very important in their lives,” making uncritical doctrinal obedience a particularly poor fit for this group. Additionally, among Asian Americans (both affiliated and unaffiliated), only 39% consider religion to be very important in daily life—a figure significantly lower than the general U.S. population (58%). This percentage drops even further when Asian American Christians are excluded from the analysis. Although statistics on the Asian American Hindu population might offer insights into this discussion, it is important not to elide the distinctiveness of Jain and Hindu sensibilities. That being said, one statistic most likely resonates with Indian American Jains as well:

 

[T]he percentage of Asian American Hindus who say that religion is very important in their lives (32%) is considerably lower than the percentage of Hindus in India who say this (69%, according to a 2011 survey by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project).

 

Strikingly, even among Asian American Hindus—old and young—who “identify” with their religion, less than one third express that their religion is “very important in their lives.”

 

These statistics invite honest reflection on “next-gen” Jains and the shifting contours of “next-gen” Jainism. Even among older Indian American Jains who strongly and proudly identify with their faith, the importance of Jainism in their daily lives appears uncertain when measured against other priorities. This trend is even more pronounced among younger generations, where both the significance of Jainism and the likelihood of identifying as Jain diminish. Additionally, age and geographic location play a crucial role in shaping perspectives on the authority of religious beliefs, especially those based on the asserted infallibility of sacred texts or figures, or the timeless validity of specific principles. As one millennial Jain voiced:

 

Today’s youth lives in the information age, with access to knowledge from all corners of the globe, largely facilitated by social media . . . This has created a generation that truly seeks to know and understand, with an underlying desire to believe on a legitimate basis. They question everything. Therefore, today’s older generation cannot expect the youth to do as they say without reasoning, holding that their parents forced them to simply copy them (and when asked “why,” was told “just because”).

 

This presumably widespread sentiment, coupled with the aforementioned trends, is relevant to Jain theories of knowledge and what younger Jains perceive as credible. Traditionally, Jainism identifies five types of knowledge (jṇāna) (Tattvārtha Sūtra 1.9–1.31) divided into two categories or “means” (pramāṇa; TS 1.10). There are two “indirect means” (parokṣa): mati-jñāna (empirical knowledge) and śruta-jñāna (scriptural knowledge). These two are accompanied by three superior “direct means” (pratyakṣa): avadhi-jñāna (clairvoyance), manaḥ-paryāya-jñāna (mind-reading), and kevala-jñāna (omniscience). This first jñāna, empirical knowledge, often recognizes additional “pan-Indic” types of knowledge acquisition and verification, such as inference (anumāna) and analogy (upamāna) (Gorisse 2020; P. Jain 2019, 90; Tatia 2011, 13–15).

 

It is reasonable to assume that young Jains in the West accept the veracity of mati-jñāna (empirical knowledge), as well as the plausibility of direct cognition, inference, and analogy as legitimate means of knowledge confirmation. However, young people appear to have less confidence in the reliability of sacred texts, and in all likelihood feel similarly about truth claims derived from reports of clairvoyance, mind-reading, and omniscience. Akin to how the Bible is presented as the “word of God,” canonical Jain texts are upheld as the “word of Mahāvīra,” considered trustworthy without exception owing to Mahāvīra’s professed omniscience. Given our “information age” and the mounting evidence in North America—declining religious affiliation, reduced investment in traditional religion and religious identification among youth, the increasing secular and religious acceptance of scientific conclusions—it is understandable why younger generations “question everything,” including scriptural authority, and unabashedly protest that “today’s older generation cannot expect the youth to do as they say without reasoning.” Fortunately for next-gen Jainism, many young Jains remain interested in living and identifying as Jain, yet apparently only insofar as the tradition is receptive to self-critique, adaptation, and evolution.

 

Contemporary diasporic Jainism faces a challenge shared by many religious communities, both diasporic and nondiasporic: changing identity without losing identity. It raises the question of whether a “return” to traditional beliefs and practices—particularly those upheld through claims of the infallibility of sacred texts or figures—can genuinely resonate with and persuade young Jains, their children, and future generations.

Gorisse, Marie-Hélène. 2020. “Anumāna.” In Brill's Encyclopedia of Jainism Online, edited by Knut A. Jacobsen, John E. Cort, Paul Dundas, and Kristi L. Wiley.

 

Jain, Parveen. 2019. An Introduction to Jain Philosophy. Delhi: D.K. Printworld.

 

Mehta, Arpit. 2019. “The Elephant in the Room: Debunking Youth Involvement in the Western Jain Community.” Young Jain Professionals (Blog). September 24.

 

Pew Research Center. 2012. “Asian Americans: A Mosaic of Faiths.” July 19.

 

———. 2021. “Key facts about Asian Americans, a diverse and growing population.” April 29.

 

Tatia, Nathmal. 2011. That Which Is: Tattvārtha Sūtra. New Haven: Yale University Press.

 

Vekemans, Tine. 2022. Digital & Diaspora: Intertwined Frontiers of Contemporary Jainism. Baden-Baden: Ergon Verlag.

 

 

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