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174 Tattvarthasutra
[7.8 A determination can be made. That feeling, which is the variety of attachment and aversion as well as carelessness, known in classical definitions as delusion, when it results in the destruction of life or in causing suffering through such inauspicious or trivial feelings, is violence and that is also the nature of the twofold form. If life is destroyed or suffering is caused without such feelings, it may appear as violence but does not fall into the category of faults. Thus, in a violent society, due to the spread of non-violence and the development of thought resulting from it, the definition of fault-like violence is no longer sufficient to rely solely on the meaning of 'destruction of life,' which is why an important component like 'carelessness' has been added.
Question - This definition of violence raises the question that if a life is taken without carelessness, will we call it violence or not? Similarly, if there has been no destruction of life but carelessness is present, will we still consider it violence or not? If violence is considered in both cases, will it be violence originating from carelessness leading to the destruction of life, or will it be of a different type?
Answer - Only the destruction of life is manifestly violence, while carelessness is subtle and thus invisible. In addition to the difference between visibility and invisibility, there is another important distinction that deserves attention, and that determines the faultiness or non-faultiness of violence. Although the destruction of life may appear as violence, it is not entirely faulty, because that faultiness is not independent. The faultiness of violence depends on the feelings of the violent person; hence it is dependent. Only if the feeling itself is bad, will the destruction of life be considered faulty; if the feeling is not bad, then the destruction of life will also not be considered faulty. For this reason, such violence is termed as material violence or practical violence in classical definitions. Material violence or practical violence means that its faultiness is not uninterrupted. In contrast, the subtle feeling known as carelessness is intrinsically faulty, so its faultiness is independent; that is, it does not depend on external factors like gross destruction of life or any other external object. In cases where attempts are made to destroy gross life or cause suffering, if, on the contrary, the other's life is extended or they receive happiness, yet if there is a bad feeling behind it, then all this will still be considered as intrinsic fault. This is the reason that such inauspicious feelings are referred to in classical definitions as feeling-violence or definitive-violence. This means that its faultiness remains uninterrupted across all three times due to its independence. Only carelessness or only precise