Jain renouncers are men and women who have left their families and given away all their material possessions to lead a wandering life of asceticism and religious teaching. There are several different Jain traditions, and the rules which renouncers follow vary between them, but in all cases the life they prescribe is one of justly famed severity.
Jain renouncers all go barefoot, they do not bathe, and they do not shave or cut their hair, so in some traditions the men have beards, but it is common practice twice each year to pull out the hair from both the head and face by hand; and on many of the older men only wispy white remnants of a beard remain. All Jain renouncers carry a special broom with which to brush insects from their way without harming them. They lead a celibate and itinerant life, travelling in small, single-sex groups, and making their way on foot between towns and villages, teaching the importance of non-attachment and non-violence, and encouraging others to follow their example in fasting and other ascetic practices. the ideal, and in some cases the actual culmination of the renouncer's life, is a fast to death.
From whichever tradition they come, Jain monks and nuns make an arresting sight. the monks in the Digambar (or 'sky-clad') tradition go completely naked; in some groups of the Shvetambar (or 'white-clad') tradition, who all wear only simple white robes, neither monks nor nuns are ever to be seen without masks strapped to their faces to cover the mouth and nose. These practices are ways of realizing two of the most insistent concerns of all Jain renouncers: aparigraha, or having no attachments, especially personal property; and ahimsa, avoiding causing harm to even the tiniest living thing. the face-masks prevent insects from being accidentally swallowed, and minimize the harm which the renouncer's hot breath will cause to unseen life-forms in the air.
Thus a vivid image of a religious ideal--an exemplary ascetic life of world-renunciation, non-attachment, and non-violence--is inscribed on Jain renouncers' bodies and legible wherever they are present. and Jain teaching makes clear that this image is the central ideal of the religion.