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Keeping the Tattvārtha Sūtra fresh constitutes an experiential view of worldly faults, and being aware of the potential for otherworldly harm stemming from actions like violence is an experiential view of otherworldly faults. The conditioning of both types of views involves the sentiments associated with vows like non-violence.
Just as the perception of suffering is cultivated in the renounceable tendencies, so too does it call for a specific renunciation; here, the teaching is provided to cultivate the inclination to perceive violence and other faults as forms of suffering. A practitioner of the non-violence vow imagines the suffering that would result from violence, just as it would impact their father, and this sentiment of suffering is beneficial for the stability of that vow.
Sentiments like friendship and joy are particularly useful for nurturing any positive virtue, and thus they are especially helpful in the stability of vows such as non-violence; therefore, these four sentiments are taught here. The subjects of these four sentiments vary to some extent because the sentiment develops the actual result concerning that subject. Hence, the subjects are also presented as distinct alongside these sentiments.
1. If the inclination of friendship is cultivated only toward living beings, then one can remain non-violent and truthful toward every living being; therefore, the subject of friendship is living beings. Friendship