Page Text
________________
land, cooking food, grinding corn, cleaning the toilet and so on. On the other hand, the ascetic who has renounced everything is capable and thusly obligated to completely abstain from violent behavior.
This verse also speaks to the co-dependence of the Jain ascetic and lay communities. While the laity depends upon the ascetics for moral and spiritual guidance, the ascetics depend upon the laity for physical survival. Strictly adhering to the five vows, the ascetics are forbidden from even cooking their own meals, which involves numerous acts of violence. Since the continuance of the Jaina faith is dependent upon some form of sustenance, the laity must bear the burden of harming many lives, which is inherent in the cooking of food, albeit vegetarian food. Wandering Jain ascetics also require that food never be prepared on their behalf, so as to avoid being an accomplice to the violence inherent in the preparation of food. The sin is that of that of the preparer of the food, but presumably it is offset by the merit (punya) generated by feeding the ascetics.
Tirthankara Mahavira's first motto is that if violence under compulsion is unavoidable, at the very least voluntary performed violence is to be avoided. The observance of a vegetarian diet represents one's minimal commitment to nonviolence. The following is a concise list of what type of foods that must be avoided by both partial and complete abstainers.
Eating things in contact with animate food, eating things mixed with animate food, drinking alcohol, and eating half-cooked food.
- Tattvartha Sutra, (SS variant) 7.4
Eating animate food refers to any food that is still living or has living beings (e.g. bacteria) on it. All flesh and eggs and some plants are considered permanent supporters of microcosmic life even when cooked.
Further, the Jains do not eat vegetables that grow underground, which is a distinguishing mark of Jain vegetarianism. The ancient Jain vow of ahimsa states, "I will desist from the knowing or intentional destruction of all great lives [souls with two or more senses]." Beings composed of two or more senses are mobile beings, i.e., beings that move about by their own volition. Intentional movement denotes awareness of comfort and discomfort, which signifies a great life.' Two-sensed creatures such as worms dwelling in and around vegetables that grow underground will unavoidably be harmed or killed if the plant is uprooted. Even more restrictive is the Jain prohibition on alcohol, which is considered to be teeming with nigods, i.e., one-sensed beings, not to mention its effect in deluding one's consciousness. However, serious as it is, harm done to nigodas is considered far less grave than that done to higher life forms. Jains also avoid eating at night, so as to protect against the consumption and killing of undetected bugs that tend to fly into food. Although no stone is left unturned when it comes to the protection of
103
| SR No. | 007005 |
| Book Title | World of Philosophy |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Christopher Key Chapple, Intaj Malek, Dilip Charan, Sunanda Shastri, Prashant Dave |
| Publisher | Shanti Prakashan |
| Publication Year | 2011 |
| Total Pages | 1002 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 30 MB |