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Outlines of Jainism c11: Chapter III.—Ethics

Outlines of Jainism c11

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Contents

Chapter III.—Ethics

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The aim of Jaina ethics is so to organize the combined activity of a society that its individuals may have the greatest possible number of facilities for attaining moksha or nirvāṇa, i.e. perfect peace and bliss of the soul. Thus, obviously, the rules of conduct, both for laymen and ascetics, must directly or indirectly be conducive to this central aim. Naturally the rules for ascetics are stricter than those for laymen, and provide, as it were, a shorter, albeit harder, route to nirvāṇa, which is the goal for the layman also, but one which he reaches by a longer and slower process.

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Here we do not propose to go into the rules of conduct for ascetics. Those who are interested in the subject will find the details in the Āchārāṅga-sūtra, which is translated by Dr. H. Jacobi in vol. xxii of the Sacred Books of the East (pt. i, pp. 202–210), and in Bhagavatī-Ārādhanā by the monk Śivakoṭi, an ex-Mahārājā of Benares.

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The rigour of the ascetic life may be estimated to a certain extent by considering the more or less severe conditions which the Jaina householder must adopt, if he rightly follows the Jaina principles. The best way of exhibiting the rules of conduct for the Jaina layman is to make clear the eleven stages in his life, i.e. the eleven pratimās. They are given below.

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But before a Jaina can go on to the pratimās, he must pass through two preliminary stages—

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1. He must have faith in Jainism. He must study the doctrine and believe in it thoroughly and sincerely.

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2. Then he must become what is called a *pākshika śrāvaka*, a layman intent on following the path of salvation. His duties, as laid down in the *Sāgara-Dharmāmṛita* by Pandit Āśādhara about Samvat 1292 = 1235 A.D., are—

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(1) To have faith in Jainism ;
(2) To abstain from intoxicants ;
(3) To abstain from flesh food ;
(4) To abstain from fruits which contain, or are likely to contain, insects ; also from honey ;
(5) To abstain from taking four kinds of food at night. The four kinds are : eatable, tastable, lickable, drinkable. Eatables, at least, he must give up at night ;
(6) To take clean, i.e. filtered, water ;
(7) To abstain from gambling ;
(8) To follow in the main the five small vows. The vows relate to non-killing, etc. ;
(9) To abstain from hunting ;
(10) To abstain from adultery or lasciviousness ;
(11) To perform some religious exercises daily ;
(12) To abstain from making his living by any of the following means: (*a*) agriculture, (*b*) learning, (*c*) trade, (*d*) army, (*e*) crafts, (*f*) singing, (*g*) music.

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The eleven *pratimās* are—

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1. *Darśana* (faith).—A true Jaina must have perfect and intelligent, well-reasoned faith in Jainism, i.e. he must have a sound knowledge of its doctrines and their applications in life.

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2. *Vrata* (vow).—He must observe the five minor vows (*aṇu-vratas*), the three *guṇa-vratas*, and four *śikṣā-vratas*. To give details: he must not destroy any kind of life, must not tell a lie, must not make use of another person's property without the owner's consent, must be chaste, must limit his necessities of life and avoid the use of food which involves unnecessary killing of living beings. The three *guṇa-vratas* are special vows relating to the limitation and determination of his daily work, food, and enjoyment. The remaining four vows relate to his worship in the morning, noon, and evening, to his keeping fast on certain days, and to his duty of daily giving charity in the form of knowledge, medicine, comfort, and food.

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3. *Sāmāyika* (worship).—He must worship regularly, in general for forty-two minutes, three times daily. Worship means self-contemplation and purifying one's ideas and emotions.

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4. *Poṣadhopavāsa* (fortnightly fast).—He fasts regularly, as a rule, twice a fortnight each lunar month.

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5. *Sachitta-tyāga* (abstinence from the flesh of conscious creatures).—He refrains from taking fresh vegetables, because they are living, and to hurt any living thing is in Jainism a deadly sin.

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6. *Rātri-bhukta-tyāga* (abstinence from eating at night).—He must not take food at night. There are minute living beings which no amount of light can reveal or disperse, and which must be consumed with meals after sunset.

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7. *Brahma-charyā*.—Celibacy.

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8. *Ārambha-tyāga.*—Abandonment of merely worldly engagements and occupations.

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9-11. The remaining three stages are preparatory to the monk's life. Their names are *parigraha-tyāga*, *anumati-tyāga*, and *uddiṣṭa-tyāga*, and they enjoin a gradual giving up of the world and retiring into some very quiet place to acquire the knowledge of truth and ultimately to become fit to be a teacher of the path to salvation.

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But underlying every rule of conduct in Jainism is the one important principle of *ahiṃsā* (non-killing, non-hurting). It will be useful here to consider the effect of this principle of non-injury on (1) food, (2) drink, (3) trades and industries, (4) social behaviour, (5) civil and criminal wrongs.

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It may be noted that injury by thought, word, or deed to other living beings is the chief, if not the sole, cause of misery, ignorance, weakness, pain, and disease to oneself. It is something like the necessity of "purging the defendant's conscience" in Courts of Equity in England. By doing wrong to the plaintiff, e.g. by not doing something promised to be done, the defendant is soiling his conscience, and equity forces him to clean it. Constituted as human nature is, Jainism facilitates our right living by showing that the luxury of injuring our neighbour is really an injury to ourselves, and an injury, too, from the evil effects of which the neighbour may possibly escape, but we cannot! Altruism may have its basis upon a deeper and more refined kind of self-saving and self-serving.

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As to the effect of the principle of non-injury on—

Food

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Food which involves the slaughter of living beings, animals, fish, birds, or anything that has five or less sense-organs, must not be taken.

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One thing must here be made clear. Life thrives on life. The ideal practice of non-injury is possible only to the soul in its perfect condition, i.e. when it has freed itself from the last particle of karmic matter (*karma-vargaṇās*). On this side of that happy state, do whatever we will, some life must be transformed into our life in order to sustain it. Therefore what is meant and enjoined is simply this: "Do not destroy life, unless it is absolutely necessary for the maintenance of a higher kind of life." The purer souls will, of course, not like to sanction even this. But, as formulated above, the rule does not sanction hurting or injury: it limits it to the lowest possible minimum. As a supplementary rule we have: "And then begin with the least evolved kind of life, e.g. with the *sthāvaras*" (pp. 8-9 *supra*).

Drink

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All kinds of intoxicants, or even stimulants, are prohibited. They are not necessary for the life and well-being of the body. They feed the passions, and passions are the bitterest foes of the soul. There is also wholesale destruction of small life in the fermentation of brewing and distilling.

Trades and Industries

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Certain trades are prohibited to Jainas as Jainas—brewing, fishing, butchering, and anything that involves wholesale slaughter of living beings for purposes of trade and commerce. But even a brewer or a butcher may be a Jaina: then he will be in the vowless stage of soul's evolution (*avirata-guṇasthāna*).

Social Behaviour

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A true Jaina will do nothing to hurt the feelings of another person, man, woman, or child; nor will he violate the principles of Jainism.

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Jaina ethics are meant for men of all positions—for kings, warriors, traders, artisans, agriculturists, and indeed for men and women in every walk of life. The highest will find in the Jaina rules of conduct satisfactory guidance for their affairs; and the meanest can follow them. "Do your duty. Do it as humanely as you can." This, in brief, is the primary precept of Jainism. Non-killing cannot interfere with one's duties. The king, or the judge, has to hang a murderer. The murderer's act is the negation of a right of the murdered. The king's, or the judge's, order is the negation of this negation, and is enjoined by Jainism as a duty. Similarly the soldier's killing on the battlefield. It is only prejudiced and garbled accounts of Jainism that have led to its being misunderstood.

CIVIL and Criminal Wrongs

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The Indian Penal Code, originally drafted by Lord Macaulay, takes account of almost all offences known to and suppressed by our modern civilization. Mr. A. B. Latthe, M.A., of Sholapur, has shown by a table how the five minor rules of conduct (the five *aṇu-vratas* of Jainism) cover the same ground as the twenty-three chapters and 511 sections of the Code.

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The Jainas of to-day do not follow all the vows “without faults”; but, still, they profess the practice of the vows and live on the whole in view of them. I desire to conclude the chapter “Ethics” with the statement of two bare facts.

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In criminal statistics the Jaina percentage of criminality is the lowest—remarkably lower than among the Hindus, Muhammadans, and Christians.

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In commercial matters the Jainas are a well-to-do and influential community. Colonel Tod in his *Rajasthān*, and Lord Reay and Lord Curzon after him, have estimated that half the mercantile wealth of India passes through the hands of the Jaina laity. Commercial prosperity implies shrewd business capacity and also steady, reliable character and credit.

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The above shows that far from being an impracticable religion, Jainism is eminently fitted to give the State good subjects and the country successful business men.

Cites (3)