Harmless Soul

SR No.: 001196
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: W J Johnson, Dayanand Bhargav
Publisher: Motilal Banarasidas
Publication Year: 1995
Total Pages: 372
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Philosophy, & Principle
File Size: 20 MB

Page 192

178 Harmless Souls resulting in himsic activities, such as attention to their bodies, washing, the lighting of fires, etc. This idea, that compassion is essentially a lay virtue, something to be excluded from the world-view of the śramaņas, persists in later Jaina theory. However, in the earliest parts of the canon there also occurs a different attitude towards the affective in general and compassion in particular. At Ayāramga 1.5.5.4 (Suttāgame 320), for instance, we are presented with a version of the 'Golden Rule' in which the śramana is urged to practise ahimsā out of empathy (and thus compassion) for the suffering of others:
As it would be to you, so it is with him whom you intend to kill. As it would be to you, so it is with him whom you intend to tyrannise over. As it would be to you, so it is with him whom you intend to torment. In the same way (it is with him) whom you intend to punish, and to drive away. The upright man who lives up to these sentiments, does therefore neither kill nor cause others to kill (living beings) ...119
Similarly, at Āyāramga 1.4.2.6 (Suttāgame 242) the suffering of others is proved by inference from personal suffering:
First the persuasion of everyone should be ascertained, and then we will ask them severally: Is pain pleasant to you, or unpleasant? If they give the right answer, reply: For all sorts of living beings pain is unpleasant, disagreeable and greatly feared. Thus I say. 120
119 Based on Jacobi's trans., 1884, p. 50 of: tumam si nāma sa cceva jam hamtavvam ti mannasi; tumam si nāma sa cceva jam ajjāveyavvam ti mannasi; tumam si nāma sa cceva jam paritāveyavvam ti mannasi; evam (tam ceva) jam parighittavvam ti mannasi; (evam tam ceva) jam uddaveyavvam ti mannasi; amjú c' eyapadibuddhajīvi tamhā ņa hamtā ņa vighāyae - Suttāgame 320.
120 Based on Jacobi's trans., 1884, p. 39, of: puvvam nikāyasamayam patteyam patteyam pucchissāmo: ham bho pavādiyā kim bhe sāyam dukkham, udāhu asāyam? samiyā padivanne yāvi evam būyā: savvesim pāņāņam savvesim bhūyāņam savvesim